place in it the
things one would least expect to find in the jungle, or, without
wishing to be ungracious, anywhere. So, although there are no women
at Dima, there are great mirrors in brass frames, chandeliers of
glass with festoons and pendants of glass, metal lamps with shades
of every color, painted plaster statuettes and carved silk-covered
chairs. In the red glow of the lamps, surrounded by these Belgian
atrocities, M. Fumiere sat down to the pianola. The heat of Africa
filled the room; on one side we could have touched the jungle, on
the other in the river the hippopotamus puffed and snorted. M.
Fumiere pulled out the stops, and upon the heat and silence of the
night, floated the "Evening Star," Mascagni's "Intermezzo," and
"Chin-chin Chinaman."

Next morning I left for Leopoldville in a boat much larger than the
_Deliverance_, but with none of her cheer or good-fellowship. This
boat was run by the black wife of the captain. Trailing her velvet
gown, and cleaning her teeth with a stick of wood, she penetrated to
every part of the steamer, making discipline impossible and driving
the crew out of control.

I was glad to escape at Kinchassa to the clean and homelike bungalow
and beautiful gardens of the only Englishman still in the employ of
the State, Mr. Cuthbert Malet, who gave me hospitably of his scanty
store of "Scotch," and, what was even more of a sacrifice, of his
precious handful of eggs. A week later I was again in Boma, waiting
for the _Nigeria_ to take me back to Liverpool.

Before returning to the West Coast and leaving the subject of the
Congo, I wish to testify to what seemed to me the enormously
important work that is being done by the missionaries. I am not
always an admirer of the missionary. Some of those one meets in
China and Japan seem to be taking much more interest in their own
bodies than in the souls of others. But, in the Congo, almost the
only people who are working in behalf of the natives are those
attached to the missions. Because they bear witness against Leopold,
much is said by his hired men and press agents against them. But
they are deserving of great praise. Some of them are narrow and
bigoted, and one could wish they were much more tolerant of their
white brothers in exile, but compared with the good they do, these
faults count for nothing. It is due to them that Europe and the
United States know the truth about the Congo. They were the first to
bear witness, and the haza