Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, vol 2 | Page 3

Cookson) was a poor affair of
bamboos and mats, with partition-walls of the same material, and made
pestilent by swamps to landward. Little work was then doing in palm
oil, and the copper mines of the interior had ceased to send supplies.
We borrowed hammocks to cross the swamps, and we found French
Factory a contrast not very satisfactory to our insular pride. M. Charles
de Gourlet, of the Maison Régis, was living, not in a native hut lacking
all the necessaries of civilized man, but in a double-storied stone house,
with barracoons, hospital, public room, orchestra, and so forth,
intended for the "emigrants." Instead of water, the employés had
excellent cognac and vermouth, and a succulent cuisine replaced the
poor Britishers' two barrels of flour and biscuit. No wonder that in our
half-starved fellow countrymen we saw little of the "national failing, a
love of extravagant adventure." The Frenchmen shoot, or at least go out
shooting, twice a week, they walk to picnics, learn something of the
language, and see something of the country. They had heard a native

tradition of Mr. Gorilla's "big brother," but they could give no details.
I will conclude this chapter with a notice of what has taken place on the
Loango Coast a decade after my departure. Although Africa has
changed but little, Europe has, and we can hardly envy the German
nation its eminence and unexpected triumphs in war when we see the
energy and persistency with which they are applying themselves to the
arts of peace--especially of exploration. And nowhere have they been
more active than in this part of the world, where their old rivals, the
English, are apparently contented to sit at home in ease, working their
factories and counting out their money.
To begin with the beginning. The year 1872 found the Berlin
Geographical Society intent upon "planting a lance in Africa," and
upon extending and connecting the discoveries of Livingstone, Du
Chaillu, Schweinfurth, and other travellers. Delegates from the various
associations of Germany met in congress, and organized (April 19,
1873) the Germanic "Afrikanische Gesellschaft." Ex-President Dr.
Adolf Bastian, a well-known traveller in Siam, Cambodia, China, and
the Indian Archipelago, and who, moreover, had visited Ambassi or
Salvador do Congo, the old missionary capital, in 1857, was at once
sent out as pioneer and vanguard to prospect the coast for a suitable
station and a point de départ into the interior--a scientific step dictated
by trained and organized common sense. The choice of leader fell upon
Dr. Gussfeldt, Herr von Hattorf being his second in command, and with
them were associated Dr. Falkenstein as zoologist, and Dr. Soyaux as
botanist. A geologist, Dr. Lenz, of Hamburg, was sent to connect the
Ogobe and Okanda rivers with, the Loango coast, unless he found a
likely northeastern route. In this case, the Society would take measures
to supply him with the necessary equipment.
The expedition began unfortunately, by the loss of outfit and
instruments in the "Nigritia," wrecked off Sierra Leone: it persevered,
however, and presently met Dr. Bastian and Professor von Gorschen at
Cabinda. The former had collected much information about the coast.
He had learned from slaves that the old kingdoms of Loango, Mahango,
and Angay are bounded eastwards, or inland, by Mayombe, a belt of

forest, the threshold of the unknown interior. It begins the up-slope to
the great Ghat ridge, which, visible after a day's journey, separates the
coast from the central basin. A fortnight or three weeks' march leads to
an open country, a land of metalliferous hills, where the people barter
their goods against gunpowder and weapons, brought by traders from
the east. These "Orientals" are now heard of almost all along the West
African coast, and doubtless, in several places, the report will prove
true. The prospector had also visited, in search of a depôt, Futila in
Cabinda-land; the Tschiluango (Chiloango), or Cacongo River, a fine
navigable stream, where the people float down their palm oil; Landana;
"Chinsonso" (Chinxoxo, pronounced Chinshosho), Chicambo, Loango,
and the Quillu (Kwillu) stream, the latter breaking through the coast
range, disemboguing near Loango Bay, and reported to be connected
with the great Congo. He found the old despotism of Loango to be
insignificant, reduced, in fact, to the strip of coast between the Quillu
and the Luema-Lukallo Rivers. The slave trade, once a monopoly of
kings, princes, and chiefs, is now no more; legitimate commerce has
levelled ranks, and the real power is in the hands of the wealthiest
merchants.
From the Abbé Durand, librarian of the Paris Geographical Society, we
learn: 1. That Loango is in the Province of Cacongo; 2. That Cacongo
is considered a province of Loango; 3. That Cacongo forms a kingdom
of itself, with a capital, Ringwele. The name of the late king was