254 THEIR JUDGMENT RESPECTING GOODS. 



which reduced me to a mere skeleton. I was then unablo 

 to attend to my men for a considerable time ; but, when in 

 convalescence from this last attack, I was thankful to find 

 that I was free from that lassitude which, in my first 

 recovery, showed the continuance of the malaria in the 

 system. I found that my men, without prompting, had 

 established a brisk trade in firewood. They sallied forth 

 at cock-crowing in the morning, and by daylight reached 

 the uncultivated parts of the adjacent country, collected 

 a bundle of firewood, and returned to the city. It was 

 then divided into smaller fagots, and sold to the inhabit- 

 ants ; and, as they gave larger quantities than the regular 

 wood-carriers, they found no difficulty in selling. A ship 

 freighted with coal for the cruisers having arrived from 

 England, Mr. Gabriel procured them employment in un- 

 loading her at sixpence a day. They continued at this 

 work for upward of a month ; and nothing could exceed 

 their astonishment at the vast amount of cargo one ship 

 contained. As they themselves always afterward ex- 

 pressed it, they had labored every day from sunrise to 

 sunset for a moon and a half, unloading, as quickly as they 

 could, "stones that burn," and were tired out, still leaving 

 plenty in her. With the money so obtained they purchased 

 clothing, beads and other articles to take back to their 

 own country. Their ideas of the value of different kinds 

 of goods rather astonished those who had dealt only with 

 natives on the coast. Hearing it stated with confidence 

 that the Africans preferred the thinnest fabrics, provided 

 they had gaudy colors and a large extent of surface, the 

 idea was so new to my experience in the interior that I 

 dissented, and, in order to show the superior good sense 

 of the Makololo, took them to the shop of Mr. Schut. 

 When he showed them the amount of general goods which 

 they might procure at Loanda for a single tusk, I requested 

 them, without assigning any reason, to point out th^i fabrics 

 they prized most. They all at once selected the strongest 

 pieces of English calico and other cloths, showing * hat they 



