HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT 149

Amah speaking, to Amah asking for huts and food
for thirty men. He was a slow thinker and he was
startled by our sudden appearance. He hadn't seen a
white face for years. I still believed that this must
be the Dagomai the doctor had directed me to, but
no, the chief said, no white people had stayed here
since they had begun to pay hut tax, and that was as
far back as memory took him. In his slow way he
was immensely tickled; it was as good as a circus. He
sent some men to clean a hut.

It was quite dark: there was no moon. The blacks
moved between the huts with smouldering torches,
but the little cheerful embers lit only wretched-
ness and dirt. A few carriers tottered in and sank
immediately to the ground beside their loads with
their heads in their hands. There was no hum-
bugging; they were completely exhausted. Amah
led me to the hut which had been chosen for us:
a small round hut with a native couch at one side,
where there was just room for two beds. The chief's
lamp, the only one in the village, stood on the floor
and the sweepers raised clouds of dust which rose and
settled again: there was a burnt-out fire in the middle.
Somebody put a box on the floor and I sat down to
wait. I was anxious: I couldn't imagine how my
cousin and the carriers could get across the long ham-
mock bridge in the dark, avoiding all the gaps where
the creepers had given way. I sent Amah with the
lamp down the hill to see if he could find them and
sat in the dark and heard the first rustle of the rats
above. I dropped into a doze, and nearly an hour
later voices roused me, a lamp swaying between the
huts, a sudden pack of worn-out men. Amedoo