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

"GREAT WHITE LAKE" 395
ours to pare and bate down, so they had to get it—the
Evangel of a heaven above and a hell below. This Chief
dances round about me with boisterous cordiality, his sole
word of greeting being "III!" A poor enough welcome
if he knew it, for is it not excellent Latin for " Depart
make yourself scarce " ? Away back to Adam, I am their
first white skin, and the most complimentary description
of our lobster-like integument is this :
*' The skin of a
baby." It gets more serious, however, this pigment
puzzle, but the final decision is benighted enough :
" God,"
say they, " must have passed through Africa in the dark
and did not see us properly, but when He reached you
whites it was light, so He did not miss any of you. Ye
are sons of the day." The same idea this as when the
Chief, desiring to let me know I was very clever, said,
pointing to the solar angle, " Yes, you were born at half-
past seven in the morning !
" a dense negro being told
that he was born at twelve o'clock midnight. Contrari-
wise, the negro having been made in the darkness, some
of the night got worked into the composition of his body,
so, black is he born and black he behaves. This twist
West, though, is a detour, and we must again head for the
East.
Mweru, the "Great White Lake" as it is called,
is still some distance off, yet here it is a surprise sheet
of water flashes out from among the trees in the North
—Lake Musengeshi this, and a discovery. Sailed round
it in dug-outs ; took soundings all over ; mapped it by
prismatic and watch, and baptized the thing "Mary