There is
no profit on powder for the trader in Congo Francais, but the native
always wants it because
He can get a tremendous profit on it from
his black brethren in the bush; hence it pays the trader to give him
his bon out in Boma check, etc., better than in gunpowder. This is
a fruitful spring of argument and persuasion. However, whether the
native is passing in a bundle of rubber or a tooth of ivory, or
merely cashing a bon for a week's bush catering, he is in Congo
Francais incapable of deciding what he will have when it comes to
the point. He comes into the shop with a bon in his hand, and we
will say, for example, the idea in his head that he wants fish-
hooks - "jupes," he calls them - but, confronted with the visible
temptation of pomatum, he hesitates, and scratches his head
violently. Surrounding him there are ten or twenty other natives
with their minds in a similar wavering state, but yet anxious to be
served forthwith. In consequence of the stimulating scratch, he
remembers that one of his wives said he was to bring some Lucifer
matches, another wanted cloth for herself, and another knew of some
rubber she could buy very cheap, in tobacco, of a Fan woman who had
stolen it. This rubber he knows he can take to the trader's store
and sell for pocket-handkerchiefs of a superior pattern, or
gunpowder, or rum, which he cannot get at the mission store. He
finally gets something and takes it home, and likely enough brings
it back, in a day or so, somewhat damaged, desirous of changing it
for some other article or articles. Remember also that these Bantu,
like the Negroes, think externally, in a loud voice; like Mr.
Kipling's 'oont, "'e smells most awful vile," and, if he be a Fan,
he accompanies his observations with violent dramatic gestures, and
let the customer's tribe or sex be what it may, the customer is
sadly, sadly liable to pick up any portable object within reach,
under the shadow of his companions' uproar, and stow it away in his
armpits, between his legs, or, if his cloth be large enough, in
that. Picture to yourself the perplexities of a Christian minister,
engaged in such an occupation as storekeeping under these
circumstances, with, likely enough, a touch of fever on him and
jiggers in his feet; and when the store is closed the goods in it
requiring constant vigilance to keep them free from mildew and white
ants.
Then in addition to the store work, a fruitful source of work and
worry are the schools, for both boys and girls. It is regarded as
futile to attempt to get any real hold over the children unless they
are removed from the influence of the country fashions that surround
them in their village homes; therefore the schools are boarding;
hence the entire care of the children, including feeding and
clothing, falls on the missionary.
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