The African sketch-book . re were two streams—one in the middlegoing up, one under the bank coming down. Here aFan called to us from the right-hand bank, and said thatwe must not pass without trading at his town. TheBakele interpreter replied that we were not come to trade,but to see the river. The Fan said that he would ex-amine our goods and go with us as far as the next village,to know if what we said was true. This far-sighted indi-vidual was soon alongside of us in a rude little wobblingcanoe. When he had proved by inspection that mystock of merchandise was small, I told him in English— i
The African sketch-book . re were two streams—one in the middlegoing up, one under the bank coming down. Here aFan called to us from the right-hand bank, and said thatwe must not pass without trading at his town. TheBakele interpreter replied that we were not come to trade,but to see the river. The Fan said that he would ex-amine our goods and go with us as far as the next village,to know if what we said was true. This far-sighted indi-vidual was soon alongside of us in a rude little wobblingcanoe. When he had proved by inspection that mystock of merchandise was small, I told him in English— io6 THE CANNIBALS [Book I which was translated into Mpongwe, which was trans-lated Into Dikele, which was translated into Fan—that hewas a fine young man, and paddled exceedingly were going to the end of the river, and if he likedto join us I would give him a brass rod a day ; onwhich he assented, with a grin which exposed two rowsof villanous filed teeth. He went on in his own canoe to the village of Olenga,. where I intended to pass the night. A large crowdcollected at the landing-place. The sight of these Fansreminded me of the pictures of Red Indians which Ihad seen in books. They wore coronets on their headsadorned with the tail feathers of the touraco. Theirfigures were slight : their complexion coffee-colour ;their upper jaws protruding gave them a rabbit-mouthed Took I] THE CANNIBALS 107 appearance. Their hair was longer and thicker thanthat of the Coast tribes ; on their two-pointed beardswere strung red and white beads. Their only coveringwas a strip of goat skin, or sometimes that of a tiger-cat hanging tail downwards : more often still, a kindof cloth made from the inner bark of a tree ; on theleft upper arm a bracelet of fringed skin, and sometimesa knife therein. Some of them carried paddles, perhapsfrom affectation, as the water is not their element; othershad cross-bows made of ebony. In their possession of these weapons,1 and also acurrency of iron
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondonsmithelderco
