64 WAGNER and BREVOR 



c. is, as a rule, a slave to superstition including a belief in 

 witchcraft ; 



d. is extraordinarily susceptible to suggestion. In endeavouring to 

 obtain information anything of the nature of leading questions 

 should, therefore, be avoided, as a native will always give the 

 answer which he thinks is expected whether it is true or not. 



It is also well to bear in mind that the native, speaking generally, 

 is by no means a savage, but is from his birth to his death subjected 

 to very precise laws and customs which he has to observe if he 

 wishes to be esteemed as a member of his tribe or clan. He should 

 accordingly be treated as a man on a lower plane of civilisation 

 but not as a wholly inferior being. 



The writers in a long experience of natives throughout Southern 

 and Eastern Africa have found them on the whole to be very 

 honest and in their own way straightforward. Their veracity often 

 leaves much to be desired, but then their standards in this respect 

 are quite different from those of the European. Among most tribes, 

 as a matter of fact, it is considered impolite to tell the truth if it 

 should happen to be at all unpleasant to the person concerned. It 

 is also quite useless to try and get a native to give evidence of 

 an incriminating nature against one of his own clan. 



The complex system of native relationship, due to polygamy and 

 the link of blood created by a common ancestry is a fruitful source 

 of confusion to Europeans and particularly to the newcomer. It is 

 a difficult subject and those desirous of studying it are recommended 

 to read the chapters thereon in w The Ila-Speaking Peoples of 

 Northern Rhodesia" by E. M. Smith and A. M. Dale (Macmillan & 

 Company Ltd., London, 1920) and in The Story of an African 

 Tribe" by the Rev. H. A. Junod. 



Articles of Barter. For purposes of barter with natives it is very 

 important to take the right class of articles and not to take too 

 large a supply, as native tastes change as frequently and quite as 

 arbitrarily as Paris fashions. One year a certain bead, blanket or 

 handkerchief will be the rage and the women will give anything 

 to obtain it. The next year the fashion will have altered and they 

 will hardly accept it as a gift. The following articles are, however, 

 always in demand from one end of the country to the other, and 

 when it is impossible to obtain service or goods for cash they can 

 usually be obtained for one or the other of them: 



