actual - DSpace@GIPE

448· ACTUAL AFRICA.
establishing a factory upon it. A short distance to the east of its
mouth, in a cleared space of forest on the southern bank of the
Kassai, is the town of Ngun, of some hundred and odd huts,
massed irregularly together, with narrow connecting lanes. This
is by far the largest town we have yet seen upon the banks of the
river. It is said, ho\vever, that there are many much larger ones
but IiIhort distances in the interior, though these it is dangerous
for a white man to visit, for the natives regard them as their
special retreats. A few miles above Nglln the Kassai, which,
nearly always since we had left its affiuent the Kwango, had been
a great stream from three to eight miles wide, suddenly narrowed
to less than half a mile. A little further \))!··and we drew in to a
small village for the night. 'fhe inhabitants, with their bows and
arrows in hand, came down to the bank and signalled us not to
land but to go elsewhere, while we held up colored handkerchiefs
and went steadily in and anchored.. Wl:>eriwe aacended to the
village there was not a soul in it. However we saw Some human
heads here and there in the tall grass, and gradually induced a few
of the least timid to come out, when we offered to. trade Borne
handkerchiefs for a few chickens and some yams. But as they said
they preferred beads, we sent back to the steamer for some.
The next day the river was bordered with dcnse forests, in the
trees of which we frequently saw a sp~cies of large monkey scampering
from bough to bough. We passed a number of little villages
and at one of them, at which we wished to land to gct some
malafou to use in making bread, the people made so hostile a
demonstration that we deemed it the more prudent to continue
our voyage. Before noon we passed the mouth of the Sankuru,
the largest affluent of the Kassai, though its source has not yet
been explored. At the junction of this great stream with the
greater Kassai there stand the houses of Bena Bendi, an old station
of the Belgian Commercial Company, which has, however,
long been abandoned, as therc was not enough trade at that particular
spot. The scenery to-day was a great improvement. The
forest was full of palms, ferns and vines, and there were many
gigantic trees with straight trunks and only a tuft of foliage atop.
What with the smaller trces and the undergrowth, the forest
seemed to be one solid mass of verdure, like the great forests of
the Amazon. We threaded our way often in narrow channels
between wooded islands, in the style, likewise, of frequent Amazon
navigation. The banks were one hundred to five hundred feet