No wonder Sir Alfred is
popular.
Our first port of call was Landana, in Portuguese territory, but two
ships of the Woermann Line were there ahead of us and had gobbled up
all the freight. So we could but up anchor and proceed to
Libreville, formerly the capital of the French Congo. At five in the
morning by the light of a ship's lantern, we were paddled ashore to
drum up trade. We found two traders, Ives and Thomas, who had
waiting for the _Nigeria_ at the mouth of the Gabun River six
hundred logs of mahogany, and, in consequence, there was general
rejoicing, and Scotch and "sparklets," and even music from a German
music-box that would burst into song only after it had been fed with
a copper. One of the clerks said that Ives had forgotten how to
extract the coppers and in consequence was using the music-box as a
savings bank.
In the French Congo the natives are permitted to trade; in the
Congo Free State they are not, or, rather, they have nothing with
which to trade, and the contrast between the empty "factories" of
the Congo and those of Libreville, crowded with natives buying and
selling, was remarkable. There also was a conspicuous difference in
the quality and variety of the goods. In Leopold's Congo "trade"
goods is a term of contempt. It describes articles manufactured only
for those who have no choice and must accept whatever is offered.
When your customers must take what you please to give them the
quality of your goods is likely to deteriorate.
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