the women ran out to see what was the cause of it, not expecting our
return in so short a time; but when they knew who we were, they ran back
to their houses till we had made our triumphal entry, and deaan Mevarrow
was seated; then his wife came out, and as it is the custom there,
licked his feet, and after her, the rest of the women paid him the same
homage; and after that, each of them testified her duty to her own
husband in the same submissive manner. I thought, indeed, I had now a
wife, and as fine a one as the best of them all; and that the next time
we returned from such an expedition with the like success, I should have
homage done me too. My mistress sent and desired to see my young spouse;
I went along with her accordingly, and she would make her sit down on
the same mat with herself, and could not refrain from tears, it having
been her own case; whereupon she charged me to use her tenderly. I did
not intend, I told her, to make a slave of her, but a walley, that is, a
wife.
As I had a stock of honey in a neighbour’s hands, as also some
carravances, and a sufficient quantity of milk, I made a very tolerable
repast for my bride and myself; and mimicked matrimony so far as to take
her by the hand, and assure her that I was willing to make her a
constant and tender husband; and asked her, if she was equally willing
to be a faithful and loving wife? to which she cheerfully consented. So
we lay down together, and though we had no bride-men or bride-maids, or
throwing of stockings, yet we were as happy as our circumstances would
well admit of.
Some of my readers, perhaps, may wonder how I could be so passionately
in love with a black woman; but as I had been several years in the
country, and they were become natural to me, I think the wonder ceases.
Besides, she was extremely handsome, of a middle stature, very straight,
and exactly shaped; her features were regular, and her skin as soft,
fine, and delicate as any lady’s in Great Britain. And to do the women
there justice, all who are of any rank and well brought up, have the
last good quality to boast of. There are uncleanly, coarse-skinned
creatures, indeed, amongst the vulgar, as well as in Europe; but the
women do not go naked as some of the Guinea negroes. Their dress is a
lamber, much longer than that of the men’s, and reaches to their feet
from their middle; above and under the lamber, they wear a kind of
shift, which covers all the body to the neck, and short sleeves. This,
for the generality, is made of cotton, and is of a dark colour; those of
the better sort embellish it with beads, in a very neat manner, more
especially on the back, where they are ranged in rows and cross one
another; and as they are of different colours, they form a large double
cross so like a union-flag, that one would imagine they copied after it.
Thus much as to a general detail of the person and habits of these
women, though I shall not, indeed, give them the preference to our
Europeans; yet I must ingenuously confess, that it is with pleasure I
reflect on mine, and remember our parting with the utmost reluctance and
concern. For as to their fidelity, duty, and submissive deportment to
their husbands, goodnature, and agreeable conversation, so far as their
little knowledge extends, I think the Europeans come far short of them.
We white people entertain a very contemptible and mean idea of these
blacks, and a high and partial one of ourselves: they, on the other
hand, have an exalted opinion of our merit; and modestly imagine, that
we are far superior to them in point of knowledge, arts, and sciences:
and therein, doubtless, they are right; but if an impartial comparison
were to be made of their good qualities, the black heathens would, in my
opinion, excel the white christians. I presume the reader will readily
allow, that the best character I could give myself, in order to
recommend me to my wife’s mother, was, to assure her, as I did, that I
had as tender a heart as any black whatever; for it must be
acknowledged, though to our shame, that they treat one another with more
humanity than we do. There are none miserable amongst them, if it be in
the power of their neighbours to assist them. There love, tenderness,
generosity, and moral honesty, too, are very conspicuous; and that not
only just in this one country of Anterndroea, but throughout the whole
island, and even in other places more than here. My master, deaan
Mevarrow, indeed, may be produced as an exception to this general rule,
on account of his stealing his neighbour’s cattle, I grant it; but it
must be considered, that there are some men of bad principles in every
country; he did it, it is true, against conscience, and stood
self-convicted: for he knew what justice was, as well as any one, as
appeared by his paying me my cow and calf in return for my honey; and in
many other particulars. There is a wide distance between the capacities
and virtues of some men; though it is with regret that I mention deaan
Murnanzack’s name in the same page with Mevarrow’s; yet the peculiar
vices of the latter are no objection to the national virtues of his
country.
My reader will excuse this digression, I hope, when he recollects the
only pleasure that alleviated the weight of my slavery while in
Anterndroea. I looked after my master’s cattle indeed, as I did before;
but then I had a few of my own, and an agreeable companion to spend my
leisure hours with, who took care of my house; and as I had plenty of
honey, I never was without toake, for my wife and I to enjoy ourselves
with, and entertain a friend upon occasion. So that I lived as well as
the best of my neighbours, and being now much less fatigued than
formerly, I was capable of taking more notice of the religion and laws
of the country: and as I propose to amuse the reader with a particular
detail of one of their circumcision-feasts, it will not be improper to
give first an account of that little religion which they professed.
They acknowledge, indeed, and adore the only one supreme God, whom they
call deaan Unghorray, which signifies the Lord above. There are,
according to their notion, four other sovereign lords, and that each
superintends one quarter of the world. The northern lord is styled deaan
Antemoor; the southern, deaan Meguddumdummateme; the western, deaan
Androwfertraer; and the eastern, deaan Anabeleshey. This last, say they,
dispenses plagues and calamities amongst mankind, by the command or
permission at least, of the great God; the others also are subservient
to his commands, but are chiefly dispensers of his favours and
blessings. They look upon these four as mediators between men and the
Supreme Being; on which account they have a peculiar regard for them,
and in their prayers and sacrifices, recommend themselves to their
indulgence and protection.
I have already given the reader some account of the owleys, by which
they seem to entertain the same idea as some superstitious people in
Europe formerly did of familiar spirits; because they employ them as
their favourite messengers with their petitions and prayers to their
great God; and, after a sacrifice, expect that they should come and tell
in dreams what they have to do, and also to warn them of any approaching
danger. This bears a great conformity to the idea, which some christians
have entertained of guardian angels, or some old philosophers of a good
or evil genius; or rather, is more exactly conformable to a very
ancient, and long received notion of demons; and for that reason, as we
have no other term so fit in our language, I choose to distinguish them
by that; for the owley is no more than the general name of the utensil,
or altar; which is rather like a talisman, or sigil, to which the demon
is thought to be attached, and by which, as a proper medium, they expect
to be invoked. For there are almost as many different demons with proper
names, as there are persons who have owleys; some of which are,
Ry-Leffu, Tompack-Offnarevo, Laka-petu, Deer-mefacher, Deer-hurzolavor,
Ry-mungary, Ry-ove. Then they invoke likewise the spirits of their
forefathers, and have a great veneration for them; calling upon them by
names that are given them after their decease; insomuch that they look
upon it as a crime to address them, or speak of them by the names they
had when living; and this name is principally known by the word garevo
at the end of it; as may be observed in the repetition of deaan Crindo’s
and deaan Murnanzack’s fathers’ names by my mock retinue among the
peasants.
The veneration they have for the memory of their ancestors, and the
assurance they have of their spirits always existing, is apparent in
almost every circumstance of the few religious ceremonies which they
perform: the burial of their dead is very particular and solemn. I have
frequently hinted at the great humanity with which they treat each other
on all occasions, and under all difficulties of what nature or kind
soever. In sickness they daily visit and contribute all that in them
lies to the relief of the afflicted family, and the restoration of the
patient. When any one is dead, all the relations and neighbours come to
the house; the women make doleful lamentations, and the men assist in
the necessary preparations for the funeral. In the first place, they
pitch upon a tree for the coffin, after that, a cow or an ox is killed,
and some of the blood sprinkled upon it: imploring at the same time
their forefathers, and the demons, and demigods to aid and assist them,
and take care that the tree does not split in the falling, or that any
one be not hurt either by cutting or felling it. When the tree is down,
they cut it about a foot longer than the corpse, and split it directly
lengthways, (for they always make choice of a tree which they know will
split after this manner,) and dig both parts hollow, like two troughs.
It is then carried to the house, the corpse being in the mean time
washed, and wrapped up in a lamber, or frequently in two and sewed
together. There is frankincense, or a gum very much like it, burning all
the time in the house. They seldom keep the corpse above one day,
especially in hot weather. They put the corpse in the troughs closing
them together, and carry it upon six men’s shoulders. Every family has a
burying-place of their own, which no one dare infringe upon or break
into; nor indeed does any one attempt it. This is enclosed, and fenced
round with sticks, like palisadoes. When they come near the place, the
corpse is set down, and then they proceed to the rest of the ceremony;
that is, to make four fires, one at each corner on the outside of the
burying-place; on these fires they burn the ox or cow, which was killed
before for that purpose; then they divide it into quarters, which are
all consumed in the flames: after this, they sprinkle frankincense upon
the coals, and spread them all about. This being done, the chief or
eldest of the family goes close to the entrance of the burying-place,
and hollas aloud several times; after a short pause, he calls upon all
the dead that are there deposited, commencing at the earliest, and
proceeding to the last, and each one distinctly by his name; and in the
conclusion tells them, that there is a grandchild, or near relation come
to lie amongst them; and that he hopes they will receive him as a
friend. Then the gate is opened, and two or three persons are sent in to
dig the grave, which is made for the generality seven or eight feet
deep; and the corpse is placed in it, and covered over with the earth
without any further ceremony. None are permitted to enter here, but some
of the nearest relations, and the bearers, and the door is immediately
shut fast again. There is commonly a crowd of people without, who are
busy in carving up, and dividing among themselves the cattle, that are
distributed amongst them for that purpose, if it be a great and rich
family that can afford it; but the poorer sort cannot gratify their
friends in so bountiful a manner. They generally visit this
burying-place once a year, to clear it from weeds and make it clean; but
never enter it till they have first burnt a cow, or bullock before it.
I knew some who, during a friend’s sickness, would make a sacrifice and
prayer here, to invoke the aid and assistance of the spirits of their
forefathers; but this is not a very common custom. And if any man have
any peculiar ceremonies of his own, which others do not think proper to
put into practice, no person is offended, nor do they concern themselves
about it; and the reason is, because there are no people here, who
pretend to be greater favourites of the Supreme Being than other men,
and to have a particular commission to interpret and declare his will.
No one here has yet been so presumptuous as to attempt this; and if any
one should be so hardy, he would meet with but few to credit him.
Every man here, the poor man as well as the rich lord, is a priest for
himself and his family; and expects the demons should answer his
requests in his dreams. If he differ from his neighbour in point of
ceremony, as there is no damage given or received, so there is no hatred
arises. But were they to set apart particular persons, and to give them
a certain number of cattle and slaves every year, for the performance of
some certain ceremonies, and instead of making their prayers to God for
themselves, leave it to these to officiate for them, and prescribe rules
and seasons to them, these very people would soon lord it over them. For
they would terrify them with the anger of the great God, and demigods,
and foment divisions among the people for the support of their interest,
lest they should lose their substance and honours; and at last punish
any innocent person for their insolent inventions, under a sanctified
pretence of demons coming in the night from the Supreme Being, and
enjoining them so to do. We had an instance how easily mankind might be
imposed on by these pretenders to prophesy, in my master Mevarrow; and
how artfully the imposition was carried on in one of our neighbours.
There was a person of distinction lived about two hours’ walk from us,
called deaan Olaavor, whose father died whilst I was here; he was making
preparations for his interment in the burying-place of his family; and
the night before, he dreamed his father appeared to him. Or, according
to his own expression, his father appeared to him in a dream, and
earnestly desired him not to bury his corpse; but keep it in a sundock,
or chest, and erect a little house for the reception of it.
This request he very dutifully complied with, building a house about
three hundred yards from the town to the eastward, to which place he
used frequently to resort, and make his prayers and oblations, and then
pretended that the spirit of his father, which he called lulu-bay, or
the great spirit, used to come and tell him strange things, which should
occur to his neighbours. He frequently visited deaan Mevarrow, who gave
the utmost attention to every thing he said; Olaavor perceiving his
weakness, soon found out ways and means to turn the credulity of his
friend to his own advantage: and when any troublesome time came on, he
would industriously wait on Mevarrow, and inform him how angry his
lulu-bay was, and what misfortunes he had just grounds to fear would
attend him. Now whether, as he was an artful man, he conjectured rightly
from the reason of things; or, whether he dreamed rightly (for
sometimes, indeed, it happened as he said, and often otherwise) I shall
not presume to determine; but his principal aim was (as it appeared to
me) to get a heifer now and then for a pretended sacrifice, and
frequently a present of some beads, and such other trinkets, for the
pains he was at, using his best endeavours to appease the wrath of his
lulu-bay, and procure his favour and assistance. The advantage he made
of this was so conspicuous, that many people grew jealous of his
conduct; but at length a brother of deaan Olaavor’s was killed in the
wars, and his lulu-bay never came in a dream to warn either one or the
other of the impending danger. This not only opened their eyes, but
convinced a great many more; however an excuse was at hand. That his
brother had been remiss and negligent in regard to his prayers and
oblations to lulu-bay; and for that reason he suffered him to fall.
Deaan Mevarrow, and some of the weakest of the people, swallowed the
cheat, and still continued their superstitious opinion of this great
spirit, and were afraid to speak, or entertain the least contemptible
thought of it; having always the plea of mean spirited bigots, that they
were safer who paid an awful regard to lulu-bay, than those who despised
him. But be the case how it may, if he were not a great and powerful
spirit, either capable of injuring them, or doing them any good offices;
if the whole were a mere fiction of deaan Olaavor’s, yet there was no
harm in thinking he was so, or in paying him honours; but upon the
supposition that he was really such a potent spirit, and they should
neglect him, then they were sure to suffer severely for their contempt.
This was all the idle answer those poor timorous creatures would give,
on their being asked a reason for their tame compliance with deaan
Olaavor; which, doubtless, would have been as good a plea for their
paying divine honours to a potato, had any one told him he had a
revelation in his dream, that it was a demigod. The reader, I presume,
may entertain a more adequate idea of the natural disposition of the
people, with respect to their morals and religion, from such instances
and occurrences, than from any formal description which I can pretend to
make; I shall therefore pursue my history, and give a particular detail
here of the feast and ceremony of the circumcision of deaan Mevarrow’s
son.
The toake was made some weeks beforehand, by boiling the honey and combs
together, as we in England make mead. They filled a great number of
tubs; some as large as a butt, but some indeed smaller; a shed being
built for that purpose, which was thatched over, to place them in. On
the day appointed, messengers were despatched all round the country to
invite the relations and friends. About three or four days before the
ceremony of the circumcision was actually performed, you might see the
beginning of a festival; people went about blowing horns, and beating
drums both night and day; to whom some toake was given out of the lesser
vessels as a small compensation for their trouble: deaan Mevarrow had
procured two large oxen from deaan Murnanzack. They, who lived in the
most remote parts, came a day or two before; and they were entertained
with toake. In the evening, I found the town full of people, some
wallowing on the ground, and some staggering; scarcely one individual
person sober, either men, women, or children. And here one might
sensibly discern the effects of peace and security, the people
abandoning themselves without fear or reserve to drinking, and all
manner of diversions. My wife I found had been among them indeed; but
had the prudence to withdraw in time, for she was fast asleep when I
came home.
And now the day being come, I returned from feeding my cattle before
noon, in order to bring up the two oxen and a bull, whose legs being at
once tied fast, they were thrown all along upon the ground. The child
was about a year old; for they have no stated time for the observance of
this custom. He was decked with beads, and a skein of white cotton
thread was wound about his head. A great crowd attended the festival.
Some brought such presents as their abilities would admit, such as a
cow, or a calf, beads, iron shovels, hatchets, and the like. Every one
was served once only with a small quantity of toake in a calabash before
the ceremony began. All things being now duly prepared, they waited for
the signal from the umossee, who was all this time very busy, to all
outward appearance, in measuring his shadow with his feet. When it came
to the length of three and a half, he gave the word. Upon which, one of
the nearest relations, who had the child in his arms, ran with him up to
the bull, and putting the child’s right hand on the bull’s right horn,
repeating the following form of words.
Tyhew deaan Unghorray, deaan Antemoor, deaan Anebeleshey, deaan
Androfertraer, deaan Meguddumdummateme, an Ruey Owley, Heer-razehu,
ittoey acquo toey Anomebay loyhe ittoey handrabeck enney raffa
loyhe.
Which in English runs thus:—
Let the Great God above, the Lords of the four quarters of the world,
and the demons prosper this child, and make a great man of him. May
he prove as strong as this bull, and overcome all his enemies.
If the bull roar whilst the boy’s hand is on his horn, they look on it
as an ill omen, portending either sickness, or some other misfortunes in
life; and all the business of the umossee is nothing more than this:—to
tell them what is the most unlucky hour or minute (like our strolling
fortune-tellers) to do it in; for, as to the religious part of the
ceremony, he is no ways concerned in it; if there be any religion
intended by it, which is somewhat to be questioned; for any experienced
man of the neighbourhood, whom they imagine understands it best,
performs the operation by feeling for the head of the yard, and cutting
off the fore-skin as closely as possible, two men holding the child’s
legs and arms at the same time. As to the name, it is given long before,
and frequently is changed afterwards; this child was named Ry-Mocker.
After the fore-skin is cut off, an attendant having a stick in his hand
like a gun rammer, the biggest end whereof is pointed, puts the
fore-skin upon it, and going to the wood, throws it towards the east.
The ceremony being over, the child is delivered to the mother, who is
all this time sitting upon a mat with the women round her. And now their
merriment began; the thatch was all pulled off the toake-house, and I
was ordered to kill the bull and the oxen; but these not being
sufficient, my master sent for three more which had been brought him by
his friends, for there were abundance of mouths to be fed. Before they
began to drink, he took particular care to secure all their weapons, and
no man was permitted to have so much as a gun or a lance; and then they
indulged themselves in boiling, broiling, and roasting of meat, drinking
of toake, singing, hallooing, blowing of shells, and drumming, with all
their might and main. I do not believe there were twenty sober persons
among the whole company. These revels continued all night; some went
away the next morning, but most stayed till evening, so that the feast
lasted three days successively.
These people are great admirers of toake, and some of the vulgar sort,
as arrant sots, and as lazy as any in England, for they will sell their
guinea corn, carravances, nay, their very spades and shovels, and live
upon what the woods afford them. Their very lambers too, if worth any
thing, must go for toake; and they make an ordinary one serve turn, so
it will but just cover their nakedness. It is made of the tree called
the whooring, which they cut down with their lances. The outer bark is
taken away, and the inner, which is white, is peeled off whole, and beat
with a stick till it is made soft and pliant; and then they wear it as a
lamber, but it can never be washed. Their lambers, however, for the
generality, are made of cotton dyed in the yarn. The richer sort,
indeed, and people of distinction, buy silk and calicoes at seaport
towns, and often give a cow and a calf for no more than will make them
one lamber. The men wear no other clothes, but they adorn themselves
with mananelers, which are rings round their wrists; and these, both men
and women of distinction, are very fond of. They are sometimes made of
gold (but where they get them I cannot say), oftener of silver, but more
frequently of copper; which, at last, I found was produced and made in
the country, as well as iron. They dress their heads in a very agreeable
manner, curling up their hair to make it lie close, for they have hair,
and not wool on their heads, as the Guinea negroes; neither are their
noses flat, though small, nor their lips so big as theirs, but their
hair is always black, and for the generality, has a natural curl. Deaan
Crindo’s family are particularly distinguished, on account of their long
hair, and their copper-coloured skins. Notwithstanding they have no idea
of letters, yet they have here very wholesome laws, which are fixed in
their minds and handed down from generation to generation. I well
remember many of them, the recapitulation whereof, I flatter myself,
will be no disagreeable amusement to the reader.
If one maliciously assault his neighbour, and break a leg or an arm, the
offender is fined fifteen head of cattle, which are delivered to the
party injured.
If one break another’s head, and he that is wounded have not returned
the blow, he has three beeves by way of damage.