THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VOL, XXI. AUGUST, 1887; No. 8. 
NOTES ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF THE CONGO. 
BY WALTER HOUGH. 
pe Congo ranks among the mightiest rivers of the earth. 
Above the limit of the tide it floods over cataracts and 
miles of rapids bristling with rocks in its descent from the high 
African uplands. Indeed, it was a revelation to indomitable 
Stanley to find, after these obstacles were passed, navigable 
water flowing from the far interior. 
Along its stretches of turbulent or placid water dwell many 
tribes of negroes. Cannibals and fierce savages are numerous, 
and, altogether, it is a dark and dangerous country drained by 
this river, from where its waters begin, on the common water- 
shed between it and the Nile, to its mouth on the west coast. 
The great wealth of ivory, dye-wood, rubber, palm-oil, and other 
‘products makes it profitable to establish many stations for traffic. 
The “ Congo Free State,” governed by Leopold, of Belgium, 
embraces a large territory gradually being explored and opened 
up to commerce. 
Up to one year or so ago the National Museum possessed 
Very few ethnological specimens from Africa, at which time 
Mr. W. P, Tisdel, agent of the United States to the Free States, 
= brought home the first collection from that unknown region. 
Recently Lieutenant*E. H. Taunt, U.S.N., visited the Upper 
Congo, and sent to the museum a large collection of barbaric 
Weapons, ornaments, and various other objects made by the 
Congo tribes. These collections, with the one lately acquired 
from the Bureau of Arts in Paris, enable us to speak with some 
: VOL, XXI,—no. 8, 47 a 
