Page:Travels in West Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons (IA travelsinwestafr00kingrich).pdf/166

 One of the main comforts I had at Kangwe was the perfect English spoken by both M. and Mme. Jacot; what that amounted to I alone know, for I cannot speak a word of French, neither could I give you dates until I left Kangwe on the Éclaireur, for it is one of my disastrous habits well known to my friends on the Coast that whenever I am happy, comfortable and content, I lose all knowledge of the date, the time of day, and my hairpins. "It's the climate." But I kept my fetish notes, except during two days when my right elbow was out of repair in consequence of my first visit to a Fan fireside. It happened this way. Down on the river bank, some one-and-a-half miles below Kangwe, lies Fula, a large Fan village. Through Fula that ill-starred day I passed with all the éclat of Wombwell's menageric. Having been escorted by half the population for a half mile or so beyond the town, and being then nervous about Fans, from information received, I decided to return to Kangwe by another road, if I could find it. I had not gone far on my quest before I saw another village, and having had enough village work for one day, I made my way quietly up into the forest on the steep hillside overhanging the said village. There was no sort of path up there, and going through a clump of shenja, I slipped, slid, and finally fell plump through the roof of an unprotected hut. What the unfortunate inhabitants were doing, I don't know, but I am pretty sure they were not expecting me to drop in, and a scene of great confusion occurred. My knowledge of Fan dialect then consisted of Kor-kor, so I said that in as fascinating a tone as I could, and explained the rest with three pocket handkerchiefs, a head of tobacco, and a knife which providentially I had stowed in what my nautical friends would call my afterhold—my pockets. I also said I'd pay for the damage, and although this important communication had to be made in trade English, they seemed to understand, for when I pointed to the roof and imitated writing out a book for it, the master of the house