He smiled at once, as if I had hit on a subject he knew something of, and that was much more pleasant than guiding a stranger through his town. Then he extended his left hand, and, with the other, slowly bent over each finger until they were all counted out. Whereupon he answered:
“Five men I have killed.”
At the outset I called Fachi A City of Shadows, impelled by the original beauty and magic of its wealth of shadowy scenes. That title has grown fourfold. Beside aught that there is of beauty, and threatening it, there are never-ending shadows in its openness to danger from outside, sharp shadows in its periods of hunger, and uncanny shadows in the threat of evil that lies behind barred doors and in the visages of cold-eyed men.
CHAPTER VII
SALT OF THE EARTH
CHAPTER VII
SALT OF THE EARTH
Throughout the commercial history of civilised countries the digging out of riches from the bowels of the earth has for ever played an important part; and from among the minerals so obtained the currency of our world has always been minted. It is my purpose to suggest that in this there is clearly a resemblance between the civilised State and the primitive. But that which is mined by the one is sometimes vastly different from the wealth that is sought by the other. The gold of the Yukon, or the diamonds of Kimberley, are the highest ideals of civilised States; but possessions much more humble often suffice the primitive, and in the Sahara that which is sought by the indigenous tribes, and prized, as a necessity and as a currency, is humble salt of the earth.
It is possible that salt has been a medium of currency in the Sahara for all time. It was the Arabs, in the past, who brought the cowrie from the north coast of Africa to introduce it into the Sahara, and the rich countries farther south, as “money” to assist them in their trade; but the silver of the white man has displaced the cowrie now, while salt, because of its tangible value, continues to be a ready medium of purchase. Therefore salt has outlived the cowrie, which, after all, had little more than an ornamental value.