Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/610

 with a "Marine" and several European factories at the water's edge connected by a road and a railway of light construction with the upper quarter standing about 300 feet above the right bank of the river. Nine local chiefs, still bearing the title of "kings," claim possession of the Boraa district, and present themselves every month at the factories to receive the "customs," or ground-rent. Sugar plantations line the beach, and the neighbouring islets contain several villages surrounded by fields and palm-groves. In one of these islands are the graves of the kings of Boma and those of Tuckey's companions who perished in the disastrous expedition of 1816.

Boma already communicates by a regular service of five lines of steamers with Lisbon, Liverpool, Hull, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, while smaller boats ply on the estuary between Banana at the mouth of the Congo and Matadi, just below the last rapids. Above the Falls the river is navigated by other steamers transported thither piece by piece; but along the portage of 170 miles between Matadi and Stanley Pool goods are forwarded by carriers at a charge of about £40 per ton. As no less than eighteen days are taken to traverse this small break in the navigation, it has become urgently necessary to connect the lower and middle sections of the Congo by rail. The best route for the projected railway runs from Boma nearly in a straight line to Brazzaville on the French side of Stanley Pool. But in order to keep the route entirely within its own territory the Congo Free State favours the line from Matadi along the left bank to Kinshassa above the Falls. The difficulties to overcome either way are very formidable; yet if the project is not carried out, the whole Congo State, notwithstanding its vast extent and boundless resources, "will not be worth a two-shilling piece" (Stanley).

Below Boma the chief station is Ponta da Lenha, on an islet close to the right bank of the estuary, beyond which the only other European settlement is Banana, occupying on the same side the terminal peninsula between the sea and the mouth of the Congo. Here are situated the Dutch factories, the most important in the whole Congo basin, followed higher up by several English, French, and Portuguese establishments, those of the Congo State lying about the middle of the peninsula. Although protected from erosion by piles, the site of Banana is continually threatened by the stormy waters, which in 1872 converted the peninsula into a temporary island, Nearly all the foreign trade of the Congo State is centred in the port of Banana, whose exchanges are already estimated at £1,600,000, of which £600,000 represent the exports, chiefly caoutchouc, ivory, palm-oil, and nuts. The great staple of the import trade is spirits, not always of genuine quality, and equalling in value all the other imports together.

Since the opening of the Congo by Stanley, the trade of the estuary has been increased fourfold. Yet all attempts hitherto made to introduce an European currency have failed, except at Banana and Boma. The natives obstinately refuse to take silver, accepting nothing but goods or orders (mukanda) which ensure their future delivery.

On the strip of seaboard left to the Congo State north of Banana are some flourishing plantations, such as those of Moanda and Vida, the latter noted for