IN THE CONGO.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4319, 19 September 1921, Page 4

IN THE CONGO.

BRITISH OFFICER’S ADVENTURES.

MANY STRANGE TRIBBS MET.

After stirring adventures in the almost unknown territories of the .Belgian Congo known locally as La Region Mysterieuse, Captain J. E. T. Philippo, Kf.C., a young political officer, arrived in London recently, bringing with him two young African chiefs.

Captain Philippb’s expedition in the interests of science was from Eastern to Western Equatorial Africa. Partes of this wild and desolate area have never before been visited by a white man. Captain Phillipo’s found a wide tract of land devastated by cannibals. He of his adventures to a “Daily Mail” reporter, laying particular stress on his affection for the two chief whom he had brought with him to London. One is named Philippo . Lwangoga and* is chief over some 15,000 people in the Tanganyika region; the other, called Benedikto Daki,'is chief of 3500 people near the Congo frontier. Benedikto saved Captain Phillipps’ life in the German East African campaign. ' The chiefs were lent to him by the Colonial Government for his expedition, and proved good- and faithful friends and also excellent peacemakers among the ravage tribes encountered.

“My caravan party,” said Captain Philipps, “numbered 50. We were trekking- across Africa for nearly seven months. In the mysterious region w r e came across many strange tribes, both hostile and friendly. In the march between Lake Kivu and the Lualaba River, the dwellers in the dark villages, of the equatorial forest, hearing the news by drum, came out in large numbers to see us pass. By one of the tribes I was nicknamed The tall one who laughs.

“In one part of the area in the direction ,of Wardi we came across ? large trac.t of land which had all f.he signs of being ,at one time densely populated. It had been ruthlessly laid waste and we came across piles of skulls picked clean, which was sure evidence of a cannibal raid.

“Later, when I was lying very ill in a mud hut in the great forest, our caravan was visited by bhang-mad-dened savages (maddened by . a drug made from hemp.) Their teeth are sharpened for cannibalistis purposes. Only the fearlessness and devotion of the two chiefs enabled an escape to be made at night by breaking through the cordon they had drawn around us. “In the mountains we caiHe across a new type of gorilla, different in many particulars from all the known species and probably more nearjy akin to man.

“This type rarely comes to a ’lower altitude than *BOOO feet. It will attack a man on sight. It had with it an infant gorilla and its mother. I shot the male and the female and tried to bring back the infant, but it died.

" “I forwarded the skeleton of the male to the British Museum. Another discovery we made was of a new species of otter, also a pigmy elephant pn,ly Bft 2in.

“At Luganzu we saw the footmarks in the rocks of what the natives believe to be the first man on earth. He is believed to have descended from the heavens and first set foot on earth at this spot.”

The chiefs were greatly interested in London life. Visiting the Zoological Gardens, they asked at onc.e for the lion and the elephant, agents of dread and damage in their own country. When the keeper invited them inside, they replied: “Perhaps you think we are ignorant. But we know them, and should very much like to see- you do it.” They were frankly astonished when the keeper fed the elephants by band, and then were willing to approach a little nearer. The bear was unfamiliar to them.