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.
The instruction given in the Mission Evangelique Schools does not
include teaching the boys trades. The girls fare somewhat better,
as they get instruction in sewing and washing and ironing, but I
think in this district the young ladies would be all the better for
being taught cooking.
It is strange that all the cooks employed by the Europeans should be
men, yet all the cooking among the natives themselves is done by
women, and done abominably badly in all the Bantu tribes I have ever
come across; and the Bantu are in this particular, and indeed in
most particulars, far inferior to the true Negro; though I must say
this is not the orthodox view. The Negroes cook uniformly very
well, and at moments are inspired in the direction of palm-oil chop
and fish cooking.
