THE JOURNEY OF THE BOATS TO YO 179 



thirty-five miles within twenty-four hours, nor did his 

 beasts show any signs of distress. The night was unusually 

 cold and he had been marching in his shirt sleeves, so he 

 spent the time till sunrise sitting over a huge fire. While 

 having his meal, a little deformed boy, suffering from fever, 

 was brought to him for treatment, which, I doubt not, 

 was more humane than that which he himself saw being 

 administered by a native at the same time to a bullock with a 

 sore back. The cure was a red-hot iron ! Poor beast ! but, 

 like the lobster and boiling water, he has had to get used to 

 all manner of hideous sufferings at the hands of his black 

 master. Here is a note in Grosling's diary. "I saw a man 

 to-day beat a tired bullock unmercifully, and then bite its 

 tail with his teeth, both without effect." But no animal 

 comes into the life of the native without suffering ; for the 

 black man has not the faintest glimmering of imagination that 

 could make him realise its pain, nor has he the consciousness of 

 beauty in the animal that in us creates a love of making pets. 

 His dog is either used for hunting or for eating, and picks up 

 its existence as a pariah about the village. Certainly, his 

 horse is a little better treated, but that is because a showy 

 horse enhances its master's reputation in the eyes of his 

 fellows. I have often seen oxen or donkeys in a caravan being 

 beaten along under loads tied to backs that were one mass of 

 raw and bruised flesh. The only animals I have ever seen 

 natives take a pleasure in are monkeys, and then only to tease 

 them incessantly for their own amusement. Consequently, 

 the white man's habit of keeping pets is a thing they fail 

 to understand, and one has to keep a very sharp look-out 

 on the " boys " into whose charge the animals are given. 



