Stanley in Africa

The Gaboon Mission was called into existence by the American Board in 1842. Baraka was the first station occupied. It was transferred in 1870 to the Mission Board of the American Presbyterian Church (north.) The Mpongwes on the coast, and the Shekanis, Bakalais, and Pangwes in the interior, are the tribes embraced in the field of operation. Not much progress has been made owing to the opposition of the Roman Catholics. In all the French possessions on the west coast of Africa the Roman Catholics predominate and very little has been accomplished. Recently the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society has been doing a good work at Senegal and other settlements.

We come now to Angola. Angola was discovered by European mariners long before Christopher Columbus had given to the world another continent, yet many years passed before the value of the discovery was recognized and the country taken possession of and occupied by the Portuguese, at that period when Portugal was made remarkable by the commercial enterprise and maritime prowess of its people, more than three hundred years ago.

For several years before the occupation of Angola, the king of Congo had been doing a large and lucrative trade with the Portuguese in slaves. The sources from which were drawn victims to keep alive this nefarious barter were never failing. The superstitions of the people, their customs and habits, a season of drouth, a failure of crops, in fact anything, even the least trivial happenings, were all factors giving Congo’s king excuse for the selling of his subjects to securing wealth; wealth represented by many wives, granaries filled to bursting with manioc, and wooded hills and fertile valleys stocked to overrunning with flocks of sheep and droves of lowing kine; wealth which enabled Congo to dominate and overawe all contemporary tribes, and which naturally incited the jealousy of other kings and chiefs who ruled over the natives of other districts in this country of Congoland.

Among the savage rulers who were envious of the power of their rival, was Nmbea, king of Angola, autocrat of a large and densely populated country. Holding at his disposal millions of helpless and superstitious subjects, Nmbea soon recognized that by copying the practices of his powerful neighbor he, with but little difficulty, would also become chief and powerful. So, moved by this desire, he opened a correspondence with the Portuguese. He sent one of the rich men of his tribe, with presents of slaves, ivory and strangely wrought curios, as ambassadors to the Portuguese court at Lisbon, with instructions to endeavor to have the Portuguese establish trading relations between the two kingdoms.

At this time the attention of the Portuguese queen and the people generally was attracted towards Brazil. Enterprising colonists, venturesome explorers and wealth seekers of all classes saw in this South American district a new Cathay. Thousands from among the patrician, as well as other thousands from more humble circles, rushed into that new land, necessarily causing large sums of money to follow in their wake. The enthusiasm with which this American opportunity was cultivated and the resultant drain from the royal treasury and from the coffers of the people caused Queen Catherine to receive with indifference all stories of African wealth. Thus obstacles were formed which prevented Nmbea from carrying out his plans until several years had passed, when the growing demands for slaves, needed to supply labor in Brazilian mines and on East Indian coffee farms, had become a matter of great importance. Then the request of Angola’s king was considered, and a party of Portuguese were landed at a place in his kingdom which they called St. Paul de Loanda.

In the selection of this place these adventurers were most fortunate, for it was not long before trade, in ever-increasing volume, flowed towards the sea coast at this point. The growth of the city was rapid and, despite wars with native tribes and trouble with marauding Dutch, it grew wealthy and powerful. Large and beautiful cathedrals were built, imposing palaces were erected as were many important public buildings, and dotted here and there about the suburbs, were fruitful farms and valuable plantations. So with the moving years the city waxed strong and mighty, thriving on its traffic in human flesh. But a time came when this trade was shaken to its base and the prosperity of its citizens brought to a temporary end.

The inhabitants of the civilized world began to look with disfavor upon the slave traffic, and were induced to attempt its suppression. This, for Loanda, was the writing on the wall, for it meant the placing of an embargo upon the trade which was the only source from which the city derived revenue for its support. Philanthropy succeeded, and as a consequence Loanda’s glory faded. The palaces passed away, the stately cathedrals crumbled into ruins and the large and costly slave barracoons became useless except as fuel for the poor.

Then for years death-like quiet reigned in the city, and all signs of commerce ceased. But this stagnation was not to last forever. England and other commercial nations of Europe, in their efforts to find markets for the sale of the products of their mills and workshops, had established depots for trade at almost every important place in the world. The eyes of European merchants were turned towards the prolific field of southwest Africa.

Stories which told how great wealth was to be gained in African trade began to be chronicled in the exchanges of all the great commercial centres, and a wave of commercial endeavor was put in motion, which carried with it many richly freighted barks to again fill the harbor of the African city of St. Paul de Loanda. Since then Loanda has improved beyond all expectation, and now the vessels of four lines of steamers as well as many sailing craft are constantly in the harbor loading and discharging their cargoes. Many large public buildings have been built. Acres of flat and swampy shore have been reclaimed and are now utilized for docks and wharfs. Ruins of churches and monasteries have been cleared away and walks and squares have been laid out and planted. There are many shops supplied with all kinds of European goods. Pipes have been laid, through which flows into the city sweet water from the river Bengo, nine miles away, and when the railway, now in course of construction, is in operation to bring the products of the farms, plantations and rich forests of the interior to the city, Loanda will have become a fair specimen of a thriving tropical town.

The city is situated on the shore of a large and beautiful bay and is divided into a lower and an upper town. The “Cidade Buixa,” or lower town, which is built on the flat shore which fringes the water of the bay, nestles at the base of a hill and straggles up its rising sides until it joins the “Cidade Alto.” The upper town stretches along the brow of the elevation and sweeps outward towards the ocean until it ends at a bold and rocky precipice where Fort St. Miguels, a frowning sentinel, watches over the safety of the port.

The harbor is a bay where a thousand ships might at one time ride at anchor and find secure protection from the severest storm. A long, low and narrow neck of land, called Isle of Palms, leaves the mainland about twelve miles to the south and runs north until it reaches a point opposite the city, where it flattens out its surface of sunlit sands to give protection to the harbor of which it forms the southern boundary.

This spit of land is partly covered with groves of cocoa palms, among which the residents of the city have erected many small houses where they visit daily to enjoy surf bathing. On other parts of this sandy breakwater are numerous villages occupied by native fishermen, who make an easy living.

Loanda contains a population of nearly 20,000 people, about one-third of whom are white. The houses, as a rule, are built of stone and roofed with tile, and are large and commodious. The houses all have spacious yards attached, in which are situated the stores, kitchens, wells and habitations of the slaves and servants. Arranged in this manner, and with wide and spacious streets, the city is very open and comparatively healthy. It covers a large expanse of ground. The principal business street contains a number of fine structures. On it are situated the buildings of the Banco da Ultra Marenho, the barracks of the military police, the custom-house and the offices of the foreign consuls. There are also three hotels, many stores and warerooms, several billiard rooms and cafés. In the middle of the street rows of banyan trees have been planted, making a shady walk, where the natives gather to buy and sell.

These open-air sales, called in Bunda talk “Quitanda” market, are well patronized. Four uprights, a few “Loandas” mats for a shed, a stone-bowled pipe and a wooden pillow, are all the furnishings needed to make comfortable the colored women merchants. On the ground and all around the booths are laid out pieces of cotton, cheap calico, brilliantly colored handkerchiefs, native-made baskets containing balls and reels of cotton, beads, needles, pins, etc., cheap crockery and cutlery, empty bottles and balls of different colored clay. Suspended from the uprights and resting against the trees are stacks of native tobacco, plaited into rolls or wound about sticks and sold by inches. The venders at these open sales are always women, and as a rule are clean and comely. They are shrewd sellers and close buyers, and in a few years become, from a native’s point of view, quite wealthy. When conducting the business of the day, they squat or lie down upon the sand and indulge in quip and joke, and gossip with one another and their customers.

Covering a whole square in the center of the lower town is the general market. It is a large, square, uncovered enclosure made of terra cotta and brick, built in excellent taste. All the public buildings of Loanda are under the direct control of the military police and are well conducted.

At break of day one hears the loud sound of many horns, trumpets and beating drums. Down through the flower scented streets, in soldierly order moving, with burnished guns and glistening bayonets, 100 blacks, all dressed in spotless white, come marching until they reach the market gates. Here good Father Anselmo, of the Ursulines, pours out a benediction upon the market and the awaiting people. When the gates are opened the police take their stations and the market is ready to receive the buyers and sellers of the day. Through the open portals into the market flows a stream of laughing, singing men and women. One carries upon her head a large basket, from whose open top protrudes the heads of cackling geese and scolding hens. Another has a pot of neichineas (water oil). Some bring meat and others vegetables. Millions of fleas and “jiggers” are always present, and in and out among the wares run countless naked and dirty children. The buyers and sellers shout aloud in boisterous tone.

Besides this market there is another given up entirely to the sale of fish. In the haze of early morning, far out upon the ocean, hundreds of black spots are seen bobbing up and down upon the water. They are the canoes of the fishermen who are hastening towards the land with the fruit of their night’s labor. In a little time they reach the shore and their scaly cargoes are tumbled out upon the sands. The women and children at once proceed to clean the fish. In one spot they arrange the fish for drying, while others salt and pack them in barrels for shipment. Others, again, fry, boil and roast the fish and all are eating raw or half-cooked fish, interspersing everything with shouting, singing, dancing and grunts of satisfaction.

During the period when the city’s prosperity was interrupted, its streets were left uncared for and their beautiful pavements became covered with a bed of loose red sand, which was washed by the rain down from the surrounding hills. This drifting still continues, rendering walking so very difficult that it is indulged in only by the convicts and natives. The better classes have resource to the “maxilla.” The “maxilla” is a flat frame of canework with one or two arms at the side and a low back provided with a cushion. This frame is hung by cords to a hook on a palm pole, about eighteen feet long, and is carried upon the shoulders of two blacks, who travel with it easily at the rate of three or four miles an hour. It is covered with an awning of oiled cloth and has silk curtains hung all around it.

Loanda is a convict settlement, but, contrary to what might be expected, its people are remarkably law-abiding. This may arise from the fact that discovered law-breakers are punished most severely, often dying under the lash. The convicts, as a rule, are store-keepers and farmers. They are prosperous, and soon become contented with their lot and rarely return to Europe. Ignorant and unrefined, they assimilate readily with the native classes, and take part in all their pleasures.

The “batuco,” country dance, is the popular form of amusement. A “batuco” is danced in the following fashion: A large ring is formed of men and women. On the outside several fires are kept burning, near which are assembled the musicians with horns, drums and the twanging “maremba.” Others clap their hands and sing a kind of chorus. Two dancers, a man and a woman, jump with a yell into the ring, shuffle their feet with great rapidity, passing backwards and forwards. Then facing one another, suddenly advance and bring their breasts together with a whack. These dances are not in great favor with the better class of free blacks, but this does not prevent them from occurring every night. Although the abolition of slavery is supposed to have taken place in 1878, almost all servants are slaves. They are well treated, however, as public opinion condemns harshness and quite a rivalry exists in having household slaves well dressed and happy looking.

The city has no places of public amusement except a theatre, but this for some time has not been used on account of a social war between the married women and those who do not consider the marriage ceremony essential to their welfare. There is a fair military band, however, which plays twice a week in the park in the upper town, and there is hardly a night that there is not something going on at some of the private homes. A dance at the Governor’s palace is certain to be given once a mouth.

The aborigines of Loanda owe much to the Catholic Church. Its priests have taught the natives many trades and industries. There are four newspapers published in the city, but they deal mainly in unpleasant personalities.

Even more important than Angola, in a commercial and political sense, is the Portuguese province to the south, known as Benguella, with Benguella as the capital. The town is an old one and has not shared the decay incident to the early Portuguese settlements on the western coast. The harbor is excellent, and is the entrepôt to the celebrated Bihé section, through a series of tribes which Pinto visited and which he describes as of superior physique and intelligence. Benguella was once the seat of an active slave trade, and Monteiro says, in his volume published in 1875, that he has seen caravans of 3,000 blacks coming into Benguella from Bihé, fully 1,000 of which were slaves. The white settlers cleared many fine plantations about Benguella, which they stocked with slaves and upon which large crops of cotton were formerly raised. The contiguous tribe is the Mundombe, wild and roving, dirty and selfish, little clothed and living in low round-roofed huts. Cattle are their principal riches, yet they seldom partake of their flesh, except upon feast days, when the whole tribe assembles, and as many as 300 head of fine cattle are dispatched in a single day.

It is only within the last few years that this region has been entered by the Protestant missionaries. In 1880 the American Board sent out three missionaries to Benguella, the port of the Bihé country. They were Rev. Walter W. Bagster, grandson of Samuel Bagster, publisher of the Polyglot Bible, and the leader of the expedition; the Rev. Wm. H. Sanders, son of a missionary in Ceylon; and Mr. Samuel T. Miller, both of whose parents were slaves. The kings of Bailunda and Bihé showed themselves friendly, and the missionaries, since reinforced, entered hopefully upon their work. On February 22, 1882, Mr. Bagster died from malarial fever. Bishop Taylor has opened up a number of stations in Angola, of which mention will be made when we come to speak of his work in establishing self-supporting missions in Africa.

A wonderful field has been opened up along the mighty Congo for missionary effort. Ten years ago the king of Belgium entered upon the development of the Congo region and the establishment of a new African State. An official report of the progress attained has just been rendered, giving these facts: The Lower Congo has been opened up to navigation by large vessels as far as Boma, soundings having been made and the course marked out by buoys; a cadastral survey of the Lower Congo has been made as a step towards the preparation of a general map of the entire region; justice is regularly administered in the Lower Congo, and a trustworthy and cheap postal service has been established. At Banana, Boma, and Leopoldville medical establishments, under the direction of Belgian doctors, have been founded, and a considerable armed force of blacks, officered by Europeans, has been called into existence. The caravan route between Matadi and Leopoldville is as free from danger as a European road, and a complete service of porterage by natives has been established. A railway has been projected and the route almost entirely surveyed. The state has established herds of cattle at various stations, and in the very heart of Africa; on the waters of the Upper Congo there is a fleet of steamers every year increasing in number. A loan of 150,000,000 francs has been authorized and the first issue subscribed. Many of the more intelligent natives from the country drained by the Upper Congo have taken service with the State, and numerous trading factories have been established as far up the river as Bangala and Leuebo. In addition several private companies have been formed for developing the country, and finally geographical discoveries of the greatest importance have been made, either by the officers of the State or by travelers who received great assistance in their work from the State.

Speaking of the Congo Mission Dr. Pierson in the Missionary Review says: “A grand open door is that which God has set before our Baptist brethren in the Congo basin! a million square miles in the heart of equatorial Africa, made accessible by the great Congo and its tributaries.

“The great lakes, Nyassa, Victoria, Tanganyika, are comparatively isolated; but the Congo and its branches present from 4,000 to 6,000 miles of river roadway, needing only steamers or canoes to give access to these teeming millions. One starts at the mouth of this imperial stream and ascends 125 miles of navigable river, then for 185 miles encounters rapids and cataracts; but beyond that for over 1,000 miles, from Stanley Pool to Stanley Falls, is one grand stretch of navigable river, with branches running each way navigable from 100 to 800 miles, and leading into the heart of this rich and populous territory.

“The people from the river-mouth up to Stanley Pool and the Equator line are being civilized by contact with white traders, and their pagan customs largely modified. They speak one language, musical, of large capacity of expression and easy of acquisition, and along this line the seven Congo stations are already planted. Beyond the point where the Congo crosses the Equator, lies another vast population, more degraded, less civilized, and needing at once the full array of Christian institutions, but yet entirely destitute.

“Their moral and spiritual state is hardly conceivable without contact with them. With no idea of God or immortality, they worship fetish charms; sickness is not brought about by natural causes, but is the result of enchantment; hence the medicine-man must trace disease and death to some unhappy human victim or victims, who must suffer the witch’s penalty. One death therefore means another – it may be a dozen. Here runaway slaves are crucified, robbers buried alive, young men cruelly decapitated, and human beings are even devoured for meat.

“And yet this people, after centuries of virtual seclusion, are now both literally and morally accessible. They welcome missionaries, come to the chapels, and prove teachable. Even now cruel customs and superstitious notions are giving way before patient, humble, scriptural instruction. The walls are down, and the hosts of God have but to march straight on and take what Dr. Sims calls ‘the last stronghold of Paganism,’

“Wonderfully indeed has God linked Protestant, Greek, Roman Catholic, and even Moslem nations in the administration of the Congo Free State. Never was such a highway open for the Gospel since our Lord ascended.

“The Arabs from Zanzibar and the coast are moving toward Stanley Falls and the north country, establishing themselves in large villages to capture slaves and carry on nefarious traffic, while the Protestant forces slowly move upward from the west. The question is, Who is to occupy the Congo Basin? and the question is to be settled at once. This great highway of rivers means traffic and travel; this rich and splendid tropical country invites trade and settlement. Into whose hands shall such a heritage be surrendered? The Christian Church must give prompt answer by action, her reply must be a taking possession, and the old law is the new one: ‘Every place that the sole of your feet shall tread upon shall be yours,’ the resolutions of enthusiastic missionary conventions, the prayers of all Christendom, the planting of the banner of the cross at a few commanding points – all this will not do. We must send out enough Christian laborers to measure off that soil with their own feet.

“‘But it is unhealthy?’ So are all tropical and especially equatorial climes to those who are not accustomed to the intense and steady heat, and do not use common sense in adapting their clothing, eating and drinking, and habits of life, to these peculiar surroundings. One must not go from temperate to torrid zone, and wear the garments, eat the heating food, use the stimulating drinks, risk the exhausting labors, or even live in the same unventilated houses which are permissible in cooler latitudes. A trip to New Orleans or Florida has proved fatal to many a fool who would not take advice. Even the heroism of the Gospel does not demand needless exposure or careless venture.

“Here is a grand opportunity. It may be doubted whether there has been anything like it since the clarion voice of our Great Captain trumpeted forth the last commission. Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands unto God. On those hands are the marks of manacles which England and America helped to rivet there. There is but one atonement we can make for Africa’s wrongs – it is to lay down our lives, if need be, to redeem her sable sons from the captivity of sin.

“We ought to turn this Congo into a river of life, crowd its waters with a flotilla of Henry Reeds, line its banks with a thousand chapel spires, plant its villages with Christian schools, let the Congo Free State mark its very territory with the sign of Christian institutions, so that to cross its border will be to pass from darkness into light. Where is our Christian enterprise, that such a work, with such a field and such promise, should wait for workmen and for money! What do our converted young men want, as a chance to crowd life with heroic service, that the Congo Basin does not attract them! Here what a century ago would have taken fifty years to accomplish, may be done in five. The unexplored interior is open, the ‘Dark Continent’ waits to be illuminated. Nature has cast up her highway of waters, and there is no need to gather out the stones. Give us only the two-wheeled chariot, with steam as the steed to draw it, and the men and women to go in it bearing the Gospel, and from end to end of this highway we can scatter the leaves of that tree which are for the healing of the nations.

“Where are the successors of Moffatt and Livingstone! What a hero was he who dared forty attacks of fever and then died on his knees beside Lake Bangweolo, that he might open up the dark recesses of Africa to the missionary! Let us pour men and money at the feet of our Lord. We have not yet paid our debt to Simon the Cyrenean and the Eunuch of Ethiopia!”