At 7 P.M. the
word was given to "fall to." The room was small and exceedingly
close; the social board was big and very rickety. The clientele
rushed in like backwoodsmen on board a Mississippi floating-
palace, stripped off their coats, tucked up their sleeves, and,
knife in one hand and bread in the other, advanced gallantly to
the fray. They began by quarrelling about carving; one made a
sporting offer to decouper la soupe, but he would go no farther;
and Madame, as the head of the table, ended by asking my
factotum, Selim Agha, to "have the kindness." The din, the heat,
the flare of composition candles which gave 45 per cent. less of
light than they ought, the blunders of the slaves, the
objurgations of the hostess, and the spectacled face opposite me,
were as much as I could bear, and a trifle more. No wonder that
the resident English merchants avoid the table-d'hote.
Provisions are dear and scarce at the Gaboon, where, as in other
parts of West Africa, the negro will not part with his animals,
unless paid at the rate of some twenty-two or twenty-three
shillings for a lean goat or sheep.
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