CHAPTER II.
DEPENDENCIES IN AFRICA.
THE GAMBIA SETTLEMENTS.—SIERRA LEONE.—THE GOLD COAST.—THE CAPE.—THE MAURITIUS.—THE NEGROES OF AMERICA.
The Gambia.—All our settlements on the Gambia are in the Mandingo country.
Of all the true and unequivocal Negroes, the Mandingos are the most civilized; the basis of their civilization being Arab, and their religion that of the Koran. Hence, they have priests, or Marabouts, the use of the Arabic alphabet, and a monotheistic creed.
Of all the Negroes, too, the Mandingos are the most commercial, not as mere slave-dealers, but as truly industrial merchants.
Of all the families of the African stock, with the exception of the Kaffres, the Mandingo is the most widely spread. It also falls into numerous divisions and subdivisions. Hence the term has a twofold power. Sometimes it is a generic name for a large group; sometimes the designation of a particular section of that group. The[35] Mandingos of the Lower Gambia are Mandingos in the restricted meaning of the word.
For the Mandingo tribes, when we use the term in a general sense, the most convenient classification is into the Mahometan and the Pagan. That this division should exist is natural; since, with the exception of the Wolofs, the Mandingos are the most northern of all the western Negroes, and, consequently, those who are most in contact with the Mahometan Arabs, and the equally Mahometan Kabyles of Barbary and the Great Desert,—a fact sufficient to account for the monotheistic creeds of the northern tribes.
As for the Paganism of the others, we must remember how far southwards and inland the same great stock extends—indefinitely towards the interior, and as far as the back of the Ashanti country, in the direction of the equator.
This prepares us for finding Mandingos at our next settlement.
Sierra Leone.—The native populations which encircle this settlement are two—the Timmani towards the north, and Bullom towards the south.
Both are Negroes of the most typical kind, in respect to their physical conformation.
Both are Pagans.
Both speak what seem to be mutually unintelligible languages, but which have an undoubted[36] relationship to each other, and to the numerous Mandingo dialects as well. It is this which induces me to place them in the same section with the more civilized Africans of the Gambia.
It is safe to say that they are amongst the rudest members of the stock; indeed it is only in the eyes of the etymologist that they are Mandingo at all. Practically, they, and several tribes like them, are Mandingo, in the way that a wolf is a dog, or a goat a sheep.
The Bullom and Timmani are the frontagers to Sierra Leone; and it was with Bullom and Timmani potentates that the land of the settlement was bargained for. The settlers themselves are of different origin. Mixed beyond all other populations of Africa, the occupants of Free Town are in the same category with the Negroes of Jamaica and St. Domingo; concerning whom we can only predicate that they have dark skins, and that they come from Africa. The analysis of their several origins, and their distribution amongst the separate branches of the African family, would be one of the most difficult feats in minute ethnology; and this would be but a fraction of the investigation. When the several countries which supplied the several victims of the slave-trade had been ascertained, the complicated question of intermixture would stand over; and there we should find lineages of every degree of hybridism—children,[37] whose ancestors originated on different sides of Africa, themselves the parents of a lighter-coloured offspring, the effect of European intercourse.
At present it is sufficient to state that the nucleus of the Free Town population consists of what is called the Maroon Negroes. These were slaves of Jamaica, who, having recovered their freedom during the Spanish dominion in the island, were removed, by the English, in the first instance to Nova Scotia, and afterwards to their present locality.
Round this has collected an equally miscellaneous population of rescued slaves; and, besides these, there are immigrants, labourers, and barterers from all the neighbouring parts of the Continent—Krumen more especially.
A writer who, when we come to the Negroes of the Gold Coast, will be freely quoted, calls the Krumen the Scotchmen of Africa, since, with unusual industry, enterprise, and perseverance, they leave, without reluctance, their own country to push their fortunes wherever they can find a wider field. They are ready for any employment which may enable them to increase their means, and ensure a return to their own country in a state of improved prosperity. There the Kruman's ambition is to purchase one or two head of cattle, and one or two head of wives, to enjoy the[38] luxuries of rum and tobacco, and pass the remainder of his days as
"A gentleman of Africa who sits at home at ease."
Half the Africans that we see in Liverpool are Krumen, who have left their own country when young, and taken employment on board a ship, where they exhibit a natural aptitude for the sea. Without being nice as to the destination of the vessel in which they engage, they return home as soon as they can; and rarely or never contract matrimony before their return. In Cape Coast Town, as well as in Sierra Leone, they form a bachelor community—quiet and orderly; and in that respect stand in strong contrast to the other tribes around them. Besides which, with all their blackness, and all their typical Negro character, they are distinguishable from most other western Africans; having the advantage of them in make, features, and industry.
A Kruman is pre-eminently the free labourer of Africa. In the slave trade he has engaged less than any of his neighbours, attaches himself readily to the whites, and, in his native country, as well as in Sierra Leone, Coast Town, and other places of his temporary denizenship, is quick of perception and amenable to instruction. His language is the Grebo tongue, and it has been reduced to writing by the American missionaries[39] of Cape Palmas. It has decided affinities with those of the Mandingo tongues to the north, the Fanti dialects of the Gold Coast, and, in all probability, still closer ones with those of the Ivory coast. These last, however, are but imperfectly known; indeed, a single vocabulary of the Avekvom language, in the "American Oriental Journal," furnishes nine-tenths of our philological data for the parts between Cape Palmas and Cape Apollonia.
The best measure of the heterogeneousness of the Sierra Leone population is to be found in Mrs. Kilham's vocabularies. That lady collected, at Free Town, specimens of thirty-one African tongues, from Negroes then and there resident. Of these—
A. Eight belonged to the Mandingo group, viz., Mandingo Proper, Susu, Bambara, Kossa, Pessa, Kissi, Bullom, and Timmani.
B. Two were dialects of the Grebo (Kru): the Kru, and the Bassa.
C. Two were Fanti: the Fanti and the Ashanti, closely allied dialects.
D. Two were Dahoman: the Fot, and the Popo.
E. Two Benin: the Benin Proper, and the Moko, languages of a tract but little known.
F. One Wolof, from the Senegal.
G. Eight from the parts between the rivers[40] Formosa and Loango, viz., the Bongo, the Ako, the Ibu, the Rungo, the Akuonga, the Karaba, the Uobo, the Kouri.
H. One from the river Kongo, i.e., the Kongo properly so-called.
I. Two from the Lower Niger, but, still separated from the coast—the Tapua (Nufi) and Appa.
K. Three from the widely-spread nations of the interior—the Fulah, the Haussa, and the Bornu.
I do not say that all Mrs. Kilham's specimens represent mutually unintelligible tongues; probably they do not. At the same time, as several decidedly different languages are omitted, the list understates, rather than exaggerates, the number of the divisions and subdivisions of the western African populations, as inferred from the divisions and subdivisions of the language.
Thus, no samples are given of the—
1. Sereres.—Pastoral tribes about Cape Verde.
2. Serawolli.—On the Middle Senegal, different, in many respects, from the Sereres, the Wolofs, and the Fulahs; nations with which they are in geographical contact.
3. The Feloops.—Between the Gambia and Cacheo, along the coast.
4. The Papels.—South of the Cacheo; and also coastmen.[41]
5. The Balantes.—Coast-men to the south of the Papels.
6. The Bagnon.—Conterminous with the Feloops of the river Cacheo.
7. The Bissago.—Fierce occupants of the islands so-called.
8. The Naloos.—On the Nun and river Grande.
9. The Sapi.—Conterminous with the Naloo, and like all the preceding tribes, from the Feloops downwards, pre-eminently rude, fierce, intractable, and imperfectly known.
Southward, the unrepresented languages are equally numerous—especially for the Ivory Coast, and for the Delta of the Niger. Of these I shall only notice one—the Vey.
The settlement with which the tribes speaking the Vey language is in contact is one of which the tongue is English, but not the political relations. It is the American free Negro settlement of Liberia.
In the Vey language, it had been known for some time to the American missionaries, that there were written books, a fact not likely to be undervalued by those who felt warmly on the social and civilizational prospects of the coloured divisions of our species. One of these books was discovered by Lieutenant Forbes, of H.M.S. the Bonetta; local inquiry was further made by the Rev. W. S. Koelle; and the MS. was[42] critically analyzed by Mr. Norris, of the Asiatic Society.[12]
The phenomenon, if properly measured, is by no means a very significant one; since, although the Vey alphabet, the invention of a man now living, so far differs from the Mandingo, as to be spelt by the syllable rather than the letter, it is anything but an independent creation of the Negro brain. Doala Bukara, its composer, an imperfect Mahometan, had seen Mahometan books, and, although he was no Christian, had seen an English Bible also. He knew, then, what spelling or writing was. He knew, too, the phonetic analysis of the Mandingo, a tongue closely allied to his own. And this is nine parts out of ten in the so-called invention of alphabets.
The true claims of Doala, in this way, are those of the phonetic reformers in England, as compared with those of Toth or Cadmus—real but moderate. His own account of the matter, as he gave it to Mr. Koelle, was, that the fact of sounds being written, haunted him in a dream, wherein he was shown a series of signs adapted to his native tongue. These he forgot in the morning; but remembered the impression. So he consulted his friends; and they and he, laying their heads together, coined new ones. The king of the country made its introduction a matter of state, and built[43] a large house in Dshondu, as a day-school. But a war with the Guru people disturbed both the learners and teachers, so that the latter removed to Bandakoro, where all grown-up people, of both sexes, can now read and write.
This alphabet is a syllabarium.
The books written in it are essentially Mahometan; the Koran appearing in them much in the same way as the Bible appears in the more degenerate legends of the middle ages.
How far the Vey alphabet will be an instrument of civilization, is a difficult question. For my own part, I half regret its evolution; since the Arabic that served for the Mandingo, would have served for the Vey as well—or if not the Arabic, the English.
As a measure of African capacity it is of some value; and in this respect, it speaks for the Negro just as the Cherokee alphabet speaks for the American Indian. This latter was invented by a native named Sequoyah. Like Doala, he knew what reading was. Like Doala, too, he had a language adapted to a syllabarium. Hence, both the Vey and the Cherokee, the two latest coinages in the way of alphabets, are both syllabic.
We now move southwards to the—
Gold Coast Settlements.—The climate of Western Africa requires notice. It suits the native, but destroys the European. Of the two settlements,[44] already mentioned, the Gambia is the most deadly; though Sierra Leone has the worst name. Both are on the coast; both, consequently, on the lower courses of the rivers, and both on low levels. The import of these remarks applies to the Negroes of America. At present, it ushers in a brief notice of the climate of the Gold Coast; this district being chosen for the purpose of description because it makes the nearest approach to the equator of any English settlement in Africa. Consequently, it may serve as a typical sample of the malarious parts of the coast in question.
From April till August is the rainy season, which gradually passes into the dry; heavy fogs forming during the transition. These last till the end of September. Occasional showers, too, continue till November. Then the weather becomes really clear and dry, until, towards the end of January, the dry parching wind, called the Harmattan, sets in, with its over-stimulant action upon the human system, and clouds of penetrating impalpable sand. If this is not blowing, the atmosphere is loaded with moisture; and this it is, combined with the heat of an intertropical sun, and the effluvia engendered by the decay of an over-luxuriant vegetation, which makes Western Africa the white man's grave. Not that the soil, even on the coast, is always swampy and alluvial.[45] About Cape Coast it is rocky and undulating. Still, it is inordinately wooded, as well as full of spots where water accumulates and exhalations multiply. Yet the thermometer ranges between 78° and 86° Fahrenheit—a low maximum for the neighbourhood of the equator; a high one, however, to feel cold in. Nevertheless, such is the case. "From this peculiarity of the atmosphere, the sensations of an individual almost invariably indicate a degree of cold, especially when sitting in a room, or not taking bodily exercise; so that, to ensure a feeling of comfortable warmth, it becomes necessary to dress in a thicker material than what is usually considered best adapted for tropical wear, and to have a fire lighted in one's bedroom for some time before one retires to rest."[13]
The chief Africans of these parts—and we now approach the great officina servorum—alone tolerant of the heats, and droughts, and rains, and exhalations are—
1. The Fantis.
2. The Ghans.
3. The Avekvom (?)
A. The Fantis.—Of the true natives of the country these are the chief.
The term Fanti, like the term Mandingo, has a double sense—a general and a specific signification.[46]
The particular population of the parts about Cape Coast is Fanti in the limited sense of the term.
The great section of the Negro family, which comprises, besides the Fantis Proper, the Ashanti, Boroom, and several other populations, is Fanti in the wide sense of the term.
The Fanti, Ashanti, and Boroom forms of speech are merely dialects of one and the same language.
A great proportion of the vocabularies of "Bowdich's Ashanti" are the same.
So are the Fetu, Affotoo, and other vocabularies of the "Mithridates."
The inhabitants of the Native Town of Cape Coast, a mixed population of Krumen, Fantis, and Mulattoes, amounting to as many as 10,000, are no true specimens of the African of the Gold Coast. European influences have too long been at work on them. Before the town was English it was Dutch; and it was English as early as 1661.
More than this. It is not certain that their fathers' fathers were the exact aborigines; in other words, a tribe akin to, but slightly different from them, seems to have been the earlier possessors. These were the Fetu—the remains of which can doubtless be met with among the populations of the neighbourhood; since we find in the "Mithridates" a Fetu vocabulary and an Affotoo one as well.[47]
Now the Fantis that thus displaced the Fetu, were themselves fugitives from the conquering Ashantis; all, however, being the members of one stock, and the pressure being from the highlands of the interior towards the lowlands of the coast.
All three are truly Negro in conformation, and miserably Pagan in creed, the best measure of their political capacity being the organized kingdom of the Ashantis; and the lowest form of it, the system of clanships, chieftainships, or captainships of the proper Fantis of the coast. The details of these are of importance.
I cannot ascertain upon what principle those different divisions which are sometimes called tribes, sometimes clans, are formed; since it is by no means safe to assume that they necessarily consist of descendants from one common ancestor. The investigations concerning the tribes of ancient Rome show this.
It is easier to enumerate their external characteristics, and material elements of their union. In the Native Town there are four quarters, each occupied by a separate section of the population. This section has its own proper head, its own proper standards, and its own proper band of music.
What follows seems to apply to the rude state of society in the country around. Each division has its badge or device; so that we have[48] the tribe, or clan, of the leopard, the cat, the dog, the hawk, the parrot, &c. On certain days there are certain festivals and processions, when the chief is carried in a long basket on the heads of two men, with umbrellas above him, and attendants around proportionate to his rank. When in distress, the Fanti has a claim upon the good offices of his tribe.
When a Fanti government becomes extensive enough to require organization, we find absolute monarchs with satraps (caboceers) under them; under these the heads of the different villages or towns, and under these captains of hundreds, fifties, and tens—an organization which is, perhaps, of military rather than social origin. The Ashanti kingdom gives us the best measure of extent to which a branch of the Fanti stock has developed itself into a political influence. As for the Constitution, it is a simple and unmitigated despotism; of which the most remarkable point is the law of succession. This follows the female lines, so that the heir-apparent is the eldest son of the reigning king's eldest sister. The same applies to the caboceers; except that, in cases of mental or physical incapacity, the rightful heir is set aside, and a path opened to the ambition of private adventurers.
Slavery is what we expect; and on the coast of Guinea it meets us at every turn, though not[49] in the worst forms of the Trade. This flourishes in Dahomey, and along the whole of the Bight of Benin. In the Fanti countries, however, the milder form of domestic servitude preponderates; and along with it a chronic state of warfare. These two evils are connected with one another, as cause and effect. The conquest supplies the slaves; the slaves provoke the conquest.
Besides this there is a sort of temporary servitude, which reminds us of the Nexi of the Romans. This occurs when "a person, in order to raise a particular sum of money, voluntarily sells himself for a certain period, or until such time as he is enabled to pay the amount so borrowed, together with whatever interest may have been agreed upon. This is called the system of pawning, and the people so sold, pawns. Thus a native, in order to make a great display on any particular occasion, as on his marriage, or to have a grand 'custom' for a deceased relative, will forfeit his labour for a definite time, or give one of his slaves for a period agreed upon. Neither these pawns, however, nor the domestic slaves, entertain any feeling of disgrace, but on the contrary are happy and contented."[14]
Everything connected with the administration of justice is rude and savage; the severity of the punishment upon detection being the chief preventive.[50] The awards, of course, depend much upon the individual character of the chiefs; and there are but few who have not exhibited horrible proofs of cruelty. These, however, are no measures of the temper of the people at large. The legitimate, normal, established, and familiar forms of torture give us this. It may just be a shade or two better than that of the autocrats—though bad at best. I still draw upon the writer already quoted. "The most common mode of torture is what is termed 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. There are various other modes of torture in common use among the natives of Guinea. One is tying the head, feet, and hands, in such a way that by turning the body backwards, they may be drawn together by the cords employed. Another is securing a 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, while the suffering so produced is continuous, only being relieved by[51] the wood being split, and the staples removed, but this may not be done until a crime has been confessed by a person who never committed it, and even then his limb has generally been destroyed. It would not be interesting to here enumerate the various tortures employed by a barbarous people, but when we recollect the refinement of the art of torture in our own country in the days of the maiden, the boot, and thumb-screws, we will cease to wonder that substitutes for these should be used in a country where civilization has not yet begun to elevate a people who are generally allowed to be the lowest of the human race.
"There are some superstitious rites employed by Fetish-men for the detection of crime; and whether it is that these people really possess such powerful influence over their wretched dupes, as to frighten into confession of his guilt the perpetrator of crime, or whether it is that they manage by their numerous spies to obtain a clue sufficient in most cases to lead to the detection of the person, is more than I can venture to assert; but, be the means employed what they may, a Fetish-man will assuredly very often bring a crime home to the right person, even after the most patient investigation in the ordinary way has failed to elicit the slightest clue.[52]
"There is also what is called Trial by Dhoom. This consists in whoever are suspected of having committed a crime being made to swallow a decoction of dhoom wood of the country, and it is believed that whoever is innocent will immediately eject the deleterious draught, but the guilty person will die. This, however, is not much to be depended upon; for while it causes death in one instance, it may do so in all who partake of it; or on the other hand, from some accident in its preparation, it may be productive of no effect either upon the guilty or the innocent.
"The Rice test, although practised in this part of Africa, is, I believe, not peculiar to it, being also employed in the West Indies, and South America. Although no doubt originally introduced by a people in a low state of civilization, it is interesting in so far that it exemplifies the powerful influence which the mind possesses over the corporeal functions, and as it appears to have been in use among the blacks for centuries, we may give them the credit of having been practically aware that 'conscience doth make cowards of us all,' long before the Bard of Avon chronicled the fact. In the employment of this test in Guinea, those who are suspected of having committed a crime are assembled, and to each[53] a small portion of rice is given, which they are required to masticate, and afterwards produce on the hand; and it is invariably the case that while all but the real culprit will produce their rice in a soft pulpy mass, his will be as dry as if ground in a mill, the salivary glands having, under the influence exerted upon the nervous system by fear, refused to perform their ordinary functions."
Something like this is common in many savage countries. In the shape of the dhoom test, it re-appears in Old Calabar, and, probably, elsewhere. There, the "king and chief inhabitants ordinarily constitute a court of justice, in which all country disputes are adjusted, and to which every prisoner suspected of capital offences is brought, to undergo examination and judgment. If found guilty, they are usually forced to swallow a deadly potion made from the poisonous seeds of an aquatic leguminous plant, which rapidly destroys life. This poison is obtained by pounding the seeds, and macerating them in water, which acquires a white milky colour. The condemned person, after swallowing a certain portion of the liquid, is ordered to walk about, until its effects become palpable. If, however, after the lapse of a definite period, the accused should be so fortunate as to throw the poison from off his stomach, he is considered as[54] innocent, and allowed to depart unmolested. In native parlance this ordeal is designated as 'chopping nut.'"[15]
The hardest workers amongst the Fantis are the fishers, who use a canoe of wood of the bombax, from ten to twelve feet in length, and strengthened by cross timbers. The net—a casting net—is made from the fibres of the aloe or the pine-apple, and is about twenty feet in diameter (?).
Next to these come the farmers, whose rough agriculture consists in the cultivation of maize, bananas, yams, and pumpkins; and lastly, the gold-seekers. Of this there is abundance; and where the European coin of the coast ceases, the native currency of gold-dust begins. Sums of so small a value as three half-pence are thus paid; smaller ones being represented by cowries.
The highest of their arts is that of manufacturing gold ornaments, and this is the hereditary craft of certain families. These transmit the secret of their skill from father to son, and keep the corporation to which they belong up to a due degree of closeness, by avoiding intermarriage with any of the more unskilled labourers. A little weaving, and a little potting, constitute the[55] remaining arts of the Fanti—as far, at least, as they are either fine or useful.
The craft of the Fetish-man comes under none of the preceding categories. He is the priest, sorcerer, or medicine man; the representative of "Paganism, in its lowest and most hideous form, the objects of their worship being the most repulsive reptiles, and their ceremonies the most degrading. They certainly have some idea of the existence of a First Cause, and believe themselves to be in the power of the Great Fetish, their protection or destruction being dependent upon the will of this power, of whose attributes they know nothing further. They also believe in the existence of a spirit of evil, and on some parts of the coast consider his power over them so great, that they address their supplications, and erect, for his especial service, small mud huts, usually of a conical shape, built under the shade of some stately palm or wild fig-tree, in one of the most inviting spots to be found. These huts bear the unattractive name among Europeans of 'devil's temples.' It will be seen thus, that this belief in the existence of the Great Fetish professed by the Fantees, is a faint glimmering of that natural religion which all nations possess. Of the creation of our species, they do not appear to entertain very correct ideas, unless it be that they owe their being to this[56] Fetish, who, they say, in the beginning made two people, one of whom was black, the other white, and that both originally occupied the Fantee country. It would seem, however, from their account, that, after these two men were brought into existence, the Fetish was at a loss to know how to dispose of them, and in order to prevent any jealousy arising between them, had recourse to a sort of lottery, where there were all prizes and no blanks. Two packets were accordingly placed before them, and the black man drew first; nor was he disappointed with his prize, for it consisted of such a quantity of gold-dust, that it has not been taken out of the country yet. The remaining packet was of course the lawful property of the white man, and in the long run he had no cause to complain—for, on being opened, it was found to contain a book which taught him everything; and so do the poor wretches account for the superior intellect of whites, and the inexhaustible treasures of their own country.
"In the neighbourhood of Cape Coast, the natives seem to believe that this Fetish occupies more especially particular localities, and exists in the form of a particular animal, so that an isolated portion of rock is frequently called a Fetish-stone, and snakes even of the most poisonous description, in a certain locality, are preserved and allowed to propagate, undisturbed, their venomous species.[57] In some places on the coast, temples dedicated to snake-worship are built, and the Fetish men, or priests, connected with them are frequently esteemed particularly holy, no doubt from the familiar terms upon which they, in course of time, become with the horrid reptiles, upon which the people look as the personification of their Fetish. The offerings made at these temples are often very valuable, the cupidity of the deities within not being easily satisfied. Gold-dust and clothes are the most acceptable offerings; but when these are not to be obtained, it is perfectly wonderful how large a quantity of rum and tobacco the snakes will consume before they vouchsafe their good offices for the removal of a disease from a cow, a wife, a child, or the detection of a thief, who, not unlikely, has been employed by themselves.
"These Fetish men and women, too, for there are Fetish women, and, consequently Fetish children, have spies in different directions, forming as many links of communication between the priesthood in various parts of the country, so that very few occurrences take place of which they have not the means of making themselves acquainted."[16]
The same writer continues, "Religious observances, properly so called, the Fantees have[58] none, but each particular class has a certain day of the week upon which they cease from following their ordinary avocations—thus, a fisherman will not go to sea on a Tuesday; nor will a bushman enter the forest on a Friday—these days being dedicated to the Fetish, and thus, in some degree, representing the Sabbath of Christian nations. There are, in addition, several days throughout the year—apparently occurring at the desire of the Fetish men—in which the Fantees abstain from work, and during a period of war, it often happens that the movements of the opposing armies are much interfered with by the numerous occasions upon which it becomes necessary to propitiate the Fetish. One of these especial Fetish days may be here noticed, it being, apparently, the most important of those that occur during the whole year, and its object no less important than driving the devil out of the village. The period when this desirable object is effected, occurs during the month of December, the night-time being chosen as the most fitting for the ceremony. As soon as darkness has closed in, the inhabitants of a village collect at an appointed rendezvous, with sticks and staves, and under the directions of a leader, sally out, entering every house in their way, through the various apartments of which they knock about, and yell and howl with such violence[59] that they would actually scare any devil but a most impertinent one. Having, as they think, completely rid the town of him, they pursue the retreating enemy for some distance into the bush, after which they return and spend the remainder of the night in carousals.
"There is another festival, which, as it partakes somewhat of a religious nature, may also be noticed here, viz., the yam-custom, which is held in September, to celebrate the goodness of the Fetish, in having granted an abundant harvest. On this occasion, the king of the village and the staff of Fetish men connected with it, take part. All the people who can by any possibility attend, assemble, a procession is formed, and then the most extraordinary mixture of costumes, the noises produced by numerous tom-toms, horns made from elephants' tusks, and the still ruder, if possible, rattle of two pieces of wood, or common metal, which the women beat together to a tune similar to what in Ireland is known as the Kentish fire. The constant firing of musketry, and the obscene dances performed by the two sexes form one of the most debasing and savage exhibitions it is possible to see. In this way does the procession parade the principal streets, the king seated in his basket carried by his slaves, and protected by the umbrellas, according to his rank—the Fetish-men dressed in white robes, also in[60] their baskets. On arriving at the king's house sacrifices are usually offered—some fowls or eggs being now substituted in the vicinity of our settlements for a human being, but we have still too good reasons to believe, that even as near as the capital of Ashantee many human lives are sacrificed on this particular occasion, as well as in other festivals of various descriptions. The offerings being made, the Fetish-man partakes of the yam; the king then eats of the valued root; and after these two have pronounced them ripe and fit for food, the people consider themselves at liberty to commence digging.
"A being named Tahbil resides in the substance of the rock, upon which Cape Coast is built, and watches the town. Every morning, offerings of food or flowers are left for him on the rock. Most villages have a corresponding deity; and in earlier times, there is good reason for believing that human beings were sacrificed to him."
Likely enough—as may be seen from the practices at Fanti funerals, and as may be inferred from the analogy of the other parts of Western Africa.
If the survivors of a deceased Fanti be poor, the corpse is quietly interred in one of the denser spots of the jungles; and if rich, the funeral is at once costly and bloody; since gold and jewels are buried along with the dead body, and human[61] victims as well. The ceremonial is as follows. The coffin is carried to the grave by slaves, when the retainers and friends press forwards, fix the number required (in general four), stun the selected individuals by a sudden blow on the head, throw the still breathing bodies into the grave of their master, and, whilst life yet remains, cover in the earth.
This horrible custom is truly West-African. How near we must approach the Mandingo frontier, before we get rid of it on the north, or how far south it extends, I am not exactly able to say. In Dahomey, where it attains its maximum development, it is worse than amongst the Ashantis, and amongst the Ashantis worse than in the proper Fanti districts. It certainly reaches as far southwards as Old Calabar, where, upon the death of Ephraim, a well-known Caboceer, "some hundreds of men, women, and children were immolated to his manes,—decapitation, burning alive, and the administration of the poison-nut, being the methods resorted to for terminating their existence. When King Eyeo, father of the present Chief of Creek Town, died, an eye-witness, 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,[62] 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. The graves of the kings are invariably concealed, so as, it is stated, to prevent an enemy from obtaining their skulls as trophies, which is not the case with those of the common people."[17]
I have said that it is in Dahomey, where the immolation of human beings is the bloodiest; and I now add that it is in Dahomey where those who look for the more characteristic peculiarities of the Negro stock, must search. But it is the bad side which will preponderate; it is the darkest practices which will develop themselves most typically. What we find in germs and remnants elsewhere, grow, in Dahomey, to inordinate and incredible proportions.
The sacro-sanctitude of the snake is doubled in Dahomey.
Slavery, bad along the whole Bight of Benin, is worse, still, in Dahomey.
In Akkim we find a female colonel. In Dahomey there is an army of Amazons, as indicated by Mr. Duncan, and as described in detail by Captain Forbes.[63]
The Gha.—Accra, and the forts lately purchased from the Danes—Christiansborg and others,—are the localities of the Gha nation. I say Gha (or Ghan) because the author of a paper soon about to be noticed states, that this is the indigenous name of the people which we call Acra, Akra, Accrah, or Inkra—and it is always best to give the native name if we can.
Adelung, on the authority of Romer and Isert, gives the following account of the Negroes speaking the Gha language. He calls it Akra.
They began with conquering and reducing to a state of servitude the Adampi, or Tambi, Negroes of the hill country; these being a portion of their own stock, and speaking a mutually intelligible language.
But, in time, they were themselves conquered by the Akvambu, and broke up into two parts. One of these remained in situ, and is represented by the present Gha of Christiansborg. The other fled to the Little Popo, an island off the coast of Dahomey, and there settled.
What remained then on the Gold Coast were the Gha and Akvambu; and these were afterwards conquered by the Akkim Fantis, themselves eventually reduced by the Ashantis.
In no more than nine or ten villages, lying within nine or ten miles of Fort St. James and Christiansborg, was the Akra language spoken in[64] the time of Protten (A.D. 1794), and of the Ghas thus speaking it each understood the Fanti.
This makes the Gha a decreasing, and, for practical purposes, an unimportant population. At the same time I should be glad to direct the attention of some investigator to their ethnology. Their exact relations to the Akvambu are uncertain. The only work known to me where specimens of the latter language are to be found is out of reach.[18]
Then as to the Adampi. Bowdich states that it radically differs from the Gha; the numerals, which agree, being borrowed from the one tongue into the other. But his collation rests on only seven words.
Again,—Adampi, Tembi, and Tambu are words so much alike as to pass for the same. Yet a Tembu vocabulary in the "Mithridates" differs from a Tambu one in the same work—
| ENGLISH. | TEMBU. | TAMBU. |
| Sky | so | giom. |
| Sun | wis | pum. |
| Moon | igodi | horamb. |
| Man | naa | nyummu. |
| ... | ibalu | numero. |
| Woman | alo | in.[65] |
| Head | knynoo | ii. |
| Foot | navorree | nandi. |
| One | kuddum | kaki. |
| Two | noalee | ennu. |
| Three | nodoso | ettee. |
Again—the Tembu is related to the vocabulary of a language called Kouri, which the Tambu is not.
| ENGLISH. | TEMBU. | KOURI. |
| Sun | wis | nosi. |
| Man | ibalu | abalu. |
| Woman | alo | alu. |
| One | kuddum | kotum. |
| Two | noalee | nalee. |
| Three | nodoso | natisu. |
Thirdly, the Tjemba of Balbi's "Atlas Ethnologique" is called Kassenti.
Lastly, the Gha, as far as very short comparison goes, is neither Tambu nor Tembu: nor yet Kouri—though it has a few resemblances to all.
The author of the paper alluded to above is the Rev. Mr. Hanson—himself a Gha by birth. It was laid before the British Association in 1849. Two points characterize the theory that it exhibits; but as the publication of the paper in extenso, is contemplated, I merely state what they are.[66]
1. A remarkable number of customs common to the Jews and the Gha.
2. The probable origin of the latter population in some part of the interior of Africa, north of their present locality, and, perhaps, in the parts about Timbuktu.
The Quaquas.—I am not sure that this name is the best that can be given to the class in question. Hence, it is merely provisional. The language that is spoken by them is called the Avekvom. They constitute the chief population of the Ivory—just as the Krumen do that of the Grain and the Fantis that of the Gold—Coast. Apollonia is the English dependency where we find members of the Quaqua stock.
The Avekvom dialects of the Quaqua tribes seem to belong to a different tongue from that of the Krumen and Fantis; and I imagine that the three are mutually unintelligible. Still, it is difficult to predicate this from the mere inspection of vocabularies; the more so, as no language of the western coast of Africa is less known than the Avekvom—the only specimen of any length being one in the last number of the "Journal of the American Oriental Society." With numerous miscellaneous affinities, it is more Fanti and Grebo than aught else; and, perhaps, is transitional in character to those two languages.[67]
At any rate it is no isolated tongue, as may be seen from the following table, where Yebu means the language of the Yarriba country, at the back of Dahomey, and Efik that of Old Calabar:—
| ENGLISH. | AVEKVOM. | OTHER IBO-ASHANTI LANGUAGES. |
| Arm | ebo | ubok, Efik. |
| Blood | evie | eyip, Efik; eye, Yebu. |
| Bone | ewi | beu, Fanti. |
| Box | ebru | brânh, Grebo. |
| Canoe | edie | tonh, Grebo. |
| Chair | fata | bada, Grebo. |
| Dark | eshim | esum, Fanti; ekim, Efik. |
| Dog | etye | aja, ayga, Yebu. |
| Door | eshinavi | usuny, Efik. |
| Ear | eshibe | esoa, Fanti. |
| Fire | eya | ija, Fanti. |
| Fish | etsi | eja, eya, Fanti. |
| Fowl | esu | suseo, Mandingo; edia, Yebu. |
| Ground-nut | ngeti | nkatye, Fanti. |
| Hair | emu | ihwi, Fanti. |
| Honey | ajo | ewo, Fanti; oyi, Yebu. |
| House | eva | ifi, Fanti; ufog, Efik. |
| Moon | efe | hâbo, Grebo; ofiong, Efik. |
| Mosquito | efo | obong, Fanti. |
| Oil | inyu | ingo, Fanti. |
| Rain | efuzumo-sohn | sanjio, Mandingo. |
| Rainy season | eshi | ojo, rain, Yebu. |
| Salt | etsa | ta, Grebo. |
| Sand | esian-na | utan, Efik. |
| Sea | etyu | idu, Grebo. |
| Stone | desi | sia, shia, Grebo. |
| Thread | jesi | gise, Grebo. |
| Tooth | enena | nyeng, Mandingo; gne, Grebo.[68] |
| Water | esonh | nsu, Fanti. |
| Wife | emise | muso, Mandingo; mbesia, Fanti. |
| Cry | yaru | isu, Fanti. |
| Give | nae | nye, Grebo; no, Efik. |
| Go | le | olo, Yebu. |
| Kill | bai | fa, Mandingo; pa, Yebu. |
There has been war and displacement here as well as in the Gha country. In the seventeenth century the parts about Cape Apollonia were contended for by two tribes called the Issini (or Oshin) and the Ghiomo. The former gave way to the latter, and having retreated to the country of the Veteres, were joined by that tribe against the Esiep.
A Quaqua prayer is given in the "Mithridates." It is uttered every morning by the tribes on the Issini, after a previous ablution in that river—Anghiume mame maro, mame orie, mame shikke e okkori, mame akaka, mame frembi, mame anguan e awnsan—O Anghiume! give rice, give yams, give gold, give aigris, give slaves, give riches, give (to be) strong and swift.
What is here written about the ethnology of Apollonia is written doubtfully; since here, as at Acra, the simple ethnology of the pure and proper Fantis becomes complicated.
The Cape of Good Hope.—The aboriginal population[69] of the Cape is divided between two great families:—
1. The Hottentot.
2. The Kaffre.
1. The Hottentots.—Of the two families this is the most western; it is the one which the colonists came first in contact with, and it is the one which has been most displaced by Europeans. The names of fourteen extinct tribes of Hottentots are known; of which it is only necessary to mention the Gunyeman and Sussaqua the nearest the Cape, and the Heykom, so far eastwards and northwards as Port Natal. The displacement of these last has not been effected by Europeans. African subdued African; and it was the Kaffres who did the work of conquest here.
Of the extant Hottentots, within the limits of the colony of the Cape, the most remote are the Gonaqua, on the head-waters of the Great Fish River; or rather on the water-shed between it and the Orange River. They are fast becoming either extinct, or amalgamated with the Kaffres; inasmuch as they are the Hottentots of the Amakosa frontier, and suffer, at least, as much from the Kaffres as from their white neighbours.
The Namaquas occupy the lower part of the Orange River, the Great and Little Namaqualand.
The Koranas.—This branch of the Hottentots[70] has its locality on the middle part of the Gariep, with the Griquas to the north, the Bechuana Kaffres to the east, and the Saabs in the middle of them. Their number is, perhaps, 10,000. Their exact relation to the other Hottentots is uncertain. They are a better formed people than the Gonaqua and Namaqua, but whether they be the best samples of the Hottentot stock altogether is uncertain. Probably a tribe far up in the north-western parts of South Africa, and beyond Namaqualand, may dispute the honour with them. These are the Dammaras—themselves disputed Hottentots. Their country lies beyond the British colony, but it must be noticed for the sake of taking in all the branches of the stock in question. It is the tract between Benguela and Namaqualand, marked in the maps as sterile country; in the northern parts of which we sometimes find notices of a fierce nation called Jagas. Walvisch Bay lies in the middle of it. Now some writers make the Dammaras of this country Hottentot; others Kaffre; and that both rightly and wrongly. They are both—partly one, partly the other; since Dammara is a geographical term, and some of the tribes to which it applies are Kaffre, some Hottentot. The Dammaras of the plains, or the Cattle Dammaras are the former; the Dammaras[19] of the hills, the latter. Between the Dammara[71] and the Korana a much nearer approach to Kaffre type is made than is usually supposed.
A branch of the Koranas—those of the valley of the Hartebeest River—deserves particular attention. They caution us against overvaluing differences; and Dr. Prichard has quoted the evidence of Mr. Thompson with this especial object. They are Koranas who have suffered in war, lost their cattle, and been partially expatriated by the more powerful sections of their stock. Hence, want and poverty have acted upon them; and the effect has been that they have become hunters instead of shepherds, have been reduced to a precarious subsistence, and as the consequence of altered circumstances, have receded from the level of the other Koranas, and approached that of the—
Saabs or Bushmen.—These belong to the parts between the Roggeveld and Orange River; parts which rival the sterile country of the map in barrenness. As is the country so are the inhabitants; starved, miserable hunters—hunters rather than shepherds or herdsmen.
The Lap is not more strongly contrasted with the Finlander, than the Korana with the Saab; and the deadly enmity between these two populations is as marked as the differences in their physical appearances. I think, however, that undue inferences have been drawn from the difference;[72] in other words, that the distance between the Korana and the Saab has been exaggerated. The languages are unequivocally allied.
I think, too, that a similarly undue inference has been drawn from the extent to which the Kaffre and the Korana are alike; inasmuch as an infusion of Kaffre has been assumed for the sake of accounting for it. Of this, however, no proof exists.
The Saabs are described as having constitutions "so much enfeebled by the dissolute life they lead, and the constant smoking of dacha, that nearly all, including the young people, look old and wrinkled; nevertheless, they are remarkable for vanity, and decorate their ears, legs, and arms with beads, and iron, copper, or brass rings. The women likewise stain their faces red, or paint them, either wholly or in part. Their clothing consists of a few sheepskins, which hang about their bodies, and thus form the mantle or covering, commonly called a kaross. This is their only clothing by day or night. The men wear old hats, which they obtain from the farmers, or else caps of their own manufacture. The women wear caps of skins, which they stiffen and finish with a high peak, and adorn with beads and metal rings. The dwelling of the Bushman is either a low wretched hut, or a circular cavity, on the open plain, into which, at night, he creeps with his wife and[73] children, and which, though it shelters him from the wind, leaves him exposed to the rain. In this neighbourhood, in which rocks abound, they had formerly their habitations in them, as is proved by the many rude figures of oxen, horses, serpents, &c. still existing. It is not a little interesting to see these poor degraded people, who formerly were considered and treated as little better than wild beasts in their rocky retreats. Many of those who have forsaken us live in such cavities not far from our settlement, and we have thus an opportunity of observing them in their natural condition. Several who, when they came to us from the farmers, were decently clothed and possessed a flock of sheep, which they had earned, in a short time returned to their fastnesses in a state of nakedness and indigence, rejoicing that they had got free from the farmers, and could live as they pleased in the indulgence of their sensual appetites. Such fugitives from civilised life, I have never seen otherwise occupied than with their bows and arrows. The bows are small, but made of good elastic wood; the arrows are formed of small reeds, the points furnished with a well-wrought piece of bone, and a double barb, which is steeped in a potent poison of a resiny appearance. This poison is distilled from the leaves of an indigenous tree. Many prefer these arrows to fire-arms, under the idea that they can kill more[74] game by means of a weapon that makes no report. On their return from the chase, they feast till they are tired and drowsy, and hunger alone rouses them to renewed exertion. In seasons of scarcity they devour all kinds of wild roots, ants, ants' eggs, locusts, snakes, and even roasted skins. Three women of this singular tribe were not long since met with, several days' journey from this place, who had forsaken their husbands, and lived very contentedly on wild honey and locusts. As enemies, the Bushmen are not to be despised. They are adepts in stealing cattle and sheep; and the wounds they inflict when pursued, are ordinarily fatal if the wounded part is not immediately cut out. The animals they are unable to carry off, they kill or mutilate.
"To our great comfort, even some of these poor outcasts have shown eagerness to become acquainted with the way of salvation. The children of such as are inhabitants of the settlement, attend the school diligently, and of them we have the best hopes.
"The language of the Bushman has not one pleasing feature; it seems to consist of a collection of snapping, hissing, grunting, sounds; all more or less nasal. Of their religious creed it is difficult to obtain any information; as far as I have been able to learn, they have a name for the Supreme Being; and the Kaffre word tixo is[75] derived from the tixme of the Bushmen. Sorcerers exist among them. One of the Bushmen residing here being sick, a sorceress was sent for before we were aware of it, who pretended, by the virtue of mystic dance, to extract an antelope horn from the head of the patient."[20]
The Griquas.—The Griquas, called also Baastaards, are a pastoral population, upwards of 15,000 in number, on the north side of the great bend of the Orange River. They are the descendants of Dutch fathers and Hottentot mothers.
A mixture of Griquas and Hottentots occurs also on the Kat River, a feeder of the Great Fish River, in the district of Somerset, and on the Kaffre frontier. Here they are distributed in a series of district locations, amid the dales and fastnesses of the eastern frontier. A great proportion of them are discharged soldiers—so that in reality, like the borderers of old, they form a sort of military colony.
2. The Kaffres.—The British districts in contact with the Kaffre populations are the eastern, and of these Albany and Somerset most especially. The Kaffre nation in most immediate contact with Albany and Somerset is—
The Amakosa.—This is the population which constituted the authority of Hintza, and to which[76] Pato, Gaika, and the other chiefs of the last war belonged. To this, too, belong the troublesome chiefs of the present. Next to the Amakosa, and in alliance with them, come—
The Amatembu, or Tambuki (Tambookies), occupants of the upper part of the river Kei, as the Amakosa are of the lower Keiskamma.
Between the Amatembu and Port Natal lie the Amaponda, or Mambuki (Mambookies), the northern extremity of which reaches the country of—
The Amazulu, or Zulu (Zooloos), the chief frontagers (conjointly with the Mambuki) of Port Natal.
The last division of the Kaffres of the coast is that of—
The Fingos.—In 1835, a numerous population, called Fingos, was found by Sir B. D'Urban in the Kaffre chief Hintza's country, and in a state of abject servitude to the Amakosas. They were from different tribes; darker and shorter than the Amakosas—but still true Kaffres. They were offered land between the lower Keiskamma and the Great Fish River, and were emancipated and brought safe into the colony to the amount of 17,000.[21] Since then, they have served as a sort of military police on the Kaffre frontier; and as shepherds in Australia—whither they have been advantageously introduced.
But, besides the Kaffres of the coast there are those of the interior. These speak a modified form of the Kosa (or Amakosa), called Si-chuana, the name of the people being Bi-chuana. They lie due north of the Koranas; beyond the boundaries of the colony; but not beyond the influence of its missionaries, or the range of its explorers. Litaku, Kurrichani, and other similar towns are Sichuana; the Kaffre civilization being said to attain its maximum hereabouts.
There are plenty of points of contrast between the Kaffre and the typical Negro; so many indeed as to have suggested the doctrine that the former class belongs to some division of the human species other than the African. And these points of contrast are widely distributed, i.e., they appear and re-appear, whatever may be the view taken of the Kaffre stock. They appear in the descriptions of their skin and skeletons; they appear in the notice of their language; and they appear in the history of the Kaffre wars of the Cape frontier—wars more obstinate and troublesome than any which have been conducted by the true Negro; and which approach the character of the Kabyle struggle for independence in Algeria. In investigating these differences we must guard against the exaggeration of their import.
Physically, the Kaffre has the advantage of the Negro in the conformation of the face and skull.[78] His forehead betokens greater capacity; being more prominent, more vaulted, and with a greater facial angle. His teeth, too, are more vertically inserted, and the nasal bones less depressed. I have not heard of aquiline noses in Kaffraria; but should not be surprised if I did.
The cheek-bones of the Kaffre project outwards; and where the cheek-bones so project beyond a certain limit, the chin appears to taper downwards, and the vertex upwards. When this becomes exaggerated we hear of lozenge-shaped crania; the Malay skulls being currently quoted as instances thereof. Be this as it may, the breadth in the malar portion of the face is a remarkable feature in the Kaffre physiognomy. This he has in common with the Hottentot. His hair is also tufted like the Hottentot's: while his lips are thick like the Negro's. Tall in stature, wiry and elastic in his muscles, the Kaffre varies in colour, through all the shades of black and brown; being, in some portions of his area nearly as dark as the Negro, in others simply brown like the Arab. The eye is sometimes oblique; the opening generally narrow.
An opinion often gives a better picture than a description. Kaffres, that have receded in the greatest degree from the Negro type, have been so likened to the more southern Arabs as to have[79] engendered the hypothesis of an infusion of Arab blood.
The manners of the Kaffres of the Cape are those of pastoral tribes under chieftains; tribes which, from their habits and social relations, are naturally active, locomotive, warlike, and jealous of encroachment. Next to marauding on the hunting-grounds of an American Indian, interference with the pasture of a shepherd population is the surest way to warfare.
It would be strange indeed if the Kaffre life and Kaffre physiognomy had no peculiarities. However little in the way of physical influence we may attribute to the geography of a country, no man ignores them altogether. Now Kaffreland has very nearly a latitude of its own; inhabited lands similarly related to the southern tropic being found in South America and Australia only. And it has a soil still more exclusively South-African. We connect the idea of the desert with that of sand; whilst steppe is a term which is limited to the vast tracts of central Asia. Now the Kaffre, and still more the Hottentot, area, dry like the desert, and elevated like the steppe, is partially a karro. Its soil is often a hard, cracked, and parched clay rather than a waste of sand, and it constitutes an argillaceous table-land. Its vegetation has strongly marked characters. Its Fauna has the same.[80]
The language is peculiar. If English were spoken on Kosa or Sichuana principles we should say
| bun beam | instead of | sun beam. |
| loon light | ... | moon light. |
| srand-son | ... | grand-son, &c., |
since, in the Kaffre languages throughout, subordinate words in certain syntactic combinations, accommodate their initial letter to that of the leading word of the term.
Their polity and manners, too, are peculiar. The head man of the village settles disputes; his tribunal being in the open air. From him an appeal lies to a chief of higher power; and from him to some superior, higher still. In this way there is a long chain of feudal or semi-feudal dependency.
But the power of the chief is checked by that of the priest. A supposed skill in medicine, imaginary arts of divination, and an accredited power over the elements are the prerogatives of certain witches and wizards. Thus, when a murrain among the cattle, or the death of an important individual has taken place, the blame is laid upon some unfortunate victim whom the witch or wizard points out. And the ordeal to which he must submit, is equal in cruelty to those of the Gold Coast. He is beaten with sticks, and then pegged down to the ground. Whilst thus[81] helpless, a nest of venomous bush-ants is broken over his racked and quivering body. If this fail to extort a confession, he is singed to death with red-hot stones.
This tells us what is meant by Kaffre chiefs and Kaffre wizards.
The wife is the slave to the husband; and he buys her in order that she should be so. The purchase implies a seller. This is always a member of another tribe. Hence the wish of a Kaffre is to see his wife the mother of many children, girls being more valuable than boys.
Why a man should not sell his offspring to the members of his own tribe is uncertain. It is clear, however, that the practice of doing so makes marriage between even distant relations next to impossible. To guard against the chances of this, a rigid and suspicious system of restraint has been developed in cases of consanguinity; and relations must do all they can to avoid meeting. To sit in the same room, to meet on the same road, is undesirable. To converse is but just allowable, and then all who choose must hear what is said. So thorough, however, has been the isolation in many cases, that persons of different sexes have lived as near neighbours for many years without having conversed with each other; and such communication as there has been, has[82] taken place through the medium of a third person. No gift will induce a Kaffre female to violate this law.
Is the immolation of human beings at the death of chieftains a Kaffre custom, as it was one of western Africa? The following extract gives an answer in the affirmative, the only difference being the pretext of the murders. On the "death of the mother of Chaka, the great Zulu chief, a public mourning was held, which lasted for the space of two days, the people being assembled at the kraal of the chief to the number of sixty or eighty thousand souls. Mr. Fynn, who was present, describes the scene as the most terrific which it is possible for the human mind to conceive. The immense multitude were all engaged in rending the air with the most doleful shrieks, and discordant cries and lamentations; whilst, in the event of their ceasing to utter them, they were instantly butchered as guilty of a crime against the reigning tyrant. It is said that no less than six or seven thousand persons were destroyed on this occasion, charged with no other offence than exhausted nature in the performance of this horrid rite, their brains being mercilessly dashed out amidst the surrounding throng. As a suitable finale to this dreadful tragedy, it is said that ten females were actually buried alive with the royal corpse; whilst all who witnessed the[83] funeral were obliged to remain on the spot for a whole year."
Details of Kaffre manners may be multiplied almost ad infinitum; and as their history and habits are likely to fill a Blue Book, a short treatise can only notice their more prominent peculiarities.
However, lest an undue inference be drawn from their contrast to the Hottentot, we must remember that the former has encroached upon the latter, and that such transitional populations as existed have been swept away.
Now comes a coloured population—not indigenous, but the descendants of the slaves of the colony. This consists of—
1. Negroes.
2. Malays from the Indian Archipelago.
3. Malagasi from Madagascar.
To which we must add, as of mixed blood, the offspring of—
1. Negroes and Dutch, English, &c.
2. Malays and Dutch, English, &c.
3. Malagasi and Dutch, English, &c.
This seems to be the limit of the intermixture; since, between the Malays and Negroes, &c., there is but little intermarriage. The possible elements, however, of hybridity are numerous, e.g., Griquas and Negroes, Griquas and Malays, Malays and Kaffres, &c.
The so-called yellow men.—On the 4th of[84] August, 1782, the "Grosvenor" Indiaman was wrecked on the coast of Natal. Of the crew who escaped, some reached the Cape and others remained amongst the natives. In 1790, an expedition was undertaken in search of them.
In this expedition, Mr. Van Reenens, considered that he had discovered a village where the people were descended from the whites, and in which there were three old women who had been wrecked when very young. They could not tell to what country they belonged; were treated as superior beings; and, when offered a safe convoy to the Cape, were at first pleased with the prospect, but eventually refused to leave their children and grandchildren. Now, whatever these old women were, they were not of the crew of the "Grosvenor," and I doubt whether they were Europeans at all.
Again—Mr. Thomson, when at Litaku, heard of yellow cannibals, with long hair, whose invasions were the dread of the country; a statement which merely means that some tribes of South Africa, are lighter coloured, and more savage in their appetite than others.
Lastly, Lieutenant Farewell saw one of these yellow men at Natal, who was described as a cannibal, and who shrunk abashed from the lieutenant.
Be it so. The evidence that "there are descendants of Europeans and Africans now widely[85] diffusing their offspring throughout the country; whose services might be turned to good account in civilizing the native tribes," is still incomplete.
Mauritius.—The coloured population, which is far greater than that of the white, consists in the Mauritius of—
1. True Africans—chiefly from the east coast, and, consequently, of the Kaffre stock; the word being used in its most general sense. Darker than the Kaffres of the Cape, they, nevertheless, recede from the Negro type in the shape of the jaw, lips, and forehead. The hair also is less woolly. They are strong and powerful individuals.
2. Malagasi, or natives of Madagascar.—These are not Africans to the same extent as the Kaffres of the coast. As far back as the time of Reland it was known that the affinities of the Malagasi language were with the Malay and Polynesian tongues of Asia; but it was also known that the similarity in physiognomy was less than that of language. Hence came a conflict of difficulties. The speech indicated one origin, the colour another—whilst the fact of an island so near to Africa, and so far from Malacca, as Madagascar, being other than what its geographical position indicated, is, and has been, a mystery. Some writers have assumed an intermixture of blood; others have limited the Malay element to the[86] dominant population. Lastly, Mr. Crawfurd has denied the inferences from the similarity of language in toto; considering that there is "nothing in common between the two races, and nothing in common between the character of their languages." The comparative philologist is slow to admit this—indeed, he denies it.
The blacks form the great majority of the coloured population. Besides these, however, there are—
3. Arabs.
4. Chinese.
5. Hindús, from the continent of India; convicts being transported to the Mauritius for life, and worked on the roads of the colony.
6. Cingalese from Ceylon—the Kandian chiefs whose presence in their native country was thought likely to endanger the tranquillity of the island, were sent hither.
The whites of the Mauritius are chiefly French; though not wholly of pure blood. The first settlers took their wives from Madagascar. The English form the smallest part of the population.
Rodrigues—occupied by a few French colonists from the Mauritius.
The Seychelles—The same; the coloured population outnumbering the white in the proportion of ten to one. Here there is a Portuguese admixture. From Maha, the chief town of the Seychelles,[87] to Madagascar, is five hundred and seventy-six miles—a fact to be borne in mind when we speculate upon the origin of the population of that island.
The Africans of British America.—Honduras, Belize, the West India Islands, and Demerara.—The usual distribution of the population of these parts is—
WHITE.
1. European whites, born in Europe.
2. Creoles, or whites born in the island.
COLOURED.
a. Pure Blood.
1. Mandingos, from the river-systems of the Senegal and Gambia.
2. Coromantines—from the Ivory and Gold Coast.
3. Whydahs—from Dahomey.
4. Ibos—from the Lower Niger.
5. Congos—from Portuguese Africa.
b. Mixed Blood.
1. Sambos, intermixture of the Negro and Mulatto.
2. Mulattoes—Negro and white.
3. Quadroons—Mulatto and white.
4. Mestis—Quadroon and white.
Such is what I find in Mr. Martin's valuable work on the Colonies, and it is, undoubtedly, a convenient and practical classification. Yet for the purposes of ethnology, it is deficient in detail. Without even guessing at the proportion of American slaves which the different parts of the western coast of Africa may have supplied, I subjoin a brief notice of tract between the Senegal and Benguela.
1. First come the Wolof, between the Senegal and Cape Verde. To the back of these lie—
2. The Serawolli—and around Cape Verde—
3. The Sereres—none of these are truly Mandingo; nor is it certain that many slaves have come from them; such as do, however, are probably Mandingos in the current classification.
4. The Fulahs of Fouta-Torro and Fouta-Jallo possess the higher part of the Senegambian system. Imperfect Mahometans, they are lighter-coloured than either the Wolof or the Mandingo. Notwithstanding the great Fulah conquests—for under a leader named Danfodio this has been one of the encroaching and subjugating families of Africa—there are still American slaves of Fulah blood—though, perhaps, but few. Mr. Hodgson procured his vocabulary from a Fulah slave of Virginia; and what we find in the[89] United States, we may find in the British possessions also.
5. The Mandingos Proper are the Negroes of the Gambia; but the following Africans, all within the range of the old slave trade, belong to the same class.
a. The Susu; whose language is spoken from the River Pongos to Sierra Leone.
b. The Timmani.
c. The Bullom—each in contact with that settlement.
d. The Vey—the written language already noticed.
e. The Mendi—conterminous with the Vey.
f. The Kissi—like the last two, spoken in the country behind Cape Mount, and on the boundaries of Liberia.
South of the Gambia and north of the Pongos, the Mandingo tongues, though spoken in the interior, do not reach the coast. On the contrary, they encircle the populations on the mouths of the Cacheo, Rio Grande, and Nun—and truly barbarous populations these are. Of these the most northern are—
6. The Felúp (Feloops)—between the Gambia and Cacheo.
7. The Papel—south of the Cacheo.
8. The Balantes—south of the Papel.
9. The Bagnon—on the Lower Cacheo.[90]
10. The Bissago—islanders off the Cacheo.
11. Nalú (Naloos)—on the Lower Nun.
12. Sapi—ibid.
After these come the Susu, &c.; down to the tribes about Cape Mount and Cape Mesurado.
Between Cape Mesurado and Cape Palmas come—
13. The Krumen. Next to them—
14. The Quaquas, of the Ivory Coast; speaking different Avekvom dialects.
Somewhere hereabouts come the—
15, 16, 17. Kanga, Mangree, and Gien; three undetermined vocabularies of the "Mithridates." Then—
18, 19, 20. The Fanti, Gha, and Adampi (?) of the Gold Coast. We now approach the great marts—
21, 22. Benin and Dahomey; and—almost equal in infamous notoriety—the countries of the Delta, of the Niger, or of the—
23, 24, 25. Ibu, Bonny, and Efik (Old Calabar) Africans; at the back of which lie—
26, 27. Yarriba, and the Nufi country. In Fernando Po the population is—
28. Ediya. About the Bimbia river and mountain—
29. Isubu.
30, 31, 32. The Banaka (or Batanga), the Panwi, and the Mpoongwe take us from the[91] Gaboon to Loango; forming a transition from the true Negroes to the Kaffres.
33, 34, 35, 36. Loango, Congo, Angola, and Benguela—the Kaffre type, both in form and language, is now more closely approached. Below Benguela there has been little or no exportation.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] "Journal of the Geographical Society," 1850.
[13] "United Service Magazine," Dec., 1850.
[14] "United Service Journal," Nov., 1850.
[15] Daniell in "Transactions of the Ethnological Society."
[16] "United Service Journal," Nov., 1850.
[17] Dr. Daniell on the Natives of Old Calabar, "Transactions of the Ethnological Society."
[18] Rask.—Vejledning tel Acra-sproget, paa Kysten Ginea, med et Tillaeg om Akvambuisk.—Copenhagen, 1828. Introduction to the Acra Language, on the Coast of Guinea, with an Appendix on the Akvambu.
[19] "Journal of the American Oriental Society," vol. i. no. 4.
[20] "British Colonies." By M. Martin.
[21] "Journal of the Geographical Society," vol. v. p. 319.