SALUTATIONS. 
391 
whenever they can get rum. At the sea-side, King 
Boy and his royal relatives would swallow vast quantities 
of it undiluted, but as we* advanced in the interior, 
more unsophisticated palates were found, and it would 
gradually bear more water, until moderately strong grog 
had a very potent effect. 
Nothing can be more unjust than our assumption 
that the natives of Africa are devoid of civilization. It 
is true that the inhabitants of many parts of the coast, 
and principally at the mouths of large rivers, where 
they havehad, proh pudor, most intercourse with the 
whites, are indeed, deserving the name of savages. 
With these and the re-captured slaves only of the 
interior, who are mostly of the lowest classes, or have 
been enslaved very young, we have been hitherto 
acquainted. It is, however, very different the farther 
we go into the interior, where a great degree of 
politeness is found ; aU are particularly punctilious in 
salutations and greetings, which they seem never to he 
tired of repeating. Near the coast, the common 
expression used in saluting was “ ’n-doh,” repeated many 
times, accompanied by a peculiar snap of the fingers. 
After leaving the Delta, polite visitors appear to try 
which can continue the longest saying the Haussa word 
“ Sinuh,” “ prosperity or “ Koni lathia,” “ how is your 
health ?” or, “ Barkah,” “ a blessing,” &c. At the same 
* This was on the First Expedition. In that of 1841, no spirits 
were given to the natives. 
