152 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
village, the first fixed settlement of this enterprising tribe 
to be encountered on a journey up the Congo. It is 
exactly at the confluence of the Kwa and the Congo, and 
is very picturesque as seen from the water, a broad lane 
leading up to a grove of oil-palms and bananas, with com- 
pact and tidy-looking houses interspersed among them ; 
but the favourable impression is rather spoilt on landing 
by the horrible black fetid mud, strewn with decaying 
offal, that one has to cross. The people, of course, are 
assembled to greet us, and the chief is there, clad in a 
rusty red garment, and Jooking not half such a fine fellow 
as many of his subjects. These people here are a finer- 
looking race than any I have yet seen on the Congo. 
Some of the men are perfect Greek statues as regards the 
splendid development and poise of their figures. They 
all have pleasing faces because of the good humour which 
enlivens their features. Another remarkable point about 
scapes along the banks of this affluent are pretty, being mostly 
shadowy water and rich forest, but otherwise, considering the bulk 
of this mighty river, it is unimpesing. The mouth of the Kwa is 
not very well adapted for navigation, there being a long sand- 
bank on one side, and a line of rocks on the other, only a tortuous 
passage laying between, while the force of the current through this 
channel is very strong. The upper course of the Kwa much 
resembles the Congo in appearance. Issuing from Lake Léopold IL, 
an expansion of water about seventy miles in length, it broadens 
out greatly in a flat country of dense forest, and is covered with many 
islands. It narrows again where it receives the great Kwango, and 
the embouchure of these two great rivers united is somewhat 
insignificant. Their waters flow for some time side by side without 
mingling with those of the Congo. 
Nore.——Since this was written, the explorations of Wissmann, Grenfell, 
Wolff and others have resulted in the discovery that the Kwa is none’ 
other than the Great Kasai, the most important affluent of the Congo, 
to which are joined the Saukuru with all its affluents, the Kwango 
and its tributary streams, and the rivers from the Bakundi country. 
The Kasai or Kwa system, therefore, drains almost a third of the 
entire Congo basin. These rivers, also, are navigable for hundreds 
of miles by light-draught steamers. ‘The extraordinary importance 
of these navigable routes into the heart or Africa is only just beginning 
to be realized, though Stanley appreciated it fully fifteen years ago. 
Manchester scoffed then, and is the loser now. 
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