*™ £ - with the lessons derived from a rough campaign in
Africa.
From among their ranks the worthiest men advance
steadily to the front, fit to do anything or go anywhere,”
as the English say when with laudation of their
gallant soldiers they close their festivals, I name these
at random, not necessarily according to merit: Captain
Hanssens, Lieuts. Valcke, Janssen, Parfoury, G-rang,
Vangele, Coquilhat, Destrain, Dr. Allard, &c.
Captain Hanssens, besides the mechanical duty of
paying exact military obedience, possesses the commendable
forward spirit of proving himself above the
common place. His impulse is to aspire to show his
fitness and capacity, With a lofty mind he overcomes
the harsh unlovely matter of his Surroundings, and
disdains to notice the numberless wearying though
trivial impediments to the perfect enjoyment of the life
he has chosen. Before adventuring into the region he
seems to have taken pains to reflect upon the character
of the life he was to lead, and clothed himself with the
only armour that would he proof against the pitiful
circumstances that he would meet, viz., an honourable
moral courage. He comes amongst us well prepared
to find that as yet there are no grand hotels with their
captivating menus and luxurious chambers. Therefore
he enters his tent or his thatched cabin and seats
himself between mud walls with a collected dignity as
though he had a life-long experience of the camp of
a pioneer. I f he is ordered on an expedition into
unknown districts to build stations he sets about it in
a workmanlike manner f he omits nothing in the memo- European
randa, from a needle to a rifle; and when he departs
the compactness and completeness of his column is our
assurance of his success, and we hear no more of him
until we receive his happy bulletin.
Eieut. Valcke was an earlier comer into our ranks—
a mere youth from the engineer corps, wherein, strange
to say. Captain Hanssens was his examiner. His first
essay in pioneering was but feeble. He was asked to
blast about a dozen rocks that were in the roadway at
goma* He-fell sick, and was afterwards put in charge
of our first camp at Isangila, where his inexperience
of practical details in the conduct of the camp and continued
ill-health caused him to be sent back to Vivi.
Kept there for six months to acquire a little more
experience, he was then permitted to join the advance
party. He was taken to Stanley Pool on a reconnaissance,
where we learned that a few more articles of
finery would be a boon, and consequently he was despatched
to Loanda to purchase these; and to return
with them as quickly as possible. He bought the goods
and shipped them to me, but he himself, falling ill
again, departed homewards.
I have no further knowledge of him until eighteen
months later, in January 1883. He has grown more
anly m appearance, and, though doubting his ability,
despatch him on a little mission, which I am compelled
to admit is well performed. I try him in a
different field, and here also, although it is unusual
or him, there is an exhibition of intelligence and