A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State by Marcus Dorman
page 85 of 166 (51%)
page 85 of 166 (51%)
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[Illustration: YOUNG COFFEE TREES AT COQUILHATVILLE.]
At dinner we have a dish called _beefsteak American_. formed apparently of very tender, cold meat with green salad and mayonnaise. On asking however, we hear it is the raw flesh of goat cut up small. It is certainly the best way of eating goat's flesh, for any method of cooking seems to extract what little juice it possesses and convert it into a substance resembling old leather. The name is curious, for it is neither beef nor steak, and is probably as rare in America as Irish stew is in Ireland or Welsh rarebit in Wales. There are some very fine canoes here, very often carved throughout their entire length, a favourite device being a crocodile. Two or three very large _tom-toms_. are also in the village. These instruments are carved from a solid piece of a tree six or eight feet long, most of the interior being extracted through a narrow slit-like aperture two or three inches wide and running nearly the length of the tom-tom. The result is a hollow instrument, giving one or two different notes when struck in different parts which can be heard for many miles. In case of war, the whole country side can be quickly aroused, but the _tom-tom_. is also used during peace as a telegraph. At Imese two soldiers and their future brides came on board for the purpose of travelling to Libenge to be married, for only Commissaires of Districts and Missionaries can legally join two into one. The send off was quite pretty, the happy couples being pelted with flowers as they stepped on board, while one friend--perhaps a kind of best man--threw his cap into the river. The State encourages regular marriages, especially among the soldiers. The wife then works in the gardens or plantations, while her husband drills, and returns at midday and in the |
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