goat horn, shells, strange tags to stranger tackle?
and of the things around their necks—brain of
mice, skin of viper, “ adder’s fork, and blind
worm’s sting” ? And how strangely they smell,
all these queer man-like creatures who stand regarding
me! .Not silently: on the contrary,
there is a loud interchange of comments upon
the white’s appearance, a manifestation of broad
interest to know whence I come, whither I am
going, and what is my business. And no sooner are
the questions asked than they are replied to by
such as pretend to know. The replies were followed
by long-drawn ejaculations of “Wa-a-a-antu! ”
(“Men!” ) “ Eha-a, and these are men!”
Now imagine this! While we whites are loftily
disputing among ourselves as to whether the
beings before us are human, here were these
creatures actually expressing strong doubts as
to whether we whites are men!
A dead silence prevailed for a short time,
during which all the females dropped their
lower jaws far down, and then cried out again
“Wa-a-a-a-a-antu!” (“Men!”) The lower jaws
indeed dropped so low that, when, in a posture
of reflection, they put their hands up to their
chins, it really looked as if they had done so
to lift the jaws up to their proper place and to
sustain them there. And in that position they
pondered upon the fact that there were men
“ white all over” in this queer, queer world!
The open mouths gave one a chance to note
the healthy state and ruby colour of the tongues,
palates, and gums, and, above all, the admirable
order and brilliant whiteness of each set of teeth.
“ Great events from trivial causes spring”—
and while I was trying to calculate how many
Kubaba (measure of 2 lbs.) of millet-seed would
be requisite to fill all these Dutçh-oven mouths,
and how many cowries would be required to
pay for such a large quantity of millet, and
wondering at the antics of the juveniles of the
population, whose uncontainable, irrepressible
wonder seemed to find its natural expression in
hopping on one leg, thrusting their right thumbs
into their mouths to repress the rising scream,
and slapping the hinder side of the thighs to
express or give emphasis to what was speechless—
while thus engaged, and just thinking it
was time to depart, it happened that one of the
youthful innocents already described, more restless
than his brothers, stumbled across a long
heavy pole which was leaning insecurely against
one of the trees, The pole fell, striking one
of my men severely on the head. And all at
once there went up from the women a genuine
and unaffected cry of pity, and their faces expressed
so lively a sense of tender sympathy
with the wounded man that my heart, keener
than my eyes, saw, through the disguise of filth,
nakedness, and ochre, the human heart beating
THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. VOL. III. H