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quiet man who tried to please the State, and he only started on his career as a fighting man after he had boen out to help M. N O. After the departure of M. N O to Colquilhatville, he went back and made demands and fought the people as he had done with M. N O as his Chief.
When this matter was reported to M. N O, he was angry, and called the Chief a “brigand,” and said that he would be punished. For numerous offences he was put “on the chain,” and some time after his release the fight occurred (in which fight the two white men were killed) and he joined with others in an ineffectual attempt to drive out the white man.
In most of the fights then the natives were merely trying to defend themselves and their homes from attacks made on them by black soldiers sent to “punish them for some failure to do their duty to the State;” and if the cause for war was weak, the way in which it was carried on was often revolting. It was stated that these soldiers were often sent out to make war on a village without a white officer accompanying them, so that there was nothing to keep them from awful excesses.
It is averred that canoes have been seen returning from distant expeditions with no white man in charge, and with human hands dangling from a stick in the bow of the canoe—or in small baskets—being carried to the white man as proofs of their courage and devotion to duty. If one in fifty of native reports are true, there has been great lack on the part of some white men. They, too, are accused of forgetting the subjects and conditions of war.
Statements made to me by certain natives are appended.
Many similar statements were made to me during the time I spent at Lake Mantumha, some of those made by native men being unfit for repetition.
Q Q’s Statement.
I was born at K K *. After my father died my mother and I went to L L *. When we returned to K K * soon after that P Q came to fight with us because of rubber. K K * did not want to take rubber to the white man. We and our mothers ran away very far into the bush. The Bula Matadi soldiers were very strong and they fought hard, one soldier was killed, and the killed one KK" man. Then the white man said let us go home, and they went home, an then we, too, came out of the bush. This was the first fight After that another fighting took place. I, my mother, grandmother, and my sister, we ran away into the bush. The soldiers came and fou ht us, and left the town and followed us into the bush. When the soldiers came into the ush near us they were calling my mother by name, and I was going to answer, but my mother put her hand to my mouth to stop me. Then they went to another side, and then we left that place and went to another. When they called my mother, if she had not stopped me from answering. we would all have been killed then. A great number of our people were killed by the soldiers. The friends who were left buried the dead bodies, and there was very much weepin . After that there was not any fighting for some time. Then the soldiers came again to fight wit us, and we ran into the bush, but they really came to fight with MM *. They killed a lot of MM * people, and then one soldier came ~out to KK‘, and the KK‘ people killed him with a spear. And when the other soldiers heard that their friend was killed they came in a large number and followed us into the hush. ' Then the soldiers fired a gun, and some people were killed. After that they saw a little bit of my mother’s head, and the soldiers ran quickly towards the place Where we were and caught my grandmother, my mother, my sister, and hnother little one, younger than us. Several of the soldiers argued about my mother, because each wanted her for a wife, so they finally decided to kill her. They killed her with a gun—they shot her through the stomach—and she fell, and when I saw that I cried very much, because they killed my mother and grandmother, and I was left alone. My mother was near to the time of her confinement at that time. And they killed my grandmother too, and I saw it all done. They took hold of my sister and asked where her older sister wss, and she said: “ She has just run away.” They said, " Call her.“ She called me, but I was too frightened and would not answer, and I ran and went away and came out at another place, and I could not speak much because my throat was very sore. I saw a little bit kwanga yiug on the iround and I picked it up to eat. At that place there used to be a lot of people, but when I got t ere there were none. My sister was taken to P *, and I was at this place alone. 0'10 day I saw a man coming from the back oouutry. He was going to kill me, but afterwards he took me to a place where there were people, and there I saw my ste -father . . . . . . . . He asked to buy me from this man, but the man would not let him. fie said, “ She is my slave now; I found her." One day the men went out fishing, and when I looked I saw the soldlelfi coming, so I ran away, but a string caught my foot and I fell, and a soldier named N N caught me. He handed me over to another soldier, and as we went we saw some Q“ people 'fishin, and the soldiers took a lot of fish from them and a Q * woman, and we went to 1"‘7 and (fey took me to the white man. '
s a o s v o a
(Signed) Q Q Sigued by Q Q before me, (Signed) ROGER CASEMENT, ‘ . ' His Britannia Majerty'a Consul.
