Page:Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons (IA travelsinwestafr00kingrich).pdf/400

 In the end a treaty was concluded by which the king placed his states under the protection of France, and ceded a tract of country, to be selected by M. de Brazza, on the shores of the Congo. The treaty was ratified on a day appointed, in the presence of all the vassal chiefs of Makoko. On its completion the grand fetish master put a little earth in a box and presented it to M. de Brazza, saying, "Take this earth and carry it to the great chief of the whites. It will remind him that we belong to him." De Brazza then planted the French flag before Makoko's house, saying, "This is the symbol of friendship and protection which I will leave with you. Wherever waves this emblem of peace there is France, and she will cause to be respected the rights of all those whom it covers."

I have no hesitation in saying that as far as Congo Français goes (I have no experience of other French possessions), this high-flown statement is true; and although de Brazza did a good thing for France that day, Makoko also did well, for he saved himself from the Congo Free State.

Soon after the signing of this treaty with Makoko, de Brazza left him and attended a meeting of the 'Ubanji chiefs at Nganchuno on the Congo. The chiefs came in an unsettled state of mind, and showed at first much opposition to the conclusion of a treaty, expressing their mistrust on account of a previous white traveller who had shot a member of the tribe and escaped down river too swiftly to be followed. However, after a second grand meeting, a treaty of peace was arranged and war was buried. This ceremony consisted in each chief and each man of de Brazza's small party burying some implement of war in a hole, over which a quickly growing tree was afterwards planted. French colours were distributed among the chiefs and the treaty definitely agreed to.

De Brazza then set off to choose the site for the station on the Congo, making five days' journey down the river to the west into Stanley Pool, and finally selecting Ntamo, now known as Brazzaville. He took possession of this site duly under his agreement with Makoko, and hoisted the French flag here on the 1st of October 1880. Its