Congo resident

“ After hurrying us off to the forest alone and unprotected at the earliest possible moment, they established themselves in the village, and lived in such a style as to far outshine any of our chiefs—in fact, taking a delight in insulting and depreciating them and relegating to themselves every vestige of authority which had formerly been vested in the chiefs of our own people. ”

“ There was just one way out of our slavery, and some of our young men availed themselves of it. It was to become a sentry oneself. Only a few had the opportunity, and those who took it soon became as bad as the other sentries with whom they came in contact. They found that the only way to please the white man was to get plenty of rubber; and in order to do that they were obliged to use the same means as the others and become cruel oppressors of their own people. ”

“ The white men of God are continually teaching us that in view of all this sickness, now is the time for us to settle the palaver between us and God by believing in His Son Jesus, so as to be ready if death comes to us. And then our witch-doctors step in and say, “Is not this closing of the eyes in prayer, which these white men have taught our people, the cause of the sickness of sleep?” ”

“ Now that there are no sentries in our villages the chiefs of the people are expected by the white men to exercise more authority. But during the years of the sentries’ rule the chiefs were divested of every bit of authority, and systematically degraded in the sight of their people. So bad did it become that a chief spent a great part of his time in the chain, or in the bush hiding from the sentries. ”

“ This kind of treatment, constant rubber collecting, no rest, and sometimes no pay—what can it be called but another kind of slavery?
I want to tell you some of the things which happened during this time of oppression. It is not only we men who go into the forest who suffer; but also those who are left at home in the villages, our old fathers and mothers, our wives and little children.
The white man wanted fresh meat for his table, so he ordered the old men in the villages to hunt antelopes in the forest for him, and bring them in alive. ”

“ As soon as ever we young men had gone, they behaved as though everything in the village belonged to them; the few goats we had, our fowls, dogs, food, all our goods and possessions—nothing was safe from their greed, and it was not long before even our wives were not safe if left at home alone.
Things had been gradually getting worse for a long time, and now that the sentries were placed over us were so much worse than ever before that we began to give up hope. ”

“ Now, when the work is lighter than ever, we are in the forest two out of every three months. We must get a certain quantity of rubber, or there is prison for us, and, [123] when we come out of prison, more rubber must be made in place of what was short before we can make a start on the next three-monthly portion.
Those of us who are taking food are out on the river fishing from the first to the fifth working day, and we take in the food on the sixth. If we hunt, we must be continually going to the forest, which is not any better. The food-tax men are worse off than the rubber men at present. ”

“ It was much easier to kill the authority of the chiefs than it is to give it back to them. Of course, there is one great chief, who wears a medal, and is in constant intercourse with the white men of Bula Matadi. He has plenty of authority—we think too much—and he uses it largely in getting a great crowd of wives and [120] making it difficult for the young men to get any. Being rich, he can pay enormous prices for women, and demand the same. That is one of our grievances at the present time. ”

“ Strong, capable women were there who should have been working happily at home for their husbands; women with babies only a few days’ or weeks’ old at their breasts; women in delicate health; young girls; the wives of husbands who had somehow failed to satisfy the demands made upon them; and young lads who had tried to shirk paddling the heavily laden rubber boats—all these were there, crowded together in that one shed without privacy or sanitary arrangement of any kind from sundown to sunrise, and some of them for weeks together. ”

“ For the remainder of that day we rested, and sought for some food to stay our hunger. How we rejoiced to find some edible caterpillars, which were delicious, and made us feel stronger for our night’s work! Just as the darkness was coming on, when you cannot tell one man from another, we crept along the bank, stepped into the canoe, grasped the paddles, and silently pushed off into the stream. ”

“ In a village situated at some distance from the white man’s compound the sentries had established themselves in their usual style of living, in the best houses the village could boast of, and began to supply themselves lavishly from the gardens and poultry-houses of the villagers. They ordered the old men who were past rubber collecting out into the bush to hunt monkeys for them to feast upon. ”

“ Some of the men and boys would go out to hunt with their nets and spears, others would be busy making nets, canoes, paddles, and cooking utensils, or doing smithy work, making spears, knives, or ornaments for the women. The chief and elders of the village would gather in the large shed and talk palavers, hear and tell news, smoke and chat all day long.
We children would fish, go for picnics in the near forest, bathe in the river, play games, quarrel and fight and make it up again, and return to our play until we felt hungry, when we made our way homewards to seek our mothers. ”

“ A number of men were to be set apart as sentries, we called them, but the white man called them guards of the forest. They were to be taken from amongst our own people, and armed with guns, and they would accompany us on our journeys to and from the forest and protect us, and they would also escort us to the white man’s place when the day arrived for taking in the collected rubber. This sounded well, and as the rubber grew more and more scarce, and we had to go further into the forest to secure it, surely, we thought, a gun would be a protection, and keep our enemies from interfering with us. ”

“ Bokwala’s story is the truth, and nothing but the truth. The whole truth, however, is written only in tears and blood wrung from the unfortunate people who are subjects of such treatment as is described in this book. Even if it were written with pen and ink, it could not be printed or circulated generally. No extreme case has been chosen, the story told has none of the very worst elements of Congo life in it; it is the life which has been lived by hundreds and thousands of Congo natives, and in great measure is being lived by them to-day. ”

“ It meant much work for us all; not only work, but constant exposure to the cold and damp of the forest. It was worse in the wet season, when many of our people contracted a sickness of the chest which is most painful and often ends in death. In fact, the providing of food was getting to be almost as great a tax upon us as the rubber had been. And we thought, “If the rubber work never ends, the food work will not; they will never give up calling for food!” ”

“ I have heard that there are many white people in Europe, both men and women, who feel compassion for us black men, and who would, if they knew more about us, take pity on us and save us from our sorrows and trials. So I am going to tell the story of my life, that they may know and help us.
Long, long ago I was born in the village of Ekaka, and having lived so long I have seen many things, and who is better able to tell them than I? We have great controversy with the [16] white people about our ages: they say I am about thirty years old, but of course I know better ”

“ Away into the forest we went—not far, for there was plenty of rubber in those days—and were soon busy making incisions in the vines and catching the drops of sap as they fell in little pots or calabashes ready to bring it home with us in the evening. There was great rivalry amongst us as to who could get the largest quantity. Then when we thought we had sufficient we returned to our homes with it and sought for the plant with which it must be mixed in order for it to coagulate. This grows in great quantities near many of our villages, and we call it bekaaku. ”

“ Numbers of people who are weak and sickly contract it, and many more who are exposed to all weathers rubber seeking, hunting, or fishing, and who come back home with some simple malady, get the sleep sickness as well, and then—just a little while—and they die!
Some of the largest and best populated villages are now reduced to a few huts, the majority of which are inhabited by sick folk. Men and women of all ages and little children all alike take the disease, and all alike die.
In the old days, if a person died in one hut, a child was born in another to take his place and name ”

“ The people who live on the river bank, and have to be always providing wood for passing [118] steamers, or fish and manioca for rations for Bula Matadi’s soldiers and workmen, and fresh meat for his own table, are really worse off in some ways than we who are now on rubber work, because they must take their portion every seven or fifteen days, and if they fail to do so they are imprisoned.
Then demands are made of some villages to supply fowls and eggs at odd times and in varying quantities. We wonder sometimes what the white men do with so many eggs; they seem to be always wanting them. ”

“ Having no sentries in our villages, but only our own headmen, makes it much better for us, and far [116] safer for our wives and families who are left at home when we are away in the forest.
For a little while there was no rubber work; we cut posts and bamboos for building, and firewood for steamers, and there was always the food tax which pressed hard on men and women alike. It always has been a heavy task to supply that, and is still—just as much food is needed, and we are so few, so very few to keep up the quantity. ”

“ He had been settling an affair between himself and another chief, and it fell to his share to provide the feast of ratification, and naturally he wished to do it well.
Now he had no suitable slave to kill for the occasion, which was unfortunate, so he had come to his friend to see if he could help him out of this serious difficulty by selling him a slave. [38]
“No,” said my master, “I cannot help you; I have no one to sell.”
Then there was much talking and pleading. “You have so many slaves in your village, do let us have one, even if only a little one.” ”

“ The chief possessed his own carved ivory spoon, worked from a solid elephant’s tusk, but that was taboo for any but himself. Nowadays we may not work ivory for ourselves, we have to take it to the white men.
As soon as we had all finished eating, and drinking spring water, some of us carefully gathered up all the leaves which we had used, and the peelings and cuttings of the food, and threw them away in the forest, lest some evil-disposed person should get hold of them and by means of them bewitch us. We are all very much afraid of witchcraft, unless we ourselves [21] practise it ”

“ I have told you about the present, our constant work, the difficulty in which our chiefs find themselves placed, our inability to marry because of our poverty, our sickness, the desolation which broods over our villages, the lack of children to take the places of those who die. ”

“ The coming of more white men—A change in our treatment—Things go from bad to worse—I get tired of collecting rubber—And stay at home—The white man’s anger and threats—I go to a palaver—My rubber is short—I am whipped—The white man’s new plan—Forest guards—Their oppression and greed—We report them to the white man—Results—But the worst not yet. ”

“ For if you run away from one district, you only reach another, and another white man as eager for rubber as the one you left. Then he will make you work for him, if he does nothing worse; he may send you back, and then—chicotte, prison, and more rubber! ”

“ He received the fowl I gave him, but not as a gift; he would insist on paying for it its full value, and giving me a few spoonfuls of salt over. (Truly the ways of white men are unaccountable! Some compel one to supply against one’s will what they want, and pay nothing or next to nothing for it; and then others refuse to take a thing as a gift, but insist on paying for it! Of course, we like the latter way, but should not think of doing so ourselves.) ”

“ And we have more comfort, because, going for a longer time, we make better shelters, and take our hunting-nets and spears with us, and so succeed in getting some fresh animal food. If several of us are in the same part of the forest, it is easy to set up our nets round a herd of wild pigs or some antelopes. Some go in and beat the bush, others wait outside the nets with poised spears, and it is not long before we have some animal for our evening meal. ”

“ However, we congratulated ourselves on not having rubber to work, when lo! Bula Matadi himself suddenly ordered us to begin working rubber again!
It seems that there is no way of pleasing a white man except by providing him with rubber. I do not mean the white men of God—they are different. But the others, whether they belong to Bokakala or Bula Matadi, whether they live up-country or down, or away on the big river, they are all alike in feeling a hunger for rubber.
So now we are away in the forest for two months, and in our homes for one. ”