CONTINUED DEMANDS. 379 



venerable negro, came up, and I invited him and all to be seated, 

 that we might talk the matter over. Ionga Panza soon let us 

 know that he thought himself very ill treated in being passed 

 by. As most skirmishes arise from misunderstanding, this might 

 have been a serious one ; for, like all the tribes near the Portu- 

 guese settlements, people here imagine that they have a right to 

 demand payment from every one who passes through the coun- 

 try ; and now, though Ionga Panza was certainly no match for 

 my men, yet they were determined not to forego their right with- 

 out a struggle. I removed with my men to the vicinity of the 

 village, thankful that no accident had as yet brought us into actu- 

 al collision. 



The reason why the people have imbibed the idea so strongly 

 that they have a right to demand payment for leave to pass 

 through the country is probably this. They have seen no tra- 

 ders except those either engaged in purchasing slaves, or who 

 have slaves in their employment. These slave-traders have al- 

 ways been very much at the mercy of the chiefs through whose 

 country they have passed ; for if they afforded a ready asylum for 

 runaway slaves, the traders might be deserted at any moment, 

 and stripped of their property altogether. They are thus obliged 

 to curry favor with the chiefs, so as to get a safe conduct from 

 them. The same system is adopted to induce the chiefs to part 

 with their people, whom all feel to be the real source of their 

 importance in the country. On the return of the traders from 

 the interior with chains of slaves, it is so easy for a chief who 

 may be so disposed to take away a chain of eight or ten unre- 

 sisting slaves, that the merchant is fain to give any amount of 

 presents in order to secure the good-will of the rulers. The inde- 

 pendent chiefs, not knowing why their favor is so eagerly sought, 

 become excessively proud and supercilious in their demands, and 

 look upon white men with the greatest contempt. To such 

 lengths did the Bangala, a tribe near to which we had now ap- 

 proached, proceed a few years ago, that they compelled the Portu- 

 guese traders to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and every 

 possible pretext was invented for levying fines ; and these were 

 patiently submitted to so long as the slave-trade continued to 

 flourish. We had unconsciously come in contact with a system 

 which was quite unknown in the countiy from which my men had 



