Chap. XVIII. CONTINUED DEMANDS. 351 



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 Portuguese 

 settlements, people here imagine that they have a right to de- 

 mand payment from every one who passes through the country ; 

 and now, though Ionga Panza was certainly no match for my 

 men, yet they were determined not to forego their right without 

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

 lage, thankful that no accident had as yet brought us into actual 

 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 traders 

 except those either engaged in purchasing slaves, or who have 

 slaves in their employment. These slave-traders have always 

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

 they have passed ; for if they afforded a ready asylum for run- 

 away slaves, the traders might be deserted at any moment, and 

 stripped of their property altogether. They are thus obliged to 

 curry favour 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 favour 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 

 Portuguese 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 country from which my men 



