696 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



By a comprehensive scheme for utilising this large water communication, 

 Africa might be opened up in two or three years, but of course much money 

 would be wanted. 



The President said that he had been asked to put a question to Captain 

 Cameron, which he was sure, although it was one of a personal nature, was 

 one of much pertinence, and bore very highly upon Captain Cameron's 

 wanderings — namely, How by gentle means he was enabled to pass through 

 Africa without coming in contact with the natives hostile to him ? He 

 thought that in the whole of the gallant Captain's wanderings, only on one 

 occasion had he had to use force, and then it was not of a serious character. 



Captain Cameron said that the answer was exceedingly simple. You 

 must remember that a man, although a black, was as much a man as a white. 

 The proper way for a person to get on with the natives is to behave like a 

 gentleman himself towards them, as they can perfectly understand one being 

 like a gentleman. He also very well knew that any force he might use unne- 

 cessarily or wantonly would retard and most likely endanger any of his suc- 

 cessors in African travels. 



Captain Verney, R.N., speaking as a naval man, expressed the pride 

 that the Navy felt in the credit that Captain Cameron had brought upon the 

 profession. We were accustomed to see gentlemen come home from foreign 

 travel with wonderful stories of what they had seen and heard — stories which 

 were come to be called travellers' stories — and which were always understood 

 to be taken with a grain of salt. Those gentlemen who had had an opor- 

 tunity of studying the surveys and observations made by Captain Cameron 

 were convinced that more truthful and accurate observations had never been 

 made by any explorer. Having served for a short time on the West Coast 

 of Africa, and knowing its dreadful climate, he was aware of the great credit 

 that this accuracy and truthfulness brought with it. There might be many who 

 might have made such a journey as Captain Cameron, whose physique would 

 allow them to travel through the country, but he did not think there were 

 many gentlemen who could have travelled over such a large range of country, 

 and at the same time carry on the same system of observation for scientific 

 purposes of levels, etc., of the products of the country, and the habits of the 

 people. He was very much struck with the tact that must have been re- 

 quired in dealing with these natives. Every little chief thought himself the 

 greatest king on the earth, but, when you had made their acquaintanceship, 

 for a bottle of rum he would think you a greater man than himself. On one 

 occasion when a native — Ja-Ja — had been dining with him, he asked him 

 whether it really was the case that they occasionally ate one another. The 

 chief replied that they must confess it was; and on being asked why they 

 did so, he answered, "Habit, and because it is such a delicacy. Nothing is 

 really so delicate and good as a little boy's ankle." 



