THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO. 299°" 
iron mostly from tribes farther inland, at any rate there is 
no sign of its being smelted from the ore near the banks 
of the Congo, although iron is present in the soil. 
The Ba-yansi beat out the iron when red hot, and 
fashion it into many shapes of knives, hatchets, and 
axes. They sell most of their knives to the Bateke and 
Wa-buma. | 
Most of the chiefs, especially among the Ba-teke, use 
an axe of a particular shape (see illustration) as a sceptre, 
or sien of authority. This axe differs entirely from the 
ordinary chopper form of the tool in daily use, and is 
purely a ceremonial weapon, being quite blunt at the 
edges, and useless for cutting. It is always regarded as a 
sion of authority, and the actual weapon that is here 
illustrated belonged to De Brazza’s friend Makoko, before 
he was deposed. 
The population all along the Congo above Stanley Pool 
is very dense. Towards Bolobo there is scarcely a river- 
fronting space clear of villages, and Mr. Stanley reckons 
from fuller data that the entire population of the Congo 
basin may possibly amount to 49,000,000, or 55 to the 
square mile! These masses do not own one great chief or 
emperor. There is no analogue to the Muata Yanvo, or 
the negro kingdoms farther north. Such chiefs as Ibaka 
or Mpumo Ntaba* may rule over a few thousand subjects, 
but ordinarily every village or settlement is a little 
independent state. Much has been talked lately about 
the desirability of introducing some so1t of political co- 
hesion amongst these tribes—of inducing them to band 
together into one great nationality. This idea has been 
put forward. on high authority, but I must presume to 
dissent from its advisability. What has hitherto made 
Mr. Stanley’s work so rapid and so comparatively easy has 
been the want of cohesion amongst the native chiefs; he 
has had no great jealous empire to contend with, as he 
would have had farther north or farther south. If one 
village declined to let him settle among them, the next 
* Makoko’s successur. 
