“ SALCJOJSf DAYS A 
151 
pleasant path along the waterside and toil up the 
clayey ascent. But when I have reached the level 
crest of this bracken-covered height, I slip into a 
smooth and level track, winding along between low 
hedges of strychnia and dracoena, and giving off many 
side turnings which lead to native compounds and 
enclosures. Several maidens pass me shyly, going to 
market with bananas or neat baskets of millet meal or 
bags of Indian corn. Some of the bolder, who have 
perhaps met me before in the market-place, or at 
Mandara’s, give me the Gaga greeting, “ Mbuia ” 
(friend), to which I heartily reply, “ Mbuia, mbuia.” 
How strange it is ! In all probability many of these 
v 
Gaga girls have never seen me or any other white man 
before; yet we meet in a lane suddenly, and beyond a 
somewhat timid shrinking to one side, there is no fear 
and no surprise exhibited. Each after the formal 
greeting wends his or her way tranquilly. And yet, 
to imagine a similar contrast, suppose some English 
country girls, say in the most rural depths of Somer¬ 
setshire, were suddenly to come upon a naked black 
man striding along a leafy lane, armed with spear and 
shield, and decked with strange adornments, neck¬ 
laces of human teeth, and such like, would they not 
in all likelihood shriek for help, or giggle convulsively, 
or in some obtrusive fashion display their amazement ? 
Yet these African maidens, to whom I, clothed where 
they are accustomed to utter nakedness, with aneroid 
hanging round my neck, sketch-book under my arm, 
and gun in hand, suddenly appear, merely give me a 
modest greeting and a shy look, and quietly pursue 
their way. 
After a further ascent I arrive on the summit of a 
rounded hill which considerably o’ertops its fellows 
