They
Probably Expected To Kill One Of Our Number, And In The Confusion Rob
The Boats.
It is only where the people are slavers that the natives
of this part of Africa are bloodthirsty.
These people have a bad name in the country in front, even among
their own tribe. A slave-trading Arab we met above, thinking we were
then on our way down the river, advised us not to land at the
villages, but to stay in the boats, as the inhabitants were
treacherous, and attacked at once, without any warning or
provocation. Our experience of their conduct fully confirmed the
truth of what he said. There was no trade on the river where they
lived, but beyond that part there was a brisk canoe-trade in rice and
salt; those further in the interior cultivating rice, and sending it
down the river to be exchanged for salt, which is extracted from the
earth in certain places on the banks. Our assailants hardly
anticipated resistance, and told a neighbouring chief that, if they
had known who we were, they would not have attacked English, who can
"bite hard." They offered no molestations on our way down, though we
were an hour in passing their village. Our canoe-men plucked up
courage on finding that we had come off unhurt. One of them, named
Chiku, acknowledging that he had been terribly frightened, said.
"His fear was not the kind which makes a man jump overboard and run
away; but that which brings the heart up to the mouth, and renders
the man powerless, and no more able to fight than a woman."
In the country of Chonga Michi, about 80 or 90 miles up the river, we
found decent people, though of the same tribe, who treated strangers
with civility.
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