West African Studies

The engines suffered that afternoon, and whenever that boat suffered, she made sure you knew it. We did what we could for her, both for the sake of humanity and our own safety; we gave her plenty of oil and fed her finely chopped wood, but it was of little use. Since we were both feeling irritable by the time we reached the steamer, we told the purser A purser is the ship's officer responsible for handling accounts, supplies, and tickets. what my companion had been saying about the Dragon Fly The name of their small steam launch..

The purser of the steamer replied that "people who said such things about a poor, inanimate steam launch were fools destined for a flaming hot future, and were entirely lost souls." We realized then that our observations had been imperfect; and so, always wishing to improve ourselves, we offered to take the purser to shore in the Dragon Fly. We knew the boat was still in a foul mood, and we wanted to see what he would say when jets of scalding steam sprayed him. He came along, and they did spray him; and when they did, he said things I cannot repeat.

Nevertheless, his remarks were similar in nature to our own, but so much more sophisticated in their delivery that we watched him with awe as he "offered his thanks" to the "poor inanimate steam launch." However, it was when he finally went ashore—glad to leave both us and the boat—that we truly discovered the depth of that man’s vocabulary. We were practically shocked into a faint by his remarks upon discovering that he had been sitting in a pool of dirty oil. The boat had insidiously "treated" him to it, just to take him down a peg regarding the superior, snowy whiteness of his trousers. Well, that purser left the scene in a "blue flame" original: "blue flame"; a metaphor for extreme anger or profanity. of temper; and I said to my companion, "Sir! We cannot say things like that."

"You are right, Miss Kingsley," he said sadly; "you and I are only fit for Sunday school entertainments."

I feel the same way about this Crown Colony The "Crown Colony system" was the British method of governing territories directly through an appointed governor, which Kingsley argued was inefficient and culturally insensitive to West Africans. affair. I know...