644 A STINGY WHITE TKADER. 



up with the greatest ease, which he apparently effects by turning 

 them round in his teeth till they are in a suitable position for be- 

 ing split. 



We had now come among people who had plenty, and were 

 really very liberal. My men never returned from a village with- 

 out some corn or maize in their hands. The real politeness with 

 which food is given by nearly all the interior tribes, who have not 

 had much intercourse with Europeans, makes it a pleasure to ac- 

 cept. Again and again I have heard an apology made for the 

 smallness of the present, or regret expressed that they had not 

 received notice of my approach in time to grind more, and gener- 

 ally they readily accepted our excuse at having nothing to give in 

 return by saying that they were quite aware that there are no 

 white men's goods in the interior. When I had it in my power, 

 I always gave something really useful. To Katema, Shinte, 

 and others, I gave presents which cost me about £2 each, and I 

 could return to them at any time without having a character for 

 stinginess. How some men can offer three buttons, or some 

 other equally contemptible gift, while they have abundance in 

 their possession, is to me unaccountable. They surely do not 

 know, when they write it in their books, that they are declaring 

 they have compromised the honor of Englishmen. The people 

 receive the offering with a degree of shame, and ladies may be 

 seen to hand it quickly to the attendants, and, when they retire, 

 laugh until the tears stand in their eyes, saying to those about 

 them, "Is that a white man? then there are niggards among 

 them too. Some of them are born without hearts !" One white 

 trader, having presented an old gun to a chief, became a standing 

 joke in the tribe: "The white man who made a present of a 

 gun that was new when his grandfather was sucking his great- 

 grandmother." When these tricks are repeated, the natives come 

 to the conclusion that people who show such a want of sense 

 must be told their duty ; they therefore let them know what they 

 ought to give, and travelers then complain of being pestered 

 with their "shameless begging." I was troubled by importu- 

 nity on the confines of civilization only, and when I first came 

 to Africa. 



February 4th. We were much detained by rains, a heavy 

 shower without wind falling every morning about daybreak ; it 



