1. Looking back after 35 years, I find it interesting that neither the colonial nor the precolonial periods of Africa’s history received much treatment in these U.S. government materials.

2. Soon after arriving I went out alone to shoot free throws at the university’s outdoor basketball court. Before long I collected a crowd of onlookers who gasped in amazement every time I made a basket. It did not seem possible to them that anyone could put a large ball through such a small hoop from so great a distance.

3. These explorations led to my fascination with anthropology and my pursuit of it as a discipline. Only in graduate study, years after my Nigerian experience, did I begin to understand the significance of our ceremonial encounters with elders, chiefs, and the other village representatives we met. We politely tasted kola nut and palm wine when they were offered, and once we accepted the gift of a live chicken, which we tied onto a motorbike before releasing it a few miles away. Most of my instincts were good, although I shudder to think of the many cultural blunders, especially those related to my left-handedness, which I must have committed in ignorance.

4. Since I do not own a snooker table, this is a passion difficult to indulge except when I travel internationally, especially in Commonwealth countries. Snooker, a variant of pocket billiards, has virtually disappeared in most parts of the United States.