BLACK MONTPARNASSE 197

With every question he became more official,
excited and conceited. I don't know what impression
of a foreign spy he gained from my vague manner.
He said we must see the French District Com-
missioner, a day's march away. He seemed to me
dangerous; if he had authority in the town he might
hold us up indefinitely. So I was polite, prohably too
polite, telling him that it was impossible, I must go
straight on; for if this was Djiecke, Ganta was at
last very close, I could see his little thin black body
swelling under the drill, for he personified the power
of France. He asked to see my passports and after
a search in the baggage I found them and showed
him the word 'France' in the list of countries for
which the passport was available. I don't think it
quite satisfied him, he had more brains than I bar-
gained for, but at that moment there was an interrup-
tion. We were standing close to the chiefs compound
and a message came from him that we were to enter
and rest, while chop was prepared for our men. If
we had had a taste of French officialdom, now we
were to taste French hospitality.

The chief had shed his oddly-assorted European
clothes. He was dour and handsome in his native
robe and his side-burns, squatting on the floor of his
hut with his daughters and wives around htm. The
daughters were the prettiest women I had seen in
Africa. They lay round and over him like kittens.
The schoolmaster left us disapprovingly; there was
a distinct atmosphere of sex and relaxation about the
scene and it didn't suit his pedagogic mind; but soon
after a boy brought in a letter from him in French
which one of the girls translated to her father. % I