ter and I, cross the river and are met
by Mr. Adams, the Director of the Railway Company. We enter a truck and
proceed along the new line which plunges into dense forest immediately,
turning and twisting in many directions in order to avoid the numerous
soft places and ravines and although there are a few steep gradients,
most of the way the line runs on fairly level ground. The soil is a kind
of ferruginous clay in some places and sandy in others and all the
bridges are constructed of wood. Mr. Adams says the natives are good
workers and that they have had no trouble with them and very little
sickness. The gauge of the line is considerably wider than that of the
Matadi-Leopoldville railway and at present about thirty kilometres have
been finished the whole passing through thick forest with clearings here
and there for the huts of the workmen. The difficulties of construction
are very great, but these are being surmounted and the cost of transport
of material is enormous, for every steel rail six of which weigh a ton
has to be carried from Europe to Matadi by ship, then by the railway to
Leopoldville, and then up the river for nearly a thousand miles. The
Company has its own private steamer, the _Kintamo_, a stern wheeler of
500 tons which is the largest vessel on the Congo, but like the rest was
carried out in sections and put together and launched at Leopoldville.
The construction of this railway will thus be costly, and it is doubtful
if the amount of produce carried will be sufficient for some years to
pay a dividend. The advantages of it will however, be very great, for at
present the falls render the river useless for navigation, and
everything has to be carried round by hand. Everywhere indeed, there is
evidence that the State not only spends enormous sums in opening up the
country, but welcomes the formation of private companies who will help
them in their gigantic undertaking. It is difficult to realise that
probably no man, white or black, has ever set foot in the forest a few
hundred yards away, and yet we are travelling smoothly along a steel
railroad through a tractless desert of trees propelled by a modern steam
locomotive. The line does not pass near a single native village, for
this part is not thickly populated and the only creatures whose paths
are interrupted, are the elephants, buffaloes and wild pigs. On our
return we visit the house of Mr. Adams, a solid structure of brick and
European cement, and th