236 FROM TANGANYIKA TO THE CONGO 



not resist the temptation of uninterrupted leisure and 

 unlimited food, though by so doing they forfeited 

 the pay which they had already more than half 

 earned. The prospect of an immediate feast was 

 more alluring to them than to work for a few days 

 more and receive payment which would suffice to 

 keep them in luxury for months ; but such is the 

 unreasoning nature of the black mind. Plana 

 Lusanghi was a horrible place, and our camp was 

 in the midst of a collection of hovels which reminded 

 me of a very squalid Irish village ; sheep and goats 

 and dogs and fowls and children swarmed every- 

 where, and the noise that they all made was inde- 

 scribable. It was obviously not a place to stop in 

 longer than could be helped, so I called on the chief, 

 Lusanghi, and requested him to find me some 

 porters, that being part of his duty as chief. He 

 met me with a direct refusal, saying that he did not 

 like white men. I then tried the move, which was 

 sometimes successful, of saying that I was not 

 * Birighi ' (Belgian), nor ' Gerrimani ' (German), but 

 'Ighirees' (English) from Uganda; but his ill- 

 mannered reply to that was an order to one of his 

 attendants to fetch a gun, a long and dangerous- 

 looking gas-pipe weapon, with which he threatened 

 to shoot me. It was then time to send a 'boy' to 

 our camp for a chair and some food and a gun, 

 which he brought, but forgetting the cartridges. 

 The above exchange of courtesies took place in 

 the open square in the village in front of the chief's 



