390 THE CHIEF SANSAWE. 



fused, 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 civ- 

 illy 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 parties sent 

 by Sansawe, we were honored by a visit from himself: he is 

 quite a young man, and of rather a pleasing countenance. There 

 can not 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 

 possible, 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 in evidence of 

 our all being made of one stock originally, and the children of 

 one Maker, seemed to strike him with wonder. I then showed 

 him my watch, and wished to win my way into his confidence by 

 conversation ; but, when about to exhibit my pocket compass, 

 he desired me to desist, as he was afraid of my wonderful things. 

 I told him, if he knew my aims as the tribes in the interior 

 did, and as I hoped he would yet know them and me, he 

 would be glad to stay, and see also the pictures of the magic 

 lantern ; but, as it was now getting dark, he had evidently got 

 enough of my witchery, and began to use some charms to dispel 



