44 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



man of the whole white race ; and I had no 

 right to possess idiosyncrasies running counter 

 to dastur, the custom. However, as the early 

 hours are profitable hours in the tropics, it did 

 not drive me to homicide. 



The ship's company now developed. Our two 

 prize members, fortunately for us, sat at our 

 table. The first was the Swedish professor 

 aforementioned. He was large, benign, pater- 

 nal, broad in mind, thoroughly human and be- 

 loved, and yet profoundly erudite. He was our 

 iconoclast in the way of food ; for he performed 

 small but illuminating dissections on his plate, 

 and announced triumphantly results that were 

 not a bit in accordance with the menu. A single 

 bone was sufficient to take the pretension out 

 of any fish. Our other particular friend was C., 

 with whom later we travelled in the interior of 

 Africa. C. is a very celebrated hunter and ex- 

 plorer, an old Africander, his face seamed and 

 tanned by many years in a hard climate. For 

 several days we did not recognize him, although 

 he sat fairly alongside, but put him down as a 

 shy man, and let it go at that. He never stayed 

 for the long table d'hote dinners, but fell upon 

 the first solid course and made a complete meal 

 from that. When he had quite finished eating 



