2 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVIII. 
rate for ready money, the loss was considerable ; for all 
business in these countries is transacted on two or three 
months' credit, and, after all, payment is made, not in 
ready money, but chiefly in slaves. It is no doubt 
very necessary for a traveller to be provided 
with those various articles which form the pre- 
sents to be made to the chiefs, and which are in 
many districts required for bartering; but he ought 
not to depend upon their sale for the supply of his 
wants. Altogether it is difficult to carry on trade 
in conjunction with extensive geographical research, 
although a person sitting quietly down in a place, and 
entering into close relations with the natives, might 
collect a great deal of interesting information, which 
would probably escape the notice of the roving tra- 
veller, whose purpose is rather to explore distant 
regions. Besides, I was obliged to make numerous 
presents to my friends, in order to keep them in 
good humour, and had very often not only to provide 
dresses for themselves and their wives, but even for 
their domestic retainers ; so that, all things con- 
sidered, the supply of one hundred pounds' worth 
of merchandize could not last very long. 
I have remarked that, when I re-entered Kiikawa, 
the cultivation of the ground had not yet begun ; 
indeed, the whole country was so parched, that it be- 
came even a matter of perplexity to find sufficient 
fodder for the horses ; for the whole stock of dry 
herbage was consumed, and of young herbage none 
was to be had. I I 
