226 JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS

it made them feel safer to have a goat, I didn't mind
paying for one. Goats had only cost two shillings at
Ganta. I told the Paramount Chief's messenger, who
still hung about the verandah, that we wanted to buy
a goat. About an hour later a piccaninny, not more
than three and a half feet high, arrived with a tiny
kid slung across his shoulders. The owner wanted six
shillings for it; goats were, apparently, at a premium
on the edge of elephant country. The carriers were
indignant; they wanted a goat, but they would lose
face if their employer paid too much; they would
rather dare the elephants without protection. So I
refused it, even when the price went down to four
shillings. The carriers had never been outside the
borders of their northern tribes before; they could
never understand that prices varied according to
supply and demand. When the price of rice, from
Sakripie onwards, began to advance, they were
shocked and indignant; they felt we were being hum-
bugged.

I learned the origin of the goat idea later at
Tapee from Colonel Davis, the Kru coast warrior.
Apparently a goat once made a bet with an elephant
that he could eat more at a meal. The elephant ate
and ate and fell asleep. When he woke the goat was
standing on the top of a high rock. He said he had
eaten everything around and was now going to start
on the elephant. From that day all elephants have
feared the voice of a goat. I'm not sure whether
Colonel Davis believed the story or not.

• When the sun was low a clamour of voices brought
me from bed. The population of Sakripie was pour-
ing into the compound behind two huge stilted and