64 IV. JULY. 1913-- JANUARY, 1914 
that one keeps everything locked up and does not trust 
them with more than the exact amount of foodstuffs, 
is not taken by the black servants as an insult. They 
themselves expect us to observe these precautionary 
measures strictly, in order that they may not be held 
responsible for any occasional theft. Joseph insists on 
my locking the dispensary if I go into the dormitory 
from the iron building for even two minutes, and leave 
him alone in the consulting-room, from which one 
goes into the dispensary. If a European does not 
observe these precautions then his blacks steal his 
things with a good conscience. What is not locked up 
“ goes for a walk,” to use Joseph’s language ; you may 
steal anything from a person who is so careless ! 
Worse still, however, than this, the negro steals not 
merely what will be of value to him, but anything that 
attracts him for the moment. Mr. Rambaud, of 
Samkita, lost in this way part of a valuable work in 
several volumes, and there disappeared one day from 
my bookshelf the piano edition of Wagner’s “ Meister- 
singer ” and the copy of Bach’s Passion Music (S. 
Matthew), into which I had written the organ accom- 
paniment, which I had worked out very carefully ! 
This feeling of never being safe from the stupidest piece 
of theft brings one sometimes almost to despair, and 
to have to keep everything locked up and turn oneself 
into a walking bunch of keys adds a terrible burden to 
life. 
* 
* * 
If I went simply by what the blacks ask for, I should 
now have to operate on some one every day ; the people 
with hernia quarrel as to who shall submit to the knife 
