I hardly ever had a leisure hour, for there was much to arrange and see to in my camp. I had many functions to perform. I was my own commissioner of public safety; I looked after the commissariat; I was doctor and judge. I supervised all the other offices and pursued a number of handicrafts. Like Hans Sach I followed with pride the avocations of shoemaker, tailor, joiner, and smith, my very scanty acquaintance with all these various trades being put to astonishingly good use. I was like the one-eyed man among the blind.
What judgments of Solomon have I not given! Once two of my best people quarrelled, an Askari and his wife. The serious character of the quarrel could be estimated from the noise of weeping and the sound of blows that had proceeded from their tent. The man wished to separate from his wife.
“Why did you beat your wife last night?”
The Askari (who has served under both German and English masters) stands to attention.
“Because she was badly behaved—I will not keep her any more—I am sending her away.”
“But why—rafiki yangu?—my friend? Such things will happen at times, but it is not always so bad—see? Who will look after you? who will prepare your meals? Look at her once more; she is very pretty—don’t you think so? And she cooks very well” (both parties, as well as the bystanders, are smiling by now). “Go along, then, and make friends.”
And they go and make friends.
A deputation of the Waparis come to the camp. They crouch down near my tent and beg for a “rain charm” to bring down showers upon their fields. It is somewhat difficult to help them. I take the gifts which they bring to pay for the charm and make them a more valuable return, and by means of the barometer I am able to foretell rain. They gaze at the wizard and his charm wonderingly, and come again later to see them both.
AN UNUSUALLY LARGE ANT-HILL. INSIDE THIS STRONGHOLD THE “QUEEN” ANT IS TO BE FOUND WALLED UP IN A SMALL CELL. SHE IS CONSIDERABLY LARGER THAN THE OTHER ANTS AND DEVOTES HERSELF EXCLUSIVELY TO HER TASK OF LAYING EGGS. THE KING ON THE OTHER HAND, NOT MUCH LARGER THAN THE REST, IS IN COMMAND OF THE “WORKERS” AND THE SOLDIERS.