286 EXISTING SETTLERS 



ineradicable habits, if employes of European firms 

 were not kept in such isolated positions for periods 

 longer than were absolutely necessary. Man, and 

 especially young man, is by nature a gregarious 

 animal, and if he be arbitrarily removed from the 

 society of his kind during long periods of time, he 

 naturally suffers either in health or efficiency, but 

 usually in both. To government officials, of course, 

 these remarks do not so much apply. They have, 

 as a rule, large districts to supervise, taxes to 

 collect, magisterial powers to exercise, and their 

 work possesses much greater interest and is much 

 more engrossing than the frequently uphill tasks 

 which are often the portion of the agent of commerce. 



Dotted about on the great river, there are a 

 few other types of European settler, to which a 

 few words may perhaps be devoted. These are, 

 as a rule, men who have spent many years in 

 roaming about the country, ha^'e completely lost 

 touch with their friends at home, and have sunk 

 lower and lower in the social scale until they have 

 become in the end almost as uncivilised as the 

 natives in whose midst they dwell, and whose 

 habits and mode of life they have more or less 

 adopted. 



I remember several years ago that, whilst passing 

 through a portion of the country near the Zambezi 

 River, I was puzzled for some days by hearing the 

 natives who formed my escort referring from time 

 to time to a " Mzungu," or white man, who was 

 said to be living not far from the line my journey 

 would traverse. They called him by a native name, 

 but all were unanimous in stating that he was an 



