atched thither with an invoice of goods to
purchase palm-oil. My canoe was comfortably fitted with a waterproof
awning, and provisioned for a week.

A tedious pull along the coast and through the dangerous surf, brought
us to the narrow creek through whose marshy mesh of _mangroves_ we
squeezed our canoe to the bank. Even after landing, we waded a
considerable distance through marsh before we reached the solid land.
The Bager town stood some hundred yards from the landing, at the end
of a desolate savanna, whose lonely waste spread as far as the eye
could reach. The village itself seemed quite deserted, so that I had
difficulty in finding "the oldest inhabitant," who invariably stays at
home and acts the part of chieftain. This venerable personage welcomed
me with great cordiality; and, having made my _dantica_, or, in other
words, declared the purpose of my visit, I desired to be shown the
trader's house. The patriarch led me at once to a hut, whose miserable
thatch was supported by four posts. Here I recognized a large chest, a
rum cask, and the grass hammock of my agent. I was rather exasperated
to find my property thus neglected and exposed, and began venting my
wrath in no seemly terms on the delinquent clerk, when my conductor
laid his hand gently on my sleeve, and said there was no need to blame
him. "This," continued he, "is his house; here your property is
sheltered from sun and rain; and, among the Bagers, whenever your
goods are protected from the elements, they are safe from every
danger. Your man has gone across the plain to a neighboring town for
oil; to-night he will be back;--in the mean time, look at your goods!"

I opened the chest, which, to my surprise, was unlocked, and found it
nearly full of the merchandise I had placed in it. I shook the cask,
and its weight seemed hardly diminished. I turned the spigot, and lo!
the rum trickled on my feet. Hard-by was a temporary shed, filled to
the roof with hides and casks of palm-oil, all of which, the
gray-beard declared was my property.

Whilst making this inspection, I have no doubt the expression of my
face indicated a good deal of wonder, for I saw the old man smile
complacently as he followed me with his quiet eye.

"Good!" said the chief, "it is all there,--is it not? We Bagers are
neither Soosoos, Mandingoes, Foulahs, nor _White-men_, that the goods
of a stranger are not safe in our towns! We work for a living; we want
little; big ships never come