e boat absolutely naked. Most
Congo parents are fond of their offspring but this particular youngster,
who was bright and alert, was adored by his father, the head fireman
on the vessel. One day I gave him a cake and it was the first piece of
sweet bread he had ever eaten. Evidently he liked it for afterwards he
approached me every hour with his little hands outstretched. I was
anxious to get a photograph of him in his natural state and took him
ashore ostensibly for a walk. One of my fellow passengers had a camera
and I asked him to come along. When the boy saw that he was about to be
snapped he rushed back to the boat yelling and howling. I did not know
what was the matter until he returned in about ten minutes, wearing an
abbreviated pair of pants and a short coat. He was willing to walk about
nude but when it came to being pictured he suddenly became modest. This
state of mind, however, is not general in the Colony.

[Illustration: FISHERMEN ON THE SANKURU]

[Illustration: THE FALLS OF THE SANKURU]

The African child is fond of playthings which shows that one touch of
amusement makes all childhood kin. He will swim half a mile through a
crocodile-infested river to get an empty tin can or a bottle. One of the
favorite sports on the river boats is to throw boxes or bottles into the
water and then watch the children race for them. On the Congo the
fathers sometimes manufacture rude reproductions of steamboats for their
children and some of them are astonishingly well made.

Exactly twelve days after we left Dima the captain told me that we were
nearing Djoko Punda. The country was mountainous and the river had
become swifter and deeper for we were approaching Wissmann Falls, the
end of navigation for some distance. These falls are named for Herman
Wissmann, a lieutenant in the Prussian Army who in the opinion of such
authorities as Sir Harry Johnston, ranks third in the hierarchy of early
Congo explorers. Stanley, of course, comes first and Grenfell second.

On account of the lack of certain communication save by runner in this
part of Africa--the traveller can always beat a wireless message--I was
unable to send any word of my coming and I wondered whom and what I
would find there. I had the strongest possible letters to all the
Forminiere officials but these pieces of paper could not get me on to
Tshikapa. I needed something that moved on wheels. I was greatly
relieved, therefore, when we came in sight of the pos