Chapter VII: African Idiosyncrasies

PATRIARCHAL GOVERNMENT.--CONSTRUCTION OF VILLAGES.--NEGRO
ARCHITECTURE.--ELECTION OF KINGS.--CORONATION
CEREMONY.--SUCCESSION.--AFRICAN QUEENS.--LAW, CIVIL AND
CRIMINAL.--PRIESTS.--THEIR
FUNCTIONS.--MARRIAGE.--WARFARE.--AGRICULTURE.--MECHANIC
ARTS.--BLACKSMITHS.

All the tribes on the continent of Africa are under, to a greater or less degree, the patriarchal form of government. It is usual for writers on Africa to speak of "kingdoms" and "empires;" but these kingdoms are called so more by compliment than with any desire to convey the real meaning that we get when the empire of Germany or kingdom of Spain is spoken of. The patriarchal government is the most ancient in Africa. It is true that great kingdoms have risen in Africa; but they were the result of devastating wars rather than the creation of political genius or governmental wisdom.

"Pangola is the child or vassal of Mpende. Sandia and Mpende
are the only independent chiefs from Kebrabasa to Zumbo, and
belong to the tribe Manganja. The country north of the
mountains, here in sight from the Zambesi, is called Senga,
and its inhabitants Asenga or Basenga; but all appear to be
of the same family as the rest of the Manganja and Maravi.
Formerly all the Manganja were united under the government
of their great chief, Undi, whose empire extended from Lake
Shirwa to the River Loangwa; but after Undi's death it fell
to pieces, and a large portion of it on the Zambesi was
absorbed by their powerful Southern neighbors, the Bamjai.
This has been the inevitable fate of every African empire
from time immemorial. A chief of more than ordinary ability
arises, and, subduing all his less powerful neighbors,
founds a kingdom, which he governs more or less wisely till
he dies. His successor, not having the talents of the
conqueror, cannot retain the dominion, and some of the abler
under-chiefs set up for themselves; and, in a few years, the
remembrance only of the empire remains. This, which may be
considered as the normal state of African society, gives
rise to frequent and desolating wars, and the people long in
vain for a power able to make all dwell in peace. In this
light a European colony would be considered by the natives
as an inestimable boon to inter-tropical Africa. Thousands
of industrious natives would gladly settle around it, and
engage in that peaceful pursuit of agriculture and trade of
which they are so fond; and, undistracted by wars or rumors
of wars, might listen to the purifying and ennobling truths
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Manganja on the Zambesi,
like their countrymen on the Shire, are fond of agriculture;
and, in addition to the usual varieties of food, cultivate
tobacco and cotton in quantities more than equal to their
wants. To the question, 'Would they work for Europeans?' an
affirmative answer may be given; if the Europeans belong to
the class which can pay a reasonable price for labor, and
not to that of adventurers who want employment for
themselves. All were particularly well clothed from Sandia's
to Pangola's; and it was noticed that all the cloth was of
native manufacture, the product of their own looms. In Senga
a great deal of iron is obtained from the ore, and
manufactured very cleverly."[68]

The above is a fair description of the internecine wars that have been carried on between the tribes in Africa, back "to a time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." In a preceding chapter we gave quite an extended account of four Negro empires. We call attention here to the villages of these people, and shall allow writers who have paid much attention to this subject to give their impressions. Speaking of a village of the Aviia tribe called Mandji, Du Chaillu says,--

"It was the dirtiest village I had yet seen in Africa, and
the inhabitants appeared to me of a degraded class of
Negroes. The shape and arrangement of the village were quite
different from any thing I had seen before. The place was in
the form of a quadrangle, with an open space in the middle
not more than ten yards square; and the huts, arranged in a
continuous row on two sides, were not more than eight feet
high from the ground to the roof. The doors were only four
feet high, and of about the same width, with sticks placed
across on the inside, one above the other, to bar the
entrance. The place for the fire was in the middle of the
principal room, on each side of which was a little dark
chamber; and on the floor was an _orala_, or stage, to smoke
meat upon. In the middle of the yard was a hole dug in the
ground for the reception of offal, from which a disgusting
smell arose, the wretched inhabitants being too lazy or
obtuse to guard against this by covering it with earth.

"The houses were built of a framework of poles, covered with
the bark of trees, and roofed with leaves. In the middle of
the village stood the public shed, or palaver-house,--a kind
of town-hall found in almost all West-African villages. A
large fire was burning in it, on the ground; and at one end
of the shed stood a huge wooden idol, painted red and white,
and rudely fashioned in the shape of a woman. The shed was
the largest building in the village, for it was ten feet
high, and measured fifteen feet by ten. It is the habit of
the lazy negroes of these interior villages--at least, the
men--to spend almost the whole day lying down under the
palaver-shed, feeding their morbid imaginations with tales
of witchcraft, and smoking their _condoquais_."

But all the villages of these poor children of the desert are not so untidy as the one described above. There is a wide difference in the sanitary laws governing these villages.

"The Ishogo villages are large. Indeed, what most strikes
the traveller in coming from the seacoast to this inland
country, is the large size, neatness, and beauty of the
villages. They generally have about one hundred and fifty or
one hundred and sixty huts, arranged in streets, which are
very broad and kept remarkably clean. Each house has a door
of wood which is painted in fanciful designs with red,
white, and black. One pattern struck me as simple and
effective; it was a number of black spots margined with
white, painted in regular rows on a red ground. But my
readers must not run away with the idea that the doors are
like those of the houses of civilized people; they are
seldom more than two feet and a half high. The door of my
house was just twenty-seven inches high. It is fortunate
that I am a short man, otherwise it would have been hard
exercise to go in and out of my lodgings. The planks of
which the doors are made are cut with great labor by native
axes out of trunks of trees, one trunk seldom yielding more
than one good plank. My hut, an average-sized dwelling, was
twenty feet long and eight feet broad. It was divided into
three rooms or compartments, the middle one, into which the
door opened, being a little larger than the other two....
Mokenga is a beautiful village, containing about one hundred
and sixty houses; they were the largest dwellings I had yet
seen on the journey. The village was surrounded by a dense
grove of plantain-trees, many of which had to be supported
by poles, on account of the weight of the enormous bunches
of plantains they bore. Little groves of lime-trees were
scattered everywhere, and the limes, like so much golden
fruit, looked beautiful amidst the dark foliage that
surrounded them. Tall, towering palm-trees were scattered
here and there. Above and behind the village was the dark
green forest. The street was the broadest I ever saw in
Africa; one part of it was about one hundred yards broad,
and not a blade of grass could be seen in it. The _Sycobii_
were building their nests everywhere, and made a deafening
noise, for there were thousands and thousands of these
little sociable birds."[69]

The construction of houses in villages in Africa is almost uniform, as far as our studies have led us.[70] Or, rather, we ought to modify this statement by saying there are but two plans of construction. One is where the houses are erected on the rectilinear, the other is where they are built on the circular plan. In the more warlike tribes the latter plan prevails. The hillsides and elevated places near the timber are sought as desirable locations for villages. The plan of architecture is simple. The diameter is first considered, and generally varies from ten to fifteen feet. A circle is drawn in the ground, and then long flexible sticks are driven into the earth. The builder, standing inside of the circle, binds the sticks together at the top; where they are secured together by the use of the "monkey-rope," a thick vine that stretches itself in great profusion from tree to tree in that country. Now, the reader can imagine a large umbrella with the handle broken off even with the ribs when closed up, and without any cloth,--nothing but the ribs left. Now open it, and place it on the ground before you, and you have a fair idea of the hut up to the present time. A reed thatching is laid over the frame, and secured firmly by parallel lashings about fifteen inches apart. The door is made last by cutting a hole in the side of the hut facing toward the centre of the contemplated circle of huts.[71] The door is about eighteen inches in height, and just wide enough to admit the body of the owner. The sharp points, after the cutting, are guarded by plaited twigs. The door is made of quite a number of stout sticks driven into the ground at equal distances apart, through which, in and out, are woven pliant sticks. When this is accomplished, the maker cuts off the irregular ends to make it fit the door, and removes it to its place. Screens are often used inside to keep out the wind: they are made so as to be placed in whatever position the wind is blowing. Some of these houses are built with great care, and those with domed roofs are elaborately decorated inside with beads of various sizes and colors.

The furniture consists of a few mats, several baskets, a milk-pail, a number of earthen pots, a bundle of assagais, and a few other weapons of war. Next, to guard against the perils of the rainy season, a ditch about two feet in width and of equal depth is made about the new dwelling. Now multiply this hut by five hundred, preserving the circle, and you have the village. The _palaver-house_, or place for public debates, is situated in the centre of the circle of huts. Among the northern and southern tribes, a fence is built around their villages, when they are called "kraals." The space immediately outside of the fence is cleared, so as to put an enemy at a disadvantage in an attack upon the village. Among the agricultural tribes, as, for example, the Kaffirs, they drive their cattle into the kraal, and for the young build pens.

The other method of building villages is to have one long street, with a row of houses on each side, rectangular in shape. They are about twenty-five or thirty feet in length, and about twelve to fifteen feet in width. Six or eight posts are used to join the material of the sides to. The roofs are flat. Three rooms are allowed to each house. The two end rooms are larger than the centre one, where the door opens out into the street. Sometimes these rooms are plastered, but it is seldom; and then it is in the case of the well-to-do class.[72]

We said, at the beginning of this chapter, that the government in Africa was largely patriarchal; and yet we have called attention to four great kingdoms. There is no contradiction here, although there may seem to be; for even kings are chosen by ballot, and a sort of a house of lords has a veto power over royal edicts.

"Among the tribes which I visited in my explorations I found
but one form of government, which may be called the
patriarchal. There is not sufficient national unity in any
of the tribes to give occasion for such a despotism as
prevails in Dahomey, and in other of the African
nationalities. I found the tribes of equatorial Africa
greatly dispersed, and, in general, no bond of union between
parts of the same tribe. A tribe is divided up into numerous
_clans_, and these again into numberless little villages,
each of which last possesses an independent chief. The
villages are scattered; are often moved for death or
witchcraft, as I have already explained in the narrative;
and not infrequently are engaged in war with each other.

"The chieftainship is, to a certain extent, hereditary, the
right of succession vesting in the brother of the reigning
chief or king. The people, however, and particularly the
elders of the village, have a veto power, and can, for
sufficient cause, deprive the lineal heir of his succession,
and put in over him some one thought of more worth. In such
cases the question is put to the vote of the village; and,
where parties are equally divided as to strength, there
ensue sometimes long and serious palavers before all can
unite in a choice. The chief is mostly a man of great
influence prior to his accession, and generally an old man
when he gains power.

"His authority, though greater than one would think, judging
from the little personal deference paid to him, is final
only in matters of every-day use. In cases of importance,
such as war, or any important removal, the elders of the
village meet together and deliberate in the presence of the
whole population, which last finally decide the question.

"The elders, who possess other authority, and are always in
the counsels of the chief, are the oldest members of
important families in the village. Respect is paid to them
on account of their years, but more from a certain regard
for 'family,' which the African has very strongly wherever I
have known him. These families form the aristocracy."[73]

Here are democracy and aristocracy blended somewhat. The king's power seems to be in deciding everyday affairs, while the weighty matters which affect the whole tribe are decided by the elders and the people. Mr. Reade says of such government,--

"Among these equatorial tribes the government is
patriarchal, which is almost equivalent to saying that there
is no government at all. The tribes are divided into clans.
Each clan inhabits a separate village, or group of villages;
and at the head of each is a patriarch, the parody of a
king. They are distinguished from the others by the
grass-woven cap which they wear on their heads, and by the
staff which they carry in their hands. They are always rich
and aged: therefore they are venerated; but, though they can
exert influence, they cannot wield power; they can advise,
but they cannot command. In some instances, as in that of
Quenqueza, King of the Rembo, the title and empty honors of
royalty are bestowed upon the most influential patriarch in
a district. This is a vestige of higher civilization and of
ancient empire which disappears as one descends among the
lower tribes."[74]

"The African form of government is patriarchal, and,
according to the temperament of the chief, despotic, or
guided by the counsel of the elders of the tribe. Reverence
for loyalty sometimes leads the mass of the people to submit
to great cruelty, and even murder, at the hands of a despot
or madman; but, on the whole, the rule is mild; and the same
remark applies in a degree to their religion."[75]

When a new king is elected, he has first to repair to the pontiff's house, who--apropos of priests--is more important than the king himself. The king prostrates himself, and, with loud cries, entreats the favor of this high priest. At first the old man inside, with a gruff voice, orders him away, says he cannot be annoyed; but the king enumerates the presents he has brought him, and finally the door opens, and the priest appears, clad in white, a looking-glass on his breast, and long white feathers in his head. The king is sprinkled, covered with dust, walked over, and then, finally, the priest lies upon him. He has to swear that he will obey, etc.; and then he is allowed to go to the coronation. Then follow days and nights of feasting, and, among some tribes, human sacrifices.

The right of succession is generally kept on the male side of the family. The crown passes from brother to brother, from uncle to nephew, from cousin to cousin. Where there are no brothers, the son takes the sceptre. In all our studies on Africa, we have found only two women reigning. A woman by the name of Shinga ascended the throne of the Congo empire in 1640. She rebelled against the ceremonies, sought to be introduced by Portuguese Catholic priests, who incited her nephew to treason. Defeated in several pitched battles, she fled into the Jaga country, where she was crowned with much success. In 1646 she won her throne again, and concluded an honorable peace with the Portuguese. The other queen was the bloodthirsty Tembandumba of the Jagas. She was of Arab blood, and a cannibal by practice. She fought many battles, achieved great victories, flirted with beautiful young savages, and finally was poisoned.

The African is not altogether without law.

"Justice appears, upon the whole, to be pretty fairly
administered among the Makololo. A headman took some beads
and a blanket from one of his men who had been with us; the
matter was brought before the chief; and he immediately
ordered the goods to be restored, and decreed, moreover,
that no headman should take the property of the men who had
returned. In theory all the goods brought back belonged to
the chief; the men laid them at his feet, and made a formal
offer of them all: he looked at the articles, and told the
men to keep them. This is almost invariably the case. Tuba
Mokoro, however, fearing lest Sekeletu might take a fancy to
some of his best goods, exhibited only a few of his old and
least valuable acquisitions. Masakasa had little to show: he
had committed some breach of native law in one of the
villages on the way, and paid a heavy fine rather than have
the matter brought to the doctor's ears. Each carrier is
entitled to a portion of the goods in his bundle, though
purchased by the chief's ivory; and they never hesitate to
claim their rights; but no wages can be demanded from the
chief if he fails to respond to the first application."[76]

We have found considerable civil and criminal law among the different tribes. We gave an account of the civil and criminal code of Dahomey in the chapter on that empire. In the Congo country all civil suits are brought before a judge. He sits on a mat under a large tree, and patiently hears the arguments _pro_ and _con_. His decisions are final. There is no higher court, and hence no appeal. The criminal cases are brought before the _Chitomé_, or priest. He keeps a sacred fire burning in his house that is never suffered to go out. He is supported by the lavish and delicate gifts of the people, and is held to be sacred. No one is allowed to approach his house except on the most urgent business. He never dies, so say the people. When he is seriously sick his legal successor steals quietly into his house, and beats his brains out, or strangles him to death. It is his duty to hear all criminal cases, and to this end he makes a periodical circuit among the tribe. Murder, treason, adultery, killing the escaped snakes from the fetich-house,--and often stealing,--are punished by death, or by being sold into slavery. A girl who loses her standing, disgraces her family by an immoral act, is banished from the tribe. And in case of seduction the man is tied up and flogged. In case of adultery a large sum of money must be paid. If the guilty one is unable to pay the fine, then death or slavery is the penalty.

"Adultery is regarded by the Africans as a kind of theft. It
is a vice, therefore, and so common that one might write a
Decameron of native tales like those of Boccaccio. And what
in Boccaccio is more poignant and more vicious than this
song of the Benga, which I have often heard them sing, young
men and women together, when no old men were present?--

'The old men young girls married.
The young girls made the old men fools;
For they love to kiss the young men in the dark,
Or beneath the green leaves of the plantain-tree.
The old men then threatened the young men,
And said, "You make us look like fools;
But we will stab you with our knives till your blood runs forth!"
"Oh, stab us, stab us!" cried the young men gladly,
"_For then your wives will fasten up our wounds_."'"[77]

The laws of marriage among many tribes are very wholesome and elevating. When the age of puberty arrives, it is the custom in many tribes for the elderly women, who style themselves _Negemba_, to go into the forest, and prepare for the initiation of the _igonji_, or novice. They clear a large space, build a fire, which is kept burning for three days. They take the young woman into the fetich-house,--a new one for this ceremony,--where they go through some ordeal, that, thus far, has never been understood by men. When a young man wants a wife, there are two things necessary; viz., he must secure her consent, and then buy her. The apparent necessary element in African courtship is not a thing to be deprecated by the contracting parties. On the other hand, it is the _sine qua non_ of matrimony. It is proof positive when a suitor gives cattle for his sweetheart, first, that he is wealthy; and, second, that he greatly values the lady he fain would make his bride. He first seeks the favor of the girl's parents. If she have none, then her next of kin, as in Israel in the days of Boaz. For it is a law among many tribes, that a young girl shall never be without a guardian. When the relatives are favorably impressed with the suitor, they are at great pains to sound his praise in the presence of the girl; who, after a while, consents to see him. The news is conveyed to him by a friend or relative of the girl. The suitor takes a bath, rubs his body with palm-oil, dons his best armor, and with beating heart and proud stride hastens to the presence of the fastidious charmer. She does not speak. He sits down, rises, turns around, runs, and goes through many exercises to show her that he is sound and healthy. The girl retires, and the anxious suitor receives the warm congratulations of the spectators on his noble bearing. The fair lady conveys her assent to the waiting lover, and the village rings with shouts of gladness. Next come the preliminary matters before the wedding. Marriage among most African tribes is a coetaneous contract. The bride is delivered when the price is paid by the bridegroom. No goods, no wife. Then follow the wedding and feasting, firing of guns, blowing of horns, music, and dancing.[78]

Polygamy is almost universal in Africa, and poor woman is the greater sufferer from the accursed system. It is not enough that she is drained of her beauty and strength by the savage passions of man: she is the merest abject slave everywhere. The young women are beautiful, but it is only for a brief season: it soon passes like the fragile rose into the ashes of premature old age. In Dahomey she is a soldier; in Kaffir-land she tends the herds, and builds houses; and in Congo without her industry man would starve. Everywhere man's cruel hand is against her. Everywhere she is the slave of his unholy passions.[79]

It is a mistaken notion that has obtained for many years, that the Negro in Africa is physically the most loathsome of all mankind. True, the Negro has been deformed by degradation and abuse; but this is not his normal condition. We have seen native Africans who were jet black, woolly-haired, and yet possessing fine teeth, beautiful features, tall, graceful, and athletic.

"In reference to the status of the Africans among the
nations of the earth, we have seen nothing to justify the
notion that they are of a different 'breed' or 'species'
from the most civilized. The African is a man with every
attribute of human kind. Centuries of barbarism have had
the same deteriorating effects on Africans as Prichard
describes them to have had on certain of the Irish who were
driven, some generations back, to the hills in Ulster and
Connaught; and these depressing influences have had such
moral and physical effects on some tribes, that ages
probably will be required to undo what ages have done. This
degradation, however, would hardly be given as a reason for
holding any race in bondage, unless the advocate had sunk
morally to the same low state. Apart from the frightful loss
of life in the process by which, it is pretended, the
Negroes are better provided for than in a state of liberty
in their own country, it is this very system that
perpetuates, if not causes, the unhappy condition with which
the comparative comfort of some of them in slavery is
contrasted.

"Ethnologists reckon the African as by no means the lowest
of the human family. He is nearly as strong physically as
the European; and, as a race, is wonderfully persistent
among the nations of the earth. Neither the diseases nor the
ardent spirits which proved so fatal to North-American
Indians, South-Sea Islanders, and Australians, seem capable
of annihilating the Negroes. Even when subjected to that
system so destructive to human life, by which they are torn
from their native soil, they spring up irrepressibly, and
darken half the new continent. They are gifted by nature
with physical strength capable of withstanding the sorest
privations, and a lightheartedness which, as a sort of
compensation, enables them to make the best of the worst
situations. It is like that power which the human frame
possesses of withstanding heat, and to an extent which we
should never have known, had not an adventurous surgeon gone
into an oven, and burnt his fingers with his own watch. The
Africans have wonderfully borne up under unnatural
conditions that would have proved fatal to most races.

"It is remarkable that the power of resistance under
calamity, or, as some would say, adaptation for a life of
servitude, is peculiar only to certain tribes on the
continent of Africa. Climate cannot be made to account for
the fact that many would pine in a state of slavery, or
voluntarily perish. No Krooman can be converted into a
slave, and yet he is an inhabitant of the low, unhealthy
west coast; nor can any of the Zulu or Kaffir tribes be
reduced to bondage, though all these live on comparatively
elevated regions. We have heard it stated by men familiar
with some of the Kaffirs, that a blow, given even in play by
a European, must be returned. A love of liberty is
observable in all who have the Zulu blood, as the Makololo,
the Watuta, and probably the Masai. But blood does not
explain the fact. A beautiful Barotse woman at NHLe, on
refusing to marry a man whom she did not like, was in a pet
given by the headman to some Mambari slave-traders from
Benguela. Seeing her fate, she seized one of their spears,
and, stabbing herself, fell down dead."[80]

Dr. David Livingstone is certainly entitled to our utmost confidence in all matters that he writes about. Mr. Archibald Forbes says he has seen Africans dead upon the field of battle that would measure nine feet, and it was only a few months ago that we had the privilege of seeing a Zulu who was eight feet and eleven inches in height. As to the beauty of the Negro, nearly all African travellers agree.

"But if the women of Africa are brutal, the men of Africa
are feminine. Their faces are smooth; their breasts are
frequently as full as those of European women; their voices
are never gruff or deep; their fingers are long; and they
can be very proud of their rosy nails. While the women are
nearly always ill-shaped after their girlhood, the men have
gracefully moulded limbs, and always after a feminine
type,--the arms rounded, the legs elegantly formed, without
too much muscular development, and the feet delicate and
small.

"When I first went ashore on Africa, viz., at Bathurst, I
thought all the men who passed me, covered in their long
robes, were women, till I saw one of the latter sex, and was
thereby disenchanted.

"While no African's face ever yet reminded me of a man whom
I had known in England, I saw again and again faces which
reminded me of women; and on one occasion, in Angola, being
about to chastise a _carregadore_, he sank on his knees as I
raised my stick, clasped his hands, and looked up
imploringly toward me,--was so like a young lady I had once
felt an affection for, that, in spite of myself, I flung the
stick away, fearing to commit a sacrilege.

"Ladies on reading this will open their eyes, and suppose
that either I have very bad taste, or that I am writing
fiction. But I can assure them that among the Angolas, and
the Mpongwe, and the Mandingoes, and the Fula, I have seen
men whose form and features would disgrace no
petticoats,--not even satin ones at a drawing-room.

"While the women are stupid, sulky, and phlegmatic, the men
are vivacious, timid, inquisitive, and garrulous beyond
belief. They make excellent domestic servants, are cleanly,
and even tedious in the nicety with which they arrange
dishes on a table or clothes on a bed. They have also their
friendships after the manner of woman, embracing one
another, sleeping on the same mat, telling one another their
secrets, betraying them, and getting terribly jealous of one
another (from pecuniary motives) when they happen to serve
the same master.

"They have none of that austerity, that reserve, that
pertinacity, that perseverance, that strong-headed stubborn
determination, or that ferocious courage, which are the
common attributes of our sex. They have, on the other hand,
that delicate tact, that intuition, that nervous
imagination, that quick perception of character, which have
become the proverbial characteristics of cultivated women.
They know how to render themselves impenetrable; and if they
desire to be perfidious, they wear a mask which few eyes can
see through, while at the same time a certain sameness of
purpose models their character in similar moulds. Their
nature is an enigma: but solve it, and you have solved the
race. They are inordinately vain: they buy looking-glasses;
they will pass hours at their toilet, in which their wives
must act as _femmes de chambre_; they will spend all their
money on ornaments and dress, in which they can display a
charming taste. They are fond of music, of dancing, and are
not insensible to the beauties of nature. They are indolent,
and have little ambition except to be admired and well
spoken of. They are so sensitive that a harsh word will
rankle in then hearts, and make them unhappy for a length of
time; and they will strip themselves to pay the _grills_ for
their flattery, and to escape their satire. Though naturally
timid, and loath to shed blood, they witness without horror
the most revolting spectacles which their religion
sanctions; and, though awed by us their superiors, a real
injury will transform their natures, and they will take a
speedy and merciless revenge.

"According to popular belief, the Africans are treacherous
and hostile. The fact is, that all Africans are supposed to
be Negroes, and that which is criminal is ever associated
with that which is hideous. But, with the exception of some
Mohammedan tribes toward the north, one may travel all over
Africa without risking one's life. They may detain you, they
may rob you, if you are rich; they may insult you, and
refuse to let you enter their country, if you are poor: but
your life is always safe till you sacrifice it by some
imprudence.

"In ancient times the blacks were known to be so gentle to
strangers that many believed that the gods sprang from them.
Homer sings of the Ocean, father of the gods; and says that,
when Jupiter wishes to take a holiday, he visits the sea,
and goes to the banquets of the blacks,--a people humble,
courteous, and devout."[81]

We have quoted thus extensively from Mr. Reade because he has given a fair account of the peoples he met. He is a good writer, but sometimes gets real funny!

It is a fact that all uncivilized races are warlike. The tribes of Africa are a vast standing army. Fighting seems to be their employment. We went into this matter of armies so thoroughly in the fourth chapter that we shall not have much to say here. The bow and arrow, the spear and assagai were the primitive weapons of African warriors; but they have learned the use of fire-arms within the last quarter of a century. The shield and assagai are not, however, done away with. The young Prince Napoleon, whose dreadful death the reader may recall, was slain by an assagai. These armies are officered, disciplined, and drilled to great perfection, as the French and English troops have abundant reason to know.

"The Zulu tribes are remarkable for being the only people in
that part of Africa who have practised war in an European
sense of the word. The other tribes are very good at bush
fighting, and are exceedingly crafty at taking an enemy
unawares, and coming on him before he is prepared for them.
Guerilla warfare is, in fact, their only mode of waging
battle; and, as is necessarily the case in such warfare,
more depends on the exertion of individual combatants than
on the scientific combinations of masses. But the Zulu tribe
have, since the time of Dhaka, the great inventor of
military tactics, carried on war in a manner approaching the
notions of civilization.

"Their men are organized into regiments, each subdivided
into companies, and each commanded by its own chief, or
colonel; while the king, as commanding general, leads his
forces to war, disposes them in battle-array, and personally
directs their movements. They give an enemy notice that they
are about to match against him, and boldly meet him in the
open field. There is a military etiquette about them which
some of our own people have been slow to understand. They
once sent a message to the English commander that they would
'come and breakfast with him.' He thought it was only a
joke, and was very much surprised when the Kaffirs, true to
their promise, came pouring like a torrent over the hills,
leaving him barely time to get his men under arms before the
dark enemies arrived."[82]

And there are some legends told about African wars that would put the "Arabian Nights" to the blush.[83]

In Africa, as in districts of Germany and Holland, woman is burdened with agricultural duties. The soil of Africa is very rich,[84] and consequently Nature furnishes her untutored children with much spontaneous vegetation. It is a rather remarkable fact, that the average African warrior thinks it a degradation for him to engage in agriculture. He will fell trees, and help move a village, but _will not_ go into the field to work. The women--generally the married ones--do the gardening. They carry the seed on their heads in a large basket, a hoe on their shoulder, and a baby slung on the back. They scatter the seed over the ground, and then break up the earth to the depth of three or four inches.

"Four or five gardens are often to be seen round a kraal,
each situated so as to suit some particular plant. Various
kinds of crops are cultivated by the Kaffirs, the principal
being maize, millet, pumpkins, and a kind of spurious
sugar-cane in great use throughout Southern Africa, and
popularly known by the name of 'sweet-reed.' The two former
constitute, however, the necessaries of life, the latter
belonging rather to the class of luxuries. The maize, or, as
it is popularly called when the pods are severed from the
stem, 'mealies,' is the very staff of life to a Kaffir; as
it is from the mealies that is made the thick porridge on
which the Kaffir chiefly lives. If a European hires a
Kaffir, whether as guide, servant, or hunter, he is obliged
to supply him with a stipulated quantity of food, of which
the maize forms the chief ingredient. Indeed, so long as the
native of Southern Africa can get plenty of porridge and
sour milk, he is perfectly satisfied with his lot. When
ripe, the ears of maize are removed from the stem, the leafy
envelope is stripped off, and they are hung in pairs over
sticks until they are dry enough to be taken to the
storehouse."[85]

The cattle are cared for by the men, and women are not allowed to engage in the hunt for wild animals. The cattle among the mountain and sandstone tribes are of a fine stock, but those of the tribes in the alluvia, like their owners, are small and sickly.

The African pays more attention to his weapons of offensive warfare than he does to his wives; but in many instances he is quite skilful in the handicrafts.

"The Ishogo people are noted throughout the neighboring
tribes for the superior quality and fineness of the
_bongos_, or pieces of grass-cloth, which they manufacture.
They are industrious and skilful weavers. In walking down
the main street of Mokenga, a number of _ouandjas_, or
houses without walls are seen, each containing four or five
looms, with the weavers seated before them weaving the
cloth. In the middle of the floor of the _ouandjay_ a
wood-fire is seen burning; and the weavers, as you pass by,
are sure to be seen smoking their pipes, and chatting to one
another whilst going on with their work. The weavers are all
men, and it is men also who stitch the _bongos_ together to
make _denguis_ or robes of them; the stitches are not very
close together, nor is the thread very fine, but the work is
very neat and regular, and the needles are of their own
manufacture. The _bongos_ are very often striped, and
sometimes made even in check patterns; this is done by their
dyeing some of the threads of the warp, or of both warp and
woof, with various simple colors; the dyes are all made of
decoctions of different kinds of wood, except for black,
when a kind of iron ore is used. The _bongos_ are employed
as money in this put of Africa. Although called grass-cloth
by me, the material is not made of grass, but of the
delicate and firm cuticle of palm leaflets, stripped off in
a dexterous manner with the fingers."[86]

Nearly all his mechanical genius seems to be exhausted in the perfection of his implements of war, and Dr. Livingstone is of the opinion, that when a certain perfection in the arts is reached, the natives pause. This, we think, is owing to their far remove from other nations. Livingstone says,--

"The races of this continent seem to have advanced to a
certain point and no farther; their progress in the arts of
working iron and copper, in pottery, basket-making,
spinning, weaving, making nets, fish-hooks, spears, axes,
knives, needles, and other things, whether originally
invented by this people or communicated by another
instructor, appears to have remained in the same rude state
for a great number of centuries. This apparent stagnation of
mind in certain nations we cannot understand, but, since we
have in the latter ages of the world made what we consider
great progress in the arts, we have unconsciously got into
the way of speaking of some other races in much the same
tone as that used by the Celestials in the Flowery Land.
These same Chinese anticipated us in several most important
discoveries, by as many centuries as we may have preceded
others. In the knowledge of the properties of the magnet,
the composition of gunpowder, the invention of printing, the
manufacture of porcelain, of silk, and in the progress of
literature, they were before us. But then the power of
making further discoveries was arrested, and a stagnation of
the intellect prevented their advancing in the path of
improvement or invention."

Mr. Wood says,--

"The natives of Southern Africa are wonderful proficients in
forging iron; and, indeed, a decided capability for the
blacksmith's art seems to be inherent in the natives of
Africa, from north to south, and from east to west. None of
the tribes can do very much with the iron, but the little
which they require is worked in perfection. As in the case
with all uncivilized beings, the whole treasures of the art
are lavished on their weapons; and so, if we wish to see
what an African savage can do with iron, we must look at his
spears, knives, and arrows--the latter, indeed, being but
spears in miniature."

The blacksmith, then, is a person of some consequence in his village. He gives shape and point to the weapons by which game is to be secured and battles won. All seek his favor.

"Among the Kaffirs, a blacksmith is a man of considerable
importance, and is much respected by the tribe. He will not
profane the mystery of his craft by allowing uninitiated
eyes to inspect his various processes, and therefore carries
on his operations at some distance from the kraal. His first
care is to prepare the bellows. The form which he uses
prevails over a very large portion of Africa, and is seen,
with some few modifications, even among the many islands of
Polynesia. It consists of two leathern sacks, at the upper
end of which is a handle. To the lower end of each sack is
attached the hollow horns of some animal, that of the cow or
eland being most commonly used; and when the bags are
alternately inflated and compressed, the air passes out
through the two horns.

"Of course the heat of the fire would destroy the horns if
they were allowed to come in contact with it; and they are
therefore inserted, not into the fire, but into an
earthenware tube which communicates with the fire. The use
of valves is unknown; but as the two horns do not open into
the fire, but into the tube, the fire is not drawn into the
bellows as would otherwise be the case. This arrangement,
however, causes considerable waste of air, so that the
bellows-blower is obliged to work much harder than would be
the case if he were provided with an instrument that could
conduct the blast directly to its destination. The ancient
Egyptians used a bellows of precisely similar construction,
except that they did not work them entirely by hand. They
stood with one foot on each sack, and blew the fire by
alternately pressing on them with the feet, and raising them
by means of a cord fastened to their upper ends.

"When the blacksmith is about to set to work, he digs a hole
in the ground, in which the fire is placed; and then sinks
the earthenware tube in a sloping direction, so that the
lower end opens at the bottom of the hole, while the upper
end projects above the level of the ground. The two horns
are next inserted into the upper end of the earthenware
tube; and the bellows are then fastened in their places, so
that the sacks are conveniently disposed for the hands of
the operator, who sits between them. A charcoal-fire is then
laid in the hole, and is soon brought to a powerful heat by
means of the bellows. A larger stone serves the purpose of
an anvil, and a smaller stone does duty for a hammer.
Sometimes the hammer is made of a conical piece of iron, but
in most cases a stone is considered sufficient. The rough
work of hammering the iron into shape is generally done by
the chief blacksmith's assistants, of whom he has several,
all of whom will pound away at the iron in regular
succession. The shaping and finishing the article is
reserved by the smith for himself. The other tools are few
and simple, and consist of punches and rude pinchers made of
two rods of iron.

"With these instruments the Kaffir smith can cast brass into
various ornaments, Sometimes he pours it into a cylindrical
mould, so as to make a bar from which bracelets and similar
ornaments can be hammered, and sometimes he makes studs and
knobs by forming their shape in clay moulds."[87]

Verily, the day will come when these warlike tribes shall beat their spears into pruning-hooks, and their assagais into ploughshares, and shall learn war no more! The skill and cunning of their artificers shall be consecrated to the higher and nobler ends of civilization, and the noise of battle shall die amid the music of a varied industry!

FOOTNOTES:

[68] Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi, pp. 216, 217.

[69] Ashango Land, pp. 288, 289, 291, 292.

[70] Western Africa, p. 257 _sq._

[71] Through the Dark Continent, vol. i. p. 489.

[72] Uncivilized Races of Men, vol. i. chap, vii.

[73] Equatorial Africa, pp. 377, 378.

[74] Savage Africa, p. 216.

[75] Expedition to Zambesi, pp. 626, 627.

[76] Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi, pp. 307, 308.

[77] Savage Africa, p. 219.

[78] See Savage Africa, p. 207. Livingstone's Life-Work, pp. 47, 48. Uncivilized Races of Men, vol. 1. pp. 71-86; also Du Chaillu and Denham and Clappterton.

[79] Savage Africa, pp. 424, 425.

[80] Livingstone's Expedition to the Zambesi, pp 625, 626.

[81] Savage Africa, pp 426, 427.

[82] Uncivilized Races of Men, vol. i. p. 94.

[83] Through the Dark Continent, vol. i. p. 344 _sq._; also vol. ii. pp. 87, 88.

[84] Livingstone's Zambesi, pp. 613-617.

[85] Uncivilized Races of Men, vol. i. p. 146.

[86] Ashango Land, pp 290, 291.

[87] Uncivilized Races of Men, vol. i. pp. 97, 98.