speaks well for the humanity of the tribe.

Devoted to trade and become a people of brokers, of go-betweens,
of middle-men, the Mpongwe have now acquired an ease and
propriety, a polish and urbanity of manner which contrasts
strongly with the Kru-men and other tribes, who, despite
generations of intercourse with Europeans, are rough and
barbarous as their forefathers. The youths used to learn English,
which they spoke fluently and with tolerable accent, but always
barbarously; they are more successful with the easier neo-Latin
tongues. Their one aim in life is not happiness, but "trust," an
African practice unwisely encouraged by Europeans; so Old Calabar
but a few years ago was not a trust-river," and consequently the
consul and the gunboat had little to do there. Many of them have
received advances of dollars by thousands, but the European
merchant has generally suffered from his credulity or rapacity.
In low cunning the native is more than a match for the stranger;
moreover, he has "the pull" in the all-important matter of time;
he can spend a fortnight haggling over the price of a tooth when
the unhappy capitalist is eating his heart. Like all the African
aristocracy, they hold agriculture beneath the dignity of man and
fit only for their women and slaves; the "ladies" also refuse to
work at the plantations, especially when young and pretty,
leaving them to the bush-folk, male and female. M. du Chaillu
repeatedly asserts (chap xix.) "there is no property in land,"
but this is a mistake often made in Africa. Labourers are hired
at the rate of two to three dollars per mensem, and gangs would
easily be collected if one of the chiefs were placed in command.
No sum of money will buy a free-born Mpongwe, and the sale is
forbidden by the laws of the land. A half-caste would fetch one