276 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
FA 
bows, and quivers full of poisoned arrows. The first lot of 
Dume that came to the camp seemed as if they expected 
to be murdered, and it was a long time before I could get 
them to trust me. 
When I tried to photograph them they rushed out of 
the camp in terror, and every time I lit a match, or did 
something they could not understand, they rose to their 
feet and moved a little way off. After a while, however, I 
managed to put them in good humor by showing them 
picture books, and giving them saccharine tabloids to eat, 
and by presenting them with sheets of tin, and helping 
them to cut out disks for their noses. I verily believe the 
next visitor wil be astonished at the brilliant appearance 
of these pygmies, after the many presents of tin I made 
them. As their confidence increased, more and more of 
the little people came into camp, and remained until it got 
quite dark. When Dodson and I sat down to dinner, our 
visitors crowded about us in great astonishment. 
They said that we were not men at all, but some strange 
creatures that had fallen from the sky. One of them 
asked my interpreter why we had washed our hands, as 
the black skin had already been scrubbed away from them ; 
and another insisted on tasting some jelly, which he 
thought was blood, and must consequently be very good. 
I learned that the Dume had no idea of morality what- 
soever, the young men and girls indulging in promiscuous 
intercourse with one another. Later on in life they settle 
down and keep the same wife for a considerable length of 
time. I was very anxious to see the women, but I never 
gained the confidence of the Dume sufficiently for them 
to allow any of their better halves to approach the 
camp. 
The day after our arrival among the Dume, we marched 
about five miles north, and camped close to the most 
