102 
VI. LUMBERMEN AND RAFTSMEN 
his expensive stuff was worthless, and he himself 
responsible for the loss involved ! The fact was that 
the negroes had sold him some hard wood which they 
had allowed to lie for several months in the black 
swamp. There it had soaked in the colour so thoroughly 
that at the ends and to a certain depth all over it 
seemed to be the finest ebony ; the inner part, however, 
was of a reddish colour. The inexperienced white man 
had neglected to test his bargain by sawing one of the 
logs in two ! 
The dealer, then, measures and purchases the timber. 
The measuring is a difficult job, as he has to jump about 
on the logs, which turn over in the water with his 
weight. Then he pays up half the purchase money, 
keeping the rest till the timber, on which the trade 
mark of his firm is now cut, has been brought safely 
down to the coast. Sometimes, however, it happens 
that natives sell the timber four or five times over, 
pocketing the money each time and then disappearing 
into the forest till the transaction has been forgotten, 
or till the white man is tired of spending time and 
money in going after the swindlers, by whom, indeed, 
he is not likely to be indemnified, seeing that, long 
before he finds them, they will have spent the money 
in tobacco and other things. 
* 
* 
Next comes the building of the rafts, or floats, for 
which neither rope nor wire is needed, as the supple 
creepers of the forest are cheaper and better than either, 
and can be had as thin as a finger or as thick as one’s 
arm. From 6o to loo of the 12 to 15 feet trunks are 
arranged one behind the other in two rows and bound 
