In the afternoon we cross the neck of Stanley Pool and visit Brazzaville, the capital of the French Congo.  The town is situated close to the beach, but the Government offices are high up on a hill above.  Having found the Secretariat, we explain that we are British travellers and desire to pay our respects to the Governor.  The Secretary telephones as we wait in the office and presumably the Governor asks whether we have introductions and what we want, for the answer goes back Non, ils sont venus, Pop!!! However, the Governor, Mr. Gentil, who has spent many years in the Congo, receives us very kindly, offers to help us with steamers on the river, gives us some letters of introduction to French officials on the Ubangi and permits to shoot game.  Every where indeed one meets with kindness, help and consideration from the officials in Africa, which is in marked contrast to the hide bound system of formalities which it is necessary to observe and maintain in Europe.

[Illustration:  STEAMERS AND DOCKS AT LEOPOLDVILLE.]

A great blowing of the steamer’s whistle now takes place, for it is getting late and it is impossible to navigate the Congo after sunset.  The captain is therefore becoming anxious, but enough light remains to see the buoys and we reach Leopoldville soon after 6 p.m.  We have arranged to dine at the Mess, an excellent institution wherein all the Europeans of every rank, except the very highest officials, sit down together.  The Commandant of the Force Publique, the Commandant of the Port, the Directors of Transports and Posts, and the Doctors, all take their dinner with the working artisans.  Altogether about 130 men attend the mess, where the cooking and service is excellent while each has a small bottle of wine and a cup of coffee.  By this means, every man is ensured good wholesome food, and the necessity of restaurants, in which indiscriminate drinking might take place, is avoided.

Next morning, July 23rd. the Flandre leaves Leopoldville and steams to Kinshasa where we stop and land.  Here as usual the keynote is development.  Roads are being made, avenues of palms, mangoes and pine apples planted and store houses, factories and plantations constructed.  At the coffee factory here, the beans are extracted from the shells, sorted into sizes and qualities and packed in bags.  Many kinds of coffee have been planted in the Congo, but none are equal to the wild variety found in the forest, which is as good as any in the world when properly made.  Near at hand is a brick field, where the bricks are made in metal moulds, the clay being forced in by long levers.  They are not made as quickly as those fashioned by a machine but the process is a great improvement on the old-fashioned method of brick making in wooden moulds.  It is already apparent that beer is regarded as a luxury here so we order some dozens at three francs a bottle and having taken some photos return to the ship.