much like another with him. When he rises he washes his face, hands, and
teeth. He makes a little lamp from a leaf and after filling it with
butter places five wicks in it. After lighting it he sets it to burn in
front of the ancient bells and other sacred objects. He then takes his
staff and bamboo milk pail and goes to milk the cows. He salutes them
and prays to them before milking. Carrying the milk into the dairy, he
sprinkles some drops upon the sacred bells as an offering and repeats
the names of the gods. He then makes butter from the milk of the
preceding day. His work is now done, and he prepares food for himself
and his assistant. This man then drives the herd to pasture and gathers
firewood. The last thing before going to sleep at night, the priest puts
fresh butter and wicks into the little lamp before the bells.
The Todas have other curious customs, but we have no space to describe
them. Their salutations, the naming of children, the yearly feast, when
they eat a young buffalo bull (they rarely eat meat at any other time),
and their funeral customs are all interesting. Every man who dies among
the Todas has _two_ funerals, called the green and the dry funeral, a
year apart.
XX.
ANDAMANESE: MINCOPIES.
East of British India and south of Cochin-China in the Bay of Bengal are
the Andaman Islands, on which the Mincopies live. They are small in
stature, black or _dark_ brown, with broad round heads, and crinkly or
woolly hair. They are often called _negritos_, or little negroes.
An Englishman named Man lived for some years in the Andaman Islands and
became much interested in the little blacks. He learned their language
and has described their customs.
The Mincopies are true savages, living entirely on wild food; they are
gentle and non-savage in disposition. The islands are well supplied with
food. “The sea which washes their coasts is full of fish and abounds
with turtles; the jungles are filled with wild pigs; the bees furnish
abundance of wild honey.” From plants they get roots and fruits. They
have no cultivated fields and no domestic animals. Although savages,
these little people know how to build good houses. These are huts some
thirty-five by forty feet; the framework is of posts and poles and the
firm thatch is of palm leaves. The huts are arranged about an oval or
elliptical cleared space, where they hold their dances. When off on long
hunting trips the Mincopies build rude shelters of branches and leaves.
In their villages boys and girls, unless they are still babies, do not
sleep in the houses with grown persons, but there are two special
sleeping houses—one for boys and the other for girls. In the houses of
the Mincopies fires are kept burning. It is said that these people do
not know how to kindle fire; if this is true, they are almost the only
people who are ignorant of this important knowledge. They are careful of
the fires they have and feed them well.
Unless they think they have some reason to fear strangers, the Mincopies
receive them kindly. The little children are taught to respect visitors.
“They are the first served; the best dishes are offered to them; they
are accompanied at their departure; before separating they clasp hands,
and instead of embracing they blow in each other’s faces; then they
engage in an affectionate dialogue. Finally they separate with mutual
promises of meeting again.”
The adoption of children is common among Mincopies. It is rare that any
child remains with its parents after it is six or seven years old. Some
friend of the family wishes to show his friendship and asks to adopt the
child. The little one goes to his house and belongs to him. The parents
may visit him in his new home, but no longer have any control over him.
His new father may do what he likes with him, even to giving him away to
some other person who may wish to adopt him. When children are about
twelve years of age, they begin a fast, which is kept up until they are
almost men and women; during that time they must not eat turtle, pork,
fish, or honey. After several years of thus fasting, they may again eat
these foods.
There are rules about foods for grown persons, too. During certain parts
of the year they must not eat some kinds of roots and fruits; their god
Puluga will be displeased if they do. Children must not eat the flesh of
the two water animals, the dugong and porpoise. And to _every_ person
there is some one kind of food which he must not eat in all his life;
this forbidden food differs with the persons.
We have said a good deal about the kindness of the Mincopies: they are
not always good. They have their quarrels and battles like the rest of
the world. They are quick-tempered and often become angry for a small
offence. When a Mincopy _is_ angry, he acts like a naughty child,
striking and breaking everything around him, even his own choicest
treasures. Trouble sometimes breaks out between two tribes in the midst
of a feast. In their wars they destroy and carry off property; they take
no prisoners among the men, killing the wounded, but children of the
enemy are usually kept alive and kindly treated. Sometimes they try to
harm enemies by witchcraft, or conjuring. They think that Puluga
dislikes the smell of burning beeswax and will, in his anger, send forth
a storm. So, when they know that their enemy is going fishing or
hunting, they burn beeswax so that the angry Puluga will send a storm.
[Illustration: ANDAMAN MINCOPIES (TYLOR).]
Most curious is the funeral of a child among the Andamanese. When a
little one dies there is general weeping. Parents and friends paint
their bodies with clay; their heads are fresh shaved, and upon them,
over the forehead, men place a lump of clay, while women put one upon
the top of the head. The mother prepares the little body for burial; she
shaves and paints the head, neck, wrists, and knees with red ochre; she
then folds the little body together and wraps it in great leaves and
binds the bundle thus made with cords. The grave is dug in the floor of
the hut, under the fireplace. After gently blowing a few times upon the
little face in farewell, the child is buried and the fire is rebuilt
over the grave. The mother leaves a few drops of her own milk in a cup
on the grave. The hut is then deserted, a garland of rushes being
fastened around it to show that a death has taken place. The whole
village then moves, that the child’s spirit may not be disturbed. After
three months of mourning, they all return. The little skeleton is dug
up, the bones are painted red or yellow and distributed as keepsakes to
the friends, who wear them as necklaces in memory of the dead child.
This seems dreadful to us, but our people often keep locks of hair cut
from a dead child’s head; it is the same thing. At this time the lumps
of clay, signs of mourning, are removed from the heads and foreheads.
Some days later, there is a gathering of all the friends. The father,
holding his remaining children in his arms, sings a mourning song: the
women take part in the chorus, and all the rest cry noisily. The parents
then dance “the dance of tears,” after which they withdraw to the hut.
The visitors keep up the dance some hours longer.
XXI.
ARABS.
The old home of the Arabs was Arabia; to-day they are found not only in
Arabia, but over half of Asia and all of Northern Africa. Their great
wanderings began with the founding of Mohammedanism about the year 622
A.D. Full of zeal, the Arabs carried the new religion in every
direction.
The Arab is a white man, but a dark one. His language belongs to the
Semitic family and resembles the old Hebrew language. Arabic is a soft
and poetical language which is spoken to-day by myriads of people who
are not Arabs by blood. The Arab is of moderate stature; he is thin but
muscular, and has great endurance; he has a long head and a narrow, oval
face; his nose is long, thin, and prominent; his hair and eyes are
black.
We always think of the Arab as dwelling in tents. This is only partly
true. In Arabia itself about one-fourth of the Arabs are wandering
tent-dwellers; in Northern Africa, especially near the great desert,
many are nomadic. But everywhere we also find settled, town-inhabiting
Arabs also.
The tents of the desert Arabs are large, low, and flat; the covering is
a firm wool and camel’s-hair cloth. During the daytime, at least, the
sides are raised to permit the air to circulate. These tents are easily
taken down and packed, and as easily set up. Desert Arabs have flocks of
sheep and herds of goats, camels, and horses. Every one has heard of the
beauty, gentleness, and spirit of the Arabian horses—the finest perhaps
in the world. Their owners love them and treat them as tenderly as
children. Horses are rarely used by Arabs as draught animals or burden
bearers, but only for riding. The camel it is upon which the Arab packs
his heavy burdens for desert travel. The nomad Arab lives chiefly on
food drawn from his flocks and herds. Mutton is his most important meat;
couscous is a favorite food (see Kabyles). The nomad Arabs are
pillagers, and fall upon caravans of traders to rob them. Still they are
hospitable to the stranger who comes to their tent asking shelter; in
fact, they treat him with the greatest politeness. A table is set before
him; he is given water to wash his hands; the master himself receives
the food from the servants and places it before his guest. The Arabs
admire strength and agility, and at evening, before their tents, the
young men of the encampment practise tumbling, wrestling, hurling, and
other feats of strength.
[Illustration: CAMEL AND PALANQUIN (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The town Arabs live in comfortable houses. Most of these are of a single
story, though some are of two; they enclose a central open court; they
are flat-roofed; a large gateway gives entrance to the court, and is
high enough for a man on horseback to ride through. The flat house tops
make a favorite resting-place in the cool of the day. Streets in Arab
towns are narrow, crooked, and filthy. In Arab towns are noticed at once
many domes and minarets: the domes usually mark some famous grave; the
minarets, mosques. These graves are those of some pious Mohammedan
saint. There are thousands of them to which the Arabs flock to say their
prayers and to be cured of disease. Often at such tombs dervishes go
through with their strange performances. Some pierce themselves with
swords, with no signs of pain; others spin around and around on their
heels until one wearies of watching them, and wonders why they do not
fall.
The town Arab is more particular about his religion than the Bedouin
dweller in the desert. He must—and every good Mohammedan _should_—wash
his hands before eating; he must pray five times a day with his face
turned toward Mecca. Mecca is so sacred to them because it was the home
of Mohammed; every Arab and other good Mohammedan tries, once in his
life, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he must see the _Kaabah_, or
black-stone. Arabs are much given to pious exclamations. Thus before
eating or beginning any business they say _Bismallah_, which means _In
God’s name_, and on finishing the meal or successfully completing the
business they say _Hamdouallah_, _Praise God_. This piety does not
interfere with the town Arab driving hard bargains in business. He loves
trade and money. He frequently goes in caravans to trade in other
places. The Arabs, too, are the slave-traders in Africa. This cruel
business has not yet been stopped completely. The traders buy negroes
where they can, and hunt them almost like wild animals when they cannot
buy them. In some places the hunted beings take refuge in trees, which
have been prepared as places of safety from which they defend
themselves.
Formerly the Arabs were more important than now. Seven or eight hundred
years ago Arabia was the world’s centre of learning—or at least the Arab
cities were. At a time, when Europe had lost much of what she once
possessed, the Arab world was full of philosophers, physicians, poets,
and astrologers. From the Arabs Europe gained much of the knowledge that
we now possess. But those bright days of Arabian glory are past. To-day
the boys in Arab schools learn little but reading, writing, and
arithmetic. They learn long passages from the Koran—the sacred book of
Mohammedanism. The little fellows—for girls do not go to school—sit on
the floor, and all study aloud, the louder the better, because then the
teacher will know that they _are_ studying.
XXII.
THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA: KABYLES.
We rightly think of Africa as the home of the negroes, but it is a
mistake to think that no other peoples dwell in that continent. The
peoples of North Africa are white peoples; their complexions are often
dark, but in head, form, features, and character they are like
Europeans, rather than negroes. There are many types in North Africa.
There are the modern Egyptians, who look like their great and famous
distant ancestors; there are the Berbers and Kabyles, of whom we shall
say more later; there are Arabs; there are “Jews,” especially in
Algeria, Morocco, and the other Barbary States; there are Moors also,
who are a mixed people with some negro blood.
True Negro-Africa begins near the Equator and stretches southward. The
Sudan is the great negro country. There are four areas in this Sudanese
negro belt: the upper Nile valley, the Sudan proper, the Senegambian
district, and Guinea. In these four sections the people are negroes,
though here and there somewhat mixed. Most of Africa south of this negro
belt is occupied by negroids, who consist of many tribes and resemble
negroes in their narrow heads and woolly hair; they are, however, less
dark in color, more graceful in build, and more intelligent. Scattered
here and there in Equatorial Africa are bands of Pygmies, men and women
among whom are like boys and girls among us in size. In far Southern
Africa live the Bushmen and Hottentots, among negroid tribes.
The Kabyles are among the most interesting of North African peoples.
There are two types, the dark and the light Kabyles. The latter have
light skin, fair hair, blue eyes, and much resemble the light whites of
Europe. The Kabyles are tall, well built, and active. They are
industrious and love labor. They are a mountain people and love their
home. Their towns are located upon the slopes or on the summits. The
houses are usually of one story and have flat roofs. There are two
rooms,—one for the family and the other for the animals. When there are
two stories to a house, it shows that the owner has a married son living
with him; the upper story has been built above the old house for the
young couple. A little garden always surrounds the house. The Kabyl
country is rather cold, and the houses are not widely separated, so that
they assist in protecting each other against the winds. In winter the
family lives in a sort of cellar under the house.
[Illustration: GROUP OF KABYLES: ALGERIA (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
The Kabyles work hard to raise their little crops. Their fields are down
in valleys or are terraced out on the hill slopes. They raise barley,
wheat, gourds, cucumbers, and melons; they raise flax; they have some
common cultivated plants that have been introduced from Mexico, as the
prickly-pear cactus, maguey, maize, tobacco, and potato. The prickly
pear and maguey are so common that landscapes in Algeria resemble those
of Mexico. The Kabyles raise apples, pears, apricots, olives, figs,
grapes, and nuts. They keep bees, and have quite a trade in wax. The men
are good workers in metals and leather, and trade their wares to their
neighbors.
The women, like all women in the Mohammedan world, delight in jewelry
and ornaments, and as they are not wearers of veils they have a good
chance to display their treasures. Couscous is a favorite food in
Northern Africa, not only among Kabyles, but Arabs and other peoples.
Kabyl women spend much of their time in its preparation. Flour is mixed
with water into a sort of thick dough, which is divided into little
masses which are rolled between the fingers. These little pellets,
almost like seeds, they steam and eat with bits of meat and hot, peppery
sauce.
The Kabyles love horseback riding, and are bold hunters. They fight
bravely in defence of their homes. Among their amusements, perhaps
falconry stands first. The falcon, you know, is a bird much like a hawk,
which is trained to chase and kill or capture smaller birds or animals.
It is carried to the field by the hunter on horseback. The bird is
perched upon its master’s wrist, and is blinded by a hood over its head.
When the hunter sees game, he unhoods the falcon and lets it fly after
the victim.
[Illustration: MAKING COUSCOUS IN THE DESERT (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]
XXIII.
NEGROES.
We have already spoken of the district of true negroes. In the Sudan
they are at their best and purest type. The skin is almost black; the
head long and narrow; the face narrow; the hair kinky and woolly. The
lower part of the face projects far beyond the upper part. The lips are
thick. Negroes have an odor which is peculiar to them, and which most
white persons dislike. Many of the negro tribes are composed of persons
who are tall, strong, and well built.
Almost all negroes are agriculturists, living in settled villages. Their
houses are usually round huts. The Bongo of the upper Nile build huts
about twenty feet in diameter and the same in height, which are firm and
well built, though made only of poles and thatch. The entrance is so low
that one crawls into the hut on hands and knees. On the conical roof are
built benches of straw, on which persons sit to overlook and guard the
planted fields. The floor inside the hut is made of hard, well-beaten
clay. Skins of animals serve as beds. The Wolofs of the Sudan make very
similar huts, but do not construct the seats on the roof. Among both
tribes they build little granaries near the huts; these are made of
basketwork and are set up on posts to place them out of reach of
animals.
The African negroes are fond of bright colors and tawdry ornaments.
Objects of metal and glass beads are particularly prized. They use rings
of iron, copper, and brass of all sizes for the arms, legs, and fingers.
Sometimes so many rings will be put upon the arms that they completely
cover them. The negroes in some tribes pierce ears, noses, and lips for
inserting ornaments. The Bongo women, for example, pierce a series of
holes along the rim of each ear, along the edges of the nose, and at the
corners of the mouth, and through each hole they thrust a short bit of
grass stalk. The men in negro tribes often bear a tribal mark; this is
usually the scar or scars left by cutting lines or patterns on the face
or chest. Thus the mark of one tribe might be three cuts across each
cheek; that of another a pattern of criss-cross lines upon the forehead;
another tribe in the central lake district had a line of wart-like
swellings, at equal distances from each other, extending from the root
of the nose to the top of the forehead. All these tribal marks were cut
in childhood, and the cutting must have been painful. It is said that
the Bornu baby boys have one hundred and three cuts made on their little
bodies for their tribal sign.
African negroes often dress their hair into strange and curious forms,
as do also the neighboring negroids. They build it up into great horns,
train it out in little strings, the ends of which they fasten to a
wooden ring, build it into thick mats or wigs, and insert all sorts of
fibres, beads, and ornaments in it. Of course such carefully trained
hair must not be spoiled by lying on it, so they have the same sort of
wooden pillows as the Fiji Islanders, to keep the head off the ground.
These wooden pillows are often decorated with carvings of human and
animal figures. Many negroes delight in wood-carving and sometimes make
strange masses of many human and animal figures crowded together in the
most curious way. These they paint in bright colors. Near the west coast
of Africa several tribes are ivory carvers, and their artists will cover
an elephant’s tusk with human figures, animal forms, and geometrical
designs; no space will be lost; every spot will be filled.
[Illustration: NEGRO SMITHS AT WORK (RATZEL).]
Most of the negro tribes know how to weave, and some of their cloth made
from grass or vegetable fibres is closely and well woven. The most
remarkable art of the negroes, however, is their working of iron. They
know how to get iron from its ore and to work it into desired forms.
They build a little conical smelting furnace or oven of clay, into which
they put their fuel and ore. They then blow air through the fire with
their rude bellows. This consists of two earthen vessels, or boxes of
some sort, over the top of which bladders or skin are tied; tubes lead
from these vessels and the lower end of a stick is tied to the middle of
each bladder covering. The smith takes the upper ends of the sticks in
his hands and works them up and down, first one and then the other. He
thus forces air first into one tube and then into the other: these two
tubes end in a single clay tube which conducts the air into the furnace.
After the blacksmith gets his iron from the ore he works it with heat
and beating to the forms wanted. At Benin City, which was at the head of
a dreadful negro kingdom, they had learned how to cast bronze and made
wonderful objects in it. They made rings, bells, animal figures, plaques
with human figures represented on them, and masks of the human head of
life size.
Negroes love music and have many instruments, not only rattles, drums,
whistles, flutes, and trumpets, but stringed instruments also. In some
tribes there are wandering minstrels, who go from place to place playing
on their three-stringed guitar and singing songs in praise of the chief
or king whom they visit. They sing in his praise if he pays them well;
if, however, he is stingy, their songs make bitter fun of him. These
minstrels are either men or women: they are feared and disliked, but
well treated, as no one wishes to gain their ill will.
Some of the most brutal and cruel acts in the world are done among negro
kingdoms like Ashanti, Dahomey, and Benin. No human life is there safe.
The king orders instant death to those who offend him. The executioner’s
knife is kept busy. Cruel butcheries are connected with their religion,
and sometimes the king will have dozens, scores, or even hundreds of men
killed to carry messages to his dead father. It is also among negroes
that we find cannibalism existing in revolting forms and frightful
belief in witchcraft. Any old man or old woman may be accused, at any
time, of being a witch: it takes little to prove their guilt, and they
are speedily executed.
Negroes often believe that some men can change themselves into wild
animals and then resume their own form. They are especially afraid of
man-leopards: not unfrequently men who have been thought to be such have
been executed. We cannot, however, blame the negroes much for such
ideas. Not long ago white Europeans generally believed in werewolves (or
manwolves), and there are still districts in Europe where such beliefs
exist.
Many African negroes wear charms to protect themselves against harm.
Such charms are called _gri-gris_. Almost anything may be a gri-gri: a
part of some animal, a plant, a curious stone. Where the negroes have
had much to do with Arabs or other Mohammedans a favorite gri-gri is a
verse from the Koran, written on paper done up in a little leathern
pouch and hung about the neck. Sometimes a man will be almost covered
with gri-gris. He may have so many “as to weigh thirty pounds,” and they
may hamper him so “that he must be helped in mounting a horse.”
We have already told you that the Arabs still hunt negro slaves. Many of
the negro tribes themselves keep slaves—thus the Wolofs do so. They,
however, treat their slaves more kindly than the Arabs do.
XXIV.
NEGROIDS.
The negroids of Southern and Eastern Africa resemble the negroes. They
are generally tall; they have a fine dark brown color, long narrow
heads, hair less kinky and woolly than the negroes, flat nose and thick
lips. They do not have the negro’s odor. The negroids comprise many
different tribes, but all speak related languages known as the Bantu
languages. The tribes we shall consider are the Zulus, Kaffirs, and
Waganda.