Donkeys are not bought outright. The animals and their owners are hired. Each man has three donkeys under his personal supervision on the march. These quadrupeds are generally spoken of as a synonym for stupidity. In Nigeria they develop acumen which puts the human controller in a quandary where he perceives a divided duty. The load, placed pannier fashion, is not tied on. Its weight keeps it in position. But the four-footed bearer will take into his head to ease the task by walking close against a tree in a way that throws the entire load to the ground. The donkey owner has to catch the erring beast, which, light-hearted at its sudden buoyant condition, has likely run on ahead. Brought back after a chase, the man has then to lift the 120 lbs. to the original position. You may be sure that in the meantime the companion pair of donkeys have improved the shining hour by roaming around, usually in opposite directions; or, if they do go together, it will probably be back on the path along which they came. The combined trio performance may be coincidental; it may be arrant conspiracy. Whatever it be, the donkey owner and the white man in charge of a caravan numbering hundreds of the patient little brutes must be endowed with a large and double-distilled philosophic temperament not to exhibit loss of a calm exterior. I must bear testimony to a measure that is being taken to add to the comfort of the human transport carriers. The Niger Company is forming at eight-mile stages rest camps of huts, with caretakers and women to cook the carriers’ food. The carriers will thus be able to rely on having meals, and a day’s march not arbitrarily fixed by the position of villages from one another. A few words on recruiting for carriers. The labour is obtained in the open markets. Men from the mines are not accepted knowingly, so as to avoid dislocating local conditions. Gangs who have been working on a mine and who present themselves at Jos must bring from the manager under whom they served his permission to enter the Niger Company’s service before they are enrolled. Forty labourers and Headmen who had been on the Bisichi mine applied and were declined for the reason indicated. Remembering how strong is the demand for carriers, this is “playing the game” as it should be played, and it deserves recognition. CHAPTER XXIII MINES—MEDICAL Tin-mining—First Exclusive Prospecting Licence—Early tin-winning—Mr Law’s work—Health and economics—Feminine nursing—The medical service.