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

42
THINKING BLACK
blear-eyed Bihean who would sell his soul and his family
to get a drink.
Quadrupeds first, of course ; then follow the reluctant
bipeds, one, two, three fashion. Oh yes, he pauses in
the process, for he likes his family, but likes the fire-water
best. He even fights the temptation for a week, then all
is lost as the first flow of liquor stings its way down the
alimentary canal, tearing at his vitals. Wipes his lips
now with the back of his hand and—and starts to sell the
family. No wonder Scripture, away back at the beginning
of the world, kindles for Africa such a beacon of wild
warning when it reveals the negro's ancestor naked in
his tent, and drink the cause of it all.
No wonder the pawky English tongue insists that gin
= an inebriant and gin = a trap. In Bihe, the sovereign
specific, when the supply of slaves languishes, is the rum
business. Here it is that slaves are " made to order "
slaves literal, I mean, as well as slaves moral. A man ran
in to one of our Missionaries and said that his father had
sold his own son for rum, sold to Senr. . First enslaved
morally by his "fire-water" thirst, the next move was
one of frank literal slavery ; sold his own flesh and blood
for the fiery fluid. Such a sure source of enslavement
is this, that the commoner wile is to advance sundry
"modest quenchers" on credit, the sure slavery of thirst
ultimately demanding a deal in slaves for liquidation of
the liquor bill. Take Senr. Z. of Ohwa; he gave one
Bihean just enough drink, not only to drown the man's
wits, but also to drown the drinker at the Kunehe River