rong enough to resist
big gun fire.

The quarters of the Force Publique here are very comfortable. Each man
has a room to himself about seven feet square constructed of brick and
the sergeants have a small house, each containing two rooms and a
verandah. I looked into one or two and they were well arranged. Bed and
mosquito curtain, table and chair with a few pictures and ornaments,
showed what an advance the native had made in civilisation since he
slept in a hut on the mud floor.

Finally we visited the motive power which enables all this to be done,
the rubber stores. Here people were busy sorting and packing the
precious material into baskets ready to be carried to the Barge which
was waiting to sail.

CHAPTER X.

Stanley Falls to London.

The prison gang arrives at 8 a.m. on the morning of December 18th and at
once my baggage is carried down to the river and placed on board the
Barge. It is a novel sight. A long line of prisoners chained together,
slowly marching down the road with bales, boxes, chairs, tables and
portmanteaus on their heads. No method could be simpler or more secure
for transporting baggage. The Barge--as the name implies--has no means
of propulsion and depends for her locomotive power upon a powerful steam
tug which is attached alongside. The whole space in the ship is thus
devoted to cargo and only passengers who are sick are carried, the
accommodation being limited, but there is a fine deck on which to sit or
walk about. The Barge is of about 400 tons burden and is therefore as
large as the mail passenger boats, and the great advantage of travelling
in it is, that since there is absolutely no vibration or motion to be
felt, it is very comfortable for writing.

As the navigation of the river is difficult near Stanleyville, a pilot
takes all the boats down the first day's journey and returns in the next
vessel ascending. On the way we called at the Catholic Mission for one
of the priests who wished to travel to La Romee and I was astonished to
find he was quite ignorant of the agitation against the Congo, which was
taking place in Europe, and wondered, as many of us do, what was the
cause of it, for he knew nothing of atrocities or cruelties to natives.

Afterwards we stopped at Yakussu for wood and then at La Romee where
there is an extensive farm. Here we take on board some fresh vegetables
and cow's milk which however, is not fit to drink an hour afterwards.
The climate in the