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After leaving Matari, we continued our voyage along the northern shore. The banks of the river were of moderate elevation during several days' journey; the terra firma lying far in the interior, and the coast being either lowland or masked with islands of alluvial formation.
"I asked Matari what was the solemn form of agreement among his tribes; and he assured me the most solemn was drinking each other's blood, in which case it was considered they were brothers; but pledging the blood of fowls was another and less solemn form. "On the 26th of January the Royalist's boat, with Captain Hart and Mr. Penfold, second mate, of the Viscount Melbourne, arrived here.
The leaders of the piratical prahus are sometimes poetically addressed by their followers as Matari, i. e., the sun; or Bulan, the moon; and from his superiority in every respect, physical and intellectual, the chief whose course was here so fatally closed seemed to be worthy of either celestial name. The Rajah's letter to Captain Keppel, and his reply.
Matadi is built on a solid piece of granite. The name is a version of the word matari which means rock. In certain parts of Africa the letter "r" is often substituted for "d." Stanley's native name was in reality "Bula Matari," but on account of the license that I have indicated he is more frequently known as "Bula Matadi," the title now bestowed on all officials in the Congo.
"The commanders of this party were yclept poetically by their own people, as noms de guerre, the Sun and the Moon, i. e., Bulan, for moon, and Matari for sun.
'They will all come, he said: 'nothing they will like so well; and when they are up the Samarahan river, we will sally forth, attack; and destroy them at one blow. My answer was, that I could not deceive; but if they did come, I would attack them. "Feb. 1st. Matari, or 'the Sun, the Sakarran chief I have already mentioned, arrived with two boats, and paid me several visits.
Two species of monkey frequented the trees, and I was told committed great depredations when the fruit was ripe. The other species, the pretty little Chrysothrix sciureus, contents itself with devouring what it can on the spot. We left this place on the 8th of January, and on the afternoon of the 9th, arrived at Matari, a miserable little settlement of Mura Indians.
By Henry M. Stanley. New York: Harper & Brothers. It is not as the geographical discoverer and explorer except incidentally and to a limited extent that Mr. Stanley appears in these volumes. It is as Bula Matari, "Breaker of Rocks," making roads and bridges, establishing stations, pushing the outposts of civilization into the heart of Africa.
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