Chapter I: Preface

Nearly a generation has passed since King Leopold was entrusted by the great Powers with the sovereignty of the Congo Free State. The conscience of Christendom had been shocked by the stories, brought back by Stanley and other travellers, of Arab slave raids on the Upper Congo; King Leopold, coming forward with the strongest assurances of philanthropic motive, was welcomed as the champion of the negro, who should bring peace and the highest blessings of civilization to the vast territory thus placed under his sway. For many succeeding years it was supposed that this work of deliverance, of regeneration, was being prosecuted with all diligence; the power of the slave traders was broken, towns were built, roads made, railways opened--none of the outward signs of material progress were wanting.

But of late the civilized world has been horrified to find that this imposing structure has been cemented with the life blood of the Congo races; that the material improvements to which the administrators of Congoland can point, have been purchased by an appalling amount of suffering inflicted upon the hapless negroes. The collection of rubber, on which the whole fabric of Congo finance rests, involves a disregard of liberty, an indifference to suffering, a destruction of human life, almost inconceivable. Those who best know the country estimate that the population is annually reduced, under King Leopold's rule, by at least a hundred thousand. No great war, no famine, no pestilence in the world's history has been so merciless a scourge as civilization in Congoland.

Yet owing to mutual jealousies, the Powers are slow to take action, and while they hesitate to intervene, the population of this great region, nearly as large as Europe, is fast disappearing.

It has been my aim in this book to show, within necessary limitations, what the effect of the white man's rule has been.

If any reader should be tempted to imagine that the picture here drawn is overcoloured, I would commend him to the publications issued by Mr. E. D. Morel and his co-workers of the Congo Reform Association, with every confidence that the cause of the Congo native will thereby gain a new adherent.

I must express my very great thanks to the Rev. J. H. Harris and Mrs. Harris, who have spent several years on the Upper Congo, for their kindness in reading the manuscript and revising the proofs of this book, and for many most helpful suggestions and criticisms.

HERBERT STRANG.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

The Coming of the White Man

CHAPTER II

"Rubber is Death"

CHAPTER III

Monsieur Elbel

CHAPTER IV

Night Alarms

CHAPTER V

The Order of Merit

CHAPTER VI

Samba is Missing

CHAPTER VII

Blood Brothers

CHAPTER VIII

Jack in Command

CHAPTER IX

Samba Meets the Little Men

CHAPTER X

A Trip with a Crocodile

CHAPTER XI

Bula Matadi Comes to Ilola

CHAPTER XII

Samba comes Back

CHAPTER XIII

"Honour thy Father and thy Mother"

CHAPTER XIV

Lokolobolo's First Fight

CHAPTER XV

A Revolt at Ilola

CHAPTER XVI

The House by the Water

CHAPTER XVII

A Buffalo Hunt

CHAPTER XVIII

Elbel's Barrels

CHAPTER XIX

Breaking the Blockade

CHAPTER XX

David and Goliath

CHAPTER XXI

A Dash and all Together

CHAPTER XXII

A Message and a Meeting

CHAPTER XXIII

Elbel Squares Accounts

CHAPTER XXIV

A Solemn Charge

CHAPTER XXV

A Break for Liberty

CHAPTER XXVI

Turning the Tables

CHAPTER XXVII

The Return of Lokolobolo

CHAPTER XXVIII

The Chicotte

Chapter XXIX

Reaping the Whirlwind

Chapter XXX

Sinews of War

Chapter XXXI

Summons and Surrender

Chapter XXXII

The Dawn of Freedom

Chapter XXXIII

Conclusion

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE

I Samba and the Crocodile . . . . . . _Frontispiece_

II The Finding of Samba

III A Midnight Encounter

IV Jack Turns the Tables

V Jack Rushes Elbel's Camp

VI Samba Rescued from the Burning Hut

Ilombekabasi and surrounding Country, showing Elbel's first
camp in foreground

Ilombekabasi and surrounding country, showing the diverted
stream and Elbel's third camp

"Every boy and youth is, in his mind and sentiments, a knight, and essentially a son of chivalry. Nature is fine in him.... As long as there have been, or shall be, young men to grow up to maturity; and until all youthful life shall be dead, and its source withered for ever; so long must there have been, and must there continue to be, the spirit of noble chivalry. To understand therefore this first and, as it were, natural chivalry, we have only to observe the features of the youthful age, of which examples surround us."

EDWARD FITZGERALD.