Five Years with the Congo Cannibals

With pen and pencil I collected, from 1884. until 1889, a few details and phases of everyday life among the uncivilized races of Congo-land, Having familiarized myself with the three most popular languages of a portion of that country — the Kikongo, spoken by the Lower Congo tribes; the Kibangi, of the Upper Congo; and Kiswahili, the language of Tippo Tib's Arab followers at Stanley Falls — I was in a position to obtain information direct from the people. During those years I was the recipient of much generous hospitality from many Europeans, particularly the Baptist missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Ingham, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke, Mr, Grenfell, and Mr. Bentley. The recollection of my many friends and companions on the Congo will ever afford the brightest landmark of my life in Africa. But, alas! many of those friends have been stricken down with fever and now lie buried there, others are still toiling there, and the remainder are scattered about the world. In the spring of 1887, while still in Africa, I became a member of Mr. Henry M. Stanley's Emin Pacha Kelief Expedition, and was subsequently one of the five officers in Yambuya Camp on the Aruimi River. The subject-matter of this volume is confined to matters illustrative of native life in Congo-land, a brief outline of my connection with some of the tragic events which befell this portion of Mr. Stanley's expedition, known as the Rear Guard, may not be considered out of place.