at 9 p.m. we
seek our house guided by a boy with a lantern, for most of the streets
of Boma are not lighted artificially.

Next day we call on Mr. Nightingale who is at present acting as British
Consul. The consulate is about a mile from the town situated on the
banks of the river and is well constructed of wood. Mr. Nightingale
offers kindly to lend us any assistance on our voyage that we may
require. Afterwards we buy many things which will be necessary up
country, among which are bags of salt, a very popular form of money in
some parts, and tins of petrol for the lanterns.

Everyone in Boma works hard, from the Secretaire General who is at his
office from 7 a.m. to midday and from 2.30 to 5 p.m. to the hardy
healthy-looking native who wields his pick as he chats with his fellows.
Roads are being made and gardens laid out in various places. One very
noticeable feature of the natives here, is that they nearly all bear
wellmarked vaccination marks. Here and there a policeman patrols in an
effective costume of blue and red and armed with a short sword.
Everywhere is order, method, and cleanliness, and it is very difficult
to realise that a quarter of a century ago only three trading houses
stood on the site of this prosperous and well-regulated little town. In
the evening we dined with the Governor General who has both a good cook
and butler; the wines being excellent. Outside, the band of the Force
Publique played selections of music, rendered the more interesting by
the fact that not one of the players could read a note of music and each
learnt his part entirely by ear. Most of the guests were our fellow
travellers and well known to us. The conversation turned upon the
Sleeping Sickness, Beri Beri, the difficulty of growing wheat in the
Congo, and the climate. It is not very hot in Boma about this time, for
it is the winter or dry season and the nights are so cold that only the
very hardy mosquitoes are sufficiently wide awake to prevent people
sleeping. Still it is hotter, than we ever experience in England, and
with forethought for the comfort of his guests, Mr. Costermans usually
commands white costumes instead of European dress.

The native hospital is a newly-built stone and brick structure and is
under the charge of an Italian, Dr. Zerbini. The wards are well arranged
in separate wings, permitting good ventilation and isolation. The beds
are iron with bamboos stretched lengthwise, thus forming a kind of
spring