Thinking black; 22 years without a break in the long grass of Central ...

FARTHEST, BUT SHUT, IN 177
therefore wiser) frankly solved the problem by eviscerating
the inner wheels. With a kind of lofty obstinacy, these
negroes would listen not at all to my short but masterly
account of their delicate mechanism, and finally the poor
palpitating watches were " killed " neatly and thoroughly,
their tin cases becoming the smart snuflf- boxes of such
smart Africans.
Another attempt I saw at negro recording was in a
little hut where I slept. Looking up to the beehive roof
I spied a number of tiny white flags flying, mere ribbons
of calico these, some grimed with soot, and one quite new.
" Oh !
" said the owner thereof, " these are receipts of
debts I have paid." Commoner still is it to find little
packets of twigs scrupulously tied together, the varying
sizes all eloquent of some transaction represented by these
vouchers—a long tusk of ivory, for instance, being
memorised by a longish twig, and so on in ratio right
round the various sorts and sizes of tusks.
^ # #
The royal " sneeze," I find, is a solemn event here in
Court life. For if this Mushidi can produce a successful
sneeze in public, then the thousands of negroes acclaim
such a sovereign act with a thunder of hand-clapping :
'* Long live the King ! Hail !
" Therefore the oftener he
so sneezes the longer is he supposed to live, the idea
being that a sneeze is only a superabundance of life
overflowing in friendly fizz. A paroxysm of sneezing
only evokes a chorus of approval, and one almost suspects
tihat the old man is addicted to the very snuffing that is