Chap. XVIII. 
CONTINUED DEMANDS. 
851 
venerable negro, came up, and I invited biin and all to be seated, 
that we might talk the mmtter over. longa Panza soon let us 
know that he thought himself very ill-treated in being passed by. 
As most skirmishes arise from misunderstanding, this miglit have 
been a serious one; for, like all the tribes near the Portuguese 
settlements, people here imagine that they have a right to de¬ 
mand payment from every one who passes through the country; 
and now, though Tonga Panza was certainly no match for my 
men, yet they were determined not to forego their right without 
a struggle. I removed with my men to the vicinity of the vil¬ 
lage, thankful that no accident had as yet brought us into actual 
collision. 
The reason why the people have imbibed the idea so strongly, 
that they have a right to demand payment for leave to pass 
through the country, is probably this. They have seen no traders 
except those either engaged in purchasing slaves, or who have 
slaves in their employment. These slave-traders have always 
been very much at the mercy of the chiefs through whose country 
they have passed; for if they afforded a ready asylum for run¬ 
away slaves, the traders might be deserted at any moment, and 
stripped of their property altogether. They are thus obliged to 
curry favour with the chiefs, so as to get a safe conduct from 
them. The same system is adopted to induce the chiefs to part 
with their people, whom all feel to be the real source of their 
importance in the country. On the return of the traders from 
the interior with chains of slaves, it is so easy for a chief who 
may be so disposed to take away a chain of eight or ten unre¬ 
sisting slaves, that the merchant is fain to give any amount of 
presents in order to secure the good will of the rulers. The inde¬ 
pendent chiefs, not knowing why their favour is so eagerly sought, 
become excessively proud and supercilious in their demands, and 
look upon white men with the. greatest contempt. To such 
lengths did the Bangala, a tribe near to which we had now ap¬ 
proached, proceed, a few years ago, that they compelled the 
Portuguese traders to pay for water, wood, and even grass, and 
every possible pretext was invented for lev}dng fines; and these 
were patiently submitted to so long as the slave-trade continued 
to fiourish. We had unconsciously come in contact with a system 
which was quite unknown in the country from which my men 
