E-text prepared by Brendan Lane, Martin Pettit, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 15240-h.htm or 15240-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/2/4/15240/15240-h/15240-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/2/4/15240/15240-h.zip) A JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN THE CONGO FREE STATE by MARCUS R. P. DORMAN, M.A. Author of _A History of the British Empire in the Nineteenth Century. The Mind of the Nation_, A Study of Political Thought in the Nineteenth Century; _Ignorance_, a Study of the Causes and Effects of Popular Thought; and _From Matter to Mind_. Originally published in 1905 by J. Lebègue and Co., Brussels and Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., London Dedicated by Permission to His Majesty Leopold II, King of Belgium and Sovereign of the Congo Free State. PREFACE. This journal is practically my Diary reproduced with the minimum of editing in order that the impressions gained on the spot should be described without modification. It was never intended for publication, and was written only as an aid to memory. Consequently it is little more than a collection of rough notes. Having left England with a prejudice against the Government of the Congo Free State and returned with a very strong feeling in its favour, I feel however that it is my duty to publish an account of what I did see for the benefit of those whose opinions are not already formed beyond recall. As in all controversies where feelings subordinate reason and people judge more by their emotions than by evidence, many are too quick to-day to attribute interested motives to those whose opinions are not similar to their own. Since a great number of people in the Congo and at home are curious to know whether I was sent out by the Congo Government, the British Government or the _Times_, I will state here once for all that I went to the Congo entirely to please myself and with the hope of shooting big game. In order indeed to satisfy curiosity, I will go further and state that not only was I not paid for telling the truth, but that the trip cost me a great deal of money. It is however delightful to remember that wherever I went I was treated with the greatest kindness and courtesy by all whether they approved of the system of the Congo Government or not and it gives me great pleasure to thank here the State officials, Missionaries of all denominations and Traders of various nationalities for their hospitality, friendship and valuable assistance. M.R.P.D. London 1905. [Illustration: MAP--ITINERARY OF MARCUS R.P. DORMAN IN THE CONGO FREE STATE] [Illustration: THE STEAMER _FLORIDA_.] CHAPTER I. London to Banana.