with scaffolding, it was not looking its best. A light railway runs up
the hill to the barracks of the native regiment and a special train was
arranged for the passengers of the _Leopoldville_.

Hotel accommodation in Sierra Leone is, like the demand for it, limited.
It is, however, possible to obtain a meal at the _Victoria_. Altogether
Free Town leaves the impression that it could be developed into a most
attractive watering place if it were nearer Europe and had a better
climate.

It is now getting rather hot and tropical, while the sea is as smooth as
a mirror and equally reflects the glare.

I continue to read up the Congo controversy. The report of Mr. Casement,
at one time British Consul at Boma, created quite a sensation when it
appeared. He stated that the Congo Free State had granted concessions to
Trading Companies, which is a fact, and that the agents of these
companies compelled the natives by force to collect rubber, which
however, he does not attempt to prove by his own experience, but relies
entirely upon reports of natives and hearsay evidence. He quoted one
case which illustrates the extreme difficulty of discovering the truth
from natives. He examined a boy named Epondo who stated that his left
hand had been cut off by a native sentry. Not knowing the native
dialect, Mr. Casement employed an interpreter, but he was convinced by
the manner and gestures of the villagers that the boy's story was true.
When the report appeared, the boy was again examined by some officials
of the State, when he at once contradicted the first statement and said
that his arm and hand had been severely bitten by a wild boar when he
was a child and that the hand afterwards fell off. Now one of these
tales is obviously false and there is evidence to show which, for the