THE NEGRO CHIEFS. 



293 



African at liome, an unmitigated savage, un- 

 modified by acquaintance Tvdth the outer world, 

 dwelling in the presence of his brethren, and rich 

 in all the contrarieties of the racial character. 

 His suspicions and his desires are at once aroused. 

 His horror of new thinsrs strus-o-les with his wish 

 to make the most of them ; he has no precedent 

 for his demands, and consequently he has no 

 sense of their absurdity. A caravan is to him a 

 ' Doummoulaf ong,' or thing sent to be eaten, as 

 Mungo Park's second expedition was called. A 

 Portuguese officer has been asked §120 by the 

 TTamakiia for permission to visit a hill behind 

 Mozambique, distant some 25 miles from the 

 sea. At the Yellalah, or Eapids of the Congo 

 river, I was required to pay, before leave to ad- 

 vance could be given, a fee in goods which would 

 have amounted to £200, And expense is not 

 the main obstacle to the success of these excep- 

 tional expeditions : the merest accident with a 

 fire-arm may render progress impossible, and may 

 endanger the lives of the whole party. 



The most troublesome features of the beaten 

 path to the white face are the exorbitant demands 

 of the negro chiefs. They know that the slave - 

 dealer, if over-taxed, will open some other and rival 

 line. Bat they see the European for the first time ; 



