A PLEA FOR THE NATIVE 393 



but almost all the men I have met, in Africa and out of it, 

 who have lived among the natives and studied them, love 

 them and are hopeful of their future. 



Four things the native must have accorded to him: 

 patience, sympathy, leadership, and a settled policy of 

 government. He has sometimes, though only very recently 

 and partially, had the two first. He has never yet had the 

 two last, and till he has had all four for generations, he 

 surely has had no fair chance. His past has been unevent- 

 ful and gloomy. Foreign adventurers, caring nothing for 

 him, have ravaged his coasts. Tribal tyranny has drenched 

 with blood the interior. Deserts, marshes, jungles have 

 cut him off and hemmed him in. 



From the outside world, and until quite recently, no 

 beneficent influences have ever reached the East African. 

 He is but a mere child; he has his long life before him. 

 Give him, then, time and give him a chance. 



Of all the faults his critics ascribe to the East African, 

 of none is he more commonly accused than of ingratitude, 

 and in my judgment that charge is not deserved. He is a 

 savage, with the savage's power of memory, undeveloped. 

 He readily forgets both evil things and good. He acquires 

 knowledge quickly and his untrained mental faculty as 

 quickly forgets it. But he is far indeed from being ungrate- 

 ful or unfaithful to any trust he has accepted. I do not 

 speak for myself alone, I speak for all the men I have met 

 who know the country and have tested the native, when 

 I say that no more faithful attendant in danger exists than 

 the East African gunboy. He takes his life in his hand 

 daily, he follows, often if allowed to, precedes, his bwana 

 as they together creep along, foot by foot, yard by yard, in 

 the treacherous grass that may hide, at but a few feet's dis- 

 tance, the deadliest antagonist that the scientifically equipped 

 hunter can face the wounded lion or the waiting buffalo. 

 He pays heavily, too, for his daring; again and again he is 



