water is quite brackish and undrinkable. This curious freak—
whether by percolation or otherwise— had injuriously affected
the • sugar-cane in the valley below, the sap becoming quite
salty.
Bell-Smith proved exceedingly kind, and his local knowledge
was most useful to me in my first days in the country.
He was:of particular assistance in endeavouring to find me a
good head-man whom I could leave in charge of the plantations
during my absences on other duties, and recommended his
labour contractor (for loading Arab dhows during the grain
shipping season), sending to Melindi for him.
A brief description of the East African slaves and their
customs will form a suitable close to the present chapter, and
may prove of interest, for my duties have led me to live and
mix amongst them perhaps more intimately than falls to the
lot of the average European.
Brought down to the coast, the captive is sold to the
highest bidder, the average price for a full-grown adult being
$40; roughly, about £ j of our money. He now becomes
as absolutely the property of his master as his dog or other
domestic animal, for the remainder of his life, and this holds
not only for himself, but for any possible children he may
have.
Should he wish to marry a fellow-slave, he has to pay his
master a fee of $2. Should it be" asked how he is to obtain
this, let me remark that the life of a slave, however intolerable
such must naturally appear in our eyes, is not really the
utterly miserable and wretched'one that most English people
imagine it to be.
• First, as to his work. For all the principal cultivating
operations, such as harvesting and threshing the corn, he has
to. turn out and work from eight in the morning till five at
night ; but for the sowing of the grain he is required to be out
by early dawn. For all other minor operations, such as
clearing new land, weeding, etc., a daily task fixed.„by custom
is allotted to each as follows—
sj Clearing new land, one hundred yards by four yards ; hoeing
cleared land, two hundred yards by four yards.
The slaves are generally worked in gangs, varying from WANIKA WOMEN.