"My Loves," Says The Kruboy To His Families, His Voice
Heavy With Tears, "I Must Go.
There is no more cloth, I have
nothing between me and an easily shocked world but this decayed
filament
Of cotton." And then his families weep with him, or, what
is more likely, but not so literary, expectorate with emotion, and
he tears himself away from them and comes on board the passing
steamer in the uniform of Gunga Din - "nothing much before and rather
less than half of that behind," and goes down Coast on the strength
of the little bit of paper from his white master which he has
carefully treasured, and works like a nigger in the good sense of
the term for another spell, to earn more goods for his home-folk.
Those boys who are first starting on travelling to work, and those
without books, have no difficulty in getting passages on the
steamers, for a captain is glad to get as many on board as he can,
being sure to get their passage money and a premium for them, so
great is the demand for Kru labour. But even this help to working
the West Coast has been much interfered with of late years by the
action of the French Government in imposing a tax per head on all
labourers leaving their ports on the Ivory Coast. This tax, I
believe, is now removed or much reduced; but as for the Liberian
Republic, it simply gets its revenue in an utterly unjustifiable way
out of taxing the Krumen who ship as labourers. The Krumen are no
property of theirs, and they dare not interfere with them on shore;
but owing to that little transaction in the celebrated Rubber
Monopoly, the Liberians became possessed of some ready cash, which,
with great foresight, they invested in two little gun-boats which
enabled them to enforce their tax on the Krumen in their small
canoes. I do not feel so sympathetic with the Krumen or their
employers in this matter as I should, for the Krumen are silly hens
not to go and wipe out Liberia on shore, and the white men are silly
hens not to - but I had better leave that opinion unexpressed.
The power of managing Kruboys is a great accomplishment for any one
working the West Coast. One man will get 20 per cent. more work out
of his staff, and always have them cheerful, fit, and ready; while
another will get very little out of the same set of men except
vexation to himself, and accidents to his goods; but this very
necessary and important factor in trade is not to be taught with
ink. Some men fall into the proper way of managing the boys very
quickly, others may have years of experience and yet fail to learn
it. The rule is, make them respect you, and make them like you, and
then the thing is done; but first dealing with the Kruboy, with all
his good points, is very trying work, and they give the new hand an
awful time of it while they are experimenting on him to see how far
they can do him.
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