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THE NEW AFRICA 
visiting the king of a country, it is perfectly safe to laugh at the 
minor chiefs’ demands, and even in cases of necessity, when 
short of bearers, to leave the superfluous goods in their charge, 
and simply go cheerfully on one’s way. In dread of the accusa¬ 
tion of misconduct or theft, these fellows will take the utmost 
pains to forward the things on; for, should anything go wrong, 
past experience has made them aware that the drastic measures 
taken by the king for offences of this sort usually terminate in 
the visit of a regiment of soldiers, with consequences they little 
care to take the risk of, as the orders generally are to ‘ give the 
kraal to the vultures,’ only sparing the women and children, who 
are brought in as slaves to do the king’s work. From this it will 
be gathered that outlying and distant chiefs are the most dis¬ 
agreeable to deal with, especially, in case of inquiry, if they can 
convince the king that it is owing to their treatment that the 
white traveller was compelled to go to the king’s kraal, in spite 
of his intention to have passed through the country without first 
paying the king a visit, and thus giving him an opportunity 
of snapping up the lion’s share of ‘ presents.’ All goods coming 
into a country the king looks upon as more or less his own, and 
he will rarely allow anything to return or proceed beyond his 
boundaries, except the personal effects of a traveller, often 
even demanding the guns and ammunition, which one has a 
hard dispute to retain, under the plea that they are necessary to 
shoot food with. In justice to the kings, however, it must be 
stated that they generally load one up with ivory and other 
produce in return for the goods ‘ you have brought him,’ and 
provide a friendly escort to see one out of the country—a fact 
intended to induce the visitor to return at some future date with 
more goods. The foregoing remarks apply to most savage kings 
in South Africa, but are modified, accordingly, by the degree 
of contact they have experienced with whites, who by intro¬ 
ducing the system of barter, by permission of the king, have 
taught the natives to give a quid pro quo for goods they 
demand. Of course, in order to secure the right to trade—a 
right dependent on the king’s goodwill—a magnificent present is 
