MANDINGOAir of Mumbo JumboAlle’tto.
MANDINGOAir of Mumbo JumboAlle’tto.
MANDINGOAir of Mumbo Jumbo
Alle’tto.
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Fan na boo la o fa na ma oton sa boo la le fe no bi na ni a o
Fan na boo la o fa na ma oton sa boo la le fe no bi na ni a o
Fan na boo la o fa na ma oton sa boo la le fe no bi na ni a o
Fan na boo la o fa na ma o
ton sa boo la le fe no bi na ni a o
The Africans have a most terrific idea of the sea, which they always call the big salt water. Some of the priests describe it as a malignant deity, and forbid people to approach it. Beyond this big water they suppose there is a land full ofwhite sea-monsters, cannibals, and sorcerers, who send to Africa and carry off great numbers of men, women, and children, on purpose to devour them.
Poor Gustavus Vasa, who, with his little sister, was stolen while they were at play, was exceedingly terrified at the sight of Europeans in a vessel. “Where do these white monsters come from?” saidhe: “Do they always live in these immense dens upon the water? How can they move that great house, except by magic?”
The Africans consider our color quite as great a deformity as we regard theirs. When Andanson entered a village at a little distance from the coast, the children ran away screaming with terror; and it required a great effort to persuade them to approach the white man, and touch his long straight hair. Many of them suppose that the pale color of Europeans is owing to a leprous disease. When Mungo Park was detained at Benown, the king’s wives made him unbutton his waistcoat to show his white skin; and even after they had counted his fingers and toes, to ascertain that he was a human being, they could not refrain from a shudder whenever they approached him. The king’s sons seriously proposed to put out his eyes because they so much resembled a cat. The wives of the Foulah king were more civil to the traveller, but they found his features and color equally disagreeable. Mr. Park says: “As soon as I entered, the whole seraglio surrounded me, some begging for physic, others for amber, and all of them desirous of trying that great African specific, blood-letting. They were ten or twelve in number, most of them young and handsome. They rallied me with a good deal of gayety on different subjects, particularly on the whiteness of my skin and the prominence of my nose. They insisted that both were artificial. The first they said was produced when I was an infant, by dipping me in milk; and they insisted thatmy nose had been pinched every day till it had acquired its present unsightly and unnatural conformation. Without disputing my own deformity, I paid them many compliments on African beauty. I praised the glossy jet of their skins, and the lovely depression of their noses; but they told me thathoney-mouthwas not esteemed in Bondu. In return, however, for my company, or my compliments, to which they seemed not to be so insensible as they affected to be, they presented me with a jar of honey and some fish, which were sent to my lodging.”
The prejudice with regard to a white skin is not to be wondered at, when we consider that nearly all the intercourse between Europe and Africa has been for the purpose of obtaining slaves; and to this circumstance must be added the natural tendency we all have to admire what we are most accustomed to in our own friends.
Mungo Park feelingly describes the sufferings of some poor slaves that belonged to a caravan with which he travelled. He says: “One of the female slaves, named Nealee, began to lag behind, and complain dreadfully of pains in her limbs. Her load was taken from her, and she was ordered to keep in front of the caravan. About eleven o’clock, as the party was resting by a small rivulet, a hive of bees, which had been disturbed in a hollow tree, attacked the people and made them fly in all directions. When the enemy had desisted from pursuit, and all were employed in picking out the stings, it was discovered that Nealee had not come up. She was found, verymuch exhausted, lying by the rivulet, to which she had crept in hopes of defending herself from the bees, by throwing water over her body; but she was stung in the most dreadful manner. When theslatees[9]had picked out the stings as well as they could, she was washed with water and then rubbed with bruised leaves; but the wretched woman obstinately refused to proceed any farther, declaring that she would rather die than walk another step. As entreaties and threats were used in vain, the whip was at length applied. After bearing patiently a few strokes, she started up, and walked with tolerable expedition for four or five hours longer, when she made an attempt to run away from thecoffle, but was so very weak that she soon fell down in the grass. Though she was unable to rise, the whip was a second time employed, but without effect. They tried to place her upon the ass which carried the provisions; but she could not sit erect; and the animal being very refractory, it was found impossible to carry her forward in that manner. The day’s journey was nearly ended, and being unwilling to abandon her, they made a litter of bamboo canes, and tied her on it with slips of bark. This litter was carried on the heads of two slaves, followed by two more, who relieved them occasionally. In this manner she was carried till the caravan reached a stream of water, where they stopped for the night. At daybreak poor Nealee was awakened; but her limbs were now so stiff andpainful that she could neither walk nor stand. She was therefore lifted like a corpse upon the back of an ass; her hands fastened together under the animal’s neck, and her feet under his belly, with long strips of bark. But the ass was so very unruly, that no sort of treatment could make him proceed with his load; and as Nealee made no exertion to prevent herself from falling, she was quickly thrown off, and had her limbs much bruised. The general cry of the coffle now was, ‘Cut her throat—Cut her throat.’”
Mr. Park, not wishing to see this put in execution, hurried onward. When he had walked about a mile, one of Karfa’s domestic slaves came up with poor Nealee’s garment on the end of his bow, and exclaimed, “Nealee is lost.” Mr. Park asked if the garment had been given him for cutting her throat. He replied that Karfa would not consent to that measure, and they had left her on the road. The helpless creature was no doubt soon devoured by wild beasts.
Mr. Clapperton tells another painful story of a wretched slave mother, who saw her child dashed on the ground, while she herself was compelled by the lash to drag along her exhausted frame.
African mothers have an unbounded affection for their children. When Mr. Park was at Wawra, and known to be on his way to Sego, several women came and begged him to ask the king about their sons, who had been taken away to the army. One declared that she had neither seen nor heard of hers for several years; that he was no heathen, but saidhis prayers daily; and that he was often the subject of her dreams.
At Jumbo the same traveller witnessed an affecting interview between an African who had been long absent from home, and his relations. His aged and blind mother, leaning on a staff, was led forth to meet him. She stretched out her hands to welcome him, fondly stroked his hands, arms, and face, and seemed delighted to hear once more the music of his voice. Instances are likewise on record of mothers that have fallen down dead on the sands, when they saw their children forced away in slave ships.
When suffering the extremity of famine, mothers in the interior sometimes sell their children to a wealthier neighbor, for the sake of procuring food. But the domestic slavery of the Africans is altogether of a milder character, and more resembles Hebrew servitude, than the slavery existing among white men. Even the richest African lives in a manner so simple and pastoral, that little toil is requisite to supply his wants, and being a stranger to the love of accumulating wealth, he has no temptation to work his laborers beyond their strength. The slave and his master eat, drink, and work together in all the freedom of uncivilized life; and the master can neither put a slave to death for crime, or sell him to a stranger, without calling a public palaver, or discussion, of the elders of the tribe.
The affection of parents is warmly reciprocated by their children. An African will forgive any personal injury much more readily than a disrespectful epithetapplied to his parents. “Strike me, but do not curse my mother!” is a common expression among them. Filial attachment is less strong toward fathers than toward mothers; because paternal love is weakened by being divided among the offspring of several different wives.
In general, the fondness of African mothers is confined to the bodily comfort of their children; but the Mandingoes extend their care to the formation of moral character. A Mandingo woman whose son had been mortally wounded by a Moor, wrung her hands in frantic grief, continually repeating, “He never told a lie; no, never.”
The women of Madagascar probably love their children as tenderly as other mothers, but with them superstition conquers nature, as it does among the Hindoos. If a magician decides that the day of a child’s birth is an unlucky one, parents endeavor to avert the supposed evil destiny that awaits the infant, by putting a violent end to its existence. Sometimes the innocent little creatures are left in a narrow path, through which large herds of cattle are driven; and if it escape without being trampled to death, it is supposed that the malignant influence is removed. Sometimes a wooden vessel is filled with water, and the babe’s face forcibly held in it, till it ceases to breathe; sometimes it is laid face downward in a pit dug for its reception; and sometimes a cloth is stuffed into its mouth until suffocation ensues. Parents themselves generally perform the horrid office, strengthened by the mistaken idea that there is noother way of saving the child from the misery predicted for its future years.
The hospitality which generally characterizes a pastoral people prevails in Africa. The blind are the only beggars ever seen. They assemble in greater or less numbers and take their rounds in the villages, singing verses from the Koran; and every one is ready to put grain and other provisions into the bags which they carry slung at their backs. The Seracolots are very remarkable for their hospitality. When a vessel anchors near one of their villages, the whole crew are abundantly and gratuitously furnished with every necessary; and when a stranger enters one of their dwellings, the owner goes out of it, saying, “White man, my house, my wife, my children, belong to thee.” This is no unmeaning compliment; from that moment the guest does in fact enjoy all the prerogatives of the master.
In cases where suspicion or fear led the men to treat Mungo Park with neglect or rudeness, he always found women compassionate and kind. When the chief of a Foulah village shut the door in his face, a poor woman, who was spinning cotton in front of her hut, invited him in, and gave him a plentiful dish of kouskous; and at another time when he sat pensive and hungry by the road-side, unable to procure any food, an old female slave stopped to ask whether he had any dinner; and being informed that he had been robbed of every thing, she took the basket of ground-nuts from her head, and with a benevolent look gave him a few handfuls. The wearytraveller was about to thank her for this seasonable relief, but she walked away before he had time.
One tempestuous night the same daring adventurer, hungry, destitute, and disheartened, took shelter for the night under a tree. A Bambarra woman, returning from the labors of the field, inquired why he looked so sad; and when she learned his situation she took up his saddle and bridle, and bade him follow her. She conducted him to her hut, lighted a lamp, spread a mat for him to sit upon, broiled a fish for his supper, and gave him to understand that he might lie down and sleep without interruption. While he rested, the women in the hut resumed their spinning, an employment which had been for a while interrupted by their surprise at seeing a white man. As they worked, they sung an extempore song, of which the traveller was the subject.
The winds roared, and the rains fell;The poor white man, faint and weary,Came and sat under our tree.He has no mother to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
The winds roared, and the rains fell;The poor white man, faint and weary,Came and sat under our tree.He has no mother to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
The winds roared, and the rains fell;The poor white man, faint and weary,Came and sat under our tree.He has no mother to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
The winds roared, and the rains fell;
The poor white man, faint and weary,
Came and sat under our tree.
He has no mother to bring him milk,
No wife to grind his corn.
CHORUS.
Let us pity the white man;No mother has he to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
Let us pity the white man;No mother has he to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
Let us pity the white man;No mother has he to bring him milk,No wife to grind his corn.
Let us pity the white man;
No mother has he to bring him milk,
No wife to grind his corn.
The air was sweet and plaintive, and the kind sentiments it conveyed affected Mr. Park so deeply that he could not sleep. In the morning, he gave his landlady two of the four brass buttons that remained on his waistcoat; these were all he had to offer to signify his gratitude.
“In all my wanderings and wretchedness,” says this enlightened traveller, “I found women uniformly kind and compassionate; and I can truly say, as my predecessor, Mr. Ledyard, has said before me: ‘To a woman I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship without receiving a decent and friendly answer. If I was hungry or thirsty, wet, or sick, they did not hesitate, like the men, to perform a generous action. In so free and so kind a manner did they contribute to my relief, that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught, and if hungry, I ate the coarsest morsel, with a double relish.’”
An Arab widow at Houssa became very much enamored with captain Clapperton, and he found some difficulty in ridding himself of her suit. According to Moorish custom, her eyebrows were dyed black, her hair blue, her hands and feet red, and her huge person was loaded with necklaces, girdles, and bracelets. In order still farther to tempt the European, she displayed to him an additional store of finery, and carried him through several rooms, one of which was ornamented with pewter dishes and bright brass pans. After these preliminaries, she proposed to send forthwith for a priest to unite their destinies. The captain stammered out the best apology he could, and hurried away. She followed him to a neighboring village, sitting astride on a very fine horse, with scarlet housings trimmed with lace. She wore a red silk mantle and morocco boots, and a multitude of spells sewed in various colored leather were hung around her. Her drummer was decorated inostrich feathers, and a train of armed attendants followed her. It was rumored that she intended to make herself queen, and invite captain Clapperton to share the throne of Wawa. Her wealth and the influence she might enable him to obtain, for a moment tempted him; and as the widow had induced his servant Pascoe to take a wife from among her slaves, she had, according to African ideas, acquired some right to himself; but he soon directed Pascoe to return his wife, and thus destroy her remaining hopes. “It would indeed have been a fine end of my journey,” says he, “if I had deposed old Mohammed, and set up for myself, with this walking tun butt for a queen.”
One of Bonaparte’s officers, named Duranton, expatriated himself at the time France was conquered by foreign arms, and entered into commercial relations in Africa. He finally went as far into the interior as Kasso, where he adopted the language and habits of the natives. By his bravery and knowledge he soon gained unbounded influence. The king had an only daughter, about sixteen, whom her countrymen esteemed beautiful. Duranton, notwithstanding the prejudice against his complexion, was pleasing to the young damsel. He married her, and was soon after elected king of Kasso. He has extended the commerce of the tribe, but attempted no innovation upon their ancient customs. He eats, dresses, and sits after the manner of the natives, and observes precisely the same sort of etiquette that was maintained by his father-in-law.
On the coasts of Africa, where the natives have frequent intercourse with European sailors, they are exceedingly licentious and depraved.
According to Bruce’s description, the Abyssinian women are grossly familiar in their manners; at a village on the banks of the Gambia, the women were likewise guilty of very rude freedoms. They troubled Mr. Park exceedingly, begging for amber, beads, &c., and boldly proceeding to tear his clothes, in order to secure the buttons. He mounted his horse and rode off; but they followed him for more than a mile, trying to renew their outrages.
The women of Loggun are described by major Denham as intelligent, handsome, and lively; but their freedoms were not of the most delicate character, and they tried to pilfer every thing they could lay hands on. When detected they laughed, and called out to each other how sharp the traveller was in finding out their tricks.
Captain Clapperton makes great complaints of the loquacity of the women. He says they convinced him that no power, not even African despotism, can silence a woman’s tongue. According to his own testimony, however, their love of talk originated in mere childish curiosity, and was indulged with the kindest intentions.
In Walo, the crown is hereditary, but always descends to the eldest son of the king’s sister; and among several other tribes a man’s property is always inherited by the offspring of his sister, according to the custom of the Nairs of Hindostan. Thiscircumstance does not indicate any great confidence in the character of women.
It has been said that the Africans are generally indolent; and when compared with the busy, restless sons of ambition and avarice, this is no doubt true. The soil is prolific and easy of cultivation; their wants are very few and simple; and they have not the slightest desire for the accumulation of wealth. During the few months which it is necessary to devote to agricultural pursuits, they are so busy that they scarcely allow themselves time for sleep; and the rest of the year they give up to child-like merriment.
The African race, as distinguished from the Arabs or Moors, are faithful, affectionate, sensitive in their feelings, and liable to almost instantaneous changes from gloom to gayety, according to the circumstances in which they are placed. When in the greatest misery, a kind look or word will animate them, as it does the heart of a little child; but when their cup of suffering is full, the “drop too much” which tyranny seeks to add to the bitter measure, often arouses them to fierce and desperate fury. In a state of freedom they are almost universally gentle, inquisitive, credulous, and fond of flattery.
Barrow speaks thus of the Kaffers: “A party of women were the first who advanced to salute us, laughing and dancing round the wagons, and putting on all the coaxing manners they could invent, in order to procure from us tobacco and brass buttons. Good temper, animation, and a cheerful turn of mind,beamed in all their countenances. We found them to be modest without reserve; extremely curious without being troublesome; lively but not impudent; and sportive without the least shadow of being lascivious. The most striking feature in their character was a degree of sprightliness, activity, and vivacity, that distinguished them from the women of most uncivilized nations, who are generally reserved toward strangers.”
The African laws are simple and rude, like their habits; but it appears from the accounts of travellers that widows retain peaceable possession of their property, and are able to transact business with perfect security. This implies a degree of good order in society, which one would not expect to find in uncivilized states.
In most of the tribes on the southern and western coast of Africa, women do not inherit the property of their fathers, either real or personal.
Among the Wolofs when a young man wishes to marry, he signifies it to the parents of the girl, who meet him at some public place in the village. When the young couple are surrounded by a circle of relatives, the man offers as much gold or merchandise, oxen or slaves, as he can afford to pay. The girl’s consent is not necessary for the completion of the bargain; but if she refuses to fulfil the promise of her parents, she can never marry another; should she attempt to do so, the first lover can claim her as his slave. As soon as the parties have agreed upon the price, the young man pays the required sum;and the same evening the bride is conveyed to the bridegroom’s hut, by a troop of relations and friends. On these occasions she always wears a white veil of her own weaving. The rejoicings continue for eight days, during which the guests are abundantly supplied with palm wine and other liquors.
Among the Sereres, when a lover has formally obtained the consent of relations, he summons his friends to assist him in carrying off the object of his choice. The bride shuts herself up in a hut with her companions, where they maintain an obstinate siege before they surrender to the assailants.
In Bambuk, the bride is escorted to the hut of her future husband. When she arrives at the door, she takes off her sandals, and a calabash of water is placed in her hand. She knocks, and the door is opened by the relations of the bridegroom, who remains seated in the midst of the hut. The bride kneels before him, pours the water over his feet, and wipes them with her mantle, in token of submission.
Mr. Park speaks of seeing a betrothed girl at Baniseribe, who knelt before her lover, and presenting a calabash of water, desired him to wash his hands; when he had done so, she drank the water, apparently with delight; this being considered a great proof of fidelity and love. In Madagascar, wives salute their husbands just returned from war, by passing the tongue over his feet, in the most respectful manner.
Among the Mandingoes, when the lover has settled the bargain with the girl’s parents, she is coveredwith the bridal veil of white cotton, and seated on a mat, with all the elderly women of the neighborhood ranged in a circle round her. They give her sage instructions concerning the performance of her duties and the propriety of her deportment as a matron. A band of femaleguiriotscome in and disturb their serious lessons with music, singing, and dancing. The bridegroom in the mean time entertains his friends without doors. A plentiful supper is provided, and the evening is devoted to mirth. Before midnight the bride is privately conducted by her female relatives to the hut which is to be her future residence. The bridal party generally continue dancing and singing until broad daylight.
At the island of St. Louis, the native women often contract a sort of limited marriage with Europeans, and their vows are said to be generally observed with exemplary fidelity. They take the Portuguese title of Signora, and the children receive the name of their father. The bridal ceremonies are similar to the Wolofs. When the European husband leaves the country, he provides for his family according to his wealth, and the generosity of his character; and his wife is at liberty to marry again when she pleases.
In Congo, marriage is sometimes consecrated with Catholic ceremonies, by the converts to Christianity; but the pagan natives preserve the simplicity of their ancient forms. When a young man has selected a damsel that pleases him, he sends presents to her relatives, accompanied by a cup of palm wine. If the presents are accepted, and the wine drank, it isconsidered a sign of approbation. He visits the parents, and having received his bride from their hands, conducts her to his own house. Here she remains, till he is satisfied with regard to her temper, industry, and general propriety of deportment. Sometimes this season of probation lasts one year, and sometimes two or three. If either party becomes dissatisfied with the other, they separate, without any loss of reputation; but if mutually pleased, they signify it publicly to friends and relations, and the event is celebrated by a feast. The Portuguese missionaries made a strong effort to abolish this custom; but the people were much attached to it; and mothers universally declared they would not subject themselves to the reproaches of their daughters, by urging them to an indissoluble union with individuals, whose tempers and dispositions they had never seen tried.
In Abyssinia there is no form of marriage, except what consists in a mutual consent to live together as long as they please each other. This connection is dissolved and renewed as often as the parties think proper. From the highest to the lowest rank, no distinction is made between legitimate and illegitimate children. The women, though Mohammedans, appear freely in public; and the master of a family considers it a point of civility to offer his wife or sister to a guest. The celebrated queen of Sheba is supposed to have been an Abyssinian; and the monarchs now claim descent from Menilek, who they say was her son by Solomon, king of the Jews.
In Caffraria, the bridal ceremonies are so simpleas scarcely to deserve the name. When young people wish to live together, opposition from parents is almost an unheard-of circumstance. A feast is prepared to give publicity to the event, and they eat, drink, and dance, for days or weeks in succession, according to the wealth of the parties. If a Caffer girl marries during the lifetime of her father, she receives for dowry as many cattle as he can afford to give; but after his death, she is dependent on the generosity of her brothers. As a wife costs an ox, or two cows, it is rare for any but wealthy Caffers to have more than one. Twins are said to be more common than in any other country, and three children at a birth is a frequent occurrence.
An African dowry is sometimes furnished in a manner painful to think upon. When the sultan of Mandara married his daughter to an Arab sheik, “the nuptials were celebrated by a great slave hunt among the mountains, when, after a dreadful struggle, three thousand captives, by their tears and bondage, furnished out the materials of a magnificent marriage festival.”
In Dahomey, all the unmarried females, throughout the kingdom, are considered the property of the despotic sovereign. Once a year they are all brought before him; he selects the most engaging for himself, and sells the others at high prices to his subjects. No choice is allowed the purchaser. He pays twenty thousand cowries, and receives such a wife as the king pleases to appoint; being obliged to appear satisfied with the selection, whatever may be her aspector condition. It is said that some have, in mockery, been presented with their own mothers. This brutal and bloody sovereign usually keeps as many as three thousand wives, who serve him in various capacities. No person is allowed to sit even on the floor in the royal presence, except his women; and they must kiss the ground whenever they receive or deliver a message from the king. These women are watched with the most savage jealousy.
Mr. M’Leod, who visited Dahomey in 1803, had his compassion much excited by the sudden disappearance of Sally Abson, daughter of the late English governor by a native female. This girl, who had been educated in the European manner, was accomplished, and had a most winning simplicity of manner. Mr. M’Leod could obtain no tidings of her for a long time. But at last an old domestic ventured to tell him that she had been carried off by an armed band, in the night-time, to be enrolled among the king’s women.
The king of Ashantee has three thousand three hundred and thirty-three wives; a mystical number, on which the prosperity of the nation is supposed to depend.
The king of Yarriba boasted to captain Clapperton, that his wives linked hand in hand would reach entirely across his kingdom. The first question asked by the chiefs was, how many wives the king of England had; and when told that he had but one, they would burst into loud peals of laughter, accompanied by expressions of surprise and pity.
These numerous queens are, however, in fact, nothing but servants, and valued only as an indication of power and wealth. Beside forming a military guard for the king, they labor in the fields, bring water, and carry heavy burdens on their heads, just like the wives of the poorest subject.
The pagan Africans are formally married but to one wife; but they take as many mistresses as they can maintain, and send them away when they please. The lawful wife, provided she has children, has authority over all the female members of the household, and her children enjoy privileges superior to the rest; but if she is so unfortunate as not to be a mother, she is not considered as the head of the establishment.
The women belonging to one household generally live very peaceably. Each one takes her turn in cooking and other domestic avocations; and the husband is expected to be equally kind, generous, and attentive to all.
Aslatee, with whom Mr. Park entered Kamalia, brought with him a young girl as his fourth wife, for whom he had given her parents three slaves. His other wives received her at the door very kindly, and conducted her into one of the best huts, which they had caused to be swept and whitewashed on purpose for her reception.
Dissensions, it is said, do sometimes occur, and the husband finds it necessary to administer a little chastisement before tranquillity is restored.
Unfaithfulness to the marriage vow is said to be very rare among the Mandingoes and the Kaffers.Throughout Africa this crime in a woman is punished by being sold into slavery; but the punishment cannot be arbitrarily and immediately inflicted by the husband, as is the case in many Asiatic countries; it is necessary to call a public palaver, or discussion, upon the subject. The price of a woman condemned for this vice is divided between the king and his grandees; it is therefore probable that they keep rather a strict watch upon the morality of their female subjects. Sometimes the paramour is likewise sentenced to be sold into slavery; sometimes he receives a severe flogging, amid the shouts and laughter of the multitude; and not unfrequently he is murdered by the abused husband. In this latter case, unless the murderer can buy a pardon from his prince, he is obliged to seek refuge in some other kingdom, where he falls at the feet of some rich person, and voluntarily acknowledges himself a slave; but he can never be sold, and is in fact regarded as one of the family. It frequently happens that the whole family of the culprit are obliged to flee their country, to avoid being sold into slavery for the crime of their relative.
Themaraboutsalways marry among each other; and as the children follow the profession of their fathers, there are whole villages of these priests. They obtain great influence by being able to write verses of the Koran, and administer very simple medicinal remedies. They consider it a sacred obligation to ransom all persons of their own profession from slavery.
The ties of domestic affection are said to be peculiarly strong among the Shouaa Arabs, who reside in tents near the central part of Africa. When their chief learned that major Denham had been three years absent from home, he said, “Are not your eyes dimmed with straining to the north, where all your thoughts must be? If my eyes do not see the wife and children of my heart for ten days, they are flowing with tears when they should be closed in sleep.” His parting salutation to the traveller was, “May you die at your own tents, and in the arms of your wife and family.”
In some cases wealthy Africans do not avail themselves of the universal custom of polygamy. Barrow thus describes the Kaffer prince, Gaika: “At the time I saw him, he was under twenty years of age, of an elegant form, and a graceful and manly deportment; his face of a deep bronze color, nearly approaching to black; his skin soft and smooth; his eyes dark brown, and full of animation; his teeth regular, well set, and pure as the whitest ivory. He had the appearance of possessing in an eminent degree a solid understanding, a clear head, and an amiable disposition. He seemed to be adored by his subjects; the name of Gaika was in every mouth, and it was seldom pronounced without symptoms of joy. He had only one wife, who was very young, and, setting aside the prejudice against color, very pretty.”
The French traveller Brue says the women on the banks of the Senegal appeared to consider the conditionof European wives very enviable, and expressed great compassion for him in being separated from his only wife without the power of marrying another. When Dr. Lichtenstein visited Latakoo, the women were, as usual, very curious about the Christian custom of having but one wife. The queen approved the system, but she thought polygamy was necessary in Africa, because such numbers of the men were killed in war.
Infants of a few hours old are washed in cold water and laid on a mat, with no other covering than a cotton cloth thrown loosely over them.
In twelve or fifteen days the mothers carry them about, suspended at their backs, by means of thepagneor mantle, which they fasten around the hips, and over one shoulder. Infants are kept in this situation nearly the whole day, while the women are busy at their various avocations. They are nursed until they are able to walk; sometimes until three years old. A few tumbles, or similar trifling accidents, are not considered worthy of much anxiety or commiseration. Till ten or twelve years old, children wear no clothing, and do nothing but run about and sport on the sands. Those who live near the sea-shore, are continually plunging into the water; in consequence of which scarcely any disease appears among them, except the small-pox. A child receives its name when it is eight days old. A sort of paste, calleddega, is prepared for the occasion, and the priest recites prayers over it. He takes the babe in his arms, invokes the blessing of heaven uponit, whispers a few words in its ear, spits three times in its face, pronounces aloud the name that is given to it, and returns it to the mother. He then divides the consecrateddegaamong the guests, and if any person be sick, he sends them some of it. A similar custom prevails in the Barbary states.
The moment an African ceases to breathe, his wife runs out of the hut, beating her breast, tearing her hair, and summoning her neighbors by loud cries. Friends and relatives soon assemble in the hut, and join in her lamentations, continually repeating, “Woe is me!”
When the marabouts have rubbed the corpse with oil and covered it with cloths, each person goes up and addresses it, as if still living. In a few minutes they go away, saying, “He is dead;” the lamentations are renewed, and continue till the next day, when the burial takes place. Major Denham speaks of hearing the Dugganah women singing funeral dirges all night long in honor of their husbands, who had fallen in battle. These dirges were prepared for the occasion, and were so solemn and plaintive, that they could not be listened to without the deepest sympathy.
The body is conveyed to the grave in straw mats. Women hired for the occasion follow it with loud shrieks, and the most extravagant demonstrations of sorrow. They return howling to the hut, where they pronounce an eulogium on the deceased. If they perform their parts well, they are complimented by relations, and are treated with palm wine, orother spirituous liquors. For eight days in succession these women go to the grave at sunrise and sunset, and renew their lamentations, saying, “Hadst thou not wives, and arms, and horses, and pipes, and tobacco? Wherefore then didst thou leave us?”
The relations and friends of the deceased remain in seclusion with his widow eight days, to console her grief.
The Abyssinian women wound their faces while they lament for the dead. In Congo, the relatives shave their heads, anoint their bodies, and rub them with dust, during the eight days of mourning. They consider it very indecorous for a widow to join in any festivity for the space of one year after her husband’s death.
In Dahomey and Ashantee, wives, and slaves of both sexes, often one hundred in number, are slaughtered at the death of the king, from the idea that he will need their attendance in another world; and every year, at least one human being and many animals are killed “to water the graves” of the royal family. The government of Yarriba is more mild and paternal; but it is the custom for a few of the king’s favorite wives, and some of his principal ministers, to take poison, which is presented to them in parrots’ eggs, in order that they may go to serve his majesty in the world of spirits.
Fragrant flowers and a quantity of gold are sometimes buried with people of rank, for their use in another world. On the death of a young girl, the body is washed, anointed with palm oil, decoratedin all her finery, and laid upon a bed; her companions join in a dance around her; and when this ceremony is concluded, she is buried in her best clothes. The graves are covered with little mounds of straw, on which a lance, bow, and arrow are placed for the men, and a mortar and pestle for a woman. The solemnities always conclude with a feast, at which the guiriots dance, while all join in singing the praises of the deceased.
The Africans, like the Asiatics, do not use knives or forks. All eat from a wooden bowl, which is placed on a mat, or low stool, in the middle of the hut. The women seldom eat until the men have done. After the repast a woman brings a calabash of water, and offers it to each of the guests, for the purpose of washing his hands and mouth. In Tesee the women are not allowed to eat eggs, though the men eat them without scruple. It is not known in what the custom originated, but nothing will affront a woman of that country so much as to offer her an egg.
In Congo, people of rank are often carried by slaves in a sort of hammock swung upon poles, which is frequently protected from the sun by an awning thrown over it. Women in all parts of Africa are often seen riding on asses or oxen. They guide the latter by means of a string passed through a ring in the nose; and they sometimes manage to make these quiet beasts curvet and caper.
Apes, baboons, and monkeys, are exceedingly numerous in Africa. A woman of the country of Galam,who was carrying some milk and millet to sell in a neighboring village, was attacked by a troop of apes from three to four feet high. They threw stones at her, and holding her fast, beat her with sticks, until she dropped the vessel she was carrying. She returned home much bruised, and the men formed a hunting party, which killed ten of the savage animals, and wounded several others; not however without getting sundry bites and bruises during the encounter.
The Hottentot race seem to be distinct from all other people, and surpassing all others, even the Calmucks, in ugliness. The eyes are long, narrow, and distant from each other; the eyelids do not form an angle at the extremity near the nose, but are formed in a manner very similar to the Chinese; their cheek bones are very high and prominent, and form nearly a triangle with the narrow pointed chin; the complexion is yellowish brown, like an autumn leaf; the hair grows in small tufts at certain distances from each other; when kept short, the head looks like a hard shoe-brush, but when suffered to grow, it hangs in the neck in a sort of hard twisted fringe. An old Hottentot woman is said to be a most uncouth and laughable figure; some parts of the body being very lank, and others jutting out in huge protuberances of loose flesh. The letter S gives the best idea of the curvature of their forms. The habit of throwing the breast over the shoulder, in order to enable infants to nurse while swinging at their backs, contributes not a little to increase their deformity. Yetsome of the women, when very young, are said to be perfect models of beauty in the female form. Every joint and limb is well turned and proportioned, and the hands and feet are remarkably small and delicate, though they never wear shoes, or sandals. Their charms, however, endure but a very short time. They are old at thirty; and long before that time, their shape assumes those strange and disgusting disproportions, for which it seems difficult to account.
In their state of slavery they have suffered great cruelties from their masters, the Dutch boors of South Africa. The lands and flocks, of which their fathers had been in peaceful and happy possession, were wrested from them; they were compelled to labor without compensation; allowed scarcely food enough to support life; mangled with tough, heavy whips of the sea-cow’s hide; and sometimes, for the slightest offences, chained to a post, while shot was fired into their naked limbs. These Dutch tyrants introduced a singular degree of luxurious refinement into their mode of despotism; they did not, according to the usual custom of slave-owners, order their offending vassals to receive a certain number of lashes, but directions were given to flog them while their master or mistress lazily smoked out one, two, three, or four pipes.
Under these circumstances, the simple, kind-hearted Hottentots became servile, degraded, and wretched to the last degree. Unlike all others of the colored race, they were always gloomy and dejected, beingrarely excited even to a languid smile. Their indolence was so great that they would fast a whole day rather than dig a root, if they might only be allowed to sleep. The natural color of their bodies was concealed by an accumulation of grease and soot, and their habits were so filthy that the description would be disgusting. Though strong in their attachment to each other, they were generally disinclined to marriage.
The situation in which women were placed,—being originally ignorant savages, and afterward completely in the power of masters, whose policy it was to brutalize them,—of course precluded all possibility of morality or modesty. In fact the immortal part of man seemed extinguished in the Hottentots, and they appeared to be altogether like the beasts of the field.
The bit of sheep-skin which they wear for clothing scarcely answers the purposes of decency, and with them it is entirely a matter of indifference whether it does or not. The women wear a small leather apron, seven or eight inches wide, which it is their delight to decorate with beads, shells, or large metal buttons. If in addition to this they can obtain beads for the neck, and copper rings for the arms, they experience as much delight as can possibly be felt by people of such a phlegmatic temperament. Those who cannot afford beads and shells wear leather necklaces and bracelets, and cover themselves with a piece of sheep-skin, cut into narrow strips, which hang in a bunch about half way to the knee. The rattling of this hard dry skin announcesthe approach of a Hottentot woman some time before she appears. In winter, they defend themselves from the cold by means of a sheep-skin cloak over the shoulders; and some wear skin caps on their heads, ornamented as their rude fancy dictates. Fragments of a looking-glass, to fasten in their caps, or among their hair, are considered as precious as diamonds with us.
The habit of greasing their bodies probably originated, as it did in other warm climates, in the scarcity of water, and the necessity of some protection from the rays of the sun. Barrow suggests that this practice introduced into South America would prove a salutary check to the prevalence of that loathsome disorder called the elephantiasis.
When a Hottentot wishes to marry, he drives two or three of his best oxen or sheep to the house of the bride’s relations, accompanied by as many friends as he can collect together. The animals are slain, and the whole assembly rub themselves with the fat. The men sit in a circle round the bridegroom, and the women round the bride. A blessing is then pronounced on the young couple, which principally consists in the hope that their sons will be expert huntsmen, and prove a comfort to their old age. A feast is then prepared, and when they have all eaten voraciously, a pipe is lighted, of which each one smokes a few whiffs, and then passes it to his neighbor. Feasting is sometimes kept up for several days; but they have no music or dancing. Men and women always eat separately.
When an infant is born, they rub it gently with fresh cow-dung, believing it to possess certain medicinal qualities; they then bruise the stalks of wild figs and wash the child in the juice; and when this is dry, fat, or butter, is liberally applied. After this the parents give it a name, which is generally the appellation of some favorite animal. A feast is given, of which all the inhabitants of the kraal, or village, partake, except the mother, who receives some of the fat for the use of herself and child.
Large numbers of the Hottentot women are childless, and a family of six is considered a wonderful prodigy.
The half European and half Hottentot children are remarkably vigorous and healthy, and become tall, well-proportioned men and women. This mixed race, somewhat remarkable for brightness and activity, seem likely to supplant the natives entirely.
It rarely happens that a Hottentot woman has twins, but when this is the case one of them is barbarously exposed in the woods, to be starved, or devoured by wild beasts, as the case may be. Very old people are sometimes exposed in the same way. All the other African tribes are distinguished for great respect and tenderness toward the aged.
When the Hottentot boys are eighteen years old, they are formally admitted into the society of men. The company of women, even that of their own mothers, is ever after considered a disgrace to them; and being released from all maternal authority, they notunfrequently beat their mothers and sisters, merely to show manly independence.
The women howl and lament for the dead, in the same manner that prevails in other portions of the continent.
A Hottentot kraal, or village, consists of a circle of low dirty huts, which at a little distance resemble a cluster of bee-hives. The employments of the women are such as generally fall to their lot in a savage state. A great many of them are slaves to the Dutch boors, and of course perform all their most menial and laborious occupations. Their patience and fortitude under suffering are truly wonderful.
Low as the Hottentots are in the scale of humanity, they are by no means destitute of good and agreeable qualities. They are very mild, inoffensive, open-hearted, honest, and grateful. Their affection for each other is so strong, that they will at any moment share their last morsel of food with a distressed companion; and they very seldom quarrel, or speak unkindly to their associates. They seem to be entirely destitute of cunning, and when they have committed a fault rarely fail to tell of it with the utmost simplicity.
M. Vaillant says: “They are the best, the kindest, and the most hospitable of people. Whoever travels among them may be sure of finding food and lodging; and though they will receive presents, they never ask for any thing. If they learn that the traveller has a long journey to accomplish, they will supply him with provisions as far as their circumstanceswill allow, and with every thing else necessary to enable him to reach the place of his destination. Such did these people appear to me, in all the innocent manners of pastoral life. They excite the idea of mankind in a state of infancy.”
The Hernhüters, or Moravian missionaries, have had a most blessed influence on this poor persecuted race. These missionaries cultivate gardens and fields in the neatest manner, and are themselves engaged in various mechanical trades. The Hottentots by kindness and punctual wages are induced to come and work for them, and the good fathers are ever ready to instruct them in agriculture and the mechanical arts. In 1824, nearly two thousand Hottentots lived in small huts, under the protecting influence of the missionaries, each one cultivating a little patch of ground to raise vegetables for his family. Some of them employed their leisure moments in making mats and brooms, while others obtained a comfortable subsistence by the sale of poultry, eggs, and cattle.
Three hundred of their children attended Sunday school; and they contributed five hundred six dollars to the missionary establishment by voluntary subscriptions. Under the fostering care of true-hearted, humble Christians, their habits of indolence and filth disappeared, and they became distinguished for industry and cleanliness. By the last accounts, about sixty Hottentots were communicants of the church.
Barrow, who visited the establishment in 1798, says: “Early one morning I was awakened bythe noise of some of the finest voices I ever heard, and looking out saw a group of female Hottentots sitting on the ground. It was Sunday, and they had assembled thus early to chant the morning hymn. They were all neatly dressed in printed cotton gowns. A sight so different from what we had hitherto observed, with regard to this unhappy class of beings, could not fail of being most grateful.”
“On Sundays, they all regularly attend divine service, and it is astonishing how ambitious they are to appear at church neat and clean. Of the three hundred, or thereabouts, that composed the congregation, about half were dressed in printed cottons. Their deportment was truly devout. One of the fathers delivered a discourse replete with good sense, and well suited to the occasion; tears flowed abundantly from the eyes of those to whom it was particularly addressed. The females sung in a plaintive and affecting style; and the voices were in general sweet and harmonious.”
The Dutch had always excused their own tyranny by saying that their unfortunate victims could not possibly be raised above the level of brutes; and they manifested extreme jealousy of the influence of the Gospel, because it bringeth light and freedom. The same spirit, which always led them to place the poor Hottentot in the worst possible point of view, likewise induced them to represent the amiable and generous Kaffers as a savage, treacherous, and cruel tribe. Yet they knew perfectly well that the Kaffers had shown a remarkable degree of moderation toward thewhite colonists; and that in the midst of a war, into which they had been driven by a series of iniquitous persecutions, they spared the lives of all the Dutch women and children that fell into their hands, though their own wives and children were murdered by the Dutch without mercy.
In 1828 the British government relieved the Hottentots from their grievous thraldom, and at once bestowed upon them all the privileges of citizens. The change from slavery to freedom produces the effect that would naturally be expected by any one who had observed human nature attentively. This long oppressed race are fast improving in health, cleanliness, industry, and respectability.
The Bojesmans, or Bushmen, are wild Hottentots, who have always preserved their independence, though under circumstances of the extremest misery and want. In personal appearance they very much resemble the Hottentots, but are more diminutive and ugly. The colonists call them Chinese Hottentots, on account of the peculiar position and formation of the eyes and eyelids. Their customs and modes of life bear a general resemblance to those of their more submissive brethren; but, unlike them, they are very cheerful, active, and industrious. Both men and women spring from rock to rock, like wild antelopes, and their motions are so swift that a horseman finds it impossible to keep up with them on uneven ground. Although their scanty subsistence is earned with great danger and fatigue, they are always merry.
The deadly animosity of the Dutch settlers makes it necessary for them to remain concealed in their hovels among the rocks all day; but on moonlight nights, they come out and dance from the setting of the sun to its rising. They consider the first thunder storm as a sure indication that winter has passed away, and testify their joy by tearing off their sheep-skin coverings, and tossing them high up in the air. On these occasions, they dance for several successive nights. The circular places trodden around their huts indicate their fondness for this amusement.
The women usually wear a piece of antelope’s skin cut into filaments, after the manner of the other Hottentots; and like them they are entirely unconscious of any shame in being without even this scanty covering. Some of them wear caps made of ass’ skin, and bits of copper or shells suspended in the neck from their little tufts of hair. It is customary for elderly men to have two wives, one old and the other young. These poor creatures have such a dread of white men, that Mr. Barrow could hardly tempt the little children to come down the rocks toward his party, to receive the biscuits he held out to them. The mothers, finding their little ones were treated kindly, ventured to approach; and when they had received a few trifling presents, forty or fifty women and girls came down without any symptoms of fear. But the women went backward and forward a dozen times, with invitations and presents of tobacco, before one man could be prevailedupon to descend; and when he did, he half cried, half laughed, and trembled like a frightened child.
The Gonaquas are a tribe of unsubdued Hottentots, taller than the Bojesmans, but resembling them in personal appearance. The women generally paint the whole body with compartments of red and black. The red is an ochrey earth, the color of brick-dust, and the black is either soot or charcoal, mixed with grease. To finish this embellishment in approved style is a tedious process. Some content themselves with merely painting the cheeks. These colors are always perfumed with a powder calledboughou, the smell of which is very disagreeable to those who are unused to it; but the Hottentots are so fond of it, that they will sometimes give a lamb for a thimble full ofboughou. The men paint only the upper lip; by means of which they continually inhale the fragrance. When young girls consent to perform this office for their lovers, it is considered a very endearing proof of affection. These women are very fond mothers. Their principal occupations are cooking, taking care of their children, and making garments and vessels of the skins of animals sewed with sinews. Their aprons and cloaks are usually made of calf skins, and are longer and larger than those worn by other Hottentots. As soon as milk is taken from the cow, it is put in a leather sack with the hairy side inwards, and suffered to ferment; for, like the Arabs, they have a dislike to sweet milk.
The Dutch women at the Cape are excessively ignorant, tyrannical, lazy, and fat; the inevitableconsequence of having slaves to do every species of labor, while they themselves indulge in great profusion of animal food. An old Dutch African woman is said to be as laughable a figure as an old Hottentot; one being as large and uninterruptedly round as a hogshead, and the other characterized by uncouth projections of the body. The young Dutch girls at the Cape are said to be much superior to their clumsy, awkward brothers. They are generally small and well formed, with social, unaffected manners. A few of the higher class are tolerable proficients in music, French, and English, and have considerable skill in lace and various kinds of needle-work. They copy with much eagerness the English fashions that are brought to them, from time to time, by ladies bound for India.
Sons and daughters share equally in the paternal inheritance, and an entire community of property, both real and personal, takes place at the marriage of two persons, unless provided against by a formal contract before the wedding.