CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE BY DR. H. GRATTAN GUINNESS 5

FOREWORD 9

CHAPTER I

HOW WE ONCE LIVED 15

My early days—Life at home—How we fared—Work and play—Our one fear, the cannibals—Iseankótó’s warning—We despise it—We are captured by cannibals—The journey—A horrible meal—The cannibal village reached.

CHAPTER II

I AM A CANNIBAL’S SLAVE 26

In the cannibal village—Before the council—Our fate—Desire to please my master—How I succeeded—Our fears and their justification—A sad company—Siene’s murder—The boy who lied—The ordeal by poison—Village strife—The human peace-offering—The haunting dread—Rumours of the white men—A fright—Makweke’s peril—How he escaped—We plan flight—The start—The chase—A near thing—The river reached—Over, and at home again.

CHAPTER III

THE COMING OF BOKAKALA 46

At home again—I choose a wife—How I went courting—And was married—My visits to the white men—They talk of “one Jesus”—The other white man, Bokakala—He wants rubber—We are eager to get it—How rubber was collected—The rubber market—“We did not know.”

CHAPTER IV

THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS 55

The coming of more white men—A change in our treatment—Things go from bad to worse—I get tired of collecting rubber—And stay at home—The white man’s anger and threats—I go to a palaver—My rubber is short—I am whipped—The white man’s new plan—Forest guards—Their oppression and greed—We report them to the white man—Results—But the worst not yet.

CHAPTER V

OPPRESSION, SHAME, AND TORTURE 62

My new slavery—How our villagers fared at home—The white man’s meat—How it was got—The white men of God and their pity—How the women were enslaved—Feeding the idle—Endeavours to evade oppression—Results—How would you like our conditions?—Forest work—Its hardships—The day of reckoning—Back to the village and home—An ominous silence—A sad discovery—Redeeming our wives—An offending villager—A poor victim—A ghastly punishment—The woman’s death—Another village—The monkey hunters—The old man who stayed at home—How he was tortured—No redress.

CHAPTER VI

SOME HORRORS OF OUR LOT 74

Our work grows harder—I consult the white man of God—A strange contrast—My plea unavailing—My rubber short—I am sent to the prison—The captives—Their work and their punishments—The sick—The new-born babe—The dead and their burial—The suspected—How they were tortured—The steamer—The rubber chief—The prison opened—A procession of spectres—The place of the dead—For a time peace—Work for the man of God—How we fared—My reward—I wish to go home.

CHAPTER VII

BACK TO SLAVERY 88

My welcome at home—My respite and its end—The forest sentry—The little boy—My father’s appeal and its result—I intervene—The sentry’s revenge—A rubber slave once more—I appeal to the man of God—Disappointment—“Nothing but rubber till I die!”—The hopeless toil—The coming of the pestilence—The witch-doctor’s medicine—The desolation—But still the rubber!

CHAPTER VIII

OTHER CHANGES. HOPE DEFERRED 98

A change of labour—We become hunters—A new demand—And new difficulties—Failure—The sentry’s demand—The old men’s plea—Murder—We tell the men of God—And complain to the rubber man—The white chief—The things written in a book—And no remedy comes—Hunting again—The English visitor—The white woman—Results of making complaints—The sentries’ threats—The one way of escape—“Better to be with the hunters than the hunted”—Another sorrow—The sleeping-sickness—“Just a little while, and they die”—We cry to the white people.

CHAPTER IX

THE ELDERS OF EUROPE 112

More white men from Europe—Fears and curiosity—The white men inquire about us—We tell them of our state—And our oppressors—The knotted strings and their story—“These things are bad”—The white man’s promises—Better times—Soon ended—Rubber again—The old toil—The men of the river—The demands on the villages—The chiefs in power—Chiefs and the sentries—The death wail and the white man—“We are very poor.”

CHAPTER X

THINGS WE WANT TO KNOW 121

My story is finished—The past and the present—Why are these things so?—The old days—Now we are white men’s slaves—How long will it last?—We are dying—Our only rest is death—How long, how long?