46 Minnie Throop England 



from its age-long slumber and electrified into life and action." 

 " From regions round about Tanganyika on to Tabora, and away 

 westward to the Congo State, the whole population has been 

 aroused, and, just as in Uganda, streams of men are making their 

 way to the nearest port on the Lake shore with their produce — 

 bees-wax, hides, goat-skins, cotton, and rubber." Tucker also 

 states that the enlarged market for native products has resulted 

 in a considerable rise in the standard of living in Uganda. " The 

 Kanzu, a long white linen garment, has, in the case of the men, 

 taken the place of the . . . national dress, . . . lamp oil has be- 

 come almost a necessity for all save the very poorest. Plates 

 and dishes, cups and saucers, pots and pans, and enamelled ware 

 of all kinds, find ready buyers. Lamps, watches, clocks, and 

 even bicycles are being purchased to no inconsiderable extent by 

 natives where enterprise in cultivating cotton and other produce 

 has been rewarded with success." 155 It is generally found, how- 

 ever, that natives buy chiefly ornaments, calicoes, prints, and the 

 cheapest classes of goods, and after these simple wants are satis- 

 fied it is very difficult to raise their standard of life. Colquhoun's 

 account of trade in the Pacific is typical : " The civilised Malays 

 dress in cotton, but they are not a spending people, and the wilder 

 tribes do not trouble about costume at all, or wear merely the 

 native manufacture. They do not want furniture, for their 

 houses are empty, and a grass-mat is all they need for bed, table, 

 or chair. Their one extravagance is jewellery, and this they buy, 

 cheap and nasty, from the Chinese traders, who get it, cheaper 

 still, from Birmingham or ' Made in Germany.' " 156 The con- 

 servatism of primitive peoples also works against raising their 

 standard of living or changing established tastes. For example, 

 Chinese brick tea, the refuse of the tea industry, is the universal 

 drink in Tibet and neither Bhutia, Tibetan, or Tartar will use any 

 other in spite of the strenuous efforts of traders to introduce the 

 tea of civilization into these vast tea-consuming areas. 157 



Tucker, op. cit., 293. 



Colquhoun, Mastery of the Pacific, 281. 



Holdich, Tibet, the Mysterious, 139-140. 



222 



