Chap. XXIX. A STINGY WHITE TRADER. G01 



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

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

 being 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 

 accept. 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 gene- 

 rally 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 21. each, 

 and I could return to them at any time without having a cha- 

 racter 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 then - books, that they are declaring 

 they have compromised the honour 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 travellers then complain of being 

 pestered with their " shameless begging." I was troubled by 

 importunity 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 



