228 THE CHIEF SANSAWE. 



spoke very contemptuously of the poor things we offered 

 him instead. We told his messengers that the tusks were 

 fcekeletu's : every thing was gone except my instruments; 

 which could be of no use to them whatever. One of them 

 begged 'some meat, and, when it was refused, said to my 

 men, "You may as well give it, for we shall take all after 

 we have killed you to-morrow." The more humbly we 

 spoke, the more insolent the Bashinje became, till at last 

 we were all feeling savage and sulky, but continued to 

 speak as civilly as we could. They are fond of argument, 

 and, when I denied their right to demand tribute from a 

 white man who did not trade in slaves, an old white- 

 headed negro put rather a posing question : — " You know 

 that God has placed chiefs among us whom we ought to 

 support. How is it that you, who have a book that tells 

 you about him, do. not come forward at once to pay this 

 chief tribute like every one else ?" I replied by asking, 

 " How could I know that this was a chief, who had allowed 

 me to remain a day and a half near him without giving me 

 any thing to eat?" This, which to the uninitiated may 

 seem sophistry, was to the Central Africans quite a rational 

 question ; for he at once admitted that food ought to have 

 been sent, and added that probably his chief was only 

 making it ready for me, and that it would come soon. 



After being wearied by talking all day to different par- 

 ties sent by Sansawe, we were honored by a visit from 

 himself: he is quite a young man, and of rather a pleasing 

 countenance. There cannot have been much intercourse 

 between real Portuguese and these people even here, so 

 close to the Quango, for Sansawe asked me to show him 

 my hair, on the ground that, though he had heard of it, 

 and some white men had even passed through his country, 

 he had never seen straight hair before. This is quite pos- 

 sible, as most of the slave-traders are not Portuguese, but 

 half-castes. The difference between their wool and our hair 

 caused him to burst into a laugh, and the contrast between 

 the exposed and unexposed parts of my skin, when exhibited 



