[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

RECRUITING FOR NATIVES 63

A few hours later, thinking the natives might be
coming, we got our arms ready: each of us had a
revolver and a repeating rifle, the boys had old
Sniders. The cutter lay about 200 metres off—
shore, and we could see everything that was going
on on the beach. Behind the flat, stony shore the
forest-covered hills rose in a steep cliff to a table-
land about 100 metres high. On the water we
were in perfect safety, for the villages lie far inland,
and the Big N ambas are no sailors, hate the sea and
possess no canoes. They only come to the beach
occasionally, to get a few crabs and shell-fish, yet
each tribe has its own place on the shore, where no
stranger is admitted.

We took Bourbaki ashore; he was very anxious
to go home, and promptly disappeared in the bush,
his Snider on his shoulder. We then returned to
the cutter and waited. It is quite useless to be in
a hurry when recruiting, but one certainly needs a
supply of patience, for the natives have no idea of the
value of time, and cannot understand the rush which
our civilization has created.

Late in the afternoon a few naked figures appeared
on the beach. One of them signalled with a branch,
and soon others followed, till about fifty men had
assembled, and in the background, half-hidden by
shrubs, stood half a dozen women. We entered the
whale-boats, two boys and a white man in each, and
slowly approached the shore. All the natives carried
their rifles in their right hands and yams in their left,
making signs to show that they wished to trade.