They borrowed tunes freely from other tribes, and soon learned to sing all the European tunes we cared to teach them; but I do not think that any sounds affected them like the rhythmical beat of their own drums. To that beat they would paddle vigorously for hours beneath the tropical sun; dance perspiringly through a long afternoon, or through a long night; fight recklessly, or drink their sugar-cane wine until their stomachs were well distended.
A WOODEN HEAD-REST OR PILLOW
When the hair has been dressed, at the expense of much time and money, the dandy sleeps with his neck on a pillow of this kind to avoid disarranging the hair.
They were clever in making canoes, which were cut out of solid trees, sometimes from soft woods, but generally from hard timber, such as cedar, mahogany, and even camwood. These canoes were sometimes small enough to be handled by a child, and carried by one person, and so shallow of draught that they would run easily over a few inches of water; but they were also made large enough to take from 60 to 70 paddlers, and more than half a ton of cargo. The tree was felled and roughly shaped in the forest, and then floated to the town of the maker. It was drawn up out of the river, and a rough shelter built over it to shade the worker and keep the canoe from warping. A piece of Euphorbia candelabra was tied to it, and the maker was not to drink water while working on it, otherwise it would leak; and the charm kept it from cracking and warded off all evil influences from spoiling it.
They were also expert in making paddles, handles for axes and hoes, and in carving out chairs from solid blocks of wood. These latter had four legs and gracefully curving backs, but cost so much that only chiefs and head-men could afford them; and when they went to a drinking-bout at a neighbour’s it was no uncommon sight to see the women carrying the chairs and stools to accommodate their lords and masters in comfort while drinking. The natives, with teaching, made good carpenters, and were always handy with tools. Our advent, with new ideas of building and with many tools the like of which they had never seen before, opened to them fresh channels of industry; and as they lost their fear of the “witch-doctor” and were set free from his accusations of “witchcraft” they gave vent to their skill by imitating our dwellings, our furniture, and other conveniences that they saw about our houses, and had seen us make out of the very materials that they had always had to their hand. They eagerly exchanged fowls and other kinds of food for our tools, and we were always ready to help them. Before our arrival the “witch-doctor,” by threats of “witchcraft,” killed every aspiration of the people and smothered every sign of inventive genius that exhibited itself. To make anything out of the ordinary—any new article—was to be regarded as a “witch,” and trouble was sure to follow any suspicion of that kind. There was no hope for them until they burst the bonds that held them in thraldom to their “witch-doctors”; but once released from those miserable trammels, no limits can be set to their future progress.
CHAPTER VI
CUSTOMS: SOME CURIOUS AND SOME CRUEL
Stopping the rain—Causing the river to subside—Appeasing water-spirits—Saved by his wit—Debit and credit in killing—Methods of drinking—Purification by fire—Preventing spirits following their relatives—Burying women alive with their husband’s corpse—Killing a man for a feast—Honouring the dead—Ceremonies at a grave—A monument to a chief.
It was raining one day for about three hours when I noticed a rain-doctor standing on our beach trying to stop the continuous downpour. He was a tall, upright, old man of very kindly disposition, and we had often had joking conversations on this very subject of his power to stop the rain. He had frequently, with much emphasis, asserted his possession of such a power, and assured me that one day he would prove it to me. It was now raining one of those kinds of rain that seem as if it had begun at the Creation and would continue to the crack of doom. From the verandah of my house I saw the rain-doctor pluck a leaf, and going to the bank of the river, he placed the leaf on the closed fist of his left hand, and after extending the arm towards the quarter from which the wind was blowing, he waved it to and fro in a semicircle, and then struck the leaf with the open palm of his right hand. This operation he repeated several times, and at the end of an hour or so the rain began to abate and at last ceased. He then came smilingly up to my house, and said, “You see, white man, I can stop the rain.”
Of course he could when there was no more rain to fall. I reminded him of his many failures, and the frequency with which he himself had been caught in the rain; but such reminders neither shook his own faith, nor the people’s, in his power to stop the rain.