284 EXISTING SETTLERS 



the present restricted volume of business which 

 flows spasmodically through Tete to the northward, 

 the lot of the agent of any commercial undertaking 

 must be one in which he is in the unhappy condition 

 of having far too little to do. I call this condition 

 an unhappy one because men so circumstanced, 

 unless they be gifted with a rare measure of mental 

 resource, must find the enforced idleness very trying. 

 I want you to imagine the following as one day 

 among almost all the days of the year. 



It is soon after dawn, and in the cool, grey 

 morning light a small native bearing a cup of tea 

 or coffee enters the open door of an occupied 

 bedroom, his ears being greeted the while by snores 

 from the mosquito net within which he sets his 

 tray upon a small table, displacing for the purpose 

 a number of sixpenny novels, a candle-lamp which 

 has burned itself out, and half a dozen "Three 

 Castles " cigarette-ends. The occupant awakens, 

 faint-heartedly swallows the contents of the cup, 

 throws back the mosquito muslin, and, thrusting 

 his feet into a pair of large slippers, strides through 

 the doorway on to the verandah of the house. The 

 servants are sweeping down the steps, and putting 

 to rights the dining-room and other apartments. 

 With a cursory glance round, the now thoroughly 

 awakened agent plunges his head and face into 

 some water, and, satisfied for the moment with this 

 partial ablution, and without changing his pyjamas, 

 walks down the quintal or compound to the store. 

 It is now about 6 o'clock, and he is soon after 

 joined by his assistant in similar raiment. Desultory 

 business is transacted to an unbroken accompani- 



