Nevertheless, the degradation of the African is a fact. And it is being proved that there is no power of moral renovation for him inherent in material progress. Christianity, and nothing else, vitalizes his moral nature; and therefore it contains the potentialities of civilization. When Mr. Giddings, and other sociologists of a certain class, ignoring spiritual values, demand a gospel for the life that now is, we offer them the same Gospel of Christ, and point to its actual results in Africa; maintaining that the missionary is the chief agent in Africa’s civilization, and affirming that civilization is but the secular side of Christianity.
One of the stories in this volume appears also in Dr. Robert H. Nassau’s admirable book, Fetishism in West Africa; and two of the stories are told, in slightly different form, in Mr. R. E. Dennett’s interesting book on the folk-lore of the Fjort. Most of the illustrations are from photographs taken by Mr. Harry D. Salveter.
Robert H. Milligan.
New York.
Contents
| I | ||
| The White Man’s Grave | [15] | |
| The Coast—The Old Coaster—His obsession—Angom—Loneliness—Gaboon—The seasons—Ice that burned—A peculiar climate—The mosquito—Quinine—Frightened into fever—A matter of coffins. | ||
| II | ||
| “The Wise Ones” | [29] | |
| From palm-oil to trousers—Mpongwe and Fang—Making a king—Caste—Domestic slavery—Ndinga, a human leopard—A Gaboon belle—Native courtesy—A fight—A war-custom—The cause of the tide—A dying confession—A case of witchcraft—Curing the sick—A secret society. | ||
| III | ||
| A Dying Tribe | [42] | |
| Women who cannot marry—The slave-trade—The rum-traffic—Elida—Augustus—Trade and polygamy—Too proud to speak—Destruction of authority—Customs not irrational—The dowry—The foreign governments—The whipping-post—A fatal defect. | ||
| IV | ||
| A Living Remnant | [56] | |
| A difficult work—The Jesuits—Iguwi—Single blessedness—A chicken breakfast—Buttons—A remarkable illustration—A service—Fluency—Toko Truman—Izuri—Ntyango—Sara—Lucina—Uncle Remus—The Tortoise and his Creditors—The Wag—A battle in canoes—A captive father—A graveyard. | ||
| V | ||
| African Music | [72] | |
| A taste for comic opera—An organ and an organist—The origin of music—Musical instruments—The sense of melody—A decomposed tune—Unfamiliar scales—Mourning—Rhythm—Extremely musical—Three songs. | ||
| VI | ||
| Pests | [85] | |
| The Ten Plagues—Killing flies—The driver ant—Other ants—The jigger—The sandfly—The mosquito—The centipede—The cockroach—The white ant—Divers other pests—Internal parasites—Rats—Snakes. | ||
| VII | ||
| The “Cannibal” Fang | [110] | |
| A discriminating palate—Not the worst cannibals—Appearance—The Negro face and the Greek face—Legs—The wheel—Dress—An overdressed woman—Food—Cannibalism—An affair of honour—Native art—Curiosity—Turning them into monkeys. | ||
| VIII | ||
| Manners and Customs | [125] | |
| The native resourceful—Unambitious—Trade—Communism—Boiling the Bible—A quarrel—Marriage—The dowry—A case of torture—The head-wife—The tongue a woman’s weapon—Polygamy—Ogula and her Ngalo—Tragedy—Dancing—The story-teller—An interesting liar. | ||
| IX | ||
| Funeral Customs | [145] | |
| A talking corpse—A world of magic—Sympathy and expectoration—The dirge—Premature burial—A funeral incident—Death customs—Conventional mourning—An incident of the grass-field—A horrible burial custom—Two death scenes, a contrast. | ||
| X | ||
| The “Dorothy” | [158] | |
| A godsend—A gasoline palaver—Canoeing—The rapids—A pilot—A sudden stop—Passengers—The mangrove swamp—A wheelman and a bottle—Pirates—Towing a town—Nkogo—Ndutuma—Ndong Bisia—A saucepan and a ball of twine. | ||
| XI | ||
| Schoolboys | [179] | |
| Lolo—Unwashed—Washed—A flying bucket—A little friend—The blessed Melchisedec—A parting—Ko-ko-ko-ko—The centre of a fight—The poetry of soap—A threat of suicide—The eloquence of sounding brass—A “rotten road”—Savages as soldiers—Ngema’s father—Across our bow—A tornado. | ||
| XII | ||
| A School | [198] | |
| Mendam, the big brother—Clothing—A day’s program—Cutting grass—A python—Rations—A collapse—The dormitory—The dispensary—The jigger-palaver—Not stupid—A head that got hit—Singing—Interruptions—A picnic—Games—War-dances—Stories—A Tug-of-War—A Race—The Leopard and the Antelope—An evangelistic force. | ||
| XIII | ||
| The Mental Degradation of Fetishism | [219] | |
| The horseshoe—The charm—The fetish—The relic—The fetish-doctor—A psychological consequence—The African idea of nature—Incredible beliefs—Confession of a chief’s son—Two babes—The idea of God—The mental atmosphere—Making the rainbow—A problem—First lessons—Why the river is crooked—An old woman’s illustration. | ||
| XIV | ||
| The Moral Degradation of Fetishism | [233] | |
| A lost child—Worship of snakes—Demoralizing factors—A chief’s fetish—Ingredients—Human sacrifice—A royal death—Wives and witchcraft—Concluding a war—Destiny—Man’s nature—New conceptions—A revolt from cannibalism—Heaps of skulls—Deliverance. | ||
| XV | ||
| Fetishism and the Cross | [246] | |
| A precocious boy—Killed his friend—Essentially moral—Cure for lying—The ordeal—A trial and death—The sense of guilt—Expiatory rites—The new ideal—The atonement—Self-sacrifice and self-assertion—Ndong Koni builds a church—Onjoga cuts grass—Makuba’s rheumatism—What is a missionary?—Onjoga’s wife—Children at play. | ||
| XVI | ||
| Missions and Social Progress | [264] | |
| The noble savage—Story of a feud—Society and the individual—Progressive and unprogressive—Interdependence—Conquest of nature—Education—Authority of custom—Work—Trustworthiness—A civilizing experiment—A communion service—Equality of woman—A salutation—Attitude towards nature—A thirst for knowledge—Service—Legitimacy in government—The home—Thy kingdom come. | ||
| XVII | ||
| The Critics | [286] | |
| The missionary blamed for everything—Bewildering inconsistency—Professor Starr—Misfits—Criticism unjust—Unbelief—Antipathy towards the native—Cruelty—Vice—Lowering of ideals—Missions sociologically sound—The let alone policy too late—Miss Kingsley. | ||
| XVIII | ||
| Saints Among Savages | [310] | |
| The best apologetic—Mb’Obam—Sara—A matrimonial bureau—Angona—A pot-palaver—A narrow escape—Amvama—A clean knife—A bet—Proving himself—A dowry palaver—Opposing a chief—Robert Boardman—Son of a “prince”—Blindness—Incident of a pipe—His love of music—His wife—A near-elopement—Walking in the light. | ||
Illustrations
| Amvama, A Fang Catechist | [Frontispiece] |
|---|---|
| Facing page | |
| Mission House at Baraka | [22] |
| Women’s Secret Society | [41] |
| Trading-House at Gaboon | [54] |
| An Mpongwe Wedding | [65] |
| A Fang Family | [110] |
| Fang Traders with Ivory | [128] |
| The Dorothy | [158] |
| Crew of the Dorothy | [171] |
| The Primary Class | [179] |
| A Little Scholar | [187] |
| The Daily Clinic | [187] |
| Schoolhouse and Dormitory at Gaboon | [205] |
| Several Strides towards Civilization | [264] |
| A Fashionable Wedding in Kamerun | [283] |
| Anyoroguli | [306] |
| Returning from the Gardens | [306] |
| Fang Christians | [323] |
I
THE WHITE MAN’S GRAVE
For that matter the whole west coast of Africa is called by the natives The White Man’s Grave; and everywhere the fever stalks along the beach like a grim sentinel warning the stranger to stay away and ready to beat him into delirium and death if he lands. But the name, The White Man’s Grave, is especially attached to several of the oldest of the coast settlements. Notable among these is Gaboon, in the French Congo, almost exactly at the equator, where I lived for nearly six years, the period of my second term in Africa.