512 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
“ From the Mputu” (coast), said he. 
“ Where did you obtain that fine cloth you wear ? ” 
“ From the Mputu.” 
“ And those beads, which certainly make you look 
handsome ? ” 
He smiled. “ From the Mputu.” 
“ And that fine brass wire by which you have 
succeeded in showing the beauty of your clear brown 
skin ? ” 
He was still more delighted. “ From the Mputu ; we 
get everything from the Mputu.” 
“ And wine too ? ” 
“ Yes.” 
“ And rum ? ” 
“Yes.” 
“ Have the white men been kind to you ? ” 
“ Ah, yes.” 
“ Now,” said I, turning to my Babwende friends, 
“ you see this man has been made happy with a gun, 
and cloth, and beads, wire, wine, and rum, and he says 
the white men treat him well. Why should not the 
Babwende be happier by knowing the white men ? Do 
you know why he talks so ? He wants to sell those fine 
things to the Babwende himself, for about double what 
he paid for them. Don’t you see ? You are wise 
men.” 
The absurd aboriginal protectionist and conservative 
lost his influence immediately, and it appeared as though 
the Babwende would start a caravan instantly for the 
coast. But the immediate result of my commercial talk 
with them was an invitation to join them in consuming 
a great gourdful of fresh palm-wine. 
On the lOtli of July we embarked the goods, and 
descended two miles below Mpakambendi, and reached 
the foot of the Nsenga Mount. The next day we 
descended in like manner two miles to the lofty moun- 
tain bluff of Nsoroka, being frequently interrupted by 
the jagged shaly dykes which rose here and there above 
the stream, and caused rapids. 
Two miles below Nsoroka we came to Lukalu, which 
