the French Colony. 
5 
their days ashore, but they are very careful to sleep 
on board. All the official whites appear to have a 
morbid horror of the climate ; when attacked by 
fever, they “ cave in ” at once, and recovery can 
hardly be expected. This year also, owing to 
scanty rains, sickness has been rife, and many 
cases which began with normal mildness have 
ended suddenly and fatally. Besides fear of fever, 
they are victims to ennui and nostalgia; and, ex¬ 
pecting the Comptoir to pay large profits, they 
are greatly disappointed by the reverse being the 
case. 
But how can they look for it to be otherwise ? 
The modern French appear fit to manage only 
garrisons and military posts. They will make 
everything official, and they will not remember the 
protest against governing too much, offered by the 
burgesses of Paris to Louis le Grand. They are 
always on duty; they are never out of uniform, 
mentally and metaphorically, as well as bodily and 
literally. Nothing is done without delay, even in 
the matter of signing a ship’s papers. A long 
proces-verbal takes the place of our summary 
punishment, and the gros canon is dragged into 
use on every occasion, even to enforce the pay¬ 
ment of native debts. 
In the Gaboon, also, there is a complication of 
national jealousy, suggesting the mastiff and the 
poodle. A perpetual war rages about flags. 
