see them eating.  One day a carcase of a wild pig in a highly decomposed condition was picked up by one of the paddlers on the Ubangi.  This was cut up and shared among the canoes and part of it fell to my crew.  Next day a most unpleasant smell accompanied us all the forenoon and no one could detect the cause, in fact, none of the natives noticed it.  At lunch time however, the polemen produced a basket full of rotten flesh which they had stored in the front part of the canoe and thus given me the full benefit of it.  As they commenced eating it raw, it was rather too much and I promptly ordered them to the other end of the boat where I could neither see nor smell them.

[Illustration:  THE FORCE PUBLIQUE AT STANLEYVILLE.]

After travelling rapidly all day down stream, we tie up at sunset at Yonanghe and ship some rubber.  We start again at daybreak, but as the wood in this part is both plentiful and good, the captain stops frequently at the posts and takes a large amount on board.  This is a wise precaution, for lower down the wood is not so good and there is less of it, while there are more steamers to be supplied.  At most of the villages the natives come to the beach with goods for sale, but the price of curios is too great here to tempt me.

On the 20th we reach Basoko after running through a terrific tornado with so much rain that for a time it was impossible to see the banks.  It is supposed to be the dry season here, so this storm is presumably an exception.  Every morning there is a fog on the river more or less dense, which lasts for an hour or two after sunrise.  During this period, it is often necessary to steam dead slow, for it is impossible to see a boat’s length ahead.

A pathetic incident happened one day.  We were transporting eight prisoners to Boma and when we stopped these carried wood on to the steamer.  One of them was the son of the Chief of a large village at which we stopped, who thus had the mortification of seeing his heir working “on the chain.”  He begged the captain to liberate him, who of course had not the power to do so even if he had wished, for the man had been sentenced for a serious theft and was now on his way to a convict settlement.  The Chief therefore, told his son he was to give no trouble to the authorities and tried to comfort him by saying he would see the railway and Boma and the great ships which went to Europe.  These prisoners gave no trouble at all.  They were fed on the same food as the crew and did a certain amount of work, the only sign that they were criminals, being the chain which bound them together.

On the 21st we reached Bumba and shipped a good deal of coffee.  Here it was necessary to give the chicotte to one of the crew for continually shirking work.  He was given twenty five lashes, but it did not seem to affect him physically or morally, for immediately afterwards he smiled, rubbed himself and then slowly walked ashore to carry bags of coffee and while his fellows were hastening to finish their task, he was deliberately loitering about.  Next time he will be dismissed and then he will find it difficult to find employment.