Late^when t t^le , scT’ent'^c world the Hominidas.
desired not 1° +1? w Krumen well, I learnt that they
f a ^ but diH 7 f t -maj0rit^ of the articles that they
them with™ f m°1re obtained them—at all events some of
example as fn T me. °r them ; such commodities, for
-entTemenl t ’ P m Wme’ old tins and bottles> and other
bovslEowL fr r , re neV£r Safe- 0ne of that first gang of
christened V ,P to TSuch a remarkable degree that I
boih n m f l^ i ^ eS' His narne— You-be-d d -b e in g
buteven fPN K and ?mProPer> called for change of some sort,
convenrinn,Tv)rOUg no, comfort to one still hampered with
were fn nd ie aS rGgardl?Z ProPerty, and frequent roll-calls
Tnd bS SaT 50 that the crimes of my friend Smiles
extent ^ accumulate to an unmanageable
hbT ”1S « r I f thH S° r,t °{thing— “ Where them Nettlerash
“ He lib fnr tn f ,unb’. Massa. ’ “ Where them- Smiles P J
Misery ? ’’ ’ ¥ “* * * “ Where them Black Man
simply no arfkoV K & Ve ^ the confessional, for there is
telling the W b o rebcence about >'our Kruman when he is
After accnmniar; ° eT Sef-regarding a fell°w creature,
fill a hat irememh ^ enough experience to
can d o t CWesr A fnng-alWayS “ ° ne ° f the worst things you
rb , i ^ frlca IS to worry yourself”) I bethoueht me
f b t a, ICG had received from my cousin Rose Kmg-slev
was° h a v in^ aT StbUlly ridden throu£h Mexico when Mexico
p r e s e t a firm maCr worse revolution than usual, “ to always
preserve a firm manner. I thought I would try this on those
th™ PTeSasaen” 7 c ^ ° ” ? ' * 4 I “ 1 Wish y °U ™
this ’period’wp r 7 Was an lmmediate success. During
this period we came across a trader’s lonely store wherein h i
obfecte the^ouk <oft f ' S Z parasok After these appalling
“ N O ’’ said Tin In my !imCn hungered with a great desire
we passed on ^ ^ and after buy ing other things,
and mfies awav t T S myhorror’ therefore, hours afterwards
apiec^ P r S , p P^cious crew had got a red parasol
these had W n 1 ? pene" CTe Puite Justified me in thinking that
f , been stolen | and I pictured to myself my Portuguese
friends, whose territory I was then in, commenting upon th e
incident, and reviling me as another instance of how the brutal
5 S S I t r npgathr°,Ughb 1 found’ S S K I wa
ra™afs“ L ton>Pfa^ u 9 2 been “ dashed”rascals tor top, and the last one connected wmithy trhaep aacfiofauirs
tthheemm ssttoolleenn. It was I, not he, wfhr°o ms uwffhe°remd , 1 fhora dit wbeaIsi evtehde
wet season in West Africa and those red parasols ran. To this
day my scientific soul has never been able to account for the
vast body of crimson dye those miserable cotton things poured
out, plentifully drenching m yself and their owners, the Kruboys,
and everything we associated with that day. I am quite prepared
to hear that some subsequent wanderer has found a red
trail in Africa itself like that one so often sees upon the
maps. When they do, I hereby claim that real red trail as
mine.
I confess I like the African on the whole, a thing I never
expected to do when I went to the Coast with the idea that
he was a degraded, savage, cruel brute 1 but that is a trifling
error you soon get rid of when you know him. The Kruboy
is decidedly the most likeable o f all Africans that I know.
Wherein his charm lies is difficult to describe, and you certainly
want the patience o f Job, and a conscience made of
stretching leather to deal with the Kruboy in the African
climate, and live. In his better manifestations he reminds me
of that charming personality, the Irish peasant, for though he
lacks the sparkle, he is full o f humour, and is the laziest and
the most industrious of mankind. He lies and tells the truth
in such a hopelessly uncertain manner that you cannot rely
on him for either. He is ungrateful and faithful to the
death, honest and thievish, all in one and the same specimen
of him.
Ingratitude is a crime laid very frequently to the score o f
all Africans, but I think unfairly; certainly I have never had
to complain of it, and the Krumen often show gratitude for
good treatment in a grand way. The way those Kruboys o f
gallant Captain Lane helped him work Lagos Bar and save
lives by the dozen from the stranded ships on it and hauled
their “ Massa ” out from among the sharkey foam every time he
went into it, on the lifeboat upsetting, would have done credit
to Deal or Norfolk lifeboat men, but the secret o f their devotion
is their personal attachment. They do not save people
out of surf on abstract moral principles. The African at
large is not an enthusiast on moral principles, and one and all
they’ll let nature take its course if they don’t feel keen on a
man surviving.
Half the African’s ingratitude, although it may look very
bad on paper, is really not so very b a d ; for half the time
you have been asking him to be grateful to you for doing to,
or giving him things he does not care a row o f pins about. I
have quite his feelings, for example, for half the things in
civilised countries I am expected to be glad to get. “ Oh,