Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 8, 1885

No. 227.

Mr. Tisdel to Mr. Bayard.

Lisbon, Portugal,
April 25, 1885. (Received May 18.)

Sir: I have the honor to report my return to the coast at Banana, the 20th ultimo, having traveled by special caravan to the interior of Africa as far as Stanley Pool, around and to the north and east of which I made several explorations, calling at Kinchassa, De Brazzaville, and other points, and visiting the native villages bordering the Pool. I regret to inform you that I was unable to proceed farther into the interior, as was my intention, but the want of river transportation prevented, and I was reluctantly compelled to turn back.

In this report I propose to confine myself to the Lower Congo and coast with its commercial advantages, in order that the American merchants who may feel disposed to locate there may have the benefit of my observations.

In my report to follow this one, and in accordance with my instructions, I shall treat of the country above Vivi, the International Association, and the “Congo Free States.”

In the first place, I recommend most earnestly that Americans who contemplate establishing themselves on the Lower Congo, or anywhere on the west coast of Africa, should not do so unless supplied with a large capital, which will enable them to compete with the long-established, Dutch, English, and German houses which control almost the entire trade of the west coast. American houses establishing here must first be assured that they have transportation for their manufactured goods outward, and for the products of the country homeward. This is of vital importance. They must locate “factories” or stations in different parts, engage help acclimated and familiar with the country and the natives, and with a knowledge of both the Portuguese and Fiote languages, make presents to chiefs of tribes, and in this manner induce the natives to come in to the newly-established “factories.” All this takes time and money, and little or no return can be expected for at least a year.

It is a mistake to suppose that all of the products which are reported to come from the Congo are grown there, or do actually come from there. Not one tenth is harvested there. To illustrate:

The Dutch-African Trading Company of Rotterdam has fifty-three “factories” or stations, the principal one being at Banana Point, where the manager for the company resides. The fifty-two remaining “factories” are scattered from Loango, in latitude 4° 40ʹ S., to Benguela, in latitude 13° 40ʹ S., and to the interior about 100 miles, the limit of the lowland. On the Congo River proper they have only seven stations, and with two exceptions these are unimportant when compared with many of the other stations. The company own several small steamers and sailing vessels, which ply between Banana and the stations along the coast and lower river. By this method the different posts are kept supplied with the articles required by the natives, and the products of the surrounding country are gathered in small lots and transported to Banana, where packages are prepared for shipment to Europe, whither they are shipped in steamers belong to the company.

The same plan is adopted by the English, German, and French companies, hence their independence and ability to control the trade of the lower country.

The following, are old established houses, each with many branches and with its own line of steamers and sailing vessels:

(1) The Dutch African Trading Company of Rotterdam.

(2) Hatton & Cookson of Liverpool.

(3) Congo and Central African Company of Liverpool.

(4) The Hamburg African Company of Hamburg.

(5) Daumas, Béraud & Co. of Paris.

There are here and there other small trading “factories,” the owners of which are supplied with goods by one or another of the houses named.

There are also several Portuguese “factories” on the lower river, the headquarters, however, being in Ambriz or St. Paul de Loando. There are no Portuguese houses between the Congo and Ambriz, nor anywhere in the interior, excepting between Banana and Noki.

It is my belief that in all the world there is not a richer territory than that which borders the sea, commencing at the Senegal River, in latitude 16° N., and extending to latitude 18° 30ʹ S., and inland an average distance of 100 miles.

The most valuable productions of the country, and for which there is an ever-increasing demand, are rubber, palm kernels and palm oil, gum copal, ground-nuts, and wax. The rubber and palm trees are of spontaneous growth and to be found everywhere in the lowlands. The supply is not equal to the demand, yet there is no limit to the quantity of these rich products which might be taken from the country if the natives could be induced to work. Here again arises the question of labor, and to me it seems feasible to create wants amongst the tribes of the low and coast lands which will after a time induce them to gather and bring to the traders in large quantities the products which they can so readily exchange for anything which they may require. There are other and valuable products, but the staple commodities are those enumerated.

In no sense of the word can this be called an agricultural country. Nothing is cultivated excepting the ground-nut and a few tropical vegetables, which, however, are found only in small patches near the villages.

The country is densely populated, yet it is next to impossible to induce the natives to gather the valuable products which nature produces. With the exception of the Loango and Kabinda tribes, they are a wild, savage, and cruel people. They do not like the white man; and while they are glad to have his cloth and gin, they would much prefer never to see a white man within their domain. The question of labor will have much to do with the future of this country.

It is a remarkable fact that a Zanzibar man, or a Houssa man from the Niger, can travel anywhere in the country unmolested, even among the most savage tribes. This fact clearly proves to me that an industrious black man with a knowledge of the Fiote language will be enabled to exercise a greater and better influence over these people than it can be possible for the white man ever to do.

I may remark here that a few bottles of trade gin will go much farther in trade with the natives than ten times its value in cloth; and it often happens that traders are compelled to return to the coast without having accomplished a trade, because the natives insist upon having gin, while the trader was supplied with cloth alone. A native man can be induced to work at a “factory” for one or two days at a time upon the assurance that he can at the expiration of that time have a bottle or two of gin, while if you offer him a piece of cloth it is doubtful whether he would work at all.

The coast women are fond of cloth, having a preference for the gaudy colors. They are the work-people of the country, and if it were not for their industry little or nothing would be gathered for foreign markets. The men lounge about, drinking, gossiping, fighting, or hunting, as it may suit their tastes. Could they be induced to work and till the soil or gather the natural products for export, there can be no conception as to the wealth which would flow from the lowland countries.

The question of climate is a serious one. It is humid and enervating to the whites of Europe and America, and much sickness is the result. Very great precaution must be exercised during the first year’s stay in the country, in order that the system may be kept free from the poisonous influences of the malaria which overhangs the entire country.

With few exceptions, all of the houses on the Congo, along the coast, and in the interior are built of bamboo sticks and grass. They are called “shimbecks,” and afford but poor protection against the scorching sun of the dry season or the pouring rains of the wet season. Good shelter, with an abundance of good wholesome food and a fair allowance of pure Bordeaux or Potuguese wine, with indoor occupation or amusement after nightfall, would, I am sure, go very far towards a guarantee of fairly good health on the coast and in the lower river countries. These facts are appreciated and made use of by the Dutch-African Company, who do everything possible for the comfort of their employés in the direction indicated, and the result is that, generally speaking, they enjoy good health and are enabled to remain in the country for terms varying from two to four years without a vacation.

Along the entire coast the products are not at all unlike; the exports consisting principally of rubber, ground-nuts, palm oil, palm nuts, cola nuts, and gum copal. Some ivory is also exported, but in small quantities; the principal coast markets for ivory being at different points in Angola.

Common cotton and woolen goods, rum, gin, glass beads, guns, powder, tobacco, and common cutlery make up the principal imports, and with these articles the traders barter for the products of the country. It is the only currency known. Fifty per cent, of all the goods which go to the coast, including provisions, are purchased in England. The gin comes from Holland, and is manufactured expressly for the trade, the quantity being about 40 per cent, of all the imports, the remaining 10 per cent, may be distributed amongst other countries.

The Congo River is navigable for the largest ocean steamers to Boma, a distance of 70 miles from the sea. Steamers drawing 17 to 18 feet can go safely to Noki, 30 miles above Boma, while between Noki and Vivi only small, light-draught steamers can be used with safety. Approaching Vivi and the Falls of Yellala the current is very rapid, rocks are numerous, and dangerous whirlpools are constantly forming, and changing position, tossing a steamer about as though in a heavy sea, thus rendering it unsafe for any but powerful steamers of light draught. Particularly is this so in the rainy season, when the river becomes swollen, rising often from 10 to 20 feet in as many hours. At Vivi the river is about 1 mile wide, but as you approach the sea it ranges from 2 to 5 miles in width, reaching a depth in places of 200 fathoms.

Below Boma, the banks or shores on either side are covered with dense forests of hard wood.

Banana Point affords an excellent sheltered harbor for the largest sea-going ships; and general supplies, including coal, can be purchased there from the Dutch African Company.

As you go up the river from Banana, you pass, respectively, the landings of Ponta da Lenha, Cocoa-Massi, Binda, and N’Kongolo before reaching Boma. At each of these points there is at least one “factory” or trading station, the chief depository for the near inland stations, and to which the small trading vessels go with supplies, and take away the accumulated products of the country.

I send you herewith a sample of each kind of cloth in use for native trade on the Congo and in the surrounding country, with cost price per piece, and number of yards in each piece. I send also a sample of blue and white beads, which are in general use for trading purposes throughout the entire country, and are greatly appreciated by the natives.

In addition to this the traders require common cutlery, much the same as that which is sold by our manufacturers in Mexico and the Central American States, for use amongst the natives. At all the stations canned goods and potted meats are liberally supplied for the white employés, but of American production I saw nothing but canned peaches, and those had been purchased from a Boston trading vessel that comes to the lower coast once every year.

Whether or not the cotton goods of American manufacture can be laid down on the Congo and along the coast as cheaply as those from England, I cannot say (certainly we cannot produce them of a poorer quality than sample!), but I am well satisfied that canned goods, common cutlery, ready-made wooden houses, lumber, medicines, beads, and “Yankee notions” generally can be delivered to the traders along the coast at lower prices than they are now being invoiced from Europe.

But how to reach these traders is the query. Doubtless the large traders would cheerfully examine American samples and prices, and if the American manufacturer can show a line of goods equal in quality and at a lower price than the European manufacturer, I am sure that a trade can be established.

At Boma I saw a wooden house which had been manufactured in Belgium, and the cost on the Congo was $15,000. That house could be duplicated by the Flushing (L. I.) Portable Wooden House Company for $2,000, and could be delivered in Banana for $500 additional.

In wooden houses alone there is undoubtedly an opportunity for a large business.

The forests on the Lower Congo and along the coast are dense, yet, as in Brazil, the traders send to Europe for lumber, as they have no wood-working machinery, nor is it possible at present to introduce it into the country.

The trading companies invariably have their head offices in Europe, whence all supplies are furnished and employés engaged. They receive all products which may be purchased on the coast by their respective agents, and market the same from their European depositories.

The business of the coast is simply “barter and trade,” with values fixed from day to day by the trader. The profits are, as a rule, large, though the last year has not been a prosperous one because of the unsettled condition of affairs owing to the long-continued discussion in Europe over African affairs.

I refer to the manner in which business is conducted in the lower coast countries, so that agents representing American houses may apply at the European head offices, and not go to the coast.

There are no hotels or even stopping places, and several cases of extreme hardship and suffering have come to my notice, where agents have been sent to the coast without knowing where they were going or what they were going for. Of course, this does not apply to Angola.

I found it impossible to obtain from the different houses statistical information as to the quantity and value of exports and imports. I was in every case politely referred to the head offices in Europe, where alone the information could be obtained.

Reports which have been published from time to time, purporting to give the quantity and values of imports and exports to and from the Congo, have been made up from mere guess-work, as I am assured by the managers of commercial houses that they are not in a position to give the information. There being no custom-houses or offices of record of any kind, you will readily understand the difficulty in obtaining any information excepting from the quarter indicated.

There are but two lines of mail steamers touching the coast at any point between Gaboon and the Cape settlements. One is the West African Steamship Company of Liverpool (alternating with a branch of the same line from Hamburg), monthly, and the other is the Portuguese mail, monthly, from Lisbon. The first line requires fifty to fifty-five days to make the voyage, either from Liverpool or Hamburg, while the second, being under mail contract with the Portuguese Government, makes the voyage to Congo in twenty days.

As to government on the Lower Congo or on the coast north of Angola there is none, nor even a semblance of government, until we arrive at Gaboon or Fernando Po, where we first come upon the military rule of the French and Spanish.

At Banana, at points along the Lower Congo, on the coast, and in the lowland interior, at each station or “factory,” the traders have a small armory, and not unfrequently are they required to resort to arms for defense from attacks by the natives, or to punish the natives for some offense committed. Upon the slightest provocation, or even without provocation, the natives often attack the “factories,” burn the buildings, and plunder the stores. Only recently the Dutch and English companies have suffered very heavy losses by the burning of several “factories,” wherein were stored large quantities of merchandise. Every employ in the service of the trading companies must act as an armed policeman, not only for self-protection but for the protection of the property intrusted to his care.

The natives are all armed with old flint-lock muskets which have been sold to them by the traders, and it is an exceptional case to meet a native man without one unless he be a slave, and even slaves are oftentimes armed. They do not well understand the use of fire arms, and, notwithstanding they carry guns, they prefer the poisoned arrow or spear, with which they do much better execution. I may add, however, that they are informing themselves in the matter of improved fire arms, and chiefs of tribes are now demanding repeating or magazine rifles with prepared metallic cartridges, where until recently they were well satisfied with old flint locks.

South of the Congo, in St. Paul de Loando, Benguela, and Mossamedes, there is, in my opinion, an opportunity to place American goods of all kinds. The climate is not at all unlike that of our Southern States, and the requirements of the people are much the same as our own.

There is a large population, and there are many rich commercial firms who would gladly trade with the people of the United States if communication could be established between the two countries.

American whalers going to the South Atlantic make a sort of headquarters at these ports, the captains of whale-ships often bringing small cargoes of American manufactured goods and canned provisions, invariably finding a ready market for cash for anything which they may offer.

Wool, hides, sugar, coffee, and palm oil constitute the principal articles of export.

There are no manufactories in the country, excepting for rum; consequently everything but the commonest articles of food is required from abroad. Sailing vessels are largely employed in the carrying trade to and from this country.

Proceeding north from the Congo, I found at St. Thomé a possible market for American goods of all kinds. This is one of the richest islands in the world, densely populated, and might be made to produce everything required by the inhabitants, but they seem quite well satisfied with the production for export of coffee, sugar, and palm oil, while all their supplies for wear or consumption, excepting fruit alone, come principally from London or Liverpool. I saw in one shop a case of American sheeting and “blue jeans,” which the proprietor informed me he had ordered especially through an English house.

Situated just on the equator, strange to say, any desired climate can be obtained, the land rising gently to an elevation of 8,000 feet. From the center of the most elevated part of the island there flow no less than twelve beautiful rivers, in as many different directions, so that the land is well watered, fertile, and very productive.

The plantations are kept in excellent condition, many of them employing upwards of one thousand laborers. An English line of steamers runs regularly, monthly, between St. Thomé and Liverpool, and a Portuguese line runs monthly between the island and Lisbon. There are also many sailing vessels engaged in the trade.

In Cameroon, the Germans, by reason of recent conquests, control the trade, and, though the country is very rich, I do not think it possible for an American to get a foothold there. The same may be said of Fernando Po, under Spanish rule, and of the lower Niger country, Dahomey, the Gold Coast, and Ashantee, all English possessions.

Of Liberia I cannot write, but north of this republic we come to Guinea, which country, though comparatively undeveloped, is one of great richness, producing, in addition to all the tropical products, gold, copper, and wax, of the finest quality known to the European trade. I visited Bolama and Bissaō, seventy-five miles in the interior, and I have never seen a country which offers such extraordinary inducements to the trader as this. English, German and French traders are already established here, and I learned that a Boston house had arranged for an agency in Bissaō, to which place they propose running a sailing vessel monthly, in connection with an already established line to the Cape de Verd islands, between which and Boston a good paying trade is well inaugurated.

Goree, Dakar, and San Luis, in the French African possessions of Senegal, are thriving business places, but the French look so well after their own trades people that I could hardly recommend an American merchant to venture into these parts, Yankee enterprise, has, however, shown itself in Goree, where an American house, against great odds, is doing a fair business.

The Canary Islands, and Madeira, also offer inducements to the American merchant, and my firm belief is that, with agencies once established in the places herein named for the sale of American goods and the purchase of native products, a large and well-paying trade could soon be worked up, and that steamers constructed for cargo, with small passenger accommodation, would find profitable employment in monthly voyages from and to the United States, via the Azores, Madeira, Canaries, Cape Verd, and the West Coast of Africa.

I have, &c.,

W. P. TISDEL.