1884-.
April.
Yivi.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
TO OSTEND.
Climate and conduct—Vivi in confusion—A cure for sham illness—
Bemoval of the station—Description of the changes at Yiyi—General
Gordon’s probable work—I embark on the Kinsembo—Loango—Sette
Camma—Coast trade—Gaboon Gulf—Fernando Po—The Cameroons
—Duke Town—Exploring a great “ oil ” riyer—Native chiefs buying
iron houses—Bonny—Lagos—Quetta—Sierra Leone—My arrival in
London—Beport to H.M. the King of the Belgians.
On the Upper Congo the marvellous richness of the
soil seemed to have infused something of its own prolific
vigour into the souls of the gallant young gentlemen
at Equator Station, Kinshassa, Leopoldville, Mswata,
and those detailed for other duties than station
building; and I presume, if this is true, then the sterility
of the soil around Yivi, and the hard, stern
profiles of naked hills, had dwarfed and contracted the
souls of those at the latter station. There are people
who are so impressionable that they reflect their
surroundings. In England, with its moist climate,
I am told there is a vast majority of people who
are afflicted with a desire to moisten their throats
continually with be e r; and I believe Belgium and
Germany are very much alike in that respect. But
in the dry Arab lands we have a people who drink
hut rarely; in the moist climate of the palmy Congo
land palm-wine is drunk in prodigious quantities; hut
south of the Zambesi we have people who drink hut
little save a small quantity of milk, or occasionally
water. Well, then, perhaps it is the barrenness of
Yivi to which the barrenness of results of five years’
labour may be attributed !
On landing on its shores I find that the gentlemen
of Yivi have erected a store-room and residence for
the accountant, close to the “ beach.” The material
mostly has been taken from a frame mansion-house,
costing -£2000, the other portion of which has been
lying nine months about, and no one seems to
know why it came, or what its purpose was. Letters
from Europe informed them it was for a hotel for the
residents’ pomfort and convenience; but then, to a lot
of people without a leader, of what use can it possibly
be ? So the accountant shall have his share of i t ; the
carpenter may build a shed out of i t ; the hospital
may have other fragments of it, and the rest may r o t !
I ascend the original road which was made five
years ago for temporary convenience, to roll my
wagons up, and I see that it has remained untouched
to this day. On the top of the hill there are two
houses less than I built; the garden is a waste, the
fence broken down, the mangoes and papaws and
oranges and tropic pears are now large trees, but
then that is .Nature's work. The houses look squalid,
dilapidated and unpainted. There are about twenty-
Yivi.