n of Central
Africa; let you and me take up a position in a clump of trees by the
banks of yonder stream, and watch the proceedings of that negro--negro
chief let me say, for he looks like one,--who is engaged in some
mysterious enterprise under the shade of a huge baobab tree.

The chief is a fine, stately, well-developed specimen of African
manhood. He is clothed in black tights manufactured in nature's loom,
in addition to which he wears round his loins a small scrap of
artificial cotton cloth. If an enthusiastic member of the Royal Academy
were in search of a model which should combine the strength of Hercules
with the grace of Apollo, he could not find a better than the man before
us, for, you will observe, the more objectionable points about _our_
ideal of the negro are not very prominent in him. His lips are not
thicker than the lips of many a roast-beef-loving John Bull. His nose
is not flat, and his heels do not protrude unnecessarily. True, his
hair is woolly, but that is scarcely a blemish. It might almost be
regarded as the crisp and curly hair that surrounds a manly skull. His
skin is black--no doubt about that, but then it is _intensely_ black and
glossy, suggestive of black satin, and having no savour of that
dirtiness which is inseparably connected with whitey-brown. Tribes in
Africa differ materially in many respects, physically and mentally, just
as do the various tribes of Europe.

This chief, as we have hinted, is a "savage;" that is to say, he differs
in many habits and points from "civilised" people. Among other
peculiarities, he clothes himself and his family in the fashion that is
best suited to the warm climate in which he dwells. This display of
wisdom is, as you know, somewhat rare among civilised people, as any one
may perceive who observes how these over-clothe the upper parts of their
children, and leave their tender little lower limbs exposed to the
rigours of northern latitudes, while, as if to make up for this
inconsistency by an inconsistent counterpoise, they swathe their own
tough and mature limbs in thick flannel from head to foot.

It is however simple justice to civilised people to add here that a few
of them, such as a portion of the Scottish Highlanders, are consistent
inasmuch as the men clothe themselves similarly to the children.

Moreover, our chief, being a savage, takes daily a sufficient amount of
fresh air and exercise, which nine-tenths of civilised men refr