It Was Past Eleven Before I Had
Anything Like Done, And My Men Had Long Been Sound Asleep, But The
Chief Had Conscientiously Sat Up And Seen The Thing Through.
He
then went and fetched some rolls of bark cloth to put on my plank,
and I gave him
A handsome cloth I happened to have with me, a couple
of knives, and some heads of tobacco and wished him goodnight;
blockading my bark door, and picking my way over my sleeping Ajumba
into an inner apartment which I also blockaded, hoping I had done
with Egaja for some hours. No such thing. At 1.45 the whole town
was roused by the frantic yells of a woman. I judged there was one
of my beauties of Fans mixed up in it, and there was, and after
paying damages, got back again by 2.30 A.M., and off to sleep again
instantly. At four sharp, whole town of Egaja plunged into emotion,
and worse shindy. I suggested to the Ajumba they should go out; but
no, they didn't care a row of pins if one of our Fans did get
killed, so I went, recognising Kiva's voice in high expostulation.
Kiva, it seems, a long time ago had a transaction in re a tooth of
ivory with a man who, unfortunately, happened to be in this town to-
night, and Kiva owed the said man a coat. {223}
Kiva, it seems, has been spending the whole evening demonstrating to
his creditor that, had he only known they were to meet, he would
have brought the coat with him - a particularly beautiful coat - and
the reason he has not paid it before is that he has mislaid the
creditor's address. The creditor says he has called repeatedly at
Kiva's village, that notorious M'fetta, and Kiva has never been at
home; and moreover that Kiva's wife (one of them) stole a yellow dog
of great value from his (the creditor's) canoe. Kiva says, women
will be women, and he had gone off to sleep thinking the affair had
blown over and the bill renewed for the time being. The creditor
had not gone to sleep; but sat up thinking the affair over and
remembered many cases, all cited in full, of how Kiva had failed to
meet his debts; also Kiva's brother on the mother's side and uncle
ditto; and so has decided to foreclose forthwith on the debtor's
estate, and as the estate is represented by and consists of Kiva's
person, to take and seize upon it and eat it.
It is always highly interesting to observe the germ of any of our
own institutions existing in the culture of a lower race.
Nevertheless it is trying to be hauled out of one's sleep in the
middle of the night, and plunged into this study. Evidently this
was a trace of an early form of the Bankruptcy Court; the court
which clears a man of his debt, being here represented by the knife
and the cooking pot; the whitewashing, as I believe it is termed
with us, also shows, only it is not the debtor who is whitewashed,
but the creditors doing themselves over with white clay to celebrate
the removal of their enemy from his sphere of meretricious activity.
This inversion may arise from the fact that whitewashing a creditor
who was about to be cooked would be unwise, as the stuff would boil
off the bits and spoil the gravy. There is always some fragment of
sound sense underlying African institutions. Kiva was, when I got
out, tied up, talking nineteen to the dozen; and so was every one
else; and a lady was working up white clay in a pot.
I dare say I ought to have rushed at him and cut his bonds, and
killed people in a general way with a revolver, and then flown with
my band to the bush; only my band evidently had no flying in them,
being tucked up in the hut pretending to be asleep, and uninterested
in the affair; and although I could have abandoned the band without
a pang just then, I could not so lightheartedly fly alone with Kiva
to the bush and leave my fishes; so I shouted Azuna to the
Bankruptcy Court, and got a Fan who spoke trade English to come and
interpret for me; and from him I learnt the above stated outline of
the proceedings up to the time. Regarding the original iniquity of
Kiva, my other Fans held the opinion that the old Scotch lady had
regarding certain passages in the history of the early Jews - that it
was a long time ago, and aiblins it was no true.
Fortunately for the reader it is impossible for me to give in full
detail the proceedings of the Court. I do not think if the whole of
Mr. Pitman's school of shorthand had been there to take them down
the thing could possibly have been done in word-writing. If the
late Richard Wagner, however, had been present he could have scored
the performance for a full orchestra; and with all its weird grunts
and roars, and pistol-like finger clicks, and its elongated words
and thigh slaps, it would have been a masterpiece.
I got my friend the chief on my side; but he explained he had no
jurisdiction, as neither of the men belonged to his town; and I
explained to him, that as the proceedings were taking place in his
town he had a right of jurisdiction ipso facto. The Fan could not
translate this phrase, so we gave it the chief raw; and he seemed to
relish it, and he and I then cut into the affair together, I looking
at him with admiration and approval when he was saying his say, and
after his "Azuna" had produced a patch of silence he could move his
tongue in, and he similarly regarding me during my speech for the
defence.
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