Slaves dropped in slowly at Kambia and Bangalang, though I still had
half the cargo of the Feliz to make up. Time was precious, and there
was no foreigner on the river to aid me. In this strait, I suddenly
resolved on a foray among the natives on my own account; and equipping
a couple of my largest canoes with an ample armament, as well as a
substantial store of provisions and merchandise, I departed for the
Matacan river, a short stream, unsuitable for vessels of considerable
draft. I was prepared for the purchase of fifty slaves.
I reached my destination without risk or adventure, but had the
opportunity of seeing some new phases of Africanism on my arrival.
Most of the coast negroes are wretchedly degraded by their
superstitions and _sauvagerie_, and it is best to go among them with
power to resist as well as presents to purchase. Their towns did not
vary from the river and bush settlements generally. A house was given
me for my companions and merchandise; yet such was the curiosity to
see the "white man," that the luckless mansion swarmed with sable bees
both inside and out, till I was obliged to send for his majesty to
relieve my sufferings.
After a proper delay, the king made his appearance in all the
paraphernalia of African court-dress. A few fathoms of check girded
his loins, while a blue shirt and red waistcoat were surmounted by a
dragoon's cap with brass ornaments. His countenance was characteristic
of Ethiopia and royalty. A narrow forehead retreated rapidly till it
was lost in the crisp wool, while his eyes were wide apart, and his
prominent cheek-bones formed the base of an inverted cone, the apex of
which was his braided beard, coiled up under his chin. When earnest in
talk, his gestures were mostly made with his head, by straining his
eyes to the rim of their sockets, stretching his mouth from ear to
ear, grinning like a baboon, and throwing out his chin horizontally
with a sudden jerk. Notwithstanding these personal oddities, the
sovereign was kind, courteous, hospitable, and disposed for trade.
Accordingly, I "dashed," or presented him and his head-men a few
pieces of cottons, with some pipes, beads, and looking-glasses, by way
of whet for the appetite of to-morrow.
But the division of this gift was no sportive matter. "The spoils"
were not regulated upon principles of superiority, or even of
equality; but fell to the lot of the stoutest scramblers. As soon as
the goods were deposited, the various gangs seized my snowy cottons,
dragging them right and left to their several huts, while they
shrieked, yelled, disputed, and fought in true African fashion. Some
lucky dog would now and then leap between two combatants who had
possession of the ends of a piece, and whirling himself rapidly around
the middle, slashed the sides with his jack-knife and was off to the
bush. The pipes, beads, and looking-glasses, were not bestowed more
tenderly, while the tobacco was grabbed and appropriated by leaves or
handfuls.
Next day we proceeded to formal business. His majesty called a regular
"palaver" of his chiefs and head-men, before whom I stated my
_dantica_ and announced the terms. Very soon several young folks were
brought for sale, who, I am sure, never dreamed at rising from last
night's sleep, that they were destined for Cuban slavery! My
merchandise revived the memory of peccadilloes that had been long
forgotten, and sentences that were forgiven. Jealous husbands, when
they tasted my rum, suddenly remembered their wives' infidelities, and
sold their better halves for more of the oblivious fluid. In truth I
was exalted into a magician, unroofing the village, and baring its
crime and wickedness to the eye of _justice_. Law became profitable,
and virtue had never reached so high a price! Before night the town
was in a turmoil, for every man cudgelled his brain for an excuse to
kidnap his neighbor, so as to share my commerce. As the village was
too small to supply the entire gang of fifty, I had recourse to the
neighboring settlements, where my "barkers," or agents, did their work
in a masterly manner. Traps were adroitly baited with goods to lead
the unwary into temptation, when the unconscious pilferer was caught
by his ambushed foe, and an hour served to hurry him to the beach as a
slave for ever. In fact, five days were sufficient to stamp my image
permanently on the Matacan settlements, and to associate my memory
with any thing but blessings in at least fifty of their families!
* * * * *
I had heard, on the Rio Pongo, of a wonderful wizard who dwelt in this
region, and took advantage of the last day of my detention to inquire
his whereabouts. The impostor was renowned for his wonderful tricks of
legerdemain, as well as for cures, necromancy, and fortune-telling.
The ill came to him by scores; credulous warriors approached him with
valuable gifts for _fetiches_ against musket balls and arrows; while
the humbler classes bought his charms against snakes, alligators,
sharks, evil spirits, or sought his protection for their unborn
children.
My interpreter had already visited this fellow, and gave such charming
accounts of his skill, that all my people wanted their fates divined,
for which I was, of course, obliged to advance merchandise to purchase
at least a gratified curiosity. When they came back I found every one
satisfied with his future lot, and so happy was the chief of my
Kroomen that he danced around his new _fetiche_ of cock's feathers and
sticks, and snapped his fingers at all the sharks, alligators, and
swordfish that swam in the sea.
By degrees these reports tickled my own curiosity to such a degree,
that, incontinently, I armed myself with a quantity of cotton cloth, a
brilliant bandanna, and a lot of tobacco, wherewith I resolved to
attack the soothsayer's den. My credulity was not involved to the
expedition, but I was sincerely anxious to comprehend the ingenuity or
intelligence by which a negro could control the imagination of African
multitudes.
The wizard chose his abode with skilful and romantic taste. Quitting
the town by a path which ascended abruptly from the river, the
traveller was forced to climb the steep by a series of dangerous
zig-zags among rocks and bushes, until he reached a deep cave in an
elevated cliff that bent over the stream. As we approached, my
conductor warned the inmate of our coming by several whoops. When we
reached the entrance I was directed to halt until the demon announced
his willingness to receive us. At length, after as much delay as is
required in the antechamber of a secretary of state, a growl, like the
cry of a hungry crocodile, gave token of the wizard's coming.
As he emerged from the deep interior, I descried an uncommonly tall
figure, bearing in his arms a young and living leopard. I could not
detect a single lineament of his face or figure, for he was covered
from head to foot in a complete dress of monkey skins, while his face
was hidden by a grotesque white mask. Behind him groped a delicate
blind boy.
We seated ourselves on hides along the floor, when, at my bidding, the
interpreter, unrolling my gifts, announced that I came with full hands
to his wizardship, for the purpose of learning my fortune.
The impostor had trained his tame leopard to fetch and carry like a
dog, so that, without a word, the docile beast bore the various
presents to his master. Every thing was duly measured, examined, or
balanced in his hands to ascertain its quality and weight. Then,
placing a bamboo between his lips and the blind boy's ear, he
whispered the words which the child repeated aloud. First of all, he
inquired what I wished to know? As one of his follower's boasts was
the extraordinary power he possessed of speaking various languages, I
addressed him in Spanish, but as his reply displayed an evident
ignorance of what I said, I took the liberty to reprimand him sharply
in his native tongue. He waved me off with an imperious flourish of
his hand, and ordered me to wait, as he perfectly comprehended my
Spanish, but the magic power would not suffer him to answer save in
regular rotation, word by word.
I saw his trick at once, which was only one of prompt and adroit
_repetition_. Accordingly, I addressed him in his native dialect, and
requested a translation of my sentence into Spanish. But this was a
puzzler; though it required but a moment for him to assure me that a
foreign language could only be spoken by wizards of his degree _at the
full of the moon_!
I thought it time to shift the scene to fortune-telling, and begged my
demon to begin the task by relating the past, in order to confirm my
belief in his mastery over the future. But the nonsense he uttered was
so insufferable, that I dropped the curtain with a run, and commanded
"the hereafter" to appear. This, at least, was more romantic. As
usual, I was to be immensely rich. I was to become a great prince. I
was to have a hundred wives; but alas! before six months elapsed, my
factory would be burnt and I should lose a vessel!
Presently, the interpreter proposed an exhibition of legerdemain, and
in this I found considerable amusement to make up for the preceding
buffoonery. He knotted a rope, and untied it with a jerk. He sank a
knife deep in his throat, and poured in a vessel of water. Other
deceptions followed this skilful trick, but the cleverest of all was
the handling of red hot iron, which, after covering his hands with a
glutinous paste, was touched in the most fearless manner. I have seen
this trick performed by other natives, and whenever ignited coals or
ardent metal was used, the hands of the operator were copiously
anointed with the pasty unguent.
A valedictory growl, and a resumption of the leopard, gave token of
the wizard's departure, and closed the evening's entertainments.
If the ease with which a man is amused, surprised, or deluded, is a
fair measure of intellectual grade, I fear that African minds will
take a very moderate rank in the scale of humanity. The task of
self-civilization, which resembles the self-filtering of water, has
done but little for Ethiopia in the ages that have passed
simultaneously over her people and the progressive races of other
lands. It remains to be seen what the _infused_ civilization of
Christianity and Islamism will effect among these benighted nations.
JESUS, MAHOMET, and the FETICHE, will, perhaps, long continue to be
their types of distinctive separation.