I Was Partly Influenced
In Leaving The River By A Wish To Avoid Several Chiefs In That Direction,
Who Levy A Heavy Tribute On Those Who Pass Up Or Down.
Our path lay along
the bed of the Nake for some distance, the banks being covered
with impenetrable thickets.
The villages are not numerous,
but we went from one to the other, and were treated kindly.
Here they call themselves Bambiri, though the general name of the whole nation
is Banyai. One of our guides was an inveterate talker,
always stopping and asking for pay, that he might go on with a merry heart.
I thought that he led us in the most difficult paths in order to make us
feel his value, for, after passing through one thicket after another,
we always came into the bed of the Nake again, and as that
was full of coarse sand, and the water only ankle deep,
and as hot as a foot-bath from the powerful rays of the sun,
we were all completely tired out. He likewise gave us a bad character
at every village we passed, calling to them that they were to allow him
to lead us astray, as we were a bad set. Sekwebu knew every word he said,
and, as he became intolerable, I dismissed him, giving him six feet of calico
I had bought from native traders, and telling him that his tongue
was a nuisance. It is in general best, when a scolding is necessary,
to give it in combination with a present, and then end it by good wishes.
This fellow went off smiling, and my men remarked, "His tongue is cured now."
The country around the Nake is hilly, and the valleys covered
with tangled jungle.
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