THE NATION - JUNE 19th 1884
TRUTH ABOUT THE CONGO.
The interesting interview with Captain Braconnier, published in the Herald on Monday, while it does not throw any absolutely new light on the purposes of the African International Association, brings out one or two points which are of considerable interest to all Americans who are thinking of the possibility of our “taking a hand” in the development of the “dark Continent.” Braconnier is a Belgian officer who was selected by King Leopold to assist Stanley on the Congo, and has spent three years and a half in the country.
He reports, first, that no European can live in the country, on account of the fevers. The climate is fatal to most strangers who remain there for more than two years. This does not prevent the establishment of trading posts, but makes it very doubtful whether any permanent European occupation like that of India is possible. As to commerce, he declares that Stanley, in his account of the river, has drawn upon his imagination for some of his facts. The river can be ascended no further than Nokki or Mokki, about eighty-five miles from its mouth; beyond this rapids spoil everything. In this part of the river the travellers are obliged constantly to leave it for the land.
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“Steam launches drawing barely two and a half feet of water have had to be dragged along by our men. A whaleboat, the Eclaireur, about one and a half feet under water, often grazed the bottom. From Kuamoth (the new station at the junction of the Congo and Kuango) north to Bdldbó and Equator Station, the river seems a hopeless confusion of sand banks, rocks, islands, and rapids. Rut perhaps when soundings have been made more thoroughly a better channel may be found than we have yet discovered.”
Then, as to the crops, the truthful Captain says: “We have been disappointed, too, in the native products.” There is ivory, but not so much’ as was expected. “We have not yet discovered the great ivory- producing country. Even the natives we have met don’t seem to know it. India-rubber is much scarcer in the interior than we thought. Peanuts are also scarce, but might easily be grown, as the soil all along the river is wonderfully rich. I don’t see why three crops of not only peanuts, but maize, millet, or wheat should not some day be raised every year. Attempts to introduce European grains have been made at all the International stations. At the outset all failed, the stations standing on virgin soil, overrun with thick, rank grass and all but impenetrable bush and swarming with insects of every kind, which will have to be burhed out or otherwise utterly destroyed. I should say if this were done, after two or three years’ clearing, all African or European grains, as well as potatoes, would thrive. Great care, by the by, must be taken to protect the Enropean seeds and grain from the sun, while allowing them plenty of air. This is done on the Congo by putting them into ester stands raised ahout two yards above the ground on trestles. We have found plenty of maize, manioca, millet, sago, bananas, pineapples, and lemons. Of gold and silver we have seen no trace. But there is some copper and probably a good deal ot iron, for the ground is ferruginous. All the ivory is bronght down the Congo from the far interior, passing through a great many hands on the way.”
As to territorial rights and international law, there is the same trouble in finding them on the Congo that Artemus Ward had in getting any “monicky” in Canada. There are none there. Captain Braconnier gives the following admirable account of the condition of the native mind as to all such matters. It strongly recalls the state of things on the continent at the time of its first settlement:
"They think there is one great country all the whites come from, called ‘Umputu,’ and that it is ruled by one great King, ‘Fumokoubamoundela,’ the King of the Belgians. As to territorial rights they neither understand nor have the faintest intention of admitting such a thing as a ‘cession of territory.’ If you speak of such a thing they take up a handtul of earth and say ‘God gave it to our chief. Our chief has given it to us.’ Any one can settle on a patch of ground, however, not already occupied, and cultivate it. We of the International Association bave never bought ground of the natives. We have invariably rented it - for an indefinite time. This kind of contract they understand perfectly. They admit that, in return for a periodic payment of stuffs, copper, guns, sham pearls, and so on, strangers have the right to settle on a tract of country. Stanley has explained the idea to them a score of times, and I twice as often at least.”
Any savage can understand this’; what he does not understand is that after a time the period of payment will cease, while the occupation will continue. The fact, however, shows how ridiculous “treaties” in such a country must be.
Another point not to be overlooked is that, like the Sudan, the Congo country is a great slave country. When we hear of great “trade routes” in the interior of Africa, what is meant most often is slave-trade routes. Captain Braconnier Cays that not only is the slave trade flourishing in great vigor on the upper Congo, but the condition of slavery is regarded by the slaves themselves as natural and proper; they do not want to be liberated, for they get in return for their involuntary labor protection in life and limb; their master does for them what the police do for us.
If there is any lesson or conclusion to be drawn from all this for Americans, it is how fortunate is that country which has least to do with the “dark Continent.” The work that Braconnier, Be Brazza, and Stanley are canying on is not so much one of settlement as of exploration and adventure. It is as yet by no means certain how far the possession of the interior of Africa would be a boon to any civilized government, and in the rivalry for its possession by England, Portugal, Belgium, and France, it is obvious that the old game that was played with the red man by our ancestors, and by Clive and Hastings with the East Indians will be played over again—the game of treaties, war, and mock philanthropy as a cover for treachery, stratagems, and systematic spoiling of the easily deceived natives. The matter will be complicated by the slavery question, as the position of England in the Sudan has been. It is a very awkward thing when an anti-slavery country goes colonizing in a slave country. How fortunate for us that we have no stake in Africa, and that so far as we are concerned it can only be regarded as a promising field for innocent journalistic enterprise.