Then We Closed Up, For
The Fans Said These Pits Were Symptomatic Of The Immediate
Neighbourhood Of Efoua.
We sounded our ground, as we went into a
thick plantain patch, through which we could see a great clearing in
the forest, and the low huts of a big town.
We charged into it,
going right through the guard-house gateway, at one end, in single
file, as its narrowness obliged us, and into the street-shaped town,
and formed ourselves into as imposing a looking party as possible in
the centre of the street. The Efouerians regarded us with much
amazement, and the women and children cleared off into the huts, and
took stock of us through the door-holes. There were but few men in
the town, the majority, we subsequently learnt, being away after
elephants. But there were quite sufficient left to make a crowd in
a ring round us. Fortunately Wiki and Kiva's friends were present,
and as a result of the confabulation, one of the chiefs had his
house cleared out for me. It consisted of two apartments almost
bare of everything save a pile of boxes, and a small fire on the
floor, some little bags hanging from the roof poles, and a general
supply of insects. The inner room contained nothing save a hard
plank, raised on four short pegs from the earth floor.
I shook hands with and thanked the chief, and directed that all the
loads should be placed inside the huts. I must admit my good friend
was a villainous-looking savage, but he behaved most hospitably and
kindly. From what I had heard of the Fan, I deemed it advisable not
to make any present to him at once, but to base my claim on him on
the right of an amicable stranger to hospitality. When I had seen
all the baggage stowed I went outside and sat at the doorway on a
rather rickety mushroom-shaped stool in the cool evening air,
waiting for my tea which I wanted bitterly. Pagan came up as usual
for tobacco to buy chop with; and after giving it to him, I and the
two chiefs, with Gray Shirt acting as interpreter, had a long chat.
Of course the first question was, Why was I there?
I told them I was on my way to the factory of H. and C. on the
Rembwe. They said they had heard of "Ugumu," i.e., Messrs Hatton
and Cookson, but they did not trade direct with them, passing their
trade into towns nearer to the Rembwe, which were swindling bad
towns, they said; and they got the idea stuck in their heads that I
was a trader, a sort of bagman for the firm, and Gray Shirt could
not get this idea out, so off one of their majesties went and
returned with twenty-five balls of rubber, which I bought to promote
good feeling, subsequently dashing them to Wiki, who passed them in
at Ndorko when we got there. I also bought some elephant-hair
necklaces from one of the chiefs' wives, by exchanging my red silk
tie with her for them, and one or two other things. I saw fish-
hooks would not be of much value because Efoua was not near a big
water of any sort; so I held fish-hooks and traded handkerchiefs and
knives.
One old chief was exceedingly keen to do business, and I bought a
meat spoon, a plantain spoon, and a gravy spoon off him; and then he
brought me a lot of rubbish I did not want, and I said so, and
announced I had finished trade for that night. However the old
gentleman was not to be put off, and after an unsuccessful attempt
to sell me his cooking-pots, which were roughly made out of clay, he
made energetic signs to me that if I would wait he had got something
that he would dispose of which Gray Shirt said was "good too much."
Off he went across the street, and disappeared into his hut, where
he evidently had a thorough hunt for the precious article. One box
after another was brought out to the light of a bush torch held by
one of his wives, and there was a great confabulation between him
and his family of the "I'm sure you had it last," "You must have
moved it," "Never touched the thing," sort. At last it was found,
and he brought it across the street to me most carefully. It was a
bundle of bark cloth tied round something most carefully with tie
tie. This being removed, disclosed a layer of rag, which was
unwound from round a central article. Whatever can this be? thinks
I; some rare and valuable object doubtless, let's hope connected
with Fetish worship, and I anxiously watched its unpacking; in the
end, however, it disclosed, to my disgust and rage, an old shilling
razor. The way the old chief held it out, and the amount of dollars
he asked for it, was enough to make any one believe that I was in
such urgent need of the thing, that I was at his mercy regarding
price. I waved it off with a haughty scorn, and then feeling
smitten by the expression of agonised bewilderment on his face, I
dashed him a belt that delighted him, and went inside and had tea to
soothe my outraged feelings.
The chiefs made furious raids on the mob of spectators who pressed
round the door, and stood with their eyes glued to every crack in
the bark of which the hut was made. The next door neighbours on
either side might have amassed a comfortable competence for their
old age, by letting out seats for the circus. Every hole in the
side walls had a human eye in it, and I heard new holes being bored
in all directions; so I deeply fear the chief, my host, must have
found his palace sadly draughty.
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