Aor LEA POR THE) NATIVE 383 
Governor Jackson, who knows the country as few do, 
said once to me, that one of the chief values of the mis- 
sionary to the administration is this priceless one that he 
learns to think in Kikuyu, Waganda, etc), and the mis- 
ionaries are far from admitting that the native is hopelessly 
callous. Even such unsatisfactory opportunities as were 
afforded me, were quite sufficient to convince me that on 
the score of heedless wastefulness the East African native 
does not deserve the universal censure poured on him. 
I struggled with my men and I must admit, struggled 
in vain, to induce them to save their earnings, which seemed 
to melt away as soon as we reached Nairobi. I did not 
expect to be able to accomplish much in the case of the 
casual porter who was without home or family, but it did 
disappoint me when I found that often the hard-earned 
savings of the men I had been intimately associated with 
as well as the liberal bakshisch I gave them, seemed to go 
almost as quickly as did the ten rupees a month of the mere 
burden bearers of our band. It took me many months of 
quiet searching and hours of talk and expostulation, before 
I got any light in the matter; but finally I did. The nomad, 
of course, is not naturally given to economy. In his long 
past there has been too small a possibility of guarding his 
little savings to encourage thrift in him. ‘The theory put in 
practice by my Kavorondo in the matter of their three 
days’ potio, was a philosophic attitude enough. In days 
gone by “lions were plentiful, sickness prevalent, potio 
rare, so let us make sure of a good meal while nature allows 
us a good appetite.” African environment in their case 
had done its work thoroughly, so they gladly and glutton- 
ously set themselves to eat three days’ food in one. Evi- 
dently such people have much to learn before they become 
a thrifty race, and we cannot hurry them. But they, even 
they, have a social economy of their own, for which much 
can be said. In the old book a parable is told of a certain 
