The Africans who cluster about the bold headland of Cape
Mount,--which, in fair weather, greets the mariner full thirty miles
at sea,--belong to the Vey tribe, and are in no way inferior to the
best classes of natives along the coast. Forty or fifty families
constitute "a town," the government of which is generally in the hands
of the oldest man, who administers justice by a "palaver" held in
public, wherein the seniors of the settlement are alone consulted.
These villages subject themselves voluntarily to the protectorate of
larger towns, whose chief arbitrates as sovereign without appeal in
all disputes among towns under his wardship; yet, as his judgments are
not always pleasing, the dissatisfied desert their huts, and,
emigrating to another jurisdiction, build their village anew within
its limits.
The Veys of both sexes are well-built, erect, and somewhat stately.
Their faith differs but little from that prevalent among the Soosoos
of the Rio Pongo. They believe in a superior power that may be
successfully invoked through _gree-grees_ and _fetiches_, but which is
generally obstinate or mischievous. It is their idea that the good are
rewarded after death by transformation into some favorite animal; yet
their entire creed is not subject to any definite description, for
they blend the absurdities of Mahometanism with those of paganism, and
mellow the whole by an acknowledgment of a supreme deity.
The Vey, like other _uncontaminated_ Ethiopians, is brought up in
savage neglect by his parents, crawling in perfect nakedness about the
villages, till imitation teaches him the use of raiment, which, in all
likelihood, he first of all obtains by theft. There is no difference
between the sexes during their early years. A sense of shame or
modesty seems altogether unknown or disregarded; nor is it unusual to
find ten or a dozen of both genders huddled promiscuously beneath a
roof whose walls are not more than fifteen feet square.
True to his nature, a Vey bushman rises in the morning to swallow his
rice and cassava, and crawls back to his mat which is invariably
placed in the sunshine, where he _simmers_ till noontide, when another
wife serves him with a second meal. The remainder of daylight is
passed either in gossip or a second _siesta_, till, at sundown, his
other wives wash his body, furnish a third meal, and stretch his
wearied limbs before a blazing fire to refresh for the toils of the
succeeding day. In fact, the slaves of a household, together with its
females, form the entire working class of Africa, and in order to
indoctrinate the gentler sex in its future toils and duties, there
seems to be a sort of national seminary which is known as the
Gree-gree-bush.
The Gree-gree-bush is a secluded spot or grove of considerable extent
in the forest, apart from dwellings and cultivated land though
adjacent to villages, which is considered as consecrated ground and
forbidden to the approach of men. The establishment within this
precinct consists of a few houses, with an extensive area for
exercise. It is governed chiefly by an old woman of superior skill and
knowledge, to whose charge the girls of a village are intrusted as
soon as they reach the age of ten or twelve. There are various
opinions of the use and value of this institution in the primitive
polity of Africa. By some writers it is treated as a religious
cloister for the protection of female chastity, while by others it is
regarded as a school of licentiousness. From my own examination of the
establishment, I am quite satisfied that a line drawn between these
extremes will, most probably, characterize the "bush" with accuracy,
and that what was originally a conservative seclusion, has degenerated
greatly under the lust of tropical passions.
As the procession of novices who are about to enter the grove
approaches the sanctuary, music and dancing are heard and seen on
every side. As soon as the maidens are received, they are taken by the
_gree-gree_ women to a neighboring stream, where they are washed, and
undergo an operation which is regarded as a sort of circumcision.
Anointed from head to foot with palm-oil, they are next reconducted to
their home in the gree-gree bush. Here, under strict watch, they are
maintained by their relatives or those who are in treaty for them as
wives, until they reach the age of puberty. At this epoch the
important fact is announced by the gree-gree woman to the purchaser or
future husband, who, it is expected, will soon prepare to take her
from the retreat. Whenever his _new_ house is ready for the bride's
reception, it is proclaimed by the ringing of bells and vociferous
cries during night. Next day search is made by females through the
woods, to ascertain whether intruders are lurking about, but when the
path is ascertained to be clear, the girl is forthwith borne to a
rivulet, where she is washed, anointed, and clad in her best attire.
From thence she is borne, amid singing, drumming, shouting, and
firing, in the arms of her female attendants, till her unsoiled feet
are deposited on the husband's floor.[9]
I believe this institution exists throughout a large portion of
Africa, and such is the desire to place females within the bush, that
poor parents who cannot pay the initiatory fee, raise subscriptions
among their friends to obtain the requisite slave whose gift entitles
their child to admission. Sometimes, it is said, that this _human
ticket is stolen_ to effect the desired purpose, and that no native
power can recover the lost slave when once within the sacred
precincts.
The gree-gree-bush is not only a resort of the virgin, but of the
wife, in those seasons when approaching maternity indicates need of
repose and care. In a few hours, the robust mother issues with her
new-born child, and after a plunge into the nearest brook, returns to
the domestic drudgery which I have already described.
* * * * *
In the time of Fana-Toro, Toso was the royal residence where his
majesty played sovereign and protector over six towns and fifteen
villages. His government was generally considered patriarchal. When I
bought Cape Mount, the king numbered "seventy-seven rains," equivalent
to so many years;--he was small, wiry, meagre, erect, and proud of the
respect he universally commanded. His youth was notorious among the
tribes for intrepidity, and I found that he retained towards enemies a
bitter resentment that often led to the commission of atrocious
cruelties.
It was not long after my instalment at the Cape, that I accidentally
witnessed the ferocity of this chief. Some trifling "country affair"
caused me to visit the king; but upon landing at Toso I was told he
was abroad. The manner of my informant, however, satisfied me that the
message was untrue; and accordingly, with the usual confidence of a
"white man" in Africa, I searched his premises till I encountered him
in the "palaver-house." The large inclosure was crammed with a mob of
savages, all in perfect silence around the king, who, in an infuriate
manner, with a bloody, knife in his hand, and a foot on the dead body
of a negro, was addressing the carcass. By his side stood a pot of
hissing oil, in which the heart of his enemy was frying!
My sudden and, perhaps, improper entrance, seemed to exasperate the
infidel, who, calling me to his side, knelt on the corpse, and digging
it repeatedly with his knife, exclaimed with trembling passion, that
it was his bitterest and oldest foe's! For twenty years he had
butchered his people, sold his subjects, violated his daughters, slain
his sons, and burnt his towns;--and with each charge, the savage
enforced his assertion by a stab.
I learned that the slaughtered captive was too brave and wary to be
taken alive in open conflict. He had been kidnapped by treachery, and
as he could not be forced to walk to Toso, the king's trappers had
cooped him in a huge basket, which they bore on their shoulders to the
Cape. No sooner was the brute in his captor's presence, than he broke
a silence of three days by imprecations on Fana-Toro. In a short
space, his fate was decided in the scene I had witnessed, while his
body was immediately burnt to prevent it from taking the form of some
ferocious beast which might vex the remaining years of his royal
executioner!
This was the only instance of Fana-Toro's barbarity that came under my
notice, and in its perpetration he merely followed the example of his
ancestors in obedience to African ferocity. Yet, of his intrepidity
and nobler endurance, I will relate an anecdote which was told me by
reliable persons. Some twenty years before my arrival at the Cape,
large bands of mercenary bushmen had joined his enemies along the
beach, and after desolating his territory, sat down to beleaguer the
stockade of Toso. For many a day thirst and hunger were quietly
suffered under the resolute command of the king, but at length, when
their pangs became unendurable, and the people demanded a surrender,
Fana-Toro strode into the "palaver-house," commanding a _sortie_ with
his famished madmen. The warriors protested against the idea, for
their ammunition was exhausted. Then arose a wild shout for the king's
deposition and the election of a chief to succeed him. A candidate was
instantly found and installed; but no sooner had he been chosen, than
Fana-Toro,--daring the new prince to prove a power of _endurance_
equal to his own,--plunged his finger in a bowl of boiling oil, and
held it over the fire, without moving a muscle, till the flesh was
crisped to the bone.
It is hardly necessary to say that the sovereign was at once restored
to his rights, or that, availing himself of the fresh enthusiasm, he
rushed upon his besiegers, broke their lines, routed the mercenaries,
and compelled his rival to sue for peace. Until the day of his death,
that mutilated hand was the boast of his people.
The Vey people mark with some ceremony the extremes of human
existence--birth and death. Both events are honored with feasting,
drinking, dancing, and firing; and the descendants of the dead
sometimes impoverish, and even ruin themselves, to inter a venerable
parent with pomp.
Prince Gray, the son of Fana-Toro, whom I have already mentioned, died
during my occupation of Cape Mount. I was at Mesurado when the event
happened, but, as soon as I heard it, I resolved to unite with his
relations in the last rites to his memory. Gray was not only a good
negro and kind neighbor, but, as my fast friend in "country matters,"
his death was a personal calamity.
The breath was hardly out of the prince's body, when his sons, who
owned but little property and had no slaves for sale, hastened to my
agent, and pledged their town of Panama for means to defray his
funeral. In the mean time, the corpse, swathed in twenty large country
sheets, and wrapped in twenty pieces of variegated calico, was laid
out in a hut, where it was constantly watched and _smoked_ by three of
the favorite widows.
After two months devotion to moaning and _seasoning_, notice was sent
forty miles round the country, summoning the tribes to the final
ceremony. On the appointed day the corpse was brought from the hut, _a
perfect mass of bacon_. As the procession moved towards the
palaver-house, the prince's twenty wives--almost entirely denuded,
their heads shaved, and their bodies smeared with dust--were seen
following his remains. The eldest spouse appeared covered with
self-inflicted bruises, burns, and gashes--all indications of sorrow
and future uselessness.
The crowd reached the apartment, singing the praises of the defunct in
chorus, when the body was laid on a new mat, covered with his war
shirt, while the parched lump that indicated his head was crowned with
the remains of a fur hat. All the amulets, charms, gree-grees,
fetiches and flummery of the prince were duly bestowed at his sides.
While these arrangements were making within, his sons stood beneath
an adjoining verandah, to receive the condolences of the invited
guests, who, according to custom, made their bows and deposited a
tribute of rice, palm-oil, palm-wine, or other luxuries, to help out
the merry-making.
When I heard of the prince's death at Monrovia, I resolved not to
return without a testimonial of respect for my ally, and ordered an
enormous coffin to be prepared without delay. In due time the huge
chest was made ready, covered with blue cotton, studded with brass
nails, and adorned with all the gilded ornaments I could find in
Monrovia. Besides this splendid sarcophagus, my craft from the colony
was ballasted with four bullocks and several barrels of rum, as a
contribution to the funeral.
I had timed my arrival at Fanama, so as to reach the landing about ten
o'clock on the morning of burial; and, after a salute from my brazen
guns, I landed the bullocks, liquor, and coffin, and marched toward
the princely gates.
The unexpected appearance of the white friend of their father, lord,
and husband, was greeted by the family with a loud wail, and, as a
mark of respect, I was instantly lifted in the arms of the weeping
women, and deposited on the mat beside the corpse. Here I rested, amid
cries and lamentations, till near noon, when the bullocks were
slaughtered, and their blood offered in wash-bowls to the dead. As
soon as this was over, the shapeless mass was stowed in the coffin
without regard to position, and borne by six carriers to the beach,
where it was buried in a cluster of cotton-woods.
On our return to Fanama from the grave, the eldest son of the deceased
was instantly saluted as prince. From this moment the festivities
began, and, at sundown, the twenty widows reappeared upon the ground,
clad in their choicest raiment, their shaven skulls anointed with oil,
and their limbs loaded with every bead and bracelet they could muster.
Then began the partition of these disconsolate relicts among the royal
family. Six were selected by the new prince, who divided thirteen
among his brothers and kinsmen, but gave his mother to his
father-in-law. As soon as the allotment was over, his highness very
courteously offered me the choice of his _six_, in return for my
gifts; but as I never formed a family tie with natives, I declined the
honor, as altogether too overwhelming!
FOOTNOTE:
[9] See Maryland Colonization Journal, vol. i., n. s., p. 212.