and restore order. After peace has returned Father Huismans goes on a trip. He is killed by unknown assailants and nobody cares. Afterwards his collection of African masks is denounced as affront to African religion. An American visitor pillages most of the masks and ships them home as "The richest products of the forest". The town now develops into a trading centre for the region. Government agencies spring up. European salesmen and visitors arrive. Salim's friends Mahesh and Shoba become successful with their new Bigburger franchise. The new army arrives, "poachers of ivory and thieves of gold". Portraits of the President, "the Big Man", are displayed everywhere. A new section of town is built, the "State Domain", to showcase the President's vision of a new Africa. Yet buildings are shoddy, the tractors at the agricultural centre never get put to work, and much of the Domain falls quickly into disrepair. Salim calls it a "hoax". The Domain is soon converted into a university and conference centre. Salim is visited by Indar, who grew up with him on the east coast, then went to England to study and now has become a lecturer at the new institution. He takes Salim to a party in the Domain to meet Yvette and Raymond. Raymond had been the advisor and mentor of the President. Although he is in charge of the Domain, he finds himself outside the centre of power. Loyal to the President, he continues to write for him, hoping to be recalled to the capital. Salim, whose experience with women has been limited to prostitutes, is intrigued by Yvette, Raymond's much younger wife. Later, after Indar departs with the steamer, Salim and Yvette start an adulterous affair right under Raymond's eyes. Eventually the liaison breaks down, Salim hitting her and spitting on her between the legs. Raymond's attempts to please the Big Man are not successful. Instead the President publishes "a very small, brief book of thoughts, Maximes, two or three thoughts to each page, each thought about four or five lines long". Like others, Salim is forced to buy copies of the book for distribution. The local youth group displeases the President and is denounced in one of his propaganda speeches. As a result, unrest grows, corruption and extortion become more prevalent, and a "Liberation Army" forms underground. They reject the President, his cult of the black Madonna, his vision of