BOKWALA THE STORY OF A CONGO VICTIM BY A CONGO RESIDENT WITH A PREFACE BY H. GRATTAN GUINNESS, M.D. LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 BOUVERIE ST. & 65 ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, E.C. 1910 PREFACE Having personally visited the Upper Congo in the days preceding the establishment of the notorious rubber régime, and being intimately acquainted with the conditions of native life which then obtained, I have watched with profoundest pity and indignation the development of Congo slavery. Old-time conditions of savage barbarity were awful, but it has been reserved for so-called “Christian Civilisation” to introduce the system of atrocious oppression and hopeless despair under which, during the last fifteen years, millions of helpless natives have perished directly or indirectly, for whose protection Great Britain and the United States of America have special responsibility before God and men. It is particularly appropriate that in this moment of Congo crisis these pages should render articulate the voice of a Congo victim. Bokwala tells his own story, thanks to the clever and sympathetic interpretation of a gifted and experienced resident on the Congo. And a touching story it is, told with admirable directness and simplicity, truthfulness and restraint. I heartily commend the book to all who are interested in the greatest humanitarian issue which has appealed to us during the last thirty years, and to those also who as yet know little or nothing of the Congo Iniquity. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS, M.D. Acting-Director of The Regions Beyond Missionary Union. Harley House, Bow, London, E. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear! even cry unto Thee out of violence, and Thou wilt not save! Why dost Thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest Thou on them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? Habakkuk i. 2, 3, 4, 13. FOREWORD This story of Bokwala, a Congo victim, has been written in the belief that it will help the friends of the Congo native to see something of how Congo affairs appear when looked at from the standpoint of those whom they most nearly concern in their actual working, i.e., the Congo natives themselves.