---
title: '"In the Rubber Coils" (Punch, 1906)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/congo-rubber-coils-punch-1906/
description: A Congolese rubber collector is crushed in the coils of a snake wearing King Leopold II's crowned head, over the caption "Scene - The Congo 'Free'…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Period caricature of a rubber collector crushed by a snake with Leopold II's head. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!["In the Rubber Coils" (Punch, 1906)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/congo-rubber-coils-punch-1906.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/congo-rubber-coils-punch-1906.jpg)

# "In the Rubber Coils" (Punch, 1906)

A Congolese rubber collector is crushed in the coils of a snake wearing King Leopold II's crowned head, over the caption "Scene - The Congo 'Free' State," turning the regime's own name for itself into the accusation.

- **Date:** November 28, 1906
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** Punch magazine
- **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe)
- **Country:** [United Kingdom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-kingdom)
- **Medium:** [Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=cartoon)
- **Issuer type:** [Media](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=media)
- **Regime:** [Campbell Bannerman Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=campbell-bannerman-government)
- **Leader:** [Henry Campbell Bannerman](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=henry-campbell-bannerman)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Themes:** [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [Labor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=labor)
- **Event:** [Congo Reform Campaign](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=congo-reform-campaign)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Punch_congo_rubber_cartoon.jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1906; artist died 1910) Edward Linley Sambourne, "In the Rubber Coils. Scene - The Congo 'Free' State", Punch, 28 November 1906

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
IN THE RUBBER COILS.

Scene—The Congo "Free" State.

Linley Sambourne del.
```

The artist's cursive signature at lower left is stylised and hard to read letter-by-letter; transcribed as 'Linley Sambourne del.' (the artist's standard signing convention, del. = delineavit) based on the visible shapes, matching the documented attribution.

[← Irrévocablement. Ouverture 15 avril. Marseille. Exposition coloniale (1906)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marseille-exposition-coloniale-irrevocablement-1906/) [An Answer to Mark Twain (Brussels pamphlet cover, 1907) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/an-answer-to-mark-twain-1907/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)