Chap. IV. AFFECTING PARTING SCENES. 73 



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

 a light-coloured negro, excitable and tender-hearted ; 

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

 Rapelina and Ngoma — six slaves given to me by the 

 various chiefs whose friendship I had acquired on the 

 banks of the Fernand Yaz. I dressed my men all 

 alike in thick canvas trowsers, blue woollen shirts 

 and worsted caps. Sliirts 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 

 result 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 j)eople of the neighbouring villages 

 came down to see us off. It was an affecting sight 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 okili 



