Jules Verne (38 page)

The astonishing fertility of the country causes the choice alimentary
produces to be brought to this "lakoni." There were quantities of the
rice which returns a hundred per cent., of the maize, which, in three
crops in eight months, produces two hundred per cent., the sesamum,
the pepper of Ouroua, stronger than the Cayenne, allspice, tapioca,
sorghum, nutmegs, salt, and palm-oil.

Hundreds of goats were gathered there, hogs, sheep without wool,
evidently of Tartar origin, quantities of poultry and fish. Specimens
of pottery, very gracefully turned, attracted the eyes by their
violent colors.

Various drinks, which the little natives cried about in a squeaking
voice, enticed the unwary, in the form of plantain wine, "pombe," a
liquor in great demand, "malofou," sweet beer, made from the fruit
of the banana-tree and mead, a limpid mixture of honey and water
fermented with malt.

But what made the Kazounde market still more curious was the commerce
in stuffs and ivory.

In the line of stuffs, one might count by thousands of "choukkas"
or armfuls, the "Mericani" unbleached calico, come from Salem, in
Massachusetts, the "kanaki," a blue gingham, thirty-four inches wide,
the "sohari," a stuff in blue and white squares, with a red border,
mixed with small blue stripes. It is cheaper than the "dioulis," a
silk from Surat, with a green, red or yellow ground, which is worth
from seventy to eighty dollars for a remnant of three yards when woven
with gold.

As for ivory, it was brought from all parts of Central Africa, being
destined for Khartoum, Zanzibar, or Natal. A large number of merchants
are employed solely in this branch of African commerce.

Imagine how many elephants are killed to furnish the five hundred
thousand kilograms of ivory, which are annually exported to European
markets, and principally to the English! The western coast of Africa
alone produces one hundred and forty tons of this precious substance.
The average weight is twenty-eight pounds for a pair of elephant's
tusks, which, in 1874, were valued as high as fifteen hundred francs;
but there are some that weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds, and
at the Kazounde market, admirers would have found some admirable ones.
They were of an opaque ivory, translucid, soft under the tool, and
with a brown rind, preserving its whiteness and not growing yellow
with time like the ivories of other provinces.

And, now, how are these various business affairs regulated between
buyers and sellers? What is the current coin? As we have said, for the
African traders this money is the slave.

The native pays in glass beads of Venetian manufacture, called
"catchocolos," when they are of a lime white; "bouboulous," when
they are black; "sikounderetches," when they are red. These beads or
pearls, strung in ten rows or "khetes," going twice around the neck,
make the "foundo," which is of great value. The usual measure of the
beads is the "frasilah," which weighs seventy pounds. Livingstone,
Cameron, and Stanley were always careful to be abundantly provided
with this money.

In default of glass beads, the "pice," a Zanzibar piece, worth four
centimes, and the "vroungouas," shells peculiar to the eastern coasts,
are current in the markets of the African continent. As for the
cannibal tribes, they attach a certain value to the teeth of the human
jaw, and at the "lakoni," these chaplets were to be seen on the necks
of natives, who had no doubt eaten their producers; but these teeth
were ceasing to be used as money.

Such, then, was the appearance of the great market. Toward the middle
of the day the gaiety reached a climax; the noise became deafening.
The fury of the neglected venders, and the anger of the overcharged
customers, were beyond description. Thence frequent quarrels, and, as
we know, few guardians of the peace to quell the fray in this howling
crowd.

Toward the middle of the day, Alvez gave orders to bring the slaves,
whom he wished to sell, to the square. The crowd was thus increased by
two thousand unfortunate beings of all ages, whom the trader had kept
in pens for several months. This "stock" was not in a bad condition.
Long rest and sufficient food had improved these slaves so as to look
to advantage at the "lakoni." As for the last arrivals, they could not
stand any comparison with them, and, after a month in the pens, Alvez
could certainly have sold them with more profit. The demands, however,
from the eastern coast, were so great that he decided to expose and
sell them as they were.

This was a misfortune for Tom and his three companions. The drivers
pushed them into the crowd that invaded the "tchitoka." They were
strongly chained, and their glances told what horror, what fury and
shame overwhelmed them.

"Mr. Dick is not there," Bat said, after some time, during which he
had searched the vast plain with his eyes.

"No," replied Acteon, "they will not put him up for sale."

"He will be killed, if he is not already," added the old black. "As
for us, we have but one hope left, which is, that the same trader will
buy us all. It would be a great consolation not to be separated."

"Ah! to know that you are far away from me, working like a slave, my
poor, old father!" cried Bat, sobbing aloud.

"No," said Tom. "No; they will not separate us, and perhaps we
might—"

"If Hercules were here!" cried Austin.

But the giant had not reappeared. Since the news sent to Dick Sand,
they had heard no one mention either Hercules or Dingo. Should they
envy him his fate? Why, yes; for if Hercules were dead, he was saved
from the chains of slavery!

Meanwhile, the sale had commenced. Alvez's agents marched the various
lots of men, women and children through the crowd, without caring
if they separated mothers from their infants. May we not call these
beings "unfortunates," who were treated only as domestic animals?

Tom and his companions were thus led from buyers to buyers. An agent
walked before them naming the price adjudged to their lot. Arab or
mongrel brokers, from the central provinces, came to examine them.
They did not discover in them the traits peculiar to the African race,
these traits being modified in America after the second generation.
But these vigorous and intelligent negroes, so very different from the
blacks brought from the banks of the Zambeze or the Loualaba, were all
the more valuable. They felt them, turned them, and looked at their
teeth. Horse-dealers thus examine the animals they wish to buy. Then
they threw a stick to a distance, made them run and pick it up, and
thus observed their gait.

This was the method employed for all, and all were submitted to these
humiliating trials. Do not believe that these people are completely
indifferent to this treatment! No, excepting the children, who cannot
comprehend the state of degradation to which they are reduced, all,
men or women, were ashamed.

Besides, they were not spared injuries and blows. Coimbra, half drunk,
and Alvez's agents, treated them with extreme brutality, and from
their new masters, who had just paid for them in ivory stuffs and
beads, they would receive no better treatment. Violently separated,
a mother from her child, a husband from his wife, a brother from a
sister, they were not allowed a last caress nor a last kiss, and on
the "lakoni" they saw each other for the last time.

In fact, the demands of the trade exacted that the slaves should be
sent in different directions, according to their sex. The traders who
buy the men do not buy women. The latter, in virtue of polygamy, which
is legal among the Mussulmans, are sent to the Arabic countries, where
they are exchanged for ivory. The men, being destined to the hardest
labor, go to the factories of the two coasts, and are exported either
to the Spanish colonies or to the markets of Muscat and Madagascar.
This sorting leads to heart-breaking scenes between those whom the
agents separate, and who will die without ever seeing each other
again.

The four companions in turn submitted to the common fate. But, to tell
the truth, they did not fear this event. It was better for them to
be exported into a slave colony. There, at least, they might have a
chance to protest. On the contrary, if sent to the interior, they
might renounce all hope of ever regaining their liberty.

It happened as they wished. They even had the almost unhoped for
consolation of not being separated. They were in brisk demand, being
wanted by several traders. Alvez clapped his hands. The prices rose.
It was strange to see these slaves of unknown value in the Kazounde
market, and Alvez had taken good care to conceal where they came from.
Tom and his friends, not speaking the language of the country, could
not protest.

Their master was a rich Arab trader, who in a few days would send them
to Lake Tanganyika, the great thoroughfare for slaves; then, from that
point, toward the factories of Zanzibar.

Would they ever reach there, through the most unhealthy and the most
dangerous countries of Central Africa? Fifteen hundred miles to march
under these conditions, in the midst of frequent wars, raised and
carried on between chiefs, in a murderous climate. Was old Tom strong
enough to support such misery? Would he not fall on the road like old
Nan? But the poor men were not separated. The chain that held them all
was lighter to carry. The Arab trader would evidently take care of
merchandise which promised him a large profit in the Zanzibar market.

Tom, Bat, Acteon, and Austin then left the place. They saw and heard
nothing of the scene which was to end the great "lakoni" of Kazounde.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when a loud noise of drums,
cymbals, and other instruments of African origin resounded at the
end of the principal street. In all corners of the market-place the
animation was redoubled. Half a day of cries and wrestling had neither
weakened the voices nor broken the limbs of these abominable traders.
A large number of slaves still remained to be sold. The traders
disputed over the lots with an ardor of which the London Exchange
would give but an imperfect idea, even on a day when stocks were
rising.

All business was stopped, and the criers took their breath as soon as
the discordant concert commenced.

The King of Kazounde, Moini Loungga, had come to honor the great
"lakoni" with a visit. A numerous train of women, officers, soldiers
and slaves followed him. Alvez and some other traders went to meet
him, and naturally exaggerated the attention which this crowned brute
particularly enjoyed.

Moini Loungga was carried in an old palanquin, and descended, not
without the aid of a dozen arms, in the center of the large square.

This king was fifty years old, but he looked eighty. Imagine a
frightful monkey who had reached extreme old age; on his head a sort
of crown, ornamented with leopard's claws, dyed red, and enlarged
by tufts of whitish hair; this was the crown of the sovereigns
of Kazounde. From his waist hung two petticoats made of leather,
embroidered with pearls, and harder than a blacksmith's apron. He
had on his breast a quantity of tattooing which bore witness to the
ancient nobility of the king; and, to believe him, the genealogy of
Moini Loungga was lost in the night of time. On the ankles, wrists and
arms of his majesty, bracelets of leather were rolled, and he wore a
pair of domestic shoes with yellow tops, which Alvez had presented him
with about twenty years before.

His majesty carried in his left hand a large stick with a plated knob,
and in his right a small broom to drive away flies, the handle of
which was enriched with pearls.

Over his head was carried one of those old patched umbrellas, which
seemed to have been cut out of a harlequin's dress.

On the monarch's neck and on his nose were the magnifying glass and
the spectacles which had caused Cousin Benedict so much trouble. They
had been hidden in Bat's pocket.

Such is the portrait of his negro majesty, who made the country
tremble in a circumference of a hundred miles.

Moini Loungga, from the fact of occupying a throne, pretended to be
of celestial origin, and had any of his subjects doubted the fact, he
would have sent them into another world to discover it. He said that,
being of a divine essence, he was not subject to terrestrial laws. If
he ate, it was because he wished to do so; if he drank, it was because
it gave him pleasure. It was impossible for him to drink any more. His
ministers and his officers, all incurable drunkards, would have passed
before him for sober men.

The court was alcoholized to the last chief, and incessantly imbibed
strong beer, cider, and, above all, a certain drink which Alvez
furnished in profusion.

Moini Loungga counted in his harem wives of all ages and of all kinds.
The larger part of them accompanied him in this visit to the "lakoni."

Moini, the first, according to date, was a vixen of forty years, of
royal blood, like her colleagues. She wore a bright tartan, a straw
petticoat embroidered with pearls, and necklaces wherever she could
put them. Her hair was dressed so as to make an enormous framework on
her little head. She was, in fact, a monster.

The other wives, who were either the cousins or the sisters of the
king, were less richly dressed, but much younger. They walked behind
her, ready to fulfil, at a sign from their master, their duties as
human furniture. These unfortunate beings were really nothing else. If
the king wished to sit down, two of these women bent toward the earth
and served him for a chair, while his feet rested on the bodies of
some others, as if on an ebony carpet.

In Moini Loungga's suite came his officers, his captains, and his
magicians.

A remarkable thing about these savages, who staggered like their
master, was that each lacked a part of his body—one an ear, another
an eye, this one the nose, that one the hand. Not one was whole.
That is because they apply only two kinds of punishment in
Kazounde—mutilation or death—all at the caprice of the king. For the
least fault, some amputation, and the most cruelly punished are those
whose ears are cut off, because they can no longer wear rings in their
ears.