wretches that try to escape from the flames. The negroes have strong
local attachments, and on such occasions the most agonizing scenes
frequently occur.
The wives of wealthy Moorish chiefs have black female slaves, to whom
they transfer all the toil, while they loll upon mats, smoking their
pipes all day long. The poor slaves, who are treated with the utmost
haughtiness and rigor, try to anticipate the slightest wish of their
indolent mistresses. Sometimes they carry their attention so far, as
to pick up every stone or stick, that might annoy the feet of these
walking flesh mountains.
If a Moor has a son by any of his black slaves, the girl is much better
treated than before; her child shares equal privileges with the other
children, and is acknowledged as a free fellow-citizen like themselves.
In this respect Christian slave-owners might learn a useful lesson from
the ignorant Moslem.
* * * * *
The dwellings of negroes are generally huts made of the branches of
trees and thatched with palmetto. The king’s residence usually consists
of a number of these huts surrounded by a clay wall. Each wife has a
separate building, sometimes divided from the apartments of the men
by a slight bamboo fence. Some of the African huts are very prettily
painted, or stained, and the walls adorned with curious straw work. The
Ashantees display a considerable degree of taste and even elegance in
their architecture. Their houses and door-posts are elaborately carved
with representations of warlike processions, and serpents seizing their
prey.
The various African tribes differ as much in personal appearance as the
inhabitants of the numerous Asiatic kingdoms. The Pulahs, or Fulahs,
of Bondu, between the Senegal and Gambia, are copper-colored, and have
long hair. Some of them are black, though less so than many tribes.
Their women are slender and graceful, with languishing eyes, and soft
voices. The Wolofs are tall and well-shaped, with prominent and rather
aquiline noses, lips not very thick, black complexions, uncommonly
sweet voices, and a very frank, mild expression of countenance. This
tribe is considered the handsomest in Africa. A people called Laobehs,
whose manners bear a great resemblance to those of the gypsies, are
intermixed with the Wolofs, but have no fixed residence. They select
some well-wooded spot, where they fell a few trees, form huts with
the branches, and work up the trunks into mortars, and other wooden
vessels. The women pretend to tell fortunes; and though short,
ugly, and sluttish, they are much sought as wives, on account of a
superstition that such connections bring good luck. The Laobehs possess
no animals but asses, on which they travel during their frequent
peregrinations. Groups of these men and women may often be seen
squatting round a fire, smoking and talking.
The color of the Mandingoes is black intermixed with yellow. They have
regular features, with a frank, intelligent expression. The women
are almost universally well-shaped and handsome. The inhabitants
of Bambara are not so black as the Wolofs, but have no pretensions
to beauty. They have round heads, very closely curled hair, coarse
features, flat noses, thick lips, high cheek-bones, and bandy legs.
The inhabitants of Bornou, Mozambique, and Southern Guinea, bear a
great resemblance to those of Bambarra. The Congoese have European
features, bright eyes, and black complexions. The Kaffers, or Caffres,
have likewise the European conformation of head and features; their
complexion is glossy black, their eyes large and sparkling, their
teeth are beautifully white and regular, and the expression of
their countenances bright and good-humored. Travellers all agree in
describing the men as uncommonly noble and majestic figures. The women
are of lower stature, rather muscular than graceful; but many of them
have very handsome faces.
The African women wear two long strips of cotton cloth, either blue
or white. One is tied round the waist and falls below the knees; the
other is worn over the shoulders like a mantle. The latter garment is
generally thrown aside when they are at work. The upper part of the
person is almost universally exposed. The wealthy sometimes wear a kind
of robe without sleeves, under their _pagnes_, or mantles. Mungo Park
speaks of seeing women in Bondou, who wore a thin kind of gauze, called
_byqui_, which displayed their shape to the utmost advantage. Sandals
are sometimes worn, but they more frequently go barefoot. Women of
the island of St Louis, who are generally handsome, and many of them
fair, by frequent intermarriages with Europeans, wear a long garment of
striped cotton fastened at the waist, with another four or five yards
in length thrown over the shoulders in the antique style. Striped cloth
is twisted round the head, so as to form a high turban. Their slippers
are usually of red, yellow, or green morocco, and they are seldom
without golden ear-rings, necklaces, and bracelets.
The Kaffer women wear a cloak made of leopard or calf skins, dressed
in such a manner as to be exceedingly soft and pliant. This garment,
which is worn over the shoulders, and conceals all the upper part of
the person, is never laid aside except in the very hottest weather.
They wear no other clothing but a small apron. It is a singular fact
that the Kaffer men care much more about ornaments than the women.
Almost every individual wears necklaces of beads, or polished bone,
with several ivory bracelets about his arms and ankles. Those who can
afford it have wreaths of copper beads around their heads, from which
brass chains are suspended. The women, on the contrary, seldom wear
any other ornament than a row of beads, or small shells, around the
edges of their aprons. Females of the royal family sometimes have a few
brass buttons on their cloaks, and beads or shells on the skin caps
they wear in cold weather. The other African women are very fond of
ornaments. They decorate their heads with coral beads, sea-shells, and
grains of gold and silver. Sometimes a small plate of gold is worn
in the middle of the forehead. The gold dust, which they collect, is
kept in quills, stopped with cotton; and these are frequently displayed
in the hair. Sometimes strips of linen are stretched upon a stick, so
as to form a turban in the shape of a sugar loaf, the top of which is
covered with a colored handkerchief. In some places the hair is raised
high by means of a pad, and decorated with an expensive species of
coral brought from the Red sea. Among some tribes the women twist their
woolly locks around straws greased with butter; and when the straws
are drawn out, the hair remains curled in small tufts. This process
requires a whole day. A more neat and simple style, is to braid the
hair in several tresses, made to meet on the top of the head. Almost
all the Africans grease their heads and anoint their bodies; a custom
said to be necessary to prevent cutaneous diseases, and the attacks
of insects, in warm climates. Tattooing is very common, and almost
every tribe has a style peculiarly its own. The gold ornaments worn
in Africa are generally very massive. The heavy ear-rings sometimes
lacerate the ear, to avoid which they are often supported by a band
of red leather, passing over the head from one ear to the other. The
necklaces and bracelets are sometimes of gold fillagree work, very
ingeniously wrought. Daughters of rich families wear a necklace of
coral, intermixed with gold and silver beads, which crosses below the
breast, and is fastened behind, under the shoulders. The skins of
sharks, or strings of beads as large as a pigeon’s egg, are sometimes
worn around the waist, and smaller beads decorate the ankles. In
Bornou, they frequently wear a piece of coral, ivory, or polished
oyster-shell thrust through the nose. African teeth are universally
very white and regular. They are continually rubbed with a small stick
of tamarind-wood, which they hold between their lips like a tooth-pick.
Some tribes on the banks of the Gambia file their teeth to a sharp
point. Mollien is, I believe, the only writer who speaks of veils worn
by any except the Moorish ladies. He thus describes the sister and
niece of a _marabout_,[8] who was his guide: “They had oval faces, fine
features, elegant figures, and a skin as black as jet. I was charmed
with the modesty of these women; whenever I looked at them they cast
down their eyes, and covered their faces with their muslin veils.”
The inhabitants of Madagascar are tall, well proportioned, and of a
very dark olive complexion. The women wear long robes reaching to the
feet, over which is a straight tunic, that covers the upper part of the
person.
The African women make butter by stirring the cream violently in a
large calabash, or shaking it in skins, after the Arab fashion. In
the forests of Bambarra is a tree called _shea_, from the kernel of
which, when boiled in water, a species of vegetable butter is produced.
The women put it down in earthen pots, and preserve it for a long
time. Mungo Park says: “Besides the advantage of keeping a whole
year without salt, it is whiter, firmer, and to my palate of a richer
flavor, than the best butter I ever tasted made of cow’s milk.”
Cheese is never made in the interior of Africa. They give as a reason
for it, the heat of the climate, and the great scarcity of salt.
When the planting season arrives, women dig small holes in the ground,
into each of which they drop three grains of millet, and cover it
with their feet. This simple process is sufficient in a country where
the soil yields almost spontaneously. When the grain is nearly ripe,
they erect tall platforms on poles, where the women and children are
stationed by turns to frighten away the birds, by uttering loud cries.
If the birds become so much accustomed to the noise as to disregard it,
they bind a handful of leaves or straw around each ear of millet, to
prevent their depredations.
Grain, instead of being threshed, is pounded in a mortar, and the chaff
blown away. Mortars are used to prepare it for cooking, except in
Abyssinia, where a daily supply of corn is ground in small hand-mills.
The African women separate the seeds from cotton by rolling it with
a thick iron spindle; and instead of carding it, beat it violently
on a close mat. In spinning, they use the distaff in preference to
the wheel. Throughout the country they may be seen seated on a mat
in front of their huts, engaged in this old-fashioned employment.
Weaving is generally done by men. The women make nets and sails for
their husbands, and cut and sew their garments with needles of native
manufacture. They likewise dye cloth of a rich and permanent blue,
with a fine purple gloss; these cloths are beautifully glazed. In the
manufacture of common earthen vessels for domestic use, the women are
as skilful as the men. A good deal of care is required to prepare the
manioc, which forms a great article of food. This root is ground in
a mill, and dried in small furnaces, before it can be used as flour.
Mats, both for the table and for seats, are woven very firmly and
neatly; hats and baskets are likewise very tastefully made of rushes
stained with different colors; and the gourds from which they drink are
often prettily ornamented with a sort of bamboo work, dyed in a similar
manner.
The Kaffer women make baskets of a strong reedy grass, the workmanship
of which is so clever that they will contain water. At Sackatoo, Mr.
Clapperton met a troop of African girls drawing water from the gushing
rocks. He says: “I asked them for drink. Bending gracefully on one
knee, and displaying at the same time teeth of pearly whiteness, and
eyes of the blackest lustre, they presented a gourd, and appeared
highly delighted when I thanked them for their civility; remarking to
one another, ‘Did you hear the white man thank me?’”
Here, as in Asia, the women generally act as porters, carrying large
burdens on the head. Sometimes they may be seen sitting on mats by the
road-side, selling potatoes, beans, and small bits of roasted meat, to
travellers.
Men and women are both employed in digging and washing gold for the
Moorish markets. Small shells, called _cowries_, constitute the general
currency of Africa. All payments from the king’s household are made in
branches containing two thousand cowries each. The women pierce and
string these, deducting one-fortieth part as their own perquisite.
Four hundred and eighty of these shells are equivalent to a shilling.
The Africans are said to manifest a most extraordinary facility in
reckoning the large sums exchanged for articles of merchandise.
Europeans have been much surprised at this, being themselves unable to
calculate so rapidly without the use of figures.
The wives of the king of Dahomey, generally to the number of three
thousand, are formed into a regiment, part of which act as his
body-guard, equipped with bows, arrows, drums, and sometimes muskets.
They are regularly trained to the use of arms, and go through their
evolutions with as much expertness as any other of his majesty’s
soldiers.
Captain Clapperton thus describes a visit he received from the king of
Kiama: “Six young girls, without any apparel, except a fillet on the
forehead, and a string of beads round the waist, carrying each three
light spears, ran by the side of his horse, keeping pace with it at
full gallop. Their light forms, the vivacity of their eyes, and the
ease with which they seemed to fly over the ground, made them appear
something more than mortal. On the kind’s entrance they laid down
their spears, wrapped themselves in blue mantles, and attended on his
majesty. On his taking leave, they discarded their attire; he mounted
his horse, and away went the most extraordinary cavalcade I ever saw in
my life.”
In time of battle the African women encourage the troops, supply them
with fresh arrows, and hurl stones at their enemies. In some tribes it
is common for them to unite with the men in hunting the lion and the
leopard.
Mr. Campbell attended a palaver, or council, in Southern Africa. He
says, “The speeches were replete with frankness, courage, often with
good sense, and even with a rude species of eloquence. The women stood
behind and took an eager interest in the debate--cheering those whose
sentiments they approved, or bursting into loud laughter at any thing
they considered ridiculous.”
If the king of Congo dies without sons, his daughter, if she be
marriageble, becomes absolute mistress of the kingdom. She visits
various towns and villages, where she causes the men to appear before
her, that she may select a husband from among them. When her choice is
made, she resigns all authority into his hands, and he becomes the king.
Every great man has bands of minstrels, of both sexes, who sing his
praises in extempore poetry, while they play upon drums, or guitars
with three strings.
Some of these _guiriots_, or minstrels, travel about the country with
their families, dancing and singing at every village where their
services are required. The Africans are so partial to these wandering
musicians, that they often make them quite rich by their liberality.
The female singers are covered with various colored beads, and not
unfrequently with ornaments of the precious metals. But though the
_guiriots_ are always welcome at weddings and festivals, though their
songs kindle the soldier’s courage as he goes to battle, and enliven
the dreariness of journeys through the desert, yet they are regarded
with even more contempt than falls upon similar classes in other parts
of the world. Not even a slave would consent to marry into a family
that had followed this profession; and when they die, their bodies
are placed in hollow trees, from the idea that crops of millet would
certainly fail if they were buried in the earth. The _guiriots_ dance
in the same immodest style that characterizes the Asiatic performers.
Their dances are always accompanied by drums and other musical
instruments. Among the Wolofs none but public singers play on any
instrument, it being considered disrespectable for others to practise
this amusement.
The African women are so passionately fond of dancing, that wherever
the itinerant minstrels appear, they flock around them, and encourage
them by songs, while they beat time by clapping their hands. Indeed
with this mirth-loving race every thing furnishes occasion for
festivity and frolic. Their marriages and funerals conclude with
dances; all their festivals are commemorated with songs and dances;
every moonlight night the men and women meet in great numbers to enjoy
this favorite exercise; and if the moon be wanting, they dance by
the light of large fires. The young girls often unite together to
buy palm wine, and after an entertainment at the hut of one of their
companions, they go together through the village, singing in chorus a
variety of charming airs, marking time by clapping their hands; these
strains, though simple, and often repeated, are by no means monotonous.
The Fulah songs are said to have a melancholy sweetness which is
exceedingly captivating; and some of the Wolof airs are gracefully
pathetic, while the measures in which they are composed indicates
skill in music somewhat remarkable in a people so little civilized. On
the banks of rivers and on the sea-coast, the inhabitants of villages
one or two miles distant may be heard singing the same song, and
alternately answering each other. Drums are their most common musical
instruments; beside which they have a guitar of three strings, made
of half a calabash covered with leather; a species of castanets, made
of small gourd shells, filled with pebbles, or Guinea peas, which
the dancers shake in a lively manner; and an instrument resembling a
spinnet, called the _balafo_, in which the notes are struck by small
sticks, terminated by knobs covered with leather. These instruments
are generally of rude construction, and produce dull, heavy tones; but
the voices of the people are peculiarly soft and melodious, and they
are said to keep time with great exactness. Music is never mute in
Africa. Whether the inhabitants are weaving at their doors, laboring
in the fields, rowing their boats, or wandering in the desert, songs
may be heard resounding through the air. Even the poor slaves dragged
to distant markets, suffering with hunger, and thirst, and cruel
laceration, will begin to sing as soon as they have a few moments rest;
particularly if the assurance is given them that after they pass a
certain boundary, they shall be free and dressed in red. Thus does the
God of love console his guileless children even under circumstances
of the greatest external misery! and man, in the wantonness of his
pride, makes this blessed influence of Divine Providence an excuse for
continued cruelty!
The Africans at their convivial meetings are extremely fond of
listening to stories of wild and ludicrous adventures, and the
wonderful effects of magic and enchantments. They have likewise a
species of pantomime or puppet-shows. The women are extravagantly fond
of a game called _ouri_, which they learned from the Arabs. A box with
twelve square holes contains a quantity of round seeds, generally from
the baobab tree. Each player has twenty-one seeds to dispose of; they
play alternately, and draw lots who shall begin. The combinations are
said to be more numerous and complicated than those of chess; yet girls
of ten or twelve years old may often be seen sitting under the shade of
a tree intently studying this difficult game.
Some of the African tribes have become Mohammedans in consequence
of their connection with the Moors; but in general they are pagans.
The belief in one Supreme Being and a future state of rewards and
punishments is, however, universal, and without exception; they
likewise believe that the Almighty has intrusted the government of the
world to subordinate spirits, with whom they suppose certain magical
ceremonies have great influence. When questioned upon these subjects,
they always endeavor to wave the conversation, by answering reverently
that such matters are far above the understanding of man. At the return
of the new moon, (which they suppose to be each time newly created,)
every individual offers a short whispered prayer of thanksgiving; but
they pray at no other time; saying it is presumptuous for mortals to
ask the Deity to change decrees of unerring wisdom. When asked why
they observe a festival at the new moon, they simply answer that their
fathers did so before them.
Phillis Wheatly, a black female child brought from the interior of
Africa, and sold as a slave in Boston, New England, afterward gained
great celebrity by her poetical writings, which, considering the period
in which she lived, and the limited advantages of her own education,
are certainly very remarkable. This intelligent woman could remember
very little about the customs of her native land, excepting that her
mother always poured out water before the rising sun.
Hornemann says it was the custom in Bornou annually to throw a richly
decorated maiden into the Niger, according to the ancient custom in
Egypt.
The Africans, like all uneducated people, are extremely superstitious.
They never go to battle, or commence a journey, without being loaded
with certain protecting charms, of which the most valuable are written
sentences sewed up in little bags. The _marabouts_ or priests sell
an immense number of verses from the Koran, for this purpose. When
major Denham was in Houssa, the women, having seen him write, came to
him in crowds to obtain amulets to restore their beauty, preserve the
affections of their lovers, and sometimes to destroy a rival. When the
Portuguese first attempted to establish their empire in Congo, they
found women of rank, who went about with dishevelled hair, beating
drums, and pretending to perform magical cures; and the women of
Loggum, who are said to be very intelligent, are still quite celebrated
for their skill in witchcraft.
The Africans are generally prejudiced against undertaking any thing on
Friday; if they are pursuing a journey, they will halt under a tree
and wait till that day is over. There are likewise certain animals
and objects, which if met unexpectedly are considered bad omens. An
annual festival, called the _tampcara_, is distinguished by a strange
superstitious custom. At this period a personage appears on the banks
of the Gambia, to whom they give the name of Tampcara. The natives
believe him to be a demon, and bestow without resistance whatever he
pleases to demand. He appears only in the night, but his door is at
all hours open to the women. Husbands dare not betray the slightest
symptoms of jealousy, for fear of incurring the awful displeasure of
Tampcara.