It was strange how Mrs. Laffin without knowing a word of Bulu, and making but little use of an interpreter, yet, by the language of a sympathetic heart expressed in manner and in actions, reached the hearts of those poor Bulu women, and discovered some womanly quality in them. They all followed her through the village, and they were almost gentle in her presence. I heard them telling afterwards how that in passing through a certain village she saw a child who had cut its finger and was crying. It was a cut that his mother would not even have noticed, but Mrs. Laffin instantly drawing a pretty handkerchief from her pocket tore it in two to bind the bleeding finger. In another matter they showed surprising modesty, which Mrs. Laffin evidently thought was natural to them; but, indeed, it was natural to them only in her presence. One cannot describe, nor even understand, the powerful influence of such a woman upon the degraded and fallen of her own sex; but even all good women have not Mrs. Laffin’s influence. When she was leaving Efulen after two weeks, to return to Batanga, the Bulu women as she passed through their villages left their work and their palavers to follow her far along the way in silence, only asking that she might some time come back again. It was not many months afterwards that she was stricken with the dreaded fever, that came suddenly and unawares, like some stealthy beast creeping out of the jungle in the darkness. The third day she died. She had been in Africa a little more than a year. Such is the price of Africa’s redemption. But we may not say that her life was wasted. Such a life and such an influence cannot be in vain. [Illustration: THE PASSION FOR CLOTHES. _They soon begin to wear clothes which they regard as mere ornamentation; nor do they always distinguish the “gender” of the garments sold them by the white man._] VII THE BUSH PEOPLE The natives of Efulen, the Bulu tribe, are a branch of the great Fang tribe. They are brown—not black, in colour, and are several shades lighter than most of the coast tribes. They need not be commiserated for their colour. It is quite to their liking; and they think they are far better-looking than white people.