Chap. IY. AFFECTING PARTING SCENES. 73 



were Igalo, next to Macondai the youngest of the party, 

 a h'ght-coloured negro, excitable and tender-hearted ; 

 and Mouitchi, Retonda, Rogueri, Igala (the second), 

 RapeHna and Ngoma — six slaves given to me by the 

 various chiefs whose friendship I had acquired on the 

 bard^s of the Fernand Yaz. I dressed my men all 

 alike in thick canvas trowsers, blue woollen shirts 

 and worsted caps. Shirts being the more important 

 article of dress, they had three each. Trowsers 

 I had found it quite necessary for negroes to 

 wear on a march, as they protected the legs from 

 the stings of insects, from thorns, and many other 

 injuries to which they are liable. Moreover each 

 man had a blanket to keep him warm at night. 

 All the six slaves had volunteered to accompany 

 me ; they were not forced to go, against their will, 

 at the command of their masters. It would have 

 been much better if all my Commi attendants 

 had been free-men, for some of the slaves after- 

 wards gave me much trouble by ill-conduct, the 

 lesult of that absence of self-respect and sense of 

 responsibility which the free men alone possessed. 

 Most of these men now handled fire-arms for the first 

 time, and the possession of a gun to the six men who 

 had been slaves all their lives was one- of the induce- 

 ments which made them willing to accompany me. 



Nearly all the people of the neighbouring villages 

 came down to see us off. It was an affectinix si^'ht to 

 see my negroes take leave of their families and 

 friends. At the last moment, the young daughter of 

 Igala clung to her father, and with a flood of tears 

 begged him not to go with the white man on the oUli 

 1 



