io6 
The Minor Tribes 
are in chastity, and neither sex has a tincture of 
what we call morality. To commercial shrewd¬ 
ness and eagerness they add exceptional greed of 
gain and rascality; foreign rum and tobacco, dress 
and ornaments, arms and ammunition have been 
necessaries to them; they will have them, and, 
unless they can supply themselves by licit, they 
naturally fly to illicit means. Yet, despite threats 
of poison and charges of witchcraft, they have 
arrived at an inkling of the dogma that “ honesty 
is the best policy the East African has never 
dreamed it in the moments of his wildest imagina-? 
tion. Pre-eminent liars, they are, curious to say, 
often deceived by the falsehoods of others, and 
they fairly illustrate the somewhat paradoxical 
proverb : 
“ He who hates truth shall be the dupe of lies.” 
Unblushing mendicants, cunning and calculating, 
their obstinacy is remarkable ; yet, as we often find 
the African, they are at the same time irresolute in 
the extreme. Their virtues are vivacity, mental 
activity, acute observation, sociability, politeness, 
and hospitality : the fact that a white man can 
wander single-handed through the country shows 
a kindly nature. The brightest spot in their 
character is an abnormal development of adhe¬ 
siveness, popularly called affection; it is some¬ 
what tempered by capricious ruffianism, as in 
