TO BOLOBO. : 17 
-factured, possibly in Birmingham, and that curious 
plaque in the centre is the label of the first and only 
champagne bottle which ever reached Bolobo, and which ~ 
was drunk on the birthday of the King of the Belgians. 
Ibaka attended the banquet, but declined any champagne, 
_ asking, however, for its glittering label. 
These curious wicker-work, or plaited-grass hats, are 
common to all the great chiefs in this part of the Upper 
Congo. 
The civilization of the natives of Bolobo, who are — 
Ba-yansi people, is of a higher order than is usually met 
with in savage Africa, and it is certainly purely in- 
digenous. Their houses, arms, and household implements 
are constructed with skill and taste, and the people 
generally exhibit a considerable amount of savoir favre et 
_ vwre. They are great traders, and travel many hundred 
miles up and down the river, engaged in trafficking their 
ivory, slaves, and smoked fish. 
In the afternoon, to-day, I went into one of the neigh- 
bouring towns, some two miles distant, where I wished to 
draw a house, for the dwellings here differ considerably in 
design and construction from those farther down the 
river, and to study the way of living of its inhabitants. 
The natives received me very well, and took great interest 
in my work; too much interest, in fact, for certain 
officious friends, in their anxiety to keep the course clear, 
showed an ill-judged severity towards the unwitting 
persons who came between me and my object. They beat 
a woman, who beat a boy, who threw a stone at somebody 
else, and soon there was a general row, in the middle of 
which I thought it best to retire, in case the excitement 
which was surging amongst them should be turned against 
the white man who had unwittingly brought discord into 
their peaceful village with his sorcerish practices of 
“scratching images on white cloth with a piece of stick.” 
Indeed, had I doubted as to the propriety of retiring to 
fresh fields and pastures new, my hesitation would not 
have lasted long, for a friendly young man, who had in a 
measure constituted himself my guide, took my sketch- 
