A PLEA FOR THE NATIVE 373 



If the explorer was obliged to be ruthless in Africa, 

 if his impressions were of necessity those of a man met by 

 hostile forces, and so not of highest value, what shall be 

 said of the value of the impressions poured forth by game 

 hunters, or those who were but pleasure seekers, during a 

 brief stay of weeks ? 



These are, of course, of still less value, yet they have 

 not been without their effect in influencing the reading world. 



The gulf between the white man and the black is wide 

 enough and profound enough, God knows, it needs not to 

 be exaggerated, it must somehow be bridged. For Africa 

 is preeminently the black man's country, he is necessary 

 to it, it cannot possibly prosper without him. All its pos- 

 sible advancement depends on his advancement. There 

 he was found, and there he will remain though every white 

 man perish from the continent. Continental conditions 

 are being made plain, rivers traced to their sources, moun- 

 tains robbed of their mystery, impenetrable forest regions 

 opened to the light, animals, a few years ago unknown to 

 science, stand stiffly in our museums, and of all these we 

 know something. Now it is time that human pity and 

 Christian compassion should turn with a fuller, deeper 

 purpose to the study of real Africa, to the study of the man. 



I was often amazed at the amount of half-cooked food 

 my people could consume at a sitting, or series of sittings. 

 In the sefari were a few Kavorondo and these were cham- 

 pions in this respect. Once I remember we were camped 

 in a good game country, and the camp remained stationary 

 for some days. Potio for three days was given out, that is, 

 each man received four and a half pounds of good, well- 

 ground Indian corn meal. There was at the time a large 

 supply of zebra meat in camp, and each man had at the 

 very least a ten-pound chunk of this venison, of which they 

 are inordinately fond, for his own eating. Next morn- 

 ing David Rebman (the headman) brought round the 



