at
the reader sees in America probably comes from Hayti, Cuba, or
Belize, and is of much finer quality than that of the Gabun River,
which latter is used for making what the trade calls "fancy"
cigar-boxes and cheap furniture. But before it becomes a cigar-box
it passes through many adventures. Weeks before the steamer arrives
the trader, followed by his black boys, explores the jungle and
blazes the trees. Then the boys cut trails through the forest, and,
using logs for rollers, drag and push the tree trunks to the bank of
the river. There the tree is cut into huge cubes, weighing about a
ton, and measuring twelve to fifteen feet in length and three feet
across each face. A boy can "shape" one of these logs in a day.

Although his pay varies according to whether the tributaries of the
river are full or low, so making the moving of the logs easy or
difficult, he can earn about three pounds ten shillings a month,
paid in cash. Compared with the eighty cents a month paid only a few
miles away in the Congo Free State, and in "trade" goods, these are
good wages. When the log is shaped the mark of the trader is branded
on it with an iron, just as we brand cattle, and it is turned loose
on the river. At the mouth of the river there is little danger of
the log escaping, for the waves are stronger than the tide, and
drive the logs upon the shore. There, in the surf, we found these
tons of mahogany pounding against each other. In the ship's
steam-launch were iron chains, a hundred yards long, to which, at
intervals, were fastened "dogs," or spikes. These spikes were driven
into the end of a log, the brand upon the log was noted by the
captain and trader, and the logs, chained together like the vertebrae
of a great sea serpent, were towed to the ship's side. There they
were made fast, and three Kroo boys knocked the spike out of each
log, warped a chain around it, and made fast that chain to the steel
hawser of the winch. As it was drawn to the deck a Senegalese
soldier, acting for the Customs, gave it a second blow with a
branding hammer, and, thundering and smashing, it swung into the
hold.

[Illustration: There, in the Surf, We Found These Tons of Mahogany,
Pounding Against Each Other.]

In the "round up" of the logs the star performers were the three
Kroo boys at the ship's side. For days, in fascinated horror, the
six passengers watched them, prayed for them, and made bets as to
which would be the first to die. One un