CHAPTER XXYT
DOWN THE CONGO TO STANLEY POOL.
Going with the stream—The Arabs send their confidential men with us
—Navigability of the Lumami and Lubilash—Wreck of the Royal—
Reaching and repairing the wreck-Cold winds on the river-Iboko
m confusion—impudent thieving—A prisoner—“ East bind, fast
to d - A horrified father - Eefusal of a ransom -Cordiality at
U ira , Mata ln a passion—More prisoners—Eestitution
of our stolen property—Freeing the prisoners—A horrible massacre
Young Glave of Yorkshire-Bolobo station again burnt-News
from the missionaries-Again at Leopoldville-Troublesome news
from Vivi.
Deofi'o. Being borne down by the current of the tawny flood of
Yakonde. the Congo assisted by steam was naturally much more
exhilarating than laboriously breasting it. A little after
noon on the 10th we were in camp again with the
Arabs, who had moved their quarters, and were hutted
and stockaded on the left bank, on the site of ruined
Yakonde.
For reasons of polity I set about persuading the
chiefs to send with us to the coast a few of their confidential
men, that they might witness for themselves
what influences were advancing up the river on whose
banks they had created such widespread havoc. I t
appeared to me the best mode of suggesting to them.
ARAB RECOLLECTIONS. 169
rather than saying so in many words, that it would he
wiser to abstain from committing these sanguinary
battues, than to risk meeting some day a gunboat with
a police force on hoard, who probably might deal
summarily with such a slave-raiding band as we had
found housed so openly on the river banks. Meantime
they: could send specimens of their ivory, and obtain
a few necessaries of which, perhaps, they were in need.
They accepted the proposal, and they accordingly sent
ten of their. confidential slaves with three tusks each.
It was exceedingly inconvenient, naturally, while engaged
in the conveyance of men and stores, and planting
stations along the river, to . engage carrying passengers
; still I regarded it as part of the mission, and
by no means the least useful portion of it.
. On the 12th we continued on our voyage down
riv e r; the Arabs on board could tell us incidents in
connection with each of the ruined villages as we glided
past. Yaporo was soon passed, and an hour later we
came to the mouth of the affluent Lubiranzi. Our
passengers had been up this river, and had utterly
devastated the country on each side. Twenty-five
miles higher up rapids are met, but above these a
few miles the Lumami and the Lubilash meet, both
being navigable for hundreds of miles. At the large
town of Isangi, situated at the left corner of the
confluence,'the natives had begun to build again, but
on our appearance they scrambled and hurried away
in quick flight across the river, forming a flotilla with
which the Congo might have been bridged easily.