XX.] A SHKEWD BARGAINER. 267 



Englishman, I could not deal in slaves. Englishmen did not August, 

 recognize the status of slavery, and in our opinion all men 1874. 

 should be free. I added, that, of course, I was powerless to 

 make alterations in the customs or laws of a country where 

 slavery was allowed; but that if ray sovereign heard of my 

 being engaged in the slightest degree in any transaction that 

 might savor of trading in slaves, I should get into great trou- 

 ble on my return to my own country, as the whole idea of our 

 Government was opposed to any form of slavery whatever. 



Some of the chiefs then agreed to accept an equivalent for 

 slaves, taking their current price in cowries, but only one ever 

 came again about his bargain. When I counted out before ' 



him the correct number of cowries, which I had purchased at 

 about threepence or fourpence apiece, he quietly looked them 

 over and then returned them, remarking that if he took home 

 such a quantity of cowries they would only be ajDpropriated by 

 his wives as ornaments, and he would be poorer by a canoe ; 

 and his wives, w^earing numbers of cowries, would not provide 

 him with better food or clothing. 



So anxious was I to close this bargain, that I offered double 

 the value of his canoe in cowries, saying that surely his wives • 

 could not possibly wear such an amount. But he had a won- 

 derfully keen idea of trading, and replied that the cowries 

 would be lying idle and bringing him in nothing till he man- 

 aged to buy slaves with them, whereas, if he received slaves in 

 payment, he could set them at work at once to paddle canoes 

 between the markets, to catch fish, to make pottery, or to culti- 

 vate his fields ; in fact, he did not want his capital to lie idle. 



Muinyi Dugumbi used to " sell " me when I went to ask his 

 assistance on a market-day. His reply was always, " Stop in the 

 veranda. I will go and see if there are any people who have 

 canoes to sell ;" and he would leave me apparently on this er- 

 rand. But I afterward found that he used to slip into one of 

 the houses of his harem by a back way, and remain there until 

 the market-people had gone. 



Tanganyika tried his utmost to find men willing to part with 

 canoes, but builders even would not dispose of their craft. Two 

 or three promised to do so, and received part payment in ad- 

 vance, but they afterward returned the cowries. 



