CHAPTER X.

STANLEY POOL.

Stanley Pool: history and description--River network of the Upper Congo--Mangale and Mense--European settlements--Leopoldville--Arrival of the relief expedition--Means of transport--The _Stanley_ and the mission-boats--Contention with the American Baptist Mission--Letter from Stanley to London Committee--Intervention of Commissary at Leopoldville--Transport assured--“Better than could be expected”--Deficiency of food and reported famine--Vanguard despatched under Major Barttelot--Embarkation at Inchassa--On the way to the Aruwimi.

A glance at the map at once makes it evident that the Congo, before making its way to the wild ravines of the falls, opens out into a large expanse of about nine square miles, approaching to the circular in form, on which Stanley has bestowed his own name, designating it “Stanley Pool.”

In all the narratives of the Congo exploration no name is of more frequent occurrence than that of this important lake; no place has been more repeatedly the subject of dispute, as none can have a greater political significance, whilst nowhere has the progress of European occupation been more rapid. Stanley Pool, in fact, is the common port of all the navigable highways above it; it is the terminus of what is one of the finest network of rivers in the world, offering for the development of steam navigation a course which in various directions has been surveyed for over 8000 miles.

Hence steamers can have access to not a few of the most fertile and populous regions of Central Africa. To Stanley Falls and the Aruwimi the route lies along the Congo itself; by the Kasai and Sankullu the way is open to the territory of the Bashilangé and the Baluba; by the Chuapa to the heart of the Balolo country; by the Lomami to the confines of Nyangwe and Urua; and by the Mobangi-Welle to the land of the Niam-niam. A survey is about to be made of the Bounga, through French Congo, and there is little doubt that it will be proved to lead to the foot of the high plateau of the Adamawa, of the fertility of which Bart and Flégel have said so much.

It was on the 12th of March 1877 that Stanley, while on his way from Nyangwe, discovered the Pool. Four years later, when he was in command of the first expedition sent out by the Society for the Investigation of the Upper Congo, he returned thither accompanied by Captain Braconnier and Lieut. Valcke, and finding the right-hand bank occupied by a French station that had been established some months previously by M. de Brazza, he crossed over to the southern side and founded Leopoldville.

The route now lay open. Missionaries and merchants have not been slack in keeping pace with the explorers, and this they have accomplished with such effect that in a district where twelve years ago the white man was unknown, there are now eight European settlements; while the waters of the river which had hitherto borne but the rude craft of the natives are now navigated by no less than nineteen steamers, seven belonging to the Free State, three to the French colony, two to missionaries, and seven to various mercantile firms.

[Illustration: VIEW OF LEOPOLDVILLE IN 1885.

(_From a sketch by M. Manduan._)]

“There are few more charming sights,” Captain Thys has written, “than that enjoyed after a tedious and toilsome march of seventeen days through the region of the Falls, when on attaining the height of Leopoldville the wide panorama mirrored in Stanley Pool bursts upon the view. The lake lies expanded as an inland sea, and is enclosed by wooded hills of which the outline becomes indistinct in the blue perspective. First, turning to the far extremity of the widespread water, the eye rests upon the island of Bamu, looking like an elongation of the Kalina point; the landscape beyond is bounded by the heights on the French shore, which are clothed with verdure, and which are in close proximity to some rugged white rocks to which Stanley, on account of some resemblance which he traced, gave the name of “Dover Cliffs.” On the north shore, the French settlement of Brazzaville comes clearly in view, as well as the stores of the firm of Daumas, Béraud & Co. at Mfua. The opposite bank is lower but equally wooded, and nestling among surrounding plantations can be descried the houses of Kinchassa, the Kintamo village, whose chief, Ngaliema, plays so important a part in the story of the foundation of the Free State. Nearest of all, close at our feet, are the buildings of Leopoldville.”

Away to the south-east, between twenty and thirty miles, there stands a mountainous elevation of so striking a form that it cannot fail to arrest the attention of the traveller. It is the highest point of the semicircle of hills forming the southern enclosure of the Pool, and has been named “Mense Peak,” in compliment to one of the resident doctors in Leopoldville. The surrounding district of Manquelê, from a geological point of view, is exceptionally curious. It is a succession of white eminences of the most rugged character--inaccessible precipices, Pyrenean circles, needle-like projections, fantastic monoliths all combine to make so wonderful a scene that the Swedish traveller, Von Schwerin, who was the first to investigate it, has predicted it will ultimately become what Yellowstone Park is to the Rocky Mountains--an object of excursion for tourists in search of the picturesque.

All around the Pool the country is very fertile, slightly undulated, and clothed with savannahs intersected by belts of forest. Except towards the interior, where the aggregation is more considerable, it is not populous. The native residents are very much mixed. The French shore is occupied by the Bateke, with an admixture of the Babwendi; whilst on the Free State side the Wabundu, who are the true owners of the soil, are amalgamated with the Bateke who have emigrated downwards. The former recognise the supremacy of the Makoko of Mbé, the Wabundu acknowledging the rule of the Makoko of Wazanzi.

There are four separate establishments of Europeans on Stanley Pool. Of these, the first is at Brazzaville, being the French settlement at the lower outlet, the residence of the officer in charge, and the depository of the Daumas firm. The second station is at Leopoldville, on the opposite shore, comprising the Free State settlement, and being the headquarters of the Commissioner of the district. Here also is the centre of the American Baptist Missionary Union. The third station is at Kinchassa, some little distance from Leopoldville. For a while it was a Free State station, but is now occupied by the English Baptist Mission, under the direction of the well-known explorer, the Rev. George Grenfell. It is likewise used by a Rotterdam association as a Dutch factory, and there is likewise an agency of the Belgian Society for Trade in the Upper Congo. The other settlement is that of Kimpoko, on the southern shore, at the entrance of the Pool, and has been appropriated by the American Mission in charge of Bishop Taylor.

Of all these, Leopoldville is considerably the most important. On the slope of a hill a kind of terrace has been formed, where, amidst bananas, mangoes, papaws, palms, and other fruiting trees, stand two lines of dwelling-houses, with their accessory stores and other erections. The hill-sides and the valleys have all been put under cultivation--fine plantations of manioc, maize, rice, haricots, sweet potatoes, coffee, and cocoa covering an area of somewhere about seventy acres. As to vegetables, no European garden could make a much finer or more varied display--peas, cabbages, lettuces, onions, leeks, radishes, carrots all flourish. A little way apart are the enclosures for goats and for donkeys, shelters for larger cattle being in course of construction. Beyond these are clusters of huts of all shapes and dimensions, the homes of the natives and the barracks of the Haoussa and Bangala soldiers; whilst, finally, down by the water’s side, there are the carpenters’, blacksmiths’, and engineers’ work-sheds, in which steamers are built and repaired with a bustle and activity that would not discredit any European dockyard.

Regularly every morning as the day dawns, the bell sounds and the negro trumpeter blows his matutinal réveille. The whole settlement awakes, and both terraces and huts are at once full of animation: groups of labourers hasten to the plantations; the goods in the storehouses, delivered the day before, are unpacked; at the forges the sturdy negroes, half naked, wield their ponderous hammers; meanwhile, at the military quarters, the cannibal Bangala are being drilled by European officers, and trained in the use of breechloaders.

It only bides the time for the railway to be opened with Stanley Pool for its terminus, and a brilliant future must be before the land: the arrival of the first locomotive will be greeted with unbounded enthusiasm. Not the least occasion is there to fear that the natives, like the Chinese some years ago, will proceed to throw rails and engine into the water; the period of their initiation into the arts of civilisation has hitherto been brief, but they have already outlived the fabulous age of the dragon with the rabbit’s eyes.

It was about noon on the 21st of April 1887 when Lieutenant Liebriechts of the Belgian Artillery, so recently arrived from Europe that he had only taken the command of the settlement on the preceding day, was made aware that there was an unusual commotion at no great distance along the caravan road. He hastened out and at once saw the immense throng, bearing their flags, and halting in the rear of the buildings of the American Mission. They were depositing their loads and preparing to camp out. The Commissioner without delay went to salute Stanley, under whom he had previously served as Controller of the station at Bolobo. He found the entire expedition in complete order and under good discipline, just commencing to clear the ground for the erection of their huts. Standing with the most undisturbed coolness, and with an air that might almost be said to betoken indifference, Stanley was superintending the proceedings; and to the eye of an ordinary observer it might seem as if he had never been away from Leopoldville, but was simply going on with the daily avocations that were engaging him while he was founding the settlement four years before.

[Illustration: THE “STANLEY” ON STANLEY POOL.]

His immediate inquiry was about the means of transport. Lower down the river he had been told that the _Stanley_ was in dock and was undergoing repairs that it would take a month to complete. This was disquieting, because beyond all others the _Stanley_ was the boat upon which he relied for the conveyance of his men. His anxiety on this point was soon relieved, when Lieutenant Liebriechts pointed out the ship lying at anchor in the harbour ready for prompt service. Alongside were the _En Avant_ and the large whale-boat, both at his disposal. Thus far, then, as regarded the vessels that had been promised by the State, all was satisfactory; and just as it was at Banana, the explorer’s good star was in the ascendant.

Besides these, anchored in the Pool, were two mission steamers, the _Peace_ and the _Henry Reed_; and it was taken for granted that the permission of their owners would be at once obtained for the use of them for a few weeks. The application being made to the Baptist Mission at Kinchassa was immediately granted, and the _Peace_ was handed over for Stanley’s use. On the other hand, when the request was made to Mr. Billington, of the American Baptist Mission, for the loan of the _Henry Reed_, it was met with a point-blank refusal.

Not used to be thwarted in the uncivilised regions through which he had passed in carrying out his enterprises, and only accustomed to give the character of the means a secondary consideration, the only reply that Stanley had to give to the denial was to send an officer with some soldiers to take possession of the boat. No doubt it was a high-handed proceeding. Stanley seemed to ignore the fact that the Pool district had been brought under legally constituted authority, and had to be shown that such violent measures could not be tolerated. A warning letter from the representative of the Free State convinced him of this, and he ordered his men to withdraw.

The Commandant of Leopoldville, however, was so thoroughly impressed with the necessity of despatching this body of 750 men forward on their way, if the maintenance of general peace were to be preserved, that he himself entered into negotiation with Mr. Billington, with the result that the steamer should be hired by the State to be entrusted by them to Stanley, who made himself responsible for all risk.

All the details of this incident are given in a letter sent by Stanley to his Committee, and published in the _Times_.

“CAMP NEAR LEOPOLDVILLE, STANLEY POOL, _April 26, 1887_.

* * * * *

“In 1881 I relieved two missionaries named Clarke and Lanceley. They had suffered a misfortune, a fire had consumed all their effects. They sent me an appeal for provisions. I provided them with a fair allowance from our own stores. They belonged to the Livingstone Inland Mission.

“In 1883 a missionary named Sims applied for a site at Stanley Pool to establish a mission of the Livingstone Inland Mission. His colleagues had vainly striven without aid from me to obtain permission from the natives. I gave an order to the chief of Leopoldville to locate Dr. Sims on a site in the neighbourhood of the station, so that, times being unsettled then, the mission could be under our immediate protection. In 1884 I extended the grounds of this mission, and also gave it a site for a branch mission at the Equator, subject, of course, to confirmation at Brussels.

“By a curious event--on arriving at Stanley Pool this time--I found myself in a position of abject suppliant for favour. His Majesty the Sovereign of this Congo State had invited me to take the Congo River route to relieve Emin Pasha at Wadelai. Provided the steamers and boats were at Stanley Pool in time, without doubt this route was by far the cheapest and best, even though food was not over abundant. I therefore accepted the invitation and came here. But I had not anticipated this distressful scarcity of food, nor the absence of steamers and boats.

“To every one at Stanley Pool it was clear that a disaster would be the consequence of this irruption of a large caravan upon a scene so unpromising as this foodless district. The only remedy for it was immediate departure up river. Long before arrival, I had sent letters of appeal to the English Baptist Mission, owners of the steamer _Peace_, and to the Livingstone Inland Mission, which is now American, and owners of the steamer _Henry Reed_, for aid to transport the expedition to Bolobo immediately upon arrival at Stanley Pool. Reports confirmatory of the state of famine in that district were daily reaching me, and immediate departure was our only means of saving life and preventing a gross scandal.

“A few days later I received a letter from a Mr. Billington, in charge of the _Henry Reed_, saying he could not lend the steamer for such purpose as he wanted to go down river--_i.e._, overland to the Lower Congo--‘for some purpose, and next month the Livingstone Inland Mission expected some missionaries, and in the interval the steamer _Henry Reed_ was to be drawn up on the slip to be repainted.’

“You will observe, as I did, that there was no question of urgency; the steamer was to lie idle on the slip for repainting while Mr. Billington should go down river....

“Meantime the starving people would be tempted to force from every native or white the food which they could not obtain by purchase; and no one knows to what extent disorder would spread. If I did my duty I should have had to repress it sternly. Still, whether my people or the natives would suffer most, it is clear that the condition of things would be deplorable.

“From the English Baptist Mission I received a letter from its chief stating that unless orders to the contrary would arrive from home that he would lend me the steamer and be happy to help me.

“Arriving at the Pool, and seeing more fully the extent of district suffering from scarcity of food, I sent Major Barttelot and Mr. Mounteney Jephson to represent more fully our desperate position to the Livingstone Inland Mission. They saw Messrs. Billington and Sims. They tell me they urged the missionaries by all the means within their power for over an hour to reconsider their refusal, and to assist us. They were said to have declined. Mr. Billington argued that he had consulted the Bible and found therein a command not to assist us....

“I consulted the Governor of Stanley Pool district, Mons. Liebriechts, and represented to him that a great scandal was inevitable unless means were devised to extricate us from the difficulty. I told him I could not be a disinterested witness to the sufferings which starvation would bring with it; that therefore a formal requisition should be made by him on the missions for the use of their steamers for a short term of, say, forty days; that the _Henry Reed_ was evidently, according to Mr. Billington’s letter, to lie idle for a period over two months; that this period could be utilised by us in saving hundreds of lives; that their objections were frivolous.... M. Liebriechts admitted that the position was desperate and extreme; that the State was also in a painful uncertainty as to whether provisions could be procured for its people each day.

“The next morning Major Barttelot and Mr. Mounteney Jephson were sent over again to the Livingstone Inland Mission to try a third appeal with Mr. Billington, who only replied that he had ‘prayerfully wrestled even unto the third watch’ against the necessity there was of refusing the _Henry Reed_. He was confirmed in his opinion that he was ‘acting wisely and well.’ Meantime it was reported to me that Mr. Billington had furtively abstracted the valves and pistons of the engines, for the purpose of hiding them. I therefore hesitated no longer, but sent a guard of Soudanese down to the steamer and another guard with Major Barttelot to demand the immediate surrender of the steamer and her belongings. Major Barttelot kept his guard without the domain of the mission and walked in alone with the letter.

“The Commissaire of the State, seeing matters becoming critical, ordered a guard to relieve the Soudanese at the steamer, and went in person to the missionaries to insist that the steamer should be surrendered to the State.

“Our guard was withdrawn upon an assurance being given that no article should be withdrawn or hidden.

“For two days the matter continued in the hands of M. Liebriechts, who at last signed a charter in due form by which the mission permits the hire of the steamer _Henry Reed_ to us for the sum of £100 sterling per month, which is at the rate of 30 per cent. per annum of her estimated value.

“But what ungrateful people some of these missionaries are! Faith they may have in super-abundance--in hope they no doubt live cheerfully; but of charity I do not find the slightest trace. However, our matter is ended, and our anxiety has abated somewhat....

“HENRY M. STANLEY.”

Lieutenant Liebriechts by his tact and firm though impartial conduct had succeeded to the satisfaction of all parties in avoiding a conflict, thus relieving the station from a position that was serious and might become dangerous. Without recourse to force or compulsion he had insured the prosecution of the rapid advance of the expedition.

This testimony is confirmed by Stanley himself in a letter which he sent to Lieutenant Liebriechts very shortly after the start from Leopoldville. “Everything,” he writes, “is going on infinitely better than could be expected, for which we owe you much gratitude.”

In fact, success so far was complete. The entire flotilla at the Pool was at Stanley’s disposal. In addition to the _Stanley_ and the Government whale-boats (which had been promised him in Brussels), the two mission steamers and the large launch of the English Baptists, he had the use of the hull of the _En Avant_, of which the engines were temporarily out of repair. Besides these, the men in the yard at Kinchassa were working hard at the repairs of the _Florida_, a steamer which had been lent for the occasion by the Sanford Exploring Expedition. They completed their task by April 29th, two days before the start. Thus, including the whale-boat, which belonged to the expedition itself, there was an aggregate of eight vessels, of which three were steamers.

All through this period of negotiation about the boats, there had been the necessity of providing food for the 750 men whose sojourn at the Pool was thus prolonged. This was no easy matter, and the days did not pass without some suffering of privation.

Some mention has been made, in connection with this occasion, of dearth and famine; but the famine was not the result of drought or of bad harvests--it was simply the result of the difficulty of getting supplies from a thinly-populated district for so large a force that had arrived without having any reserve of provisions of its own.

While the population of the European settlements at the Pool was limited the adjacent country could meet its demands; but after the resident white men exceeded the number of fifty, and their negro contingent had increased in proportion, the resources of the place failed to keep pace with the augmentation. For some years past the settlers at the Pool had been consuming all the goats, poultry, and eggs produced in the neighbourhood, and no effort had been made either by the improvident negro or by the inactive European to guard against any sudden emergency. Accordingly when there was the unexpected arrival of between 700 and 800 men in a locality where there is no regular communication with the outlying districts, some idea may be formed of the anxiety that was felt as to the finding provisions for such a multitude during the ten days that the expedition was compelled to tarry at Leopoldville and Kinchassa.

[Illustration: AT LEOPOLDVILLE.--CAPTURE OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS.

(_From a Photography by Rev. George Grenfell._)]

On the 25th of April the _Stanley_ was declared to be ready. Under the command of Major Barttelot and Dr. Parke, 153 men were embarked and sent in advance towards Msuata, a place between the Pool and the confluence of the Masai, where it was reported that there was plenty of food. Detachments of hippopotamus-hunters were sent out to scour the country, and were fairly successful in getting a supply of meat. But as for chicuangue (the manioc-bread, which is ordinarily brought in by the natives from the neighbouring villages), for some days there was absolutely none to be had. Just as in the region of the Falls, the natives here at the Pool had taken alarm at the approach of a prodigious armed force in strange costume, and had fled in consternation. The flight was so general, and the consequent difficulty of securing provisions was so aggravated, that Lieutenant Liebriechts considered it prudent to send off a detachment of about fifteen soldiers, under Lieutenant von Reichslin, his second in command, to explain the true state of things to the chiefs, and to assure them that they had no cause for alarm.

Nothing, however, quite prevailed to pacify the native mind. The people very gradually, and with a cautious hesitation, made their way back, and it was not until the entire expedition had taken its departure that the country reassumed its ordinary quiet, and that the accustomed supply of provisions became adequate to the demand.

The means of transport being thus happily secured, the crisis was not of long duration; but while it lasted the panic was considerable, and Stanley had good reason for his subsequent message--“Everything is going on infinitely better than could be expected.”

In course of time the usual order of things was restored, and six weeks after the disappearance of the “Relief-hurricane,” as the expedition was nicknamed on the Lower Congo, the manager of the French store at Brazzaville was able to send off to Matadi 100 porters loaded with ivory without a single soldier to escort them.

At length all was ready. Stanley had moved his encampment from Leopoldville to Kinchassa, where the whole flotilla was collected on the evening of April 30th.

Early next morning the embarkation commenced in front of the Dutch factory. The English mission steamer, the _Peace_, was selected as flag-ship of the chief of the expedition, and was made to take in tow both the large Government launch on one side, and the expedition whale-boat on the other, the three vessels collectively carrying 117 men and 100 loads. The _Stanley_ was attached to the steamship _Florida_, both being placed under the command of Captain Schaegestrom of the Free State Navy, and together conveying 364 men, 500 loads, the nine donkeys, and a flock of goats. Lastly, there was the _Henry Reed_, which had in tow the hull of the _En Avant_ and the English Mission whale-boat, and was under the orders of Captain Martini. This third contingent carried 131 men and 100 loads, Tippoo Tip and his women-folk, to the number of fifteen, occupying the _En Avant_.

By 6.30 A.M. the last load was embarked: the Europeans went on board: Stanley gave the signal; the _Henry Reed_ weighed anchor; the _Stanley_ followed; the _Peace_ brought up the rear; and in a few minutes the whole flotilla was lost to view behind the islands.

This was not the first expedition that the river-side population of the Upper Congo had seen passing between its shores. The former one in 1883, composed of the steamers the _Royal_, the _En Avant_, and the _Association Internationale_, had borne the blue banner, spangled with gold, and had peacefully opened the way for European enterprise into the heart of Africa; and now, four years later, along that same route that had been kept open by vast effort and large sacrifice, beneath the same banner and under the same command another like expedition passes on, carrying help to two valiant champions in Africa’s cause, who have been lost to sight in the far distant district of the sources of the Nile.