Great Falls High School - Roundup Yearbook (Great Falls, MT)

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ROUNDUP l 5 eyes sufficiently to look in a mirror. The} ' tell me that after three or four months my blood will lie thinner and they won ' t bother, but just think of being the source of supply for mil- lions for those three months. Mos- quitoes are not plentiful, in fact I have not seen any; however, we al- ways sleep under a canopy of netting to avoid the malaria germ. In addi- tion to this we tenderfeet are instruct- ed to dose ourselves with four grains of quinine each day. I do — some days — but it has no attractions and so far we have had perfect health. Health conditions appear tine and I believe in this part of the country we will suffer very few ills, provided we do not expose ourselves to the heat of the sun which, together with booze. is the source of most of the tropical sickness. Although the porters made a fifteen mile trip today, they are now getting ready to dance and unless we shut them up. they will cake-walk — genuine Memphis nigger style — until long after midnight. They have a long hollow log, over one end of which they have stretched an antelope hide. On this drum one black beats time and the rest circle about him. They all have different steps, but each is in perfect harmony with his neighbor, and the whole group really would get con- siderable applause on a vaudeville circuit. They chant a sort of cry as they dance, but there is no meaning to their sound and seemingly they have no knowledge of music other than that of beating time. They do make a kind of instrument out of which they sometimes pick a mourn- ful tune, but there are no skilled play- ers amongst them. You asked about my outfit. Principally it consists of an eight by ten tent. In this I lay a heavy canvas tarpaulin as a carpet, for it is sure death to come in contact with Africa ' s soil. On this is my bed. a contrap- tion that unfolds from a one by two foot box into a lounge of luxury. This bed is supplied with clean linen sheets and a pair of heavy army blankets — I also have a heavy mohair blanket, for the nights get cold. Around the bed, suspended from the top of the tent is a canopy of mosquito netting, without which one would last but a short time in the tropics — but with which one could sleep right in a malaria swamp. Over this eight by ten tent I have a twelve by fourteen fly which gives me a veranda under which I have my table for eating and map-mak ing. The kitchen is well supplied — a double table, set of dishes, all the necessary cooking utensils — including a three-pieced iron stove. My cook has rigged up an oven out of the earth and an oil can and he really turns out many surprises. He makes dandy bread and I understand that he is the only cook in the Congo who does. He uses the sap of a palm tree for yeast. It ferments in the sun. We carry about three iron boxes each, one of which is used as a bath tub, in which we have our clothing. We each have a cook and a boy who does — or should do — everything, which in the States we would do for ourselves. It ' s nice to come in from the field to have your boy ready with a bath and clean clothes and a cup of tea to cheer you up. If you are feel- ing irritable, the boy is a bandy vic- tim and you soon get rid of your spleen. His ignorance is inexhaust- able, but it does no good to fume and frel for they are all alike. You may expect another white man to dinner and so give orders to the cook to have everything fine. He does — not. When alone I have sat down to some meals that any Christmas table would be proud of — and then when I have company we get the worst hashup that a Chinese restaurant ever served. DAVID A. IK FFMAN.

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M ROUNDUP our heads, so we have great difficulty in keeping track of our directions. Trees are not plentiful but we have no trouble in finding palms of many varieties, mangoes and bananas. Limes and lemons are plentiful, and so are pineapples, but other fruit is almost unknown. We had supposed the country was full of all kinds of fruits but such is not the case. The natives cultivate little but a sort of sweet potato and a few peanuts. They plant the seed and leave it to nature to produce a crop. If the season be poor the na- tive starves, and right now the entire province of Mayumbe is suffering from a famine, for the little that last season yielded was soon destroyed for want of warehouses. They say the natives are dying in many places, though we have seen none of that as yet. We have found though that our maps are nearly worthless, for most of the villages they show have either been abandoned for more healthy places, or else the entire population has died of sleeping sickness. At present the few villages we come across are composed of about fifteen huts each, whereas we are told that ten and twenty years ago there were twice the number of villages and each village was very small if it had less than one hundred huts. The missionaries claim that gin and alco- hol have done much to kill the negro off. Each village is ruled over by a Fumu, who has almost unlimited power when he cares to exert him- self. He really is the head of a huge family, the rest of the village being- composed of his wives, slaves, sons- in-laws, and descendants. He is us- ually the oldest man in evidence (I believe they kill off all the other old people), but little revernce is paid to his years. His people will argue a point with him and show anything but re- spect. He endures a lot of abuse, but once he has asserted his regal will his word is final and obeyed absolute- ly. Besides these Fumus there is a Bula Matadi or big chief who is above the several Fumus and ' has jurisdiction over several villages. These latter are recognized as native princes by the Belgian government. They are dignified old fellows, but quite comical as they come marching into camp, always clad in long Prince Albert coats, that may be hanging to- gether by one thread only. In mak- ing a visit it is customary for them to carry a fowl or several eggs as a present to their host, and they always expect a present, or as they say matabish, in return. One old fel- low came into camp one day with a forty-year-old goat which we declined with thanks. He became highly in- dignant and would have nothing more to do with us for over a week. We finally won his heart with a pound of Virginia tobacco, but it taught us to refuse nothing that was offered us. Had he remained unpacified we could have secured no porters nor laborers in his province where we wished to work. Did you ever hear of mariguoi- uns? I never did before I landed on Africa ' s shore, but I now enjoy their acquaintance every morning and evening. It is a small sand fly, that hardly is large enough to have wings, but it must have an awful appetite for the white man ' s red cor- puscles. In the cool of the morning they swarm around one in millions and where they land they bite. They have not the song of the merry mos- quito to warn one of their approach, nor do they hurt at first, but after they have satiated themselves and de- parted one ' s hands and face are a sight to behold. My hands are like hams and I can not describe my face, for I have been unable to open my

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DONALD HOFFMAN President