ad of wood or food-stuff on her head. We cross the river in the
evening and dine with Captain Meilleur at Mobaie. The French villages
are identical with those on the State side, but the natives are, if
possible, still more idle.

Next morning much rubber is brought into Banzyville. Strings of natives,
each with a little basket-full of this substance, march into the square
and sit down in lines on the gravel. The baskets are then weighed on a
yard arm and the weights entered in a book by Captain Auita until a
record of the whole has been made when the chattering throng departs to
a shed near by where five cooks have been hard at work preparing dinner
for them. The natives here are paid in cloth at the rate of 50 or 60
centimes a kilogramme according to the quality of the rubber and
although each man is supposed to supply only one kilogramme a month some
of the villages here send in more than a ton in that time.

Mr. Fernaka, the second in command, arrived on the 28th after marching
for thirty days in the interior over unexplored ground. He said it was
mostly marsh land containing a few villages from which the inhabitants,
seeing the white man approach with his soldiers, fled into the bush. At
first indeed the natives are always fearful of the whites, but in a
short time are willing to trade and soon become very friendly. The
native, in fact, quickly acquires absolute confidence in Europeans and
his fear at first is, obviously, only the fear of the unknown. It is
rather amusing to see the children in villages where few white men have
penetrated, run shrieking with terror to their mothers when a strange
looking person, with a white face and clothes appears. At the sound of
the launch whistle also many children run away. One of the soldiers, a
sergeant of some years' standing who accompanied Mr. Fernaka on his
arduous march, unfortunately contracted dysentery and arrived at
Banzyville only to die. We attend the funeral, the absolute simplicity
of the ceremony being very impressive. All the troops here, perhaps
seventy or eighty marched with reversed arms to the cemetery after the
buglers sounding the Last Post and lined up opposite the grave. The
order was given to present arms, the coffin was lowered, each person
present threw a handful of earth into the grave and all was over. Far
into the night, however, one could hear the mournful dirge the soldiers
were chanting for their dead comrade. Hunting here is difficult althoug