Chapter XXXI: Part I: Ethnology (2)

In _Darnley Island_ the natives “were fine, active, well-made fellows, rather above the middle height, of a dark brown or chocolate colour. They had frequently almost handsome faces, aquiline noses, rather broad about the nostril, well-shaped heads, and many had a singularly Jewish cast of features. The hair was frizzled, and dressed into long pipe-like ringlets, smeared sometimes with ochre, sometimes left of its natural black colour; others had wigs not to be distinguished from the natural hair, till closely examined. The septum narium was bored, but there was seldom anything worn in it. Most of their ears were pierced all round with small holes, in which pieces of grass were stuck, and in many the lobe was torn and hanging down to the shoulder. Their only scars were the faint oval marks on the shoulder. The hair of their bodies and limbs grew in small tufts, giving the skin a slightly woolly appearance. They were entirely naked, but frequently wore ornaments made of mother-of-pearl shells, either circular or crescent-shaped, hanging round their necks. Occasionally, also, we saw a part of a large shell, apparently a cassis, cut into a projecting shield-shape, worn in front of the groin. The women wore a petticoat round the waist, reaching nearly to the knees, formed of strips of leaves sewn on to a girdle. These formed a very efficient covering, as one or two were worn over each other. The grown-up woman’s petticoat, or nessoor, was formed, we afterwards found, of the inside part of the large leaves of a bulbous-rooted plant, called by them teggaer, of which, each strip was an inch broad. The girl’s nessoor was made of much narrower strips from the inside of the leaf of the plantain, which they called cabbow.

“The younger women were often gracefully formed, with pleasing expressions of countenance, though not what we should consider handsome features. The girls had their hair rather long, but the women had almost all their hair cut short, with a bushy ridge over the top, to which they, singularly enough, gave the same name as to pieces of tortoise-shells, namely, kaisu. Many of the elder women had their heads shaved quite smoothly, and we never saw a woman wearing a wig, or with the long ringlets of the men. At our first landing, all the younger women and girls kept in the back-ground, or hid themselves in the bush. On strolling to the back of the huts, we found a small native path, along which we went a short distance till we came to a rude fence in front of a plantain-ground, where the men objected to our going further, and we heard the voices of the women among the trees beyond.

“There were four huts at this spot, all bee-hive shaped, sixteen feet in diameter, and as much in height. They stood in small court-yards, partially surrounded by fences formed of poles of bamboo, stuck upright in the ground, close together, and connected by horizontal rails, to which they were tied by withies. Inside the huts were small platforms covered with mats, apparently bed-places; and over head were hung up bows and arrows, clubs, calabashes, rolls of matting, and bundles apparently containing bones, which they did not like our examining. Outside the huts were one or two small open sheds, consisting merely of a raised flat roof, to sit under in the shade, and a grove of very fine cocoa-nut trees surrounded the houses.”

The arms of the natives were the bow and arrow, and in holding the former, especial care was taken that the part of the wood which was uppermost as the tree grew, should be uppermost when used as a weapon. Rough imitations of the human figure were common; but whether they served as idols or not was uncertain. The use of tobacco was general. On the part of the females, the reserve and decorum of manner formed a striking contrast with the very different habits of the Polynesians.

B. _The Australians._--These are taken from life; two natives of the parts about Cape York having been taken up in an English vessel and brought with it to England. They passed a fortnight under the same roof with Mr. Thomson, and were well observed by both the artists engaged on the figures, and the present writer. The thinness of the legs is by no means exaggerated. It is just what the plates of Dr. Prichard’s “Varieties of Man” make it. On the other hand, the chest was well developed, and the arms comparatively--though only comparatively--strong. They told the story of their being on board the ship that brought them over, in dumb show, but they told it in a way that the most consummate professional actor might admire. But this was about all the talent they showed.

They ran neither faster nor slower than the Englishman they came in contact with; but swam as adepts. By no means insensible to such kindnesses as they received, they evinced quite as much kindness to their English house-mates as they did to one another. So silent, indeed, were they, that until we took a vocabulary of their language, we thought that they belonged to two different tribes who had carried their hostility with them across the Pacific, and nourished it in Sydenham. Smoking, or rather swallowing smoke, was their chief delight.

Tom, the livelier and less saturnine of the two, has a throwing-stick in his hand, which he is about to project.

In the group of two he re-appears. When Dick, the gloomier, had a headache, Tom could scarcely be withheld from scarifying his temples with such pieces of glass or flint as he could pick up.

Dick and Tom are Northern Australians--Northern Australians from the parts about Cape York.

Observe the points of difference and likeness between them and the Louisiade Papuans. As both are dark-skinned, they have been dealt with as branches of one and the same family; for which a name (or rather a pair of names) derived from the Greek has been applied--_Melanesian_ and _Kelnonesian_. _Nesos_ means _island_; _kelnos, dark_; _melas (melan-os), black_. The latter compound is the better. They are certainly dark coloured; and it is equally certain that both New Guinea and Australia are islands. The exact relationship, however, is less certain. Nevertheless, the name _Kelnonesian_ is adopted.

It has been said that the Papuan contrasts favourably with the Australian; the latter being the better known of the two.

The differences between the different Australian languages have long been known and definitely insisted upon.

Less marked differences in frame and physiognomy between the different Australian tribes, have also been long known and definitely insisted upon.

Differences of customs and manners have been similarly noticed and considered. Notwithstanding all this, however, there is no opinion more generally admitted than the fundamental unity of the Australian population from Swan River to Botany Bay, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Bass’s Straits. Captain Grey, Schurman, Teichelman, and all who have devoted average attention to the language, have given their evidence to this; and they have supplied facts of various kinds, of their own collection, towards the proof of it. No man is less inclined to disturb this view than the present writer.

As to the physical conformation of the Australians, I believe that it is so uniform throughout the island, that it has never been made the basis of a division;--indeed I am inclined to believe that the _similarity_ of external appearance has been over-rated; nevertheless, it is certain that there are deviations from the general slim and underfed condition of the body; and (which is of more importance), from the usual straight character of the hair. Such is the case, according to Mr. Earl, with the trepang fishers of Arnhem Bay. Then as to the hair--with the Jaako, or Croker Island tribe, it is coarse and bushy (the whiskers being thick, and curly) and so short, crisp, and abundant about the breast and shoulders as to conceal the skin; whereas, on the other hand, the Oitbo, or Bidjenelumbo, have straight silky hair, arched eyebrows, fair complexion, and occasionally the oblique eye.

The lowest form of humanity has been sought for in Australia, whilst the physical condition of the country and the absence of those animals and herbs that supply human food, have made it a likely quarter to exhibit it. Whether, however, so low a rank in the scale of human development be, upon the whole, a fact or exaggeration, it is certain that, upon several points, there has been considerable over-statement. One sample of this sort is the accredited opinion as to the absolute incapacity of the Australian of forming even the rudest elements of a mythology--an opinion which engenders the notion that their intellects are too sluggish for even the evolution of a superstition.

That this was not the case was indicated some years back by Captain Grey, and that there is _some_ exponent of the religious feeling in the shape of a rude form of shamanism, has been shown in the account of the American Exploring Expedition; where the first published details of the Australian mythology, if so it may be called, are to be found:--“It is not true, however, as has been frequently asserted, that the natives have no idea of a Supreme Being, although they do not allow this idea to influence their actions. The Wellington tribes, at least, believe in the existence of a Deity called _Baiamai_, who lives on an island beyond the great sea to the East. His food is fish, which come up to him from the water when he calls them. Some of the natives consider him the maker of all things, while others attribute the creation of the world to his son _Burambin_. They say of him, that _Baiamai_ spoke, and _Burambin_ came into existence. When the missionaries first came to Wellington, the natives used to assemble once a year, in the month of February, to dance and sing a song in honour of _Baiamai_. This song was brought there from a distance by strange natives, who went about teaching it. Those who refused to join in the ceremony were supposed to incur the displeasure of the god. For the last three years the custom has been discontinued. In the tribe on Hunter’s River, there was a native famous for the composition of these songs or hymns; which, according to Mr. Threlkeld, were passed from tribe to tribe, to a great distance, till many of the words became at last unintelligible to those who sang them.

“_Dararwirgal_, a brother of _Baiamai_, lives in the far west. It was he who lately sent the small-pox among the natives, for no better reason than that he was vexed for want of a tomahawk. But now he is supposed to have obtained one, and the disease will come no more. The _Bálumbal_ are a sort of angels, who are said to be of a white colour, and to live on a mountain at a great distance to the south-east: their food is honey, and their employment is to do good ‘like the Missionaries.’

“It is possible that some of these stories owe their origin to intercourse with the whites, though the great unwillingness which the natives always evince to adopt any customs or opinions from them, militates against such a supposition. But a being who is, beyond question, entirely the creation of Australian imagination, is one who is called in the Wellington dialect, _Wandong_; though the natives have learned from the whites to apply to him the name of devil. He is an object not of worship, but merely of superstitious dread. They describe him as going about under the form of a black man of superhuman stature and strength. He prowls at night through the woods around the encampments of the natives, seeking to entrap some unwary wanderer, whom he will seize upon; and, having dragged him to his fire, will there roast and devour him. They attribute all their afflictions to his malevolence. If they are ill, they say _Wandong_ has bitten them. No one can see this being but the _nújargir_, or conjurors, who assert that they can kill him, but that he always returns to life. He may, however, be frightened away by throwing fire at him (though this statement seems inconsistent with that respecting his invisibility), and no native will go out at night without a firebrand to protect him from the demon.

“There is some difference in the accounts given of this character. By the tribe of Hunter’s River he is called _Koin_ or _Koen_. Sometimes, when the Blacks are asleep, he makes his appearance, seizes upon one of them and carries him off. The person seized endeavours in vain to cry out, being almost strangled. At daylight, however, _Koin_ disappears, and the man finds himself conveyed safely to his own fireside. From this it would appear that the demon is here a sort of personification of the nightmare,--a visitation to which the natives, from their habits of gorging themselves to the utmost when they obtain a supply of food, must be very subject.

“At the _Muruya_ River the devil is called _Túlugal_. He was described to us, by a native, as a black man of great stature, grizzled with age, who has very long legs, so that he soon overtakes a man; but very short arms, which brings the contest nearer an equality. This goblin has a wife who is much like himself; but still more feared, being of a cruel disposition, with a cannibal appetite, especially for young children. It would hardly be worth while to dwell upon these superstitions, but they seem to characterise so distinctly the people, at once timid, ferocious, and stupid, who have invented them.

“Their opinions with regard to the soul vary: some assert that the whole man dies at once, and nothing is left of him; others are of opinion that his spirit still survives, but upon this earth, either as a wandering ghost, or in a state of _metempsychosis_, animating a bird or other inferior creature. But the most singular belief is one which is found at both Port Stephens and Swan River, places separated by the whole breadth of the Australian continent. This is, that white people are merely blacks who have died, passed to a distant country, and having there undergone a transformation, have returned to their original homes. When the natives see a white man who strongly resembles one of their deceased friends, they give him the name of the dead person, and consider him to be actually the same being.”

It is difficult to take an exact measure of the extent to which one superstition is grosser than another;--hence, all that can be said respecting the Pantheon, of which _Baiamai_ and _Wandong_ are portions, is that it is as low in the scale of mythologies as any that has fallen under the notice of the writer.

_Incomplete Numeration of the Australians._--The import of an Australian having no more than the three, four, or five first numerals, and being thereby as unable to count the number of the fingers of his hands, as that of the hair of his head, is less equivocal. It speaks, at once, to a _minimum_ amount of intellectual power. Nevertheless, the same inability occurs elsewhere; especially in certain languages of South America. The only vocabulary of Australia where the numerals run beyond five, is that of King George’s Sound, as given in Mitchell’s Australia.

The political constitution (if so it may be called) of the Australians is preeminently simple, exhibiting a society of families rather than of tribes; and of the facts connected with the evidence in favour of the unity of the Australian division of mankind is the remarkable distribution of families bearing the same name. The principal of these are the Ballaroke, the Tdondarup, the Ngotok, the Nagarnook, the Nogonyuk, the Mongalung, and the Narrangar. Now, persons bearing one or other of these names, may be found in parts of the country five hundred miles apart. Nor does this appear to be the effect of migration, since each tribe is limited by the jealousy of its neighbours to its own hunting-ground, beyond which it seldom passes.

Polygamy in Australia is what we find, and expect to find. The practice of circumcision is what we find, perhaps, without expecting it. The habit of the children taking the name of the mother, will occur again in the south of India. The rule that a man cannot marry a woman of his own family-name will also re-appear, and that amongst the Indians of North America.

_The Kobong._--“Each family among the Australians adopts some animal or plant, as a kind of badge or armorial emblem, or, as they call it, its _kobong_. A certain mysterious connection exists between a family and its kobong, so that a member of the family will not kill an animal, or pluck any plant of the species to which his kobong belongs, except under particular circumstances. This institution again, which in some respects resembles the Polynesian _tabú_, though founded on a different principle, has its counterpart in the customs of the native Americans. Captain Gray observes, citing Mr. Gallatin, that among the Hurons, the first tribe is that of the bear; the two others, those of the wolf and turtle. The Iroquois have the same divisions, and the turtle family is divided into the great and little turtle. The Sioux are named on a similar principle. According to Major Long, one part of the superstitions of these savages consists in each man having some totem, or favourite spirit, which he believes to watch over him. The totem assumes the shape of some beast, and therefore they never kill or eat the animal whose form they suppose their totem to bear.”

_The ceremony of initiation._--“When the boys arrive at the age of puberty (or about fourteen), the elders of a tribe prepare to initiate them into the duties and privileges of manhood. Suddenly, at night, a dismal cry is heard in the woods, which the boys are told is the _Bubu_ calling for them. Thereupon all the men of the tribe (or rather of the neighbourhood) set off for some secluded spot previously fixed upon, taking with them the youths who are to undergo the ceremony. The exact nature of this is not known, except that it consists of superstitious rites, of dances representing the various pursuits in which men are engaged, of sham fights, and trials designed to prove the self-possession, courage, and endurance of the neophytes. It is certain, however, that there is some variation in the details of the ceremony, in different places; for among the coast tribes, one of these is the knocking out of an upper front tooth, which is not done at Wellington, and farther in the interior. But the nature and object of the institution appear to be everywhere the same. Its design unquestionably is, to imprint upon the mind of the young man the rules by which his future life is to be regulated; and some of these are so striking, and, under the circumstances, so admirable, that one is inclined to ascribe them to some higher state of mental cultivation than now prevails among the natives. Thus, the young men, from the time they are initiated, till they are married, are forbidden to approach or speak to a female. They must encamp at a distance from them at night, and if they see one in the way, must make a long detour to avoid her. Mr. Watson told me that he had often been put to great inconvenience in travelling through the woods, with a young man for his guide, as such a one could never be induced to approach an encampment where there were any women. The moral intent of this regulation is evident.

“Another rule requires the young men to pay implicit obedience to their elders. As there is no distinction of rank among them, it is evident that some authority of this kind is required, to preserve the order and harmony of social intercourse.

“A third regulation restricts the youth to certain articles of diet. They are not allowed to eat fish, or eggs, or the _emu_, or any of the finer kinds of opossum and kangaroo. In short, their fare is required to be of the coarsest and most meagre description. As they grow older, the restrictions are removed, one after another; but it is not till they have passed the period of middle age that they are entirely unrestrained in the choice of food. Whether one purpose of this law be to accustom the young men to a hardy and simple style of living may be doubted; but its prime objects and its result certainly are to prevent the young men from possessing themselves, by their superior strength and agility, of all the more desirable articles of food, and leaving only the refuse to the elders.

“The ceremony of marriage, which, amongst most nations, is considered so important and interesting, is with this people one of the least regarded. The woman is looked upon as an article of property, and is sold or given away by her relatives without the slightest consideration of her own pleasure. In some cases she is betrothed, or rather promised, to her future husband in the childhood of both; and in this case, as soon as they arrive at a proper age, the young man claims and receives her. Some of them have four or five wives, and in such a case, they will give one to a friend who may happen to be destitute. Notwithstanding this apparent laxity, they are very jealous, and resent any freedom taken with their wives. Most of their quarrels relate to women. In some cases, the husband who suspects another native of seducing his wife either kills or severely injures one or both of them. Sometimes the affair is taken up by the tribe, who inflict punishment after their own fashion. The manner of this is another of the singularities of their social system.

“When a native, for any transgression, incurs the displeasure of his tribe, their custom obliges him to ‘stand punishment,’ as it is called; that is, he stands with a shield, at a fair distance, while the whole tribe, either simultaneously or in rapid succession, cast their spears at him. Their expertness generally enables those who are exposed to this trial to escape without serious injury, though instances occasionally happen of a fatal result. There is a certain propriety even in this extraordinary punishment, as it is very evident that the accuracy and force with which the weapons are thrown will depend very much upon the opinion entertained of the enormity of the offence.

“When the quarrel is between two persons only, and the tribe declines to interfere, it is sometimes settled by a singular kind of _duello_. The parties meet in presence of their kindred and friends, who form a circle round them as witnesses and umpires. They stand up opposite one another, armed each with a club about two feet long. The injured person has the right of striking the first blow, to receive which the other is obliged to extend his head forward, with the side turned partially upwards. The blow is inflicted with a force commensurate with the vindictive feeling of the avenger. A white man, with an ordinary cranium, would be killed outright, but, owing to the great thickness of their skulls, this seldom happens with the natives. The challenged party now takes his turn to strike, and the other is obliged to place himself in the same posture of convenience. In this way the combat is continued; with alternate buffets, until one of them is stunned, or the expiation is considered satisfactory.

“What are called wars among them may more properly be considered duels (if this word may be so applied) between two parties of men. One or more natives of a certain part of the country, considering themselves aggrieved by the acts of others in another part, assemble their neighbours to consult with them concerning the proper course to be pursued. The general opinion having been declared for war, a messenger or ambassador is sent to announce their intention to the opposite party. These immediately assemble their friends and neighbours, and all prepare for the approaching contest. In some cases, the day is fixed by the messenger, in others not; but, at all events, the time is well understood.

“The two armies (usually from fifty to two hundred each) meet, and after a great deal of mutual vituperation, the combat commences. From their singular dexterity in avoiding or parrying the missiles of their adversaries, the engagement usually continues a long time without any fatal result. When a man is killed (and sometimes before), a cessation takes place; another scene of recrimination, abuse, and explanation ensues, and the affair commonly terminates. All hostility is at an end, and the two parties mix amicably together, bury the dead, and join in a general dance.

“One cause of hostility among them, both public and private, is the absurd idea which they entertain, that no person dies a natural death. If a man perishes of disease, at a distance from his friends, his death is supposed to have been caused by some sorcerer of another tribe, whose life must be taken for satisfaction. If, on the other hand, he dies among his kindred, the nearest relative is held responsible. A native of the tribe at Hunter’s River, who served me as a guide, had not long before beaten his own mother nearly to death, in revenge for the loss of his brother, who died while under her care. This was not because he had any suspicions of her conduct, but merely in obedience to the requirements of a senseless custom.”

Another fact connected with the decease of an Australian deserves notice. When one of them dies, those words which are identical with his name, or, in the case of compounds, with any part of it, cease to be used; and some synonym is adopted instead; just as if, in England, whenever a Mr. _Smith_ departed this life, the parish to which he belonged should cease to talk of _blacksmiths_, and say _forgemen_, _forgers_, or something equally respectful to the deceased, instead. This custom reappears in Polynesia, and in South America; Dobrizhoffer’s account of the Apibonian custom being as follows:--“The Abiponian language is involved in new difficulties by a ridiculous custom which the savages have of continually abolishing words common to the whole nation, and substituting new ones in their stead. Funeral rites are the origin of this custom. The Abipones do not like that anything should remain to remind them of the dead. Hence appellative words bearing any affinity with the names of the deceased are presently abolished. During the first years that I spent among the Abipones, it was usual to say _Hegmalkam kahamátek_, when will there be a slaughtering of oxen? On account of the death of some Abipon, the word _Kahamátek_ was interdicted, and, in its stead, they were all commanded by the voice of a crier to say, _Hemalkam négerkatà_? The word _Nihirenak_, a tiger, was exchanged for _Apanigehak_; _Peú_, a crocodile, for _Kaeprhak_, and _Kaáma_, Spaniards, for _Rikil_, because these words bore some resemblance to the names of Abipones lately deceased. Hence it is that our vocabularies are so full of blots occasioned by our having such frequent occasions to obliterate interdicted words, and insert new ones.”

GROUP VI.

DANAKIL AND NEGRO OF THE EASTERN COAST OF AFRICA (THE DANAKIL
LIGHT-COLOURED); FROM THE PARTS BETWEEN THE ENTRANCE TO THE RED SEA
AND THE HIGHLANDS OF SOUTHERN ABYSSINIA.

Attention is directed to the Danakil figures. They are African; but they are not negro. They are Africans from one of the very hottest parts. They are other than negro, nevertheless. Their hair is longer than the negro’s; their lips thinner; their colour lighter; their nose more aquiline. Travellers who have been struck by their appearance have called them _Caucasians_, by which they mean that they approach the European type. Others have compared them with the Arabs--others with the Jews; and this has led them further. The coasts of Arabia are not far off; so why should there not be Arab blood amongst them? This has more than once been assumed. The assumption, however, is unnecessary--nay, it is incorrect. The negro of the next group--the negro from the Delta of the Niger, the negro in his most extreme form--is not more truly indigenous and aboriginal to the soil of Africa than are these Danakil; who are not only Africans, in the strictest sense of the term, but also members of a large family, falling into divisions and subdivisions. So far are they from being exceptional, or in any respect peculiar.

The other members of this family are (_a_) the Somauli, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, about Cape Guardafui and (_b_) the Gallas, or Ilmorma, a pastoral people spread over a vast area to the south of Abyssinia, and who so encroach upon that country that they are in a fair way of reducing it altogether.

The Gallas, like the Danakil, and the Danakil, like the Somauli and Gallas, are a pastoral people--pastoral, locomotive, wild, and intractable--with manners that remind us of the Arab of Asia, the Kaffre of Southern Africa, or of the Berber of the Desert of Sahara; and it is these whom they resemble, more or less closely, in their forms--more or less closely in their social constitution. Like all such populations, they fall into numerous tribes, each under the influence of their chief; with the spirit of blood, or pedigree, running strong amongst them. Every man belongs to his tribe, or class, and is proud of being attached to it. Of the Danakil alone, more than fifty of these tribual divisions are known by name.

In respect to creed the Danakil are what the neighbourhood of Arabia leads us to expect, Mahometans, more or less incompletely converted; and this is the general rule for the eastern coast of Africa--the _coast_, but not the interior. In the interior we get amongst pagans. On the other hand, Abyssinia and some of the parts about it are Christian. Dr. Beke considered that he found traces of a corrupt and displaced Christianity among the Gallas.

The fact of the neighbourhood of Arabia having determined a large portion of the eastern coast of Africa to Mahometanism explains the meaning of the words _Kaffre_, and _Caffraria_, or _Kafferland_. _Kaffre_, in the mouth of an Arab, means _Infidel_. It means _Infidel_ not only in the mouth of an Arab, but in that of any Mahometan. In different languages it takes different forms, and is applied to different populations. In Persia it expressed the old _Fire-worshippers_, since _Guebre_ is but another form of it. In Cabul it denotes the occupants of a district to the north of Peshawur, wherein the natives still reject Mahometanism, and, so doing, are _Kafirs_, their country being _Kaferistan_. In Turkey it generally means a Christian--since _Giaour_ is neither more nor less than _Kafir_ in the mouth of a Turk.

But to return to Eastern Africa. Where the Arab influence ceases, the land of the _Kaffres_ begins.

Of these Kaffres more may be seen in group VII.

The black figure (modelled from life) is evidently more negro than aught else. The hair is crisp, to say the least of it, and the skin black; the open and patulous character of the nostrils, and their lateral position, claim attention. They are by no means exaggerated.

The youth from whom the figure was taken belonged to the Msegurra tribe; of which I can only state that it is an occupant of some part of the back of the coast of Zanzibar, or Mozambique.

The present group prepares us for a Kaffre; let it also prepare us for a negro one. That all Africans are not negroes may be seen from the figures before us. The negro form is by no means universal--not even in the hottest parts of Africa--not even between the tropics: it is only in the lower levels that the true negro is to be found. Look for him amongst the high pastures of the mountains, look for him even on the hot but arid plateaus of the desert, and you search in vain. Tribes with dark skins you may find, tribes with hair more or less wavy, or frizzly, tribes with features heavy, massive, and coarse--but the true and typical negro, with his short woolly hair, and his thick projecting lips you will not find. Wherever he is the occupant, the soil is alluvial, and the heat of the atmosphere is combined with moisture. Wherever the land gets high and dry, the inhabitant is brown rather than black, and long-haired rather than frizzly headed. His features, too, become more prominent.

GROUP VII.

NEGROES,--2. LIGHT-COLOURED. FROM THE LOWER NIGER.

In the Delta of the Niger we find the best opportunity for contrasting the negro with the European, the black man with the white; inasmuch as it is in the Delta of the Niger where the points wherein the African differs from the rest of the world are found in the most marked form. The climate is tropical (well nigh equatorial), the soil swampy and alluvial, the atmosphere surcharged with damp warm vapours. Under these conditions the negro is found in his most extreme form. Let us ask what it is. In the true and typical negro (the negro from whom the current notions of the black man are derived), over and above the colour of the skin, there is a woolly, cottony, or frizzy head of hair, there is a yellow tinge over the white of the eye (the sclerotica), and there are thick lips, with a projecting mouth--a muzzle rather than a mouth, in its more exaggerated form. This is because the teeth are set obliquely, _i. e._ they slant somewhat forward. Then there is the forehead, which is described as being narrow, and retiring, and receding, or sloping backwards. There is some exaggeration in this, though upon the whole the negro character is well marked; the hair, the skin, and the lips, being the chief points. To the notice of these it should be added that the nose is generally flat and depressed, with the nostrils _thrown out_, so to say, sideways. Rarely, very rarely indeed, is the bridge sufficiently curved to give what is called the _Roman_ or _aquiline_ nose; whilst it is almost as rare to find a Grecian one, _i. e._ one where the nasal bones are raised but straight. Then there is the proportion which the different parts of the face bear to each other. A [34]German writer of eminence as a naturalist, has lately been taking measurements from amongst the negroes of Brazil, and states that instead of the parts between the chin and nose (the nasal portion of the face), and the forehead forming a third, each, of the whole physiognomy, the forehead forms _less_ than a third, the nasal part more than the forehead, and the chin, &c. more than the nasal; in other words, the lower we go the greater the mass of the several parts of the face, and the nearer we approach the brain, the smaller. I can neither verify nor deny this statement.

[34] Burmeister--_The Black Man_, a pamphlet.

Other points, more or less characteristic, real or supposed, are to be found in the relations of the limbs to the trunk--the former being longer in proportion to the latter than is usual with Europeans.

It is more important, however, to investigate the amount of difference indicated by the difference of colour, and to do this we must look to the structure of the skin. The structure of the negro’s skin differs from that of the white man in degree only, the one containing much, the other but little colouring matter; this colouring matter being deposited in a particular layer, called the _mucous layer_, the _stratum Malpighii_, or the _rete mucosum_. The character of this _mucous layer_, or _rete mucosum_, is well given in the forthcoming plates, which, along with the description, is taken from [35]Kölliker’s Manual. It differs in some degree from the one which occurs in the ordinary works on Ethnology.

[35] Translated by Messrs. Busk and Huxley for the Sydenham Society.

The external integument of all men alike consists of the _cutis_ or true skin, and the _epidermis_, or scarf-skin, the latter consisting of cells only, the former of cells, vessels and nerves.

As far as the _cutis_ is concerned, the blackest and whitest of mankind are alike; so that it is in the scarf-skin or _epidermis_ that the difference lies. This consists of two layers, an external and an internal.

The internal layer is the _rete mucosum_. It lies immediately upon the true skin, and consists solely and wholly of cells, being equally destitute of vessels and nerves. Here begin the first discrepancies in the opinion of writers. Some deny that it belongs to the epidermis, looking upon it as a separate substantive tissue, neither skin nor scarf-skin, but intermediate to the two. Others find it only in the coloured families of mankind. It occurs, however, universally; being of a yellowish-white colour in Europeans, and dark brown or black in negroes, Indians, and the so-called dark races. Hence, the real difference is not in the existence of an additional tissue, but in a greater amount of colouring matter. Similar in respect to the two layers of their cutis, similar in respect to the two layers of their epidermis, the black man and the white differ in the extent to which the second layer of the scarf-skin is charged with a black deposit.

The accompanying figure represents a section through the skin and scarf-skin of the ball of the thumb; wherein _a_ is the outer layer of the epidermis; _b_, the inner, or _rete mucosum_; _c_, and _d_, the cutis; _e_, glands, ducts, &c.

The next gives us the epidermis only--_a_, being the outer; _b_, the inner layer (_rete mucosum_;) _c_, the cutis, to the outline of which the _rete mucosum_ adapts itself.

It is in the deepest parts of the inner layer, in the parts more immediately in contact with the true skin, that the most colouring matter is accumulated. Hence, the horny, or outer part of the epidermis is white or yellowish, all the world over. A blister, in popular language, _raises the skin_; in reality, it only raises the outer layer of the epidermis. Now blisters rise equally _white_ with the African and with the European.

It is not until after birth that the colouring matter of the second layer of the scarf-skin becomes deposited. A negro child is born of somewhat deeper red colour than an European, but he is not born black. The edges of the nails and the nipple of the breast darken first; the body having darkened by the third day, there or thereabouts.

As the hue of the skin attains its deepest tinge with the groupe before us, the structure that exhibits it has been enlarged upon.

What is the moral and social state of these negroes of the Delta of the Niger? what their habits, customs, and creeds?

We cannot follow the account of any observer for these parts, without discovering that, overpowering as is the heat, and swampy as is the ground, unfavourable, in one word, as are the conditions of soil and climate, the whole of the low country represented by the groupe before us teems with human life; neither is there the absence of human industry. We first hear of villages of from twenty to thirty, from thirty to forty, from fifty to seventy huts; to each of which we may give, upon an average, some six occupants. Then there are large towns like Iboh and Iddah, wherein the inhabitants are counted by the thousand; where there are regular market-days, and where there is a king with his court, such as it is. It is with these kings that the treaties have to be made against the slave-trade, these kings who, as in the late case at Lagos, have disputes as to the “succession”; these kings who give licenses to trade, and who make the access to the interior part of the country practicable or the contrary. There are kings and viceroys--viceroys with kings over them, so that there is a sort of feudal chain of vassalage and sovereignty. King Emmery, for instance, was, at the time of the Niger Expedition, the chief of a village on the river Nun, himself being a subject to King Boy of Brass Town. Then there is the kingdom of Iddah, with its subordinate kingships, whilst Kakanda and Egga are the dependencies of a really consolidated monarchy at Sakkatu.

At best, however, the African monarch, except in the Mahometan kingdoms, is but a sorry potentate; a drunken, sensual, slave-dealing polygamist. When Drs. McWilliam and Stanger visited this same King Emmery, his dress was a uniform coatee that had belonged to a drummer[36] in some English regiment, a plain black hat, and a blue cotton handkerchief for the lower man--a blue cotton handkerchief for drawers, trowsers and stockings, collectively; the dress of the ordinary natives being limited to a simple shirt, with a cloth round the middle. In this we get one of the measures of the amount of English influence and trade.

[36] A drummer’s uniform is a favourite dress elsewhere. In the
Ethnological Museum at Copenhagen, Professor Thompson can show no
marriage-garment for a _male_ Esquimaux, although of female
wedding-gear, and that a truly native and characteristic kind, he has
abundance. But there are no male equivalents. The reason of this lies
in the fact of a Danish Drummer’s dress having been left as a sort of
general property to the community, to be lent or hired, as the case
may be whenever a marriage ceremony takes place, to the utter
obliteration of the old costume, and with a great disregard to fit.

The huts are of clay, arranged in squares rather than in rows, and when the soil is low and liable to be flooded, they are raised some feet from the ground on a foundation of wooden pillars, in which case a ladder leads to the principal opening. The King’s palace is an assemblage of such huts; a miniature town; one side of the square which they form being the “women’s quarters.” Here reside the numerous wives, half-wives, and ex-wives of the sovereign, the number of which is always considerable, since the rank of the man regulates it. The following table gives us, in the first column, the names of the different members of the Court of King Obi of Iboh in 1840; in the others, their age, and the numbers of their wives and families--

+----------------------------------+----+-----------+-----------+
| | | WIVES. | CHILDREN. |
| | +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | Liv-| | Liv-| |
| |Age.| ing.|Dead.| ing.|Dead.|
| +----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|1. Ajeh, king’s brother | 40 | 80 | 40 | un- | un- |
| | | | | cer-| cer-|
| | | | |tain.|tain.|
|2. Amorara, judge and king’s mouth| 40 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
|3. Ozama, headman | 35 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
|4. Omenibo, headman | 32 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
|5. Amebak, headman | 28 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
|6. Magog, bugler | 34 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
|7. Ambili, headman | 35 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
|8. Ogrou, headman | 30 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
|9. Obi, king | 44 | 110 | uncertain. |
+----------------------------------+----+-----+-----------------+

Let us see something more of this female quarter, which, in the negro parts of Africa, presents a social scene, in the way of barbarism, which the harems of Asia--bad as they are--far fall short of. Obi’s establishment was seen to advantage; for his wives were amused at the faces and dresses of the Europeans who visited their lord and master, and they flocked in swarms to laugh at them. Their mirth then “brought[37] out about twenty damsels of more mature age, who were superannuated wives, permitted to live within the precincts of the palace.” What will be the ultimate fate of these old and young, active and superannuate? Even this--that when the king dies, they will be sacrificed to his manes.

[37] Dr. McWilliam--Medical History of the Niger Expedition.

This practice is common throughout the districts under notice. At Old Calabar, the south-eastern angle of the Delta, the death of a well-known chief or caboceer,[38] named Ephraim, caused the death of some hundreds of men, women, and children who were immolated at his burial--decapitation, burning alive, and the administration of the poison-nut, being the methods resorted to for terminating their existence.

[38] From the Portuguese _Cabocero--Captain_.

Again, when King Eyeo, father of the present Chief of Creek Town, died, an eyewitness, who had only arrived just after the completion of the funeral rites, informed me that a large pit had been dug, in which several of the deceased’s wives were bound and thrown in, until a certain number had been procured; the earth was then thrown over them, and so great was the agony of these victims, that the ground for several minutes was agitated with their convulsive throes. So fearful, in former times, was the observance of this barbarous custom, that many towns narrowly escaped depopulation.[39]

[39] Dr. Daniell on the Natives of Old Calabar, “Transactions of the
Ethnological Society.”

The savage character of the negro warfare is on a level with such practices as these--the slave trade being the chief incentive to them. When these take place, and when the burial-place of a king is known to the enemy, they rifle his grave for his remains; and having obtained his scull, keep it as a trophy. For this reason the tombs of royalty are kept concealed.

But there is another peculiarity. In more than one part of the western coast, the woman serves as a soldier, or even as a captain. In Akkim, on the Gold Coast, the notice of a female _colonel_, when first made, excited as much incredulity as surprise. The fact, nevertheless, has been confirmed by respectable testimony, by Mr. Duncan, and Captain Forbes, more especially; inasmuch as in the kingdom of Dahomey, there is a whole regiment consisting exclusively of females--a large proportion being the ex-wives of the king. The following song, given on the authority of the last-named author, shows the temper and spirit of the unsexed Amazons:--

1.

“When Yoribah[40] said she could conquer Dahomey;
When we meet we’ll change their night into day;
Let the rain fall:
The season past, the river dries.
Yoribah and Dahomey!
Can two rams drink from one calabash?
The Yoribahs must have been drunk to say
Dahomey feared them,
They could conquer Dahomey.

2.

“There’s a difference between Gezo and a poor man;
There’s a difference between Gezo and a rich man.
If a rich man owned all,
Gezo would still be king.
All guns are not alike;
Some are long, some short, some thick, some thin.
The Yoribahs must be a drunken nation,
And thus we will dance before them.

3.

“Gezo is king of kings!
While Gezo lives we have nothing to fear.
Under him we are lions, not men.
Power emanates from the king.

4.

“Let all eyes behold the king!
There are not two but one--
One only, Gezo!
All nations have their customs,
But none so brilliant or enlightened,
As those of Dahomey.
People from far countries are here:
Behold all nations, white and black,
Send their ambassadors.

AMAZONS’ CHORUS.

“With these guns in our hands,
And powder in our cartouch-boxes,
What has the king to fear?
When we go to war, let the king dance,
While we bring him prisoners and heads.

GENERAL CHORUS.

“Let the king grant war speedily!
Do not let our energies be damped.
Fire cannot pass through water.
The king feeds us;
When we go to war.
Remember this!
“We are clothed and fed by Gezo;
In consequence, our hearts are glad.””

[40] A neighbouring kingdom on the East.

War and slavery engender each other; war leading to slavery, and slavery stimulating to war. And slavery takes three forms, all bad--bad, but one worse than the other two. This is the slavery of the _traders_. An expedition is undertaken against some neighbouring tribe, weak enough, or unprepared enough, to divest the attack of half its danger. Captives are taken, driven to the coast in groups, shut up in barracoons, and then sold for transportation to the new world. It is this form of slavery that engenders the miseries and atrocities of the middle passage.

The second form is that of simple domestic servitude, wherein the slave, although under constant compulsion, forms a part of his master’s family, and is ensured against removal from his native soil.

The third is like that of the _Nexi_ of ancient Rome, and occurs when a negro, in order to raise a particular sum of money, sells himself as a labourer for a certain period--pawns his body, so to say, or borrows money on himself.

The administration of justice is on the same low level as the other institutions; the punishments being cruel, and the rules of evidence barbarous.[41] Two methods, as may be expected, predominate, the ordeal and the torture. The commonest form of the latter is “what is called tying Guinea-fashion. In this the arms are closely drawn together behind the back, by means of a cord tied tightly round them, about midway between the elbows and shoulders. A piece of wood to act as a rack having been previously introduced, is then used so as to tighten the cord, and so intense is the agony, that one application is generally sufficient to occasion the wretch so tortured to confess to anything that is required of him.”

[41] From the United Service Journal, November, 1850.

Another form consists in “tying the head and hands, in such a way that by turning the body backwards, they may be drawn together by the cords employed. Another is securing the wrist or ankle to a block of wood by an iron staple. By means of a hammer any degree of pressure may thus be applied.”

The chief form of ordeal is, what is called on the Gold Coast, the _dhoom_ test, but which appears and reappears all along the intertropical parts of Western Africa. The _dhoom_ is a kind of wood with poisonous and emetic properties. The innocent man drinks and ejects it: the guilty one drinks and dies. In Old Calabar the seeds of an aquatic legume replace the _dhoom_ wood. Unless emetic, they are poisonous.

Partaking of the nature of the ordeal, as a means of investigation in criminal matters, is the application to priest, sorcerer, medicine-man, or _Fetish_-man; but as the principles of belief that this practice involves one illustrated in the Zulu group, we only make a passing allusion to it. The notice, too, of the festivals as connected with religion, will similarly stand over.

What applies to one of the negro populations of the western coast, applies, more or less, to all. There are, of course, differences, nevertheless the general character of the social and political institutions, of their habits and superstitions, is alike; so that the description of one tribe is the description of several others besides; the chief distinctions consist in the creeds. I do not mean by this that the particular form of the native and indigenous superstition is of much importance. They are all low and debasing, and even when an African form of faith aspires to the character of a mythology, it is a mythology of an unpoetical, unimaginative, and poverty-stricken character, never indicating much play of feeling, never any vigour or activity of imagination, never inspiring either art or poetry. Of such things we must not think here.

The difference I allude to, and which is one of practical and of ever increasing importance, is that between the Pagan and the Mahometan population, between those which hold to their original Fetishism, to their snake-worship and the like, and those who, having adopted the creed of Islam, are (whatever else they may be) at least, Monotheists.

The Mahometans of the African states must always be separated from the Pagans.

The negro districts of the western coast begin with the country of the _Wolofs_ or _Jolofs_, as far north as the southern border of the Desert, and the lower course of the river Senegal. There are no better-shaped negroes than these same _Wolofs_, for they are tall, well-made, active, and intelligent men; Pagans, however, according to their original creed, rather than Mahometans.

The _Sereres_ of Cape Verde, and the _Scrawoolli_ in the interior, are in the same predicament.

The _Mandingoes_, like the Wolofs, are negroes but not Pagans. They are amongst the first and foremost of the Mahometan negroes: but this applies only to the Mandingoes in the limited sense of the term--the Mandingoes of the Gambia. In the wider sense of the word, the great Mandingo class comprises more than twenty different populations, some of which are as Pagan as the most grovelling snake-worshippers of Dahomey.