rip down the Congo River.

It is difficult to convey the impression that the Congo River gives.
Serene and majestic, it is often well-nigh overwhelming in its
immensity. Between Stanleyville and Kinshassa there are four thousand
islands, some of them thirty miles in length. As the boat picks its way
through them you feel as if you were travelling through an endless
tropical park of which the river provides the paths. It has been well
called a "Venice of Vegetation." The shores are brilliant with a
variegated growth whose exotic smell is wafted out over the waters. You
see priceless orchids entwined with the mangroves in endless profusion.
Behind this verdure stretches the dense equatorial forest in which
Stanley battled years ago in an almost impenetrable gloom. Aigrettes and
birds of paradise fly on all sides and every hour reveals a hideous
crocodile sunning himself on a sandspit.

Night on the Congo enhances the loneliness that you feel on all the
Central African rivers. Although the settlements are more numerous and
larger than those on the Lualaba and the Kasai, there is the same
feeling of isolation the moment darkness falls. The jungle seems to be
an all-embracing monster who mocks you with his silence. Joseph Conrad
interpreted this atmosphere when he referred to it as having "a
stillness of life that did not resemble peace,--the silence of an
implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention." This is the
Congo River.

The more I saw of the Congo River--it is nearly twice as large as the
Mississippi--the more I realized that it is in reality a parent of
waters. It has half a dozen tributaries that range in length from 500 to
1,000 miles each. The most important are the Lualaba and the Kasai.
Others include the Itimbiri, the Aruwimi and the Mubangi. Scores of
smaller streams, many of them navigable for launches, empty into the
main river. This is why there is such a deep and swift current in the
lower region where the Congo enters the sea.

[Illustration: WOMEN MAKING POTTERY]

[Illustration: THE CONGO PICKANINNY]

The astonishing thing about the Congo River is its inconsistency.
Although six miles wide in many parts it is frequently not more than six
feet deep. This makes navigation dangerous and difficult. As on the
Lualaba and every other river in the Colony, soundings must be taken
continually. This extraordinary discrepancy between width and depth
reminds me of the designation of the Platte Riv