NORTH-EASTERN RHODESIA 107 



unsullied savages, who have not cut themselves 

 on the ragged edges of what the modern, clever 

 world is pleased to call civilization. In time, I 

 suppose they will do so, unless a halt is called 

 in the mad movement for heathen enlightenment. 



The able Native Commissioners of this vast 

 abode have put a merciful stop to those blood 

 enactments, which must have made the Awemba 

 " sphere of influence " a region of rapine. And 

 the Native Commissioners are all-sufficient. 

 They are the best missionaries for the true, 

 primitive pagan. Si fetais le roi, they should 

 be the only media of culture I would tolerate. 

 For the time Awembaland is pacific, and the 

 stone sentinels on the mountain tops see only 

 the bands of porters carrying the commerce of 

 peace over the meandering, rocky footpaths of 

 the Muchingas. 



Still at times the embers of the fire that burns 

 so fiercely, and that was trodden on and stamped 

 by the iron heel of Great Britain, glow for a while, 

 as though they would again burst into furious 

 flame. Thus they glowed not so very long ago, 

 and it is probable that only the influence of one 

 man, a Government servant, who had long held 

 the reins of office at Chinsali, smothered the 

 smouldering heap. Teach the heathen Awemba 

 that all men are brothers, and again the mountain 

 sentinels may gaze with a sardonic smile on 

 rivers that run red and paths that lead to piles 

 of severed limbs. 



A chilly breath of night wind that came 

 sighing over the tree-tops disturbed my reverie. 

 All around me fires burned merrily and natives 

 laughed and chatted. To-morrow I had to climb 

 the towering wall of rugged rock, and so I sought 



