lOO Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
wont ? Then you are a hard, bad fellow. Shan't come 
to see you again." Some, however, are more finished 
and elaborate. They prepare themselves largely 
beforehand. A man who, for some purpose or other, 
has fixed his mind upon getting a cloth will appear 
before you in the most miserable rags he can procure. 
With a long face and downcast eyes he tells you a tale 
of sorrow that would move the hardest heart. He 
assures you that you are the greatest man upon the 
earth, a shaha (chief), a sultan, a god ; he is your 
servant, your slave, he will go with you to the death. 
He strokes your beard, kisses your hand, hugs your 
knees, and salutes your very feet. Oh, if you will but 
help him he is yours for ever. He is a perfect master 
of flattery, and his obsequiousness knows no bounds. 
He gains his object, and snaps his fingers at his dupe. 
The Wanika have been said to be utterly ungrateful. 
I have not found this to be the case. Their language 
is wanting in an equivalent for our " thanks," but they 
have ways by which they express the feeling. A man 
may utter no word upon the reception of a gift, and to 
all appearance no gratitude has been excited in his 
heart, but he goes away and tells every one he meets 
about the matter, and sounds the praises of the donor. 
Similarly the Jews behaved in the days of our Lord. 
The moment a man was healed, leaving the presence 
of the great Physician, his heart overflowing with 
gratitude, and, despite strict charges to keep the 
matter secret, he proclaimed on all hands what had 
been done for him, and loudly extolled the Saviour, 
Could gratitude be more expressive } 
In the heroic virtues the Wanika are wanting. 
Either these qualities have never been developed in 
