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

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THINKING BLACK
tree : the solemn " Blue Peter " this, notifying all comers
that your land ship has already set out on its long voyage.
Yet, as a matter of fact, the real start is many a month
ahead, but deeds are the only eloquent words in Africa
and have you not, after all, gone a few formal yards from
village to forest ? So, there in the woods, you build a hut,
and out to that camp your prospective carriers troop,
spending the dragging days quizzing you as to proposed
route and destination. One-sided enough this heckling,
for you must be precise and pertinent in your answers,
whereas the negro only responds to your questions in a
vague, non-committal voice. This policy of make-believe,
however, has an excellent effect on the raw negro, who is
all eyes and no ears, and the result is that right off, the
news goes buzzing round the district that the '' big devil
(Ochindele) really means business at last. Then comes
the first crowd of volunteers. Be sure you write in pencil,
though, not ink, for generally a few negro wags lead off
by making counterfeit overtures to join your caravan, the
false names being eagerly recorded by the impatient white
man. Merely the ''lead pencil" men these, who turn out
to be as visionary as the Secretary of War's "spectral
force," and this crowd soon thins to a trickle of " faithfuls."
One by one your real Olongamba (carriers) reluctantly
permit you to write them down, Ham, *' the servant of
servants," being for once wholly the master of this situation,
and you of Japheth his grovelling suppliant. His whole
talk in these preliminary days of negotiation is flavoured
with a good spice of negro condescension, for did not this