HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
SOME NOTES ON SETTE CAMA. 
Sette Cama, French Congo sea board, S.W. 
Africa, situated in 2.31.30 latitude, 9.44.0 longi- 
tude, being between Loango and Cap Lopez. This 
interesting settlement has still a very strong affec- 
tion from me, for here I spent some considerable 
time collecting Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Antelopes, 
Reptiles of every description, and the various 
birds inhabiting that wild region. Originally it 
was in the Portuguese possession, being a great 
centre of the slave trade, but even now some hun- 
dred miles in the interior domestic slavery still 
nourishes to this day. Men, women and children 
of a particular tribe, willingly sell themselves for a 
certain number of years to the coast natives. The 
purchase is affected by the handing over of a cer- 
tain number of highly coloured cloths, bangles, 
beads, salt and gunpowder. You must not think, 
gentle reader, this this Domestic Slavery of Ser- 
vice is any worse than Domestic Service here— the' 
only difference is that the African cannot pick 
and choose his owner, whilst the Lady Domestic 
here can do so. Whilst at Sette Cama several of 
these slave people were pointed out to me; they 
enjoyed the same privileges and food as the other 
natives, but I believe some portion of their earn- 
ings were given to their owners. After many 
years they acquire their freedom and, in their turn, 
purchased slaves or followers. 
Sette Cama is only a small setlement. It, how- 
ever, dates back as a trading station some hundred 
years. When I visited the place there were only 
four houses, or factories, on the beach, or rather 
on the clearing bordering on the beach. And what 
a beach ! — one of the worst on the African coast. 
There was the French House, Messrs. Hatton and 
Cookson's, and John Holt's, with, of course, the 
residence of the French Commandant. The Army 
of Occupation consisted of a detachment of Sene- 
galese, some twenty in number, in charge of a 
Sergeant who was with Major Marchant right 
through Africa, up to Fashoda, through Abys- 
sinia, home to Dakar. He was one of the finest 
Senegalese I ever set eyes on — a perfect soldier 
and a true man. Periodically, the Army of Occu- 
pation ran riot, of course on pay day only, during 
which time the few Europeans, some eight or ten 
in number, kept discreetly out of sight. During 
one of these celebrations my compound came into 
the line of fire, which greatly exasperated me. -One 
morning I noticed my boy, Oeuita, was rather dis- 
turbed, and was very chary of going down to the 
river for water. I enquired in somewhat forcible 
English, "What's the matter?" He replied with 
very great feeling, " Plenty palaver soon. Plenty 
damned row. Dem bad men Singalese come quick." 
"What for?" I enquired. "Too much Gin — Pay- 
day." Whilst wondering how this concerned me, 
I heard distinct sounds of rifle fire, and then, to 
my amazement, I saw some six sturdy Senegalese 
running across our ground towards the compound 
firing as they went. There was in the compound 
boxes of Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Antelopes, Mon- 
keys, Snakes, Birds, with Oeuita and myself all 
in line of fire. My first impulse was to use highly 
explosive Billingsgate on the foremost man, but 
my boy implored me to sit down and take things 
easy. He reasoned wisely and well — if you got 
shot, well you were shot, but don't get shot if you 
can help it. It appeared that at these times the 
Senegalese imagined they had a grievance with 
one of the French Company's staff, and to get 
even with him they beseiged him regularly. No 
. one was ever shot to my knowledge. I' was ex- 
tremely thankful when the firing party had passed 
the compound. On the following morning they 
came and, in most fluent French, apologised, hop- 
ing that I was not alarmed and everything was all 
right. The only thing to do was to accept their 
apology with good feeling and renewed friendship. 
I, however, decided to give the next celebration a 
go-bye, but the date slipped my memory. I just 
took things as they came, more firing, followed by 
more apologies. These joy-days certainly enliven 
the settlement. 
To be, however, fair to the settlement, I must 
say all this happened twelve to fifteen years ago. 
At the back of the settlement the River Cama runs; 
it flows down some miles from the interior, finally 
running into' the sea. A very large trade was done 
in log cutting, the natives cutting down the most 
suitable trees, sawing them into certain lengths, 
floating the logs down to the French River Beach, 
where they were hauled up and transported across 
to the sea beach ready for shipment. 
The Hinterland is also very rich in rubber and 
ivory, although since the French occupation the 
natives have been very chary in bringing down 
any quantity. The reason, I was told, was that 
the\- did not consider they received full value for 
these commodities. The Hinterland was occupied 
by a very war-like hunting tribe called the " Pan- 
guins." These people had not been subjugated 
by the French when I was there. It was a most 
wonderful difficult country to march in. There 
were very few clearings. The right of way con- 
sisted of brute force on a narrow hunting path. 
I was astonished at the beaut}- and density of the 
forest. The native clearings were most cunningly 
concealed. Their villages were hard to find. The 
elephant, hippopotamus, gorilla, chimpanzee, with 
various antelopes and other strange animals, were 
there in abundance. Yes, they were there; when 
passing through the forest you might be only 
twenty yards away from the ground animals, but 
it was impossible to see them. The gorillas and 
chimpanzees are found in the highest trees, where 
they build their huts; each family — and a family 
might consist of twenty to thirty specimens — keep 
entirely to themselves. They travel considerable 
distances from tree to tree. They only use the 
paths when searching for food or water. The 
gorillas are the superior tribe, they do not inter- 
