A Kruman lays himself out for a sailor as soon as he becomes his own master, and is content to begin life as a “boy,” so that he may end it as a “man”—i. e. he hires himself out in order to obtain goods which will purchase a wife for him, and by dint of several voyages he adds to the number of his wives, and consequently to the respect in which he is held by his countrymen.
He is a marvellous canoe man, and manages his diminutive boat with a skill that must be seen to be appreciated. He drives it through the surf with fearless speed, and cares nothing for the boiling water around him. “The Kruman,” writes Mr. Reade, “squats in it on his knees, and bales the water out with one of his feet. Sometimes he paddles with his hands: sometimes, thrusting a leg in the water, he spins the canoe round when at full speed, like a skater on the ‘outside-edge.’ If it should capsize, as the laws of equilibrium sometimes demand, he turns it over, bales it out with a calabash, swimming all the while, and glides in again, his skin shining like a seal’s.”
These singular little canoes are pointed at each end, and crescent-shaped, so that they project fore and aft out of the water. They are very narrow, and are made out of the single trunk of a tree, usually cotton-wood, or a kind of poplar. The interior is first hollowed out with fire, next trimmed with an adze, and the ribs are prevented from collapsing by four or five cross-sticks. They are very massively constructed, and, as the wood is very light, they do not sink even if they are filled with water. So small are they, that at a little distance they cannot be seen, and the inmates appear to be treading water.
It is a curious sight to watch a fleet of these canoes come off toward a ship. As soon as an English ship anchors, a swarm of these canoes comes dashing along, their black inmates singing songs at the top of their voices, and shouting “Bateo! Bateo! Gi’ way! Bar-gri!” and similar exclamations, as they race with each other toward the vessel. No European has been known to manage one of these frail canoes, the usual result of getting into one being that the boat turns over, and deposits the rash adventurer in the sea.
The appearance of the men has been graphically described by the “F. R. G. S.” “Conceive the head of a Socrates, or a Silenus, upon the body of the Antinous, or Apollo Belvedere. A more magnificent development of muscle, such perfect symmetry in the balance of grace and strength, my eyes had never yet looked upon. But the faces! Except when lighted up by smiles and good humor—expression to an African face is all in all—nothing could be more unprepossessing. The flat nose, the high cheek-bones, the yellow eyes, the chalky white teeth, pointed like the shark’s, the muzzle protruded like that of a dog-monkey, combine to form an unusual amount of ugliness.
“To this adds somewhat the tribe mark, a blue line of cuts half an inch broad, from the forehead scalp to the nose tip—in some cases it extends over both lips to the chin, whence they are called Bluenoses—whilst a broad arrow or wedge, pointed to the face, and also blue, occupies each temple, just above the zygomata. The marks are made with a knife, little cuts into which the oily husk of a gum is rubbed. Their bodies are similarly ornamented with stars, European emblems, as anchors, &c., especially with broad double lines down the breast and other parts.
“Their features are distinctly African, without a mixture of Arab; the conjunctiva is brown, yellow, or tarnished—a Hamitic peculiarity—and some paint white goggle-like ovals round the orbits, producing the effect of a loup. This is sometimes done for sickness, and individuals are rubbed over with various light and dark colored powders. The skin is very dark, often lamp-black; others are of a deep rich brown, or bronze tint, but a light-complexioned man is generally called Tom Coffee.
“They wear the hair, which is short and kinky, in crops, which look like a Buddha’s skull-cap, and they shave when in mourning for their relations. A favorite ‘fash’ (i. e. fashion) is to scrape off a parallelogram behind the head, from the poll to the cerebellum; and others are decorated in that landscape or parterre style which wilder Africans love. The back of the cranium is often remarkably flat, and I have seen many heads of the pyramidal shape, rising narrow and pointed high to the apex. The beard is seldom thick, and never long; the moustachio is removed, and the pile, like the hair, often grows in tufts. The tattoo has often been described. There seems to be something attractive in this process—the English sailor can seldom resist the temptation.
“They also chip, sharpen, and extract the teeth. Most men cut out an inverted V between the two middle incisors of the upper jaw; others draw one or two of the central lower incisors; others, especially the St. Andrews men, tip or sharpen the incisors, like the Wahiao and several Central African tribes.
“Odontology has its mysteries. Dentists seem, or rather seemed, to hold as a theory that destruction of the enamel involved the loss of the tooth; the Krumen hack their masticators with a knife, or a rough piece of hoop iron, and find that the sharpening, instead of producing caries, acts as a preservative, by facilitating the laniatory process. Similarly there are physiologists who attribute the preservation of the negro’s teeth to his not drinking anything hotter than blood heat. This is mere empiricism. The Arabs swallow their coffee nearly boiling, and the East African will devour his agali, or porridge, when the temperature would scald the hand. Yet both these races have pearls of teeth, except when they chew lime or tobacco.”