Three years ago this was the only station on the Kasai, though at the present moment there are, I believe, fourteen belonging to different companies. We now turned from the racing Kasai to the placid Sankuru, whose banks, in marked contrast to those of the Kasai, are clothed with forest to the water's edge. At this time the Sankuru was without a single station; there are now twelve stations engaged in the collection of large quantities of India rubber. Ten days more of steaming took us to Lusambo, the capital of the Lualaba district, situated, according to Lemarinel, in 23° east longitude, latitude 4° south.

The station is built on a sandy plain, on the right bank of the Sankuru, opposite the mouth of the Lubi, and was founded to check the Arab advance from the east.