The World and Its People Part 14

While pa.s.sing these "green-walled straits," Stanley had an experience with one of the violent storms sometimes met with in a tropical country.

With a sudden rustle and roar, as though mile after mile of forest were buffeted by a mighty whirlwind, such a storm begins.

The river, which a moment before was like gla.s.s, now becomes disturbed by waves, which increase in size and strength each minute.

Huge trees, holding their burdens of parasites and creepers, sway to and fro, and shriek and moan, as if in mortal agony.

The wind sweeps the leaves before it in perfect clouds, and then down comes the rain.

Not a gentle shower, but a genuine rain of the tropics. It drenches one to the skin in a twinkling. It pelts one with hailstones as large as marbles.

The ground, which, perhaps, was parched and dry but a moment ago, is now covered with running water. The gra.s.s, which was like dry tinder an hour before, is replaced by the vegetation about it, which now begins to revive under the action of the life-giving bounty of Heaven.

Gathering force from the four quarters of the globe, the clouds have first merged, then burst directly overhead, to let fall a flood of water, which is precipitated to the earth as rain,--a tropical rain!

Man and beast must alike seek shelter from the fury of such a tempest, whether its force is felt on the open savanna or amid a forest of trees groaning under the strain of the gigantic wind and the weight of the mighty flood descending from the sky.

In an hour the clouds have scattered, the hail and the rain have ceased.

The gusts of wind grow fainter and fainter. The gentle patter of the drops as they fall from leaf to leaf, the rapid streams, and the shattered boughs are but the few footprints that mark the track of the storm.

The sky is as blue, the sun is as fierce as ever; the thermometer ranges higher and higher; the last solitary trace of the storm cloud vanishes below the horizon, and the storm departs as suddenly as it arrived.

Such, then, is a tropical tornado!

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE CONGO FREE STATE.

As Stanley's little fleet puffed its way higher and higher up the stream of the mighty Congo, richer and richer appeared the country through which the expedition was pa.s.sing.

The soil seemed almost black, so filled was it with decomposed vegetable matter, and its fertile appearance was unparalleled by anything which Stanley had seen in his journeyings.

On either hand the banks were lined with mile upon mile of the most valuable of the giant growths of the forests. Whole tracts of gum copal trees were seen for hours together. These trees were literally covered with orchids, which, in themselves, represented the foundations of many fortunes to botanists and florists, could they but gather them.

In mid-stream, the islands, which were legion, constantly took on new shapes. All were characterized by the same exuberance of vegetation.

Truly, here was a land of plenty!

Stanley, with his little fleet, pa.s.sed slowly up the river, now exploring any important tributary for a considerable length, now taking part in the ceremony of the blood brotherhood of which we have read, now making treaties with the great chiefs; for this brave explorer never forgot that his expedition was the great mission of commerce and civilization.

At length the little fleet reached the foot of the seventh, or last cataract of Stanley Falls. Here it was the purpose of the expedition to found a settlement destined to be the germ of the future Congo Free State.

The islands and the mainland west of the falls Stanley found inhabited by the Wenyas. This tribe was noted for its skilled fishermen and boatmen. With this tribe Stanley held a council, for the purpose of purchasing land for a settlement.

There was a good deal of agitation among the natives, we may be sure.

The idea of trading their land with the white man was a novel one to them. The great chiefs and speechmakers of the tribe were at first fearful and cautious, and by degrees became prophetic, then indignant and abusive; finally, they became not only shrewd, but philosophic and pacific, and, at the close of the conference, even friendly.

As a result of the contract, Stanley exchanged about eight hundred dollars' worth of beads, knives, cotton cloth, looking-gla.s.ses, bra.s.s wire, caps, and such articles, used as currency, for a large portion of an extensive island, upon which to found a settlement.

The station had a fine situation just below the rapids. In a creek on the east side of the island was a very good harbor.

East of this Seventh Fall dwelt a powerful tribe, the Bak.u.ma. Stanley made cordial friends with this tribe, as with the Wenyas.

With both tribes he made treaties, in order to insure his people not only safety of person but of property. He also made propositions for civilized methods of conducting commerce.

Thus did Stanley work from point to point along the river to establish stations, which later were to form the links by which the State was to be held in peace and harmony, in civilization and progression.

The achievements of Stanley's expedition were wonderful, when we consider that he had held councils and made treaties with more than four hundred and fifty chiefs.

As a result, these "great men" had sold to him, for large sums in the "currency" of their territory, tracts of land which they or their ancestral fathers, had owned for countless ages. With the transfer of land they had also yielded their rights as rulers, and given to the new owners the rights and the privileges belonging to a sovereign. Thus was laid the foundation of the present Congo Free State.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE LAKE REGION OF AFRICA.

Almost all the lakes of Africa are, comparatively speaking, quite shallow, and bear evidence of being the remains of much greater bodies of water that existed in past ages. It is believed that the whole district now drained by the Zambesi River and its tributaries was, at one time, a great fresh water lake.

Many traces of the lake still exist. The whole of the vast area drained by the Zambesi system is covered with a bed of tufa, which is a soft, porous stone formed by deposits from water. This bed of tufa in the Zambesi region is more or less hardened, according to the exposure it has had to atmospheric changes.

The great fissure of the Victoria Falls has, no doubt, drained in no small degree an enormous valley, to leave only the deeper portion of what was originally a sea, but is now known as Lake Nya.s.sa.

Traces of ancient beaches along its borders afford proof that the lake is much diminished in size.

Livingstone writes, that in no part of Africa had he found so dense a population as upon the sh.o.r.es of Lake Nya.s.sa. Along the south side of the lake there was an almost unbroken line of villages.

It is upon the sh.o.r.es of this lake that much care is bestowed upon the graves. The burying grounds are all well protected, and have good broad paths running through them.

The graves are, in almost every instance, shaded by the deep foliage of the fig tree. Those of the men are distinguished from those of the women by the various implements or utensils which they were in the habit of using during life.

Here, a bit of fis.h.i.+ng net, or a bit of broken paddle, tells the story of a fisherman's life; there, a mortar and pestle used for pounding corn, or the bucket used for sifting the meal, tells the story of the domestic life followed by the woman who now lies resting from all labor.

On each grave are the fragments of what were once utensils for holding food. They have been placed there to signify that their late owners have pa.s.sed beyond the need of daily sustenance.

Lake Tchad is, perhaps, one of the most interesting lakes of Africa. It is, in fact, an immense inland sea, situated in Soudan, a portion of North Africa.

It has an elevation of about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. According to some writers, it is from two to three hundred miles long and one hundred and forty miles broad.

Although not an especially attractive lake, it is a very interesting one. Its placid waters stretch far away to its distant banks, fringed with tall water reeds. Often numerous hippopotami may be seen resting in its depths, their ugly noses barely showing above the surface.

Here and there light barks may be seen floating. Many of these are so far in the distance that only the gleam of their sunny sails is visible to the beholder.

Ordinarily, the depth of the lake is from eight to fifteen feet; in some years the water has attained a much higher level along its sh.o.r.es.