As Soon As We Thought We Had Got One
Gentleman's Mind Settled As To What Goods He Would Take His
Pay in,
and were proceeding to investigate another gentleman's little
fancies, gentleman number one's mind came all to pieces again,
And
he wanted "to room his bundle," i.e. change articles in it for other
articles of an equivalent value, if it must be, but of a higher, if
possible. Oh ye shopkeepers in England who grumble at your lady
customers, just you come out here and try to serve, and satisfy a
set of Fans! Mr. Glass was evidently an expert at the affair, but
it was past 11 p.m. before we got the orders written out, and
getting my baggage into some canoes, that Mr. Glass had brought down
from Agonjo, for N'dorko only had a few very wretched ones, I
started off up river with him and all the Ajumba, and Kiva, the Fan,
who had been promised a safe conduct. He came to see the bundles
for his fellow Fans were made up satisfactorily. The canoes being
small there was quite a procession of them. Mr. Glass and I shared
one, which was paddled by two small boys; how we ever got up the
Rembwe that night I do not know, for although neither of us were
fat, the canoe was a one man canoe, and the water lapped over the
edge in an alarming way. Had any of us sneezed, or had it been
daylight when two or three mangrove flies would have joined the
party, we must have foundered; but all went well; and on arriving at
Agonjo Mr. Glass most kindly opened his store, and by the light of
lamps and lanterns, we picked out the goods from his varied and
ample supply, and handed them over to the Ajumba and Kiva, and all,
save three of the Ajumba, were satisfied. The three, Gray Shirt,
Silence, and Pagan quietly explained to me that they found the
Rembwe price so little better than the Lembarene price that they
would rather get their pay off Mr. Cockshut, than risk taking it
back through the Fan country, so I gave them books on him. I gave
all my remaining trade goods, and the rest of the rum to the Fans as
a dash, and they were more than satisfied. I must say they never
clamoured for dash for top. The Passenger we had brought through
with us, who had really made himself very helpful, was quite
surprised at getting a bundle of goods from me. My only anxiety was
as to whether Fika would get his share all right; but I expect he
did, for the Ajumbas are very honest men; and they were going back
with my Fan friends. I found out, by the by, the reason of Fika's
shyness in coming through to the Rembwe; it was a big wife palaver.
I had a touching farewell with the Fans: and so in peace, good
feeling, and prosperity I parted company for the second time with
"the terrible M'pongwe," whom I hope to meet with again, for with
all their many faults and failings, they are real men. I am faint-
hearted enough to hope, that our next journey together, may not be
over a country that seems to me to have been laid down as an
obstacle race track for Mr. G. F. Watts's Titans, and to have fallen
into shocking bad repair.
CHAPTER X. BUSH TRADE AND FAN CUSTOMS.
Wherein the Voyager, having fallen among the black traders,
discourses on these men and their manner of life; and the
difficulties and dangers attending the barter they carry on with the
bush savages; and on some of the reasons that makes this barter so
beloved and followed by both the black trader and the savage. To
which is added an account of the manner of life of the Fan tribe;
the strange form of coinage used by these people; their manner of
hunting the elephant, working in iron; and such like things.
I spent a few, lazy, pleasant days at Agonjo, Mr. Glass doing all he
could to make me comfortable, though he had a nasty touch of fever
on him just then. His efforts were ably seconded by his good lady,
an exceedingly comely Gaboon woman, with pretty manners, and an
excellent gift in cookery. The third member of the staff was the
store-keeper, a clever fellow: I fancy a Loango from his clean-cut
features and spare make, but his tribe I know not for a surety.
One of these black trader factories is an exceedingly interesting
place to stay at, for in these factories you are right down on the
bed rock of the trade. On the Coast, for the greater part, the
white traders are dealing with black traders, middle men, who have
procured their trade stuff from the bush natives, who collect and
prepare it. Here, in the black trader factory, you see the first
stage of the export part of the trade: namely the barter of the
collected trade stuff between the collector and the middleman. I
will not go into details regarding it. What I saw merely confirmed
my opinion that the native is not cheated; no, not even by a fellow
African trader; and I will merely here pause to sing a paean to a
very unpopular class - the black middleman as he exists on the South-
West Coast. It is impossible to realise the gloom of the lives of
these men in bush factories, unless you have lived in one. It is no
use saying "they know nothing better and so don't feel it," for they
do know several things better, being very sociable men, fully
appreciative of the joys of a Coast town, and their aim, object and
end in life is, in almost every case, to get together a fortune that
will enable them to live in one, give a dance twice a week, card
parties most nights, and dress themselves up so that their fellow
Coast townsmen may hate them and their townswomen love them.
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