organization. They became skilled agriculturists, raising in some
localities a profusion of cereals, fruit, and vegetables such as manioc,
maize, yams, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, sorghum, gourds, beans, peas,
bananas, and plantains. Everywhere they showed skill in mining and the
welding of iron, copper, and other metals. They made weapons, wire and
ingots, cloth, and pottery, and a widespread system of trade arose. Some
tribes extracted rubber from the talamba root; others had remarkable
breeds of fowl and cattle, and still others divided their people by crafts
into farmers, smiths, boat builders, warriors, cabinet makers, armorers,
and speakers. Women here and there took part in public assemblies and were
rulers in some cases. Large towns were built, some of which required hours
to traverse from end to end.

Many tribes developed intelligence of a high order. Wissmann called the Ba
Luba "a nation of thinkers." Bateman found them "thoroughly and
unimpeachably honest, brave to foolhardiness, and faithful to each other
and to their superiors." One of their kings, Calemba, "a really princely
prince," Bateman says would "amongst any people be a remarkable and indeed
in many respects a magnificent man."[27]

These beginnings of human culture were, however, peculiarly vulnerable to
invading hosts of later comers. There were no natural protecting barriers
like the narrow Nile valley or the Kong mountains or the forests below
Lake Chad. Once the pathways to the valley were open and for hundreds of
years the newcomers kept arriving, especially from the welter of tribes
south of the Sudan and west of the Nile, which rising culture beyond kept
in unrest and turmoil.

Against these intruders there was but one defense, the State. State
building was thus forced on the Congo valley. How early it started we