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

"BORING IN" FARTHER 67
very blatjk man pick us all up on the Benguella seashore
and carry us, like mere baggage, on and into his own
interior ? No wonder, therefore, the whole district irom
which you recruit your carriers is converted into a huge
" penny in the slot " machine, for you must put in your
money before anything can be got out of it. Moreover,
this note of independence struck so early and so frankly
in Bihe is continued through the long journey until at
Kavungu there is a real revolt, mine and countermine,
repulse and attack for days. Thus you see what a
masterful mind this Bihean of ours has, the real
"pioneers" being these old blacks, who are not bashful
in reminding us of the fact.
These, moreover, are the needy days when to your
profit and loss you solemnly invest in a "Man Friday."
Cook, Treasurer, and What-not of the caravan, "boy" he
is called, even to his fortieth year. Nor is this compact
between you, his master, and him, your factotum, so
quickly sealed and settled. Fixing you with his fathomless
black eyes, with appalling candour of comment he leads oflF
by inquiring stonily if you mean to cheat him as the last
Portuguese did, and generally " heckles " you as though you
were a prospective local M.P. His fatal facility for jabber
is such that he almost argues you into the belief that you
will cheat him, his theory of this solemn compact being
that it is all a mere speculation, on the principle of " heads
you get paid, tails you work for nothing." However, after
half a dozen inapposite questions ("temper-testing," it is
called), you close with him, and Man Friday, very conse-