| I |
| The White Man’s Grave | [15] |
| | The Coast—The Old Coaster—His obsession—Angom—Loneliness—Gaboon—The seasons—Ice that burned—A peculiar climate—The mosquito—Quinine—Frightened into fever—A matter of coffins. | |
| | | |
| II |
| “The Wise Ones” | [29] |
| | From palm-oil to trousers—Mpongwe and Fang—Making a king—Caste—Domestic slavery—Ndinga, a human leopard—A Gaboon belle—Native courtesy—A fight—A war-custom—The cause of the tide—A dying confession—A case of witchcraft—Curing the sick—A secret society. | |
| | | |
| III |
| A Dying Tribe | [42] |
| | Women who cannot marry—The slave-trade—The rum-traffic—Elida—Augustus—Trade and polygamy—Too proud to speak—Destruction of authority—Customs not irrational—The dowry—The foreign governments—The whipping-post—A fatal defect. | |
| | | |
| IV |
| A Living Remnant | [56] |
| | A difficult work—The Jesuits—Iguwi—Single blessedness—A chicken breakfast—Buttons—A remarkable illustration—A service—Fluency—Toko Truman—Izuri—Ntyango—Sara—Lucina—Uncle Remus—The Tortoise and his Creditors—The Wag—A battle in canoes—A captive father—A graveyard. | |
| | | |
| V |
| African Music | [72] |
| | A taste for comic opera—An organ and an organist—The origin of music—Musical instruments—The sense of melody—A decomposed tune—Unfamiliar scales—Mourning—Rhythm—Extremely musical—Three songs. | |
| | | |
| VI |
| Pests | [85] |
| | The Ten Plagues—Killing flies—The driver ant—Other ants—The jigger—The sandfly—The mosquito—The centipede—The cockroach—The white ant—Divers other pests—Internal parasites—Rats—Snakes. | |
| | | |
| VII |
| The “Cannibal” Fang | [110] |
| | A discriminating palate—Not the worst cannibals—Appearance—The Negro face and the Greek face—Legs—The wheel—Dress—An overdressed woman—Food—Cannibalism—An affair of honour—Native art—Curiosity—Turning them into monkeys. | |
| | | |
| VIII |
| Manners and Customs | [125] |
| | The native resourceful—Unambitious—Trade—Communism—Boiling the Bible—A quarrel—Marriage—The dowry—A case of torture—The head-wife—The tongue a woman’s weapon—Polygamy—Ogula and her Ngalo—Tragedy—Dancing—The story-teller—An interesting liar. | |
| | | |
| IX |
| Funeral Customs | [145] |
| | A talking corpse—A world of magic—Sympathy and expectoration—The dirge—Premature burial—A funeral incident—Death customs—Conventional mourning—An incident of the grass-field—A horrible burial custom—Two death scenes, a contrast. | |
| | | |
| X |
| The “Dorothy” | [158] |
| | A godsend—A gasoline palaver—Canoeing—The rapids—A pilot—A sudden stop—Passengers—The mangrove swamp—A wheelman and a bottle—Pirates—Towing a town—Nkogo—Ndutuma—Ndong Bisia—A saucepan and a ball of twine. | |
| | | |
| XI |
| Schoolboys | [179] |
| | Lolo—Unwashed—Washed—A flying bucket—A little friend—The blessed Melchisedec—A parting—Ko-ko-ko-ko—The centre of a fight—The poetry of soap—A threat of suicide—The eloquence of sounding brass—A “rotten road”—Savages as soldiers—Ngema’s father—Across our bow—A tornado. | |
| | | |
| XII |
| A School | [198] |
| | Mendam, the big brother—Clothing—A day’s program—Cutting grass—A python—Rations—A collapse—The dormitory—The dispensary—The jigger-palaver—Not stupid—A head that got hit—Singing—Interruptions—A picnic—Games—War-dances—Stories—A Tug-of-War—A Race—The Leopard and the Antelope—An evangelistic force. | |
| | | |
| XIII |
| The Mental Degradation of Fetishism | [219] |
| | The horseshoe—The charm—The fetish—The relic—The fetish-doctor—A psychological consequence—The African idea of nature—Incredible beliefs—Confession of a chief’s son—Two babes—The idea of God—The mental atmosphere—Making the rainbow—A problem—First lessons—Why the river is crooked—An old woman’s illustration. | |
| | | |
| XIV |
| The Moral Degradation of Fetishism | [233] |
| | A lost child—Worship of snakes—Demoralizing factors—A chief’s fetish—Ingredients—Human sacrifice—A royal death—Wives and witchcraft—Concluding a war—Destiny—Man’s nature—New conceptions—A revolt from cannibalism—Heaps of skulls—Deliverance. | |
| | | |
| XV |
| Fetishism and the Cross | [246] |
| | A precocious boy—Killed his friend—Essentially moral—Cure for lying—The ordeal—A trial and death—The sense of guilt—Expiatory rites—The new ideal—The atonement—Self-sacrifice and self-assertion—Ndong Koni builds a church—Onjoga cuts grass—Makuba’s rheumatism—What is a missionary?—Onjoga’s wife—Children at play. | |
| | | |
| XVI |
| Missions and Social Progress | [264] |
| | The noble savage—Story of a feud—Society and the individual—Progressive and unprogressive—Interdependence—Conquest of nature—Education—Authority of custom—Work—Trustworthiness—A civilizing experiment—A communion service—Equality of woman—A salutation—Attitude towards nature—A thirst for knowledge—Service—Legitimacy in government—The home—Thy kingdom come. | |
| | | |
| XVII |
| The Critics | [286] |
| | The missionary blamed for everything—Bewildering inconsistency—Professor Starr—Misfits—Criticism unjust—Unbelief—Antipathy towards the native—Cruelty—Vice—Lowering of ideals—Missions sociologically sound—The let alone policy too late—Miss Kingsley. | |
| | | |
| XVIII |
| Saints Among Savages | [310] |
| | The best apologetic—Mb’Obam—Sara—A matrimonial bureau—Angona—A pot-palaver—A narrow escape—Amvama—A clean knife—A bet—Proving himself—A dowry palaver—Opposing a chief—Robert Boardman—Son of a “prince”—Blindness—Incident of a pipe—His love of music—His wife—A near-elopement—Walking in the light. | |