CHAPTER VIII. WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA.
The Colony of Sierra Leone, of which Free Town is the capital, is situated in 8 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, and is about 13½ degrees west longitude; was settled by the English, and was for a long time the most important place on the western coast of Africa. The three leading tribes on the coast of Sierra Leone are the Timanis, the Susus, and the Veys. The first of these surround the British Colony of Sierra Leone on all sides. The Susus have their principal settlements near the head-waters of the Rio Pongas, and are at some distance from the sea coast. The Veys occupy all the country about the Gallinas and Cape Mount, and extend back into the country to the distance of fifty or a hundred miles.
The Timanis cultivate the soil to some extent, have small herds of domestic animals, and are engaged to a greater or less extent in barter with the English colonists of Sierra Leone. They may be seen in large numbers about the streets of Free Town, wearing a large square cotton cloth thrown around their persons. They are strong and healthy in appearance, but have a much less intellectual cast of countenance than the Mandingoes or Fulahs, who may also be seen in the same place. Like all the other tribes in Africa, especially the pagans, they are much addicted to fetichism,—worship of evil spirits,—administering the red-wood ordeal, and other ceremonies. They are depraved, licentious, indolent, and avaricious. But this is no more than what may be said of every heathen tribe on the globe.
The Veys, though not a numerous or powerful tribe, are very intellectual, and have recently invented an alphabet for writing their own language, which has been printed, and now they enjoy the blessings of a written system, for which they are entirely indebted to their own ingenuity and enterprise. This is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable achievements of this or any other age, and is itself enough to silence forever the cavils and sneers of those who think so contemptuously of the intellectual endowments of the African race. The characters used in this system are all new, and were invented by the people themselves without the aid of outsiders. The Veys occupy all the country along the sea-board from Gallinas to Cape Mount.
In stature, they are about the ordinary height, of slender, but graceful figures, with very dark complexions, but large and well-formed heads.
As the Veys are within the jurisdiction of Liberia, that government will be of great service to them. The Biassagoes, the Bulloms, the Dego, and the Gola, are also inhabitants of the Sierra Leone coast. Other tribes of lesser note are scattered all along the coast, many of which have come under the good influence of the Liberian government. Cape Coast Castle, the stronghold of the English on the African coast, has, in past years, been a place of great importance. It was from this place that its governor, Sir Charles McCarthy, went forth to the contest with the Ashantees, a warlike tribe, and was defeated, losing his life, together with that of seven others.
Here, at this castle, “L. E. L.,” the gifted poetess and novelist of England, died, and was buried within the walls. This lamented lady married Captain McLean, the governor-general of the castle, and her death caused no little comment at the time, many blaming the husband for the wife’s death.
The Kru people are also on the coast, and have less general intelligence than the Fulahs, Mandingoes, and Degos. They are physically a fine-appearing race, with more real energy of character than either of the others. It would be difficult to find better specimens of muscular development, men of more manly and independent carriage, or more real grace of manner, anywhere in the world. No one ever comes in contact with them, for the first time, without being struck with their open, frank countenances, their robust and well-proportioned forms, and their independent bearing, even when they have but the scantiest covering for their bodies.
Their complexion varies from the darkest shade of the Negro to that of the true mulatto. Their features are comparatively regular; and, though partaking of all the characteristics of the Negro, they are by no means strongly marked in their general outline or development. The most marked deficiency is in the formation of their heads, which are narrow and peaked, and do not indicate a very high order of intellectual endowment. Experience, however, has shown that they are as capable of intellectual improvement as any other race of men.[31]
In the interior of Youeba, some distance back from Cape Coast, lies the large city of Ibaddan, a place with a population of about two hundred thousand souls. Abeokuta has a population of more than one hundred thousand, and is about seventy-five miles from the sea coast, with a history that is not without interest. Some fifty years ago, a few persons of different tribes, who had been constantly threatened and annoyed by the slave-traders of the coast, fled to the back country, hid away in a large cave, coming out occasionally to seek food, and taking in others who sought protection from these inhuman men-hunters.