Written by interpreter Jacob Mazuni. I, too, send greetings.
So Gregory went to see the house.
Outside the village he was met by the usual gathering of elderly
headmen, polite and dignified, who led him to the door of their Chief's
house.
The house was barnlike, with a high, well-thatched roof.
At the entrance stood the owner. She was very stout and wore a print
dress. A red shawl was thrown over her shoulders, and she had a very
small straw hat perched on her large, woolly head. Gregory noticed that
the hat was very much on one side. Her feet were bare.
After unusually hearty greetings she led the white man into her house.
When Gregory stepped over the threshold he stopped and stood looking
from wall to wall aghast. The old black woman interpreted his open mouth
to indicate admiration, wonder. This is what he saw.
On a deal table a complete toilet set. Complete to the extent that it
included two of those very intimate pieces of domestic furniture seldom
seen outside the shops where toilet ware is sold, and surely never
before exhibited with pride by the owner. Hanging awkwardly from a nail
in the wall, a slop pail of enamelled iron. This was supported on the
one side by a dustpan and brush, on the other by a pair of elastic-sided
boots. On each side of this remarkable trophy were pinned two very
ordinary coloured pocket handkerchiefs.
On a small corner shelf was a large brown earthenware teapot with the
words "Advance Australia" done in raised letters. Four enamelled ware
egg cups were its companions.
One wall was devoted exclusively to kitchen utensils; new tin kettles
predominated, but almost everything was represented.
Opposite this bright array the wall was literally covered with bedding.
The centre piece was a mattress; sheets on one side, blankets on the
other, pillows above, bolsters below.
But what shocked Gregory more than anything else was a regular trousseau
of feminine underclothing, ranged round the door through which he had
entered. He blushed hotly and with difficulty suppressed an impulse to
bolt without ceremony.
"What do you think of my house, my friend?"
"I think it--er--beautiful, the most wonderful in all the world."
"Yes, I thought you would like it. Do you not like the things my people
use? For myself, I like the things the white people use. You put the
black man's things in your house. I put the white man's things in my
house. We are two friends who have the same thoughts. You buy from the
people. I buy from the traders. The traders have promised to bring me
many more things. My house is not finished yet. After the rains it will
be finished, then you must come and see it again."
* * * * *
When Gregory reached his bungalow after his journey he stripped his
walls and packed all his curios in boxes. These he despatched to his
father in England, who was very pleased with them.
He replaced his curios by the Hundred Best Pictures, framed suitably in
fumed oak.
"LIZIZI."