t can do."

"No! no! no!" he shrieked. "I have seen enough!"

The day ended peacefully. I was invited to hasten on to Stanley
Pool. The natives engaged themselves by the score to assist me in
hauling the wagons. My progress was thenceforth steady and
uninterrupted, and in due time the wagons and good-columns arrived
at their destination.

[Illustration: A SPECIMEN OF CICATRIZATION]

[Illustration: A SANKURU WOMAN PLAYING NATIVE DRAUGHTS]

Kinshassa was an accident. Leopoldville, which is situated about ten
miles away and the capital of the Congo-Kasai Province, was expected to
become the center of white life and enterprise in this vicinity. It was
founded by Stanley in the early eighties and named in honour of the
Belgian king. It commands the river, cataracts, forests and mountains.

Commerce, however, fixed Kinshassa as its base of operation, and its
expansion has been astonishing for that part of the world. It is a
bustling port and you can usually see half a dozen steamers tied up at
the bank. There is a population of several hundred white people and many
thousands of natives. The Banque du Congo Belge has its principal
establishment here and there are scores of well-stocked mercantile
establishments. With the exception of Matadi and Thysville it has the
one livable hotel in the Congo. Moreover, it rejoices in that now
indispensable feature of civic life which is expressed in a cinema
theatre. In the tropics all motion picture houses are open-air
institutions.

In cataloguing Kinshassa's attractions I must not omit the feature that
had the strongest and most immediate lure for me. It was a barber shop
and I made tracks for it as soon as I arrived. I was not surprised to
find that the proprietor was a Portuguese who had made a small fortune
trimming the Samson locks of the scores of agents who stream into the
little town every week. He is the only barber in the place and there is
no competition this side of Stanleyville, more than a thousand miles
away.

The seasoned residents of the Congo would never think of calling
Kinshassa by any other name than "Kin." In the same way Leopoldville is
dubbed "Leo." Kinshassa is laid out in streets, has electric lights, and
within the past twelve months about twenty automobiles have been
acquired by its residents. There is a gay social life, and on July
first, the anniversary of the birth of the Congo Free State, and when a
celebration is usually