Europeans intelligent men, regards his beautifully easy life on the
in Africa. r . ■'
Congo as almost unendurable. Were he the sole reporter
of his experiences since last November, people would
scarcely credit the fact that Africa was pretty well explored,
so many new discoveries could be furnish them
with—of the soul-harrowing kind. His face daily increases
in length, and seems to approach day by day
nearer in resemblance to the melancholy features of
Don Quixote, which I have seen somewhere. And with
increasing length of face there is an increasing ill-
humour. But sick men are always peevish and grumble,
and are notorious for entertaining unjust feeling towards
their physicians.
“ The conditions of a healthy enjoyment of life in
Africa, are very little understood, if at all, by I Frankr
and his class. It is a difficult thing to impart to them
the rudiments of the lesson of life. It is a most thankless
task, and the effort is so ungraciously received that
I have been often repelled by the visible signs of nonappreciation.
Barely have I been encouraged to proceed
by those to whom counsel was addressed. They do
not seem to take any interest in what concerns their own
health. They duly acknowledge that it is a duty they
owe to themselves to be as careful as possible, and to^
be prudent and circumspect; they are civil in their replies,
and are ready with promises of amendment. But
they never practise what they promise, and that active
zeal and watchful prudence which would seem to govern
one who loves his own life I never see exhibited. The
performance appears to be too irksome, and neither their
intelligence nor their conscience are provoked to assist European,
them.^ I remember Frank Pocock also, on the second * mm
expedition, who must (almost as the sound of my advice
died away) have been meditating on that step by which
he lost his life, and caused me for months a pang of
sorrow, each time I thought of his sad end.
“ I have observed also that not only in matters of self-
preservation is this apathy evident, but that it is present
in the every-day duties of the expedition, which they
tire pledged to perform, and for which they receive remuneration.
Any single order they will perform well
and creditably; but if I accompany it with the expression
of a hope that they will consider it as a daily duty,
the order becomes at once inoperative, for it is never
observed.
If I command a native to convey such and such a
box to a certain camp, and assist him with it until he
feels its weight properly balanced on his head, off he
departs cheerfully, and deposits the box faithfully according
to the order. But if I add, | and on your return
take this box also in the same manner,” experience has
taught me that I have tasked his memory or his intelli- t *
gence beyond his capacity, for I shall undoubtedly be
compelled to await his coming, and repeat the operation
of placing a box on his head. In the same manner
if I tell Europeans, who in Europe would be supposed
to possess sufficient intelligence to understand any
reasonable order of the kind, to mend all sails, tarpaulins,
tents, or baggage-covers, the order to do so is
never observed, but any particular rent in a tarpaulin,