-* Hostile Forces 



was shot at the approaching traveller, volleys were fired, 

 the inhabitants of the localities took to flight, and all their 

 provisions were instantly looted by the "conquerors!" 



But if the traveller is inclined for peaceable barter- 

 traffic, he must of course have with him a great quantity of 

 wares useful for that purpose, so as to keep up the food- 

 supply ot his men ; and in times of drought and high prices 

 the natives naturally demand more for their field-produce 

 than in normal seasons, for they themselves are wholly 

 dependent on their gains from the fruits of the soil until 

 the next harvest. 



To travel with East African carriers and keep on 

 friendly terms with the natives is, for a time, at any rate, 

 no very difficult achievement ; and if I look back upon 

 anything with satisfaction it is upon the fact that I, at any 

 rate, have never knowingly been obliged to shed the 

 blood of a black man. 



733 



