NAriVKS AXn I.AHOrR 209 



come in time to accept to some extent the limi- 

 tations of the natives ; though at the expense of 

 permanent injury to temper, and in the behef that 

 they are the victims of injury and injustice on the 

 part of a maHngering, ungrateful people. 



The mariner who encounters contrary winds and 

 currents in the sea he sets out to navigate would 

 be considered unreasonable if he complained about 

 them ; but the temperament of the African is no 

 less a force of nature to be studied and prepared 

 for than monsoons and tides. The African is what 

 he is and what Nature has made him ; and it is 

 as much our duty to study him as to study the 

 soil and climate. If we cannot do this before we 

 go to Africa we can at least make up our minds to 

 make him the subject of unprejudiced investi- 

 gation when we get there ; sparing ourselves the 

 expenditure of much precious nervous force and 

 the native much abuse. 



Recent events in England have shown that it is 

 by no means certain that the system of working 

 for fixed wages has been finally accepted as the 

 only system under which employer and employed, 

 even in civilized countries, can co-operate. And 

 yet we come into Africa and expect the natives, 

 who never heard of such a system till we entered 

 their country, to understand the obligations it 



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