A PLEA FOR THE SAVAGE 



tapping of drums ; to see the blazing fires that crackle 

 away in the still night air, and the great White Nile 

 flowing towards Egypt on its mission to fertilize the arid 

 wastes in that great country to the north. 



Those days are gone ; the obstacles that at the time 

 seemed insurmountable have been overcome ; the escapes 

 from man and beast, the disappointments and discom- 

 forts, are now done with. Nowhere in the world can one 

 live closer to nature than in the heart of Central Africa, 

 among a people who rarely see, or perhaps have never 

 before seen, a white face. Savage cannibals, call them 

 what you may, there are black sheep in every race of 

 white as well as " black." I know from experience that 

 there is many a good heart in the Congo natives under- 

 neath the earth-besmeared skin. Suffice it to say that 

 they deserve vastly better treatment than they have 

 had in years gone by under the flag of a " civilized " 

 people. I liked them from the start, I always saw the 

 humorous side of their natures, and the more I got to 

 know of them the more I felt that they were worthy 

 of being dealt with as human beings with hearts the same 

 as ourselves. Christianity has for years been an enigma 

 to them, for under its banner the more ferocious or warlike 

 tribes have been gathered together for the oppression 

 of the humbler communities, and I say once more that 

 it is criminal to send native troops away from the stations 

 without a responsible officer in charge. 



By the term responsible officer I do not mean a man 

 who has a fancy for seeing others suffer, but a man who 

 can still observe the laws of humanity although he may 

 be far away from the outer world. I have met some of 

 those brutes who are never content unless they are 

 torturing some bird or animal. Creatures of this sort 

 are far worse than the most savage of natives, for a white 

 man has been taught to know right from wrong, but many 

 of those who are placed in authority over natives forget 



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