MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 117 
room, a store, and three bed-rooms on the ground-floor ; 
and on the first story a long, low-pitched chamber, which 
is generally Mr. Stanley’s private sitting-room when he | 
comes to Léopoldville. In his absence, it is occupied by 
the chief of the station. Behind the house, and apart from 
it, are the kitchens and domestic offices, and in front 
spreads a fine open porch, as I may call it, for want of a 
better word, which is really a large open apartment, in 
addition to the dining-room, projecting on to the espla- 
uiade, and forming a delightfully airy spot in which to sit - 
during the daytime. In a row with this big house are 
two other buildings. One has a series of apartments for 
the white men, and the other a large supplementary store. 
Both above and below these European dwellings are many 
little houses for the Zanzibaris, and the natives attached 
to the station. Beneath the esplanade, which runs along 
the front of the “white” part of Léopoldville, and leading 
down towards the port, the Zanzibaris’ houses make quite 
a neat and orderly looking town, each cottage having its 
garden and enclosure round it. The esplanade, which I 
have already mentioned, is really a flat terrace cut arti- 
ficially in the slope of the hill, and is in continuation with 
the road arising from the interior. From this promenade 
views of great beauty may be obtained over the distant — 
Pool and the neighbouring forest, and in the cool evening- 
time it forms a pleasant walk to stroll on whilst waiting 
for dinner. Here, too, in the early morning, the chief of 
the station passes all the Zanzibaris in review. 
A quarter of a mile away, on the top of the hill, is the 
little Baptist Mission, which enjoys, perhaps, the finest 
situation of any building in Léopoldville, the view from 
its verandah embracing almost the whole extent of Stanley 
Pool. The Baptist missionaries have, besides, a large 
garden down near the banks of the Congo, and they rent 
altogether from the Expedition about two-and-a-half acres 
of land, paying for it the merely nominal sum of £10 per 
annum. 
Above, below, and around the station are extensive 
gardens, banana groves, and plantations of manioc. They 
