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Another great river. — The great river that this new part of your map shows is called the Congo River. Even before you see pictures and read stories of the lands along the Congo, you can learn something about the Congo from the map. First of all you can see that several large rivers join the Congo River. How does your map show you this? Remember that going downstream on the Tigris means going toward the sea into which the Tigris flows. Going downstream on the Nile means going toward the sea into which the Nile flows. Going downstream on the Congo means going toward the sea into which it flows. To go down the entire Nile, you go from its southern to its northern end. To go down the Tigris you go in the opposite direction, from its northern to its southern end. Your map shows you that the Congo flows into the sea that is west of the Congo region. Going down the entire Congo means going from its eastern to its western end. Move your pencil point downstream along the signs for the Congo River and its branches. At Lake Victoria are you nearer the east end or the west end of the river? Then the part of the Congo nearest Lake Victoria is the upstream part. Your journey will be down the Congo to the western sea. Which is higher, the land at the eastern end of the Congo, or the land at the western end? How do you know? (P. 48., use your back button to return here) The land between Lake Victoria and the upper Congo. — The village shown in Figure 81 is on the shore of Lake Victoria, not far from the place where the White Nile flows from the lake. Where else have you seen houses somewhat like those in this little town? Do you think this place is a pleasant one for a village? Why? From what you have learned about the people along the White Nile, tell some ways in which you think the villagers here may make their livings. What do you think they may get from the lake? How might they go from this village to other villages along the shore of Lake Victoria? Will the signs for Lake Victoria on your maps now remind you of this scene? Notice that the trees here are unlike those you have seen in other lands. As you read the stories of the Congo region, you will learn how useful some of these trees are to the natives. The pictures in Figures 81, 82, 83, and 84 give you some idea of the country you would find between Lake Victoria and the upper Congo. It is a land of large lakes, high mountains, forests, and grassy plains. Which of the pictures show mountains? Forests and grassy plains? Part of a lake? Some of the mountains in this region are so high that on their tops there is always snow. The people live much as they do along the upper White Nile. In one of the pictures you can find a hunter ready to start on a hunting trip. In another you can find hunters bringing home the skull of an elephant they have killed. The long ivory tusks attached to the skull are very valuable. Can you see them in the picture? Something to do. — If you do not know what a diary is, find out from a dictionary. The following pages are parts of the diary of a white boy traveling with his father in the Congo region. The stories tell in his words what he saw in many places. At times he was on the main Congo, and at other times on the branches. This boy’s diary tells you many things you would see on your trip down the Congo. As you read the diary, ask yourself, from time to time, these questions: 1. Why do the people in this land live as they do?
Of course, these stories do not answer these questions, but in them you can find facts which should help you to think of good answers. Notice the date of the first story in the boy’s diary. Notice the first sentence in the second paragraph under this date. What does this show you? Notice the dates of the other stories, too January 3: A day on a Congo steamer. — "This is my first day on a Congo River steamer. We came aboard the steamer about eight o’clock in the morning, but the boat did not start till ten because a heavy fog hung over the river. It was so dense that the captain could not see to guide his vessel till it partly cleared away. Our steamer is small. On the deck there is just enough spare room for five of us to sit. There was very little that we could do in so small a space, but along the river there was plenty to see. About eleven o’clock we came to a place where the stream is two miles wide and there are many islands in the river. Forests grow on some of these islands, but others are covered just with tall grass. I counted fifteen hippopotami together on a sand bank at the edge of one of these grassy islands, and I saw many groups of five or six. Most of them lay in the water with only their ugly heads in view. There were more crocodiles than there were hippopotami. I watched for elephants, but did not see any. The captain says he sometimes sees them along this part of the river, especially in places where there are open, grassy spots, instead of forests, near the banks. "By noon, the sun was high in the southern sky, and it was very hot on the deck of our little boat. By two o’clock we were in a narrow part of the river. It was not more than half a mile between the forest on one bank and the forest on the other bank. I was standing just behind the helmsman helping to kill the ifies that bothered him, when there was a sudden jar that almost threw me down. Our boat had struck one of the big branches of a tree that had fallen into the river. Fortunately, no damage was done. "On both banks, the trees seemed to rise from the edge of the water and to form a solid green wall. Here and there on the forest wall were patches of bright red flowers. Long vines and creepers hung from tree to tree. I watched several troops of monkeys swing along through the trees. Most of them were black and white. "About five o’clock we began to watch for the place where we were to anchor for the night. The boat does not sail at night because it is hard to see the snags and sand bars when it is dark. Soon, on the right bank, we saw a pile of wood and a deared place near-by. Our steamer burns wood and the pile on the shore had been cut for us by the natives. When our boat was near the bank, Gandu, one of our crew, leaped to the shore with a light anchor, and in a few moments the vessel was fastened to the bank. The other men in the crew carried the bedding ashore, and put up little shelters of cotton cloth to protect them from the mosquitoes during the night. With fire-brands from the furnace of the boat, they started a fire and cooked the evening meal. Back of them was tall grass, and farther back, the great forest. I expected to see the natives who cut the wood, but they were not there. The captain will leave fish, bananas, cotton cloth, and knives to pay them for the wood which we took." February 8: Congo fishermen and their ways. — "To-day I have seen some queer rafts, and more natives fishing than on any other day. Not long after we started this morning we passed several rafts of logs. Each of them had been made by putting three large logs side by side and tying them together with vines. They were so low in the river that sometimes the water swept right across them. The men who sat on these rafts guided them with paddles. "Instead of using nets or wicker basket fish traps like those used by the natives we have seen before, the fishermen we saw today were spearing fish. Their boats are long, narrow canoes made by hollowing out big logs. In these boats they paddled to places in the river where many fish were feeding on clumps of water plants, and captured them with their spears. The fish they speared were large. At two places along the shore, boys were fishing with poles and lines. One boy was watching several lines at once. He had tied one end of each line to a low branch that would bend easily. He had baited the other ends of the lines and had thrown them into the river. When a fish bit, the branch bent enough so that a jerk did not break the line. "On a sand bank in the middle of the river other natives were smoking fish over great wood fires. Some of these natives paddled toward our steamer, holding up their fish to show that they wanted us to buy them. Our crew all wanted some. Bambala paid for his with a piece of cotton cloth, and Moamba gave for his an empty glass bottle which we had given him. We paid for ours with salt. We ate the ones we bought and found that the wood smoke had given them a good flavor. Even smoked fish, however, spoils very quickly in this hot, wet land where there are so many insects." March 26: A storm. —" My father told me this morning, soon after the steamer started, that perhaps I could see something to-day that I never could see at home. He said that at noon the sun would be straight above my head, at the zenith. Each noon since we started on our journey in the Congo region, the sun has been very high in the sky, but it has always been south of the zenith. My father smoked a piece of glass for me to look through so I could watch the sun without hurting my eyes. At ten o’clock, the sun was about two-thirds of the way up between the eastern horizon and the zenith. The day was very hot. We hoped it would not rain as it had done on so many days since we started, but a few minutes before eleven o’clock clouds began to gather in the east. Soon we could hear thunder far off. It thundered louder and louder, the on-coming clouds grew black, and several times the lightning seemed to strike very near us. Our steamer had not quite reached the shore of the river when the wind struck it. For a moment it seemed that our vessel would be capsized. Great drops of rain began to fall, and by the time the men could get the boat fastened to the shore, it was raining harder than I had ever seen it rain before. By noon, the worst of the storm was over, but it kept on raining till late in the afternoon. About half past five the sun came out again, but of course by that time it was very low in the western sky. The storm had made me miss the chance to see the sun straight overhead." May 30: A Congo village. —" We have stayed two weeks in this village because my father has found many things here which he wants to collect for the museum at home. I like it better than any other village we have visited. When the natives cleared this spot in the forest for their town, they left all the oil palms and the raphia palms standing. These trees shade the houses and are useful in many other ways. The houses are about twelve feet long and eight feet wide, and have sloping roofs. The walls are made of the stems of palm leaves. Some of the roofs also are made of palm-leaf stems, while others are thatched with banana leaves. "Kanda is a boy about my size, and I have been in Kanda’s house. His bed is made of rough logs covered with a mat woven from the fibers of palm trees. In one corner hangs a box in which Kanda’s mother puts food to keep it away from mice. Kanda’s father had piled his hunting nets, spears, bows, and arrows in another corner. Sticks were pushed into the wall in several places, and cooking pots and baskets were hanging on them. Kanda’s mother and the other women in the village plant and take care of the corn and manioc in the fields that have been cleared near the village. I have made drawings to show the oil palm, the banana tree, and the manioc plant, because they are all so useful to these people.¹ "Kanda’s mother pounds the roots of the manioc to make flour, and from the flour she makes dough. This is rolled, cut into pieces, and wrapped in green leaves. Kanda likes it raw, but he likes it still better when it is heated in palm oil. This food is called ‘chikwanga.’ With it he likes to eat bananas, and to drink the sweet sap of the raphia palm. "The palm oil comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree. Kanda’s father and the other men climb up the oil palm trees and cut off the large bunches of fruit that grow at the top. Each fruit is about the size of a date. Between the skin and the kernel is the oil. Men put the fruit in a wooden trough, and tramp on it to crush out the oil. "The streets of the village are wide. Besides the houses there are sheds which shelter men from rain or the hot sun as they work. I went with Kanda to see the blacksmith who works in one of these sheds. Ponga, Bilumbu, and other black boys and girls were there, too, watching him make arrows, spearheads, knives, and iron bracelets. In another shed, we saw men weaving cloth from the fiber of the palm leaves. On this cloth the women embroider pretty patterns with colored fibers. Several times I saw men sitting in the shade of the banana trees, using the fibers from the palm trees and banana trees to make bowstrings, nets, and fishing lines. "Kanda can shoot well with a bow and arrow, and he can fish. He plays sometimes with toys which his father has carved for him out of wood. He also plays games with small cubes which he has cut from the stems of banana leaves. Many of the stories that the older people of the village have told him are fables about the animals that they hunt. He likes this one best: "One day the elephant met the mouse on a path in the jungle. "Out of my way," the mouse called. "It is your place to get out of the road," said the elephant. "May the long grass cut your legs," the mouse angrily retorted. "May you meet your death when you walk in the road," replied the elephant, and with that he crushed the mouse under his huge foot. From that day to this, the wishes of the mouse and elephant have been fulfilled. The long grass often wounds the elephant, and mice are often killed when they walk in the jungle paths.’" June 23: Pygmies. —" At last I have seen some forest pygmies and their homes. In one village which we visited we saw an arrow sticking in thç stem of a bunch of bananas. We asked why it was there, and the chief of the village told us that one of the little hunters of the woods had shot it into the stem. It meant that later the pygmy would come and take that bunch of bananas. He would try to come when nobody saw him, for these little people are shy. To pay for the bananas, he would bring meat from somç animal he had killed and he would leave the meat fastened to the banana tree. After that I wanted to see a pygmy more• than anything else in this region. - "We, marched two days in the forest before we came to a pygmy village. The path is so narrow that we walked single file. The tall trees are close together and shut out so much light that it was very gloomy. There are a great many kinds of trees in a small space. I saw one very large vine, called a rubber vine, growing in this forest. Some rubber vines are more than a hundred feet long, and the bottom part of the stem is six inches through. They climb to the tops of the trees and spread out over the highest branches. The sap which is taken from these vines hardens into rubber, and natives gather this rubber to sell to white men. The path winds and twists so that we could see only a little way ahead of us, and we could see only a few feet into the gloomy woods at the sides of the path. Vines and bushes hang so low over the trail in places that we had to brush them aside. In the early morning and in the late afternoon, the bushes were so wet that our clothes were soaked from brushing against them. We did not need a smoked glass with which to look at the sun here. We knew that at noon the sun was north of our zenith, more than three-fourths of the way up from the northern horizon to the zenith, but it was hard to see it through the thick cover of leaves above us. Walking through the forest is hard work, especially when the paths lead uphill. The air is damp and hot, like the air in a hot-house. If you carry a gun uncovered, it rusts in a short time. If it were not for the bright birds and butterflies and the monkeys, the forest would be even more dismal than it is. "In the pygmy village, we found there were eight little dome-shaped huts. We ‘found only one family at home. The man was about four and a half feet tall, and the huts were no taller than he was. The low openings into the huts were not more than two feet high. These were the poorest homes we had seen. They were nearly all roof. To build one, the pygmies stick the thick ends of branches into the ground, so that they make a circular fence. Then they bend the branches over and fasten them to form a dome. In and out among the branches which form this dome they weave vines and other branches, and then cover it all with leaves or bark. "The pygmies are hunters. They wear almost no clothes. They live on the flesh of the animals they kill, on fish, wild honey, and the seeds and roots of wild plants. Sometimes, they trade with men of other tribes. They exchange meat for bananas, arrowheads, and spears." ¹These drawings are copied in Figure 85. Figure 86 is a picture of a "clearing" in a forest near the Congo. The natives are raising bananas, manioc, and rice among the trees which they left standing. With the help of the boy’s drawings of banana and manioc plants, find those plants in the picture. The rice in the picture looks like grass. Figure 87. is a picture of a village near the Congo, somewhat like the one which the boy who wrote the diary visited.
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