sh the
palm nuts for oil and do the cooking and housework.

Ngero was the village of the Chief Lokolo Longania, who raised a
rebellion against the State some years ago, and after some trouble was
captured and hanged. Here we buy some fish and eggs and then go on to
Ikoko, the crew singing native songs and Christian hymns as they paddle
along. The Mission house is very prettily situated, and is a wooden
building, with that very rare luxury in the Congo, glass windows. Here
we are met by Mrs. Clarke, who has spent many years with her husband in
Africa. The Mission has a good farm and garden, and since the climate is
not as bad as in many parts, its inmates enjoy fair health. A large
wooden building is used as a chapel and school, and near it is a saw pit
and a carpenter's shop where the boys make furniture and boxes for sale
at Irebu and other Posts in the neighbourhood, for the furniture of the
Ikoko Mission is quite famous. The girls all wear plain, blue frocks
which they make themselves, as well as clothes for sale, and many are
also quite expert at various kinds of fancy needlework. The business has
however, decreased lately owing to the decrease in population. The
Mission bell has been ingeniously fixed in a tree, and it calls to
school, to work and prayer, as regularly as the bugle in the State
Posts.

The village of Ikoko consists of groups of huts separated from each
other by the tall grass, which here is eighteen or twenty feet long, but
as the ends bend over, not above twelve or fifteen feet high. The people
seem idle, contented and happy, the chief industry being fishing and
net-making. Mr. Clarke said the population used to be about 2000 in
number, but many have died of Sleeping Sickness and some have migrated.
This is very evident, for a number of huts are deserted, and the weeds
have grown over them, in some cases entirely blocking the entrances. Out
of curiosity, we have a rough census taken and find there are 138 men in
the village on August 19th. Some no doubt are fishing, and allowing for
these and the women and children, there are probably not more than 1000
to 1200 people now living in the village. The work these do for the
State, consists of supplying 600 rations of fish per week to the
plantation of Bikoro, a ration consisting of a whole, a half, or a
quarter of a fish according to its size. For this they are paid 600
mitakos--or about 23/--. They also supply bamboos and baskets, but it is
very pla