for the property of others, contents himself with drinking, singing, and dancing. They store up nothing beyond the necessities of next season, lest their chiefs or neighbours should covet and take it from them.” He adds, “If some government could be formed for them, like ours in India, they would be saved, but without it, I fear there is little chance. For at present the African can neither help himself, nor be helped by others, because his country is in such a constant state of turmoil.” Owing to the unsettled state of their land, they are victims of fear. The men never go unarmed, the women and children never venture far from home without a guard. A great proportion of their villages are built far up the mountains, for security against their neighbours. Hobbes says that men are naturally distrustful of their fellows—witness the barring of doors at night. Such distrust is greater here, and well it may. It is not that they fear for their property; that is too small to deserve anxiety! They fear for dear life—though they lie down quietly at night, they may awake to receive a mortal wound, and see their wives and children carried into slavery. One in this country finds a meaning in prayers for protection, that he does not realise in a civilised land. These circumstances of the native develop also a peculiar kind of patience and servility. He looks on injustice and hard treatment as something to be expected at every step. Superstition also has a dismal influence. Throughout his whole life the native is haunted by the dread of being bewitched. As he grows older the shadows become darker—he has now escaped “the evil eye” so long, that he is judged guilty of witchcraft himself, and the few last days of his life are made unspeakably bitter. What a dreadful cry comes from the old men or women that are convicted by the witch-detective! Forsaken by friends, disowned by relatives; and detested by the whole community, they appeal with confidence to the poison. Oh! how must the iron fetters of superstition crush the very soul, when the victim finds recovery hopeless, and knows that in a few hours his dishonoured body will be cast forth to the vultures, and that his name will go down to posterity covered with infamy. [Illustration: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT (WITH IRON KEYS).] The _musical tastes_ of the natives may here be alluded to. Many villages have in the forum a large piano with wooden keys, while men often carry a smaller instrument with iron keys. The native musical scale is not the same as ours, and although there is a certain method about the instruments, it is rare to find two of them tuned exactly the same way. Other traits of native character will appear when we describe our life among them.