our obtaining a better cook from the coast. The coast men were at first
in doubt about their safety among the Bulu, and none of those would go
with us who could get a position at the coast. But when a number of their
men had come back alive their fear was removed and we obtained better
help. Our first cook was a common workman who had never cooked before. It
was part of my duty to instruct him. To the objection that I had never
cooked anything in my life there was the compensating consideration that
the best way in the world to learn anything is to be obliged to teach
it to somebody else. The moment that I dreaded most in they course of
the day was that in which the cook appeared coming towards me to get
the order for dinner. For, with Irish stew, salmon and sausage, what
opportunity is there for the exercise of a fine gastronomic imagination?
It was the same thing from day to day; and if I derived no other good
from the experience, I at least learned for all time to sympathize with
housekeepers in the monotonous circularity of the domestic routine. Under
my painstaking instructions the cook learned to wash his hands instead
of simply wiping them on his hair or his legs, to place a tin of meat
on the fire (after punching a hole in the top) and to take it off when
I told him to do so; he learned to put plantains into the fire to roast
and to take them out any time he happened to think about it. But he had
not yet learned the difference between warm water and hot water when he
tired of his work and returned to his beloved home, while I began on
another candidate for kitchen honours. About the time I had taught him
to boil water he also wearied of work and went home. Then I hired a Bulu
boy and began to instruct him even with more assurance, for I was now
an experienced teacher. The Bulu boy learned fast, though he evinced an
incorrigible disposition to carry his dish towel on his head, or tied
round his neck. Finally after an experience of trials and tribulations in
many chapters I appealed to Mrs. Godduhm of Batanga who trained a cook
specially for us; and he proved a saint of the frying-pan. It was this
cook Eyambe, who afterwards, as I have told in writing on bush travel,
when we were overtaken by night in the forest, insisted that I should
take his shirt, and said: “You must take him and wear him please. This
bush he no be too bad for we black man; but my heart cry for white man.”
It was several months before we had flour. Meantime, during my long
fever, I conceived a desire for bread that became a craving like the
hunger of famine as I grew weaker. Dr. Good sent word to Mrs. Good at the
coast to send some bread as the carriers were returning immediately. He
did not tell me that he had sent for it, lest by some mischance it might
not come. But when it arrived and before he opened the package he told
me it had come. Then they opened it; there were two loaves—all blue with
mould and looking like poison; for it was the wet season and the carriers
had been long on the way. The disappointment was too great. I told Dr.
Good to cut off the worst part, on the outside, and burn the rest to a
black crisp, and I ate the burned bread.
Flour arrived some weeks later when I was again on my feet; and then it
occurred to us that none of us knew just what to do with it. For our cook
had not yet arrived. One of us modestly confessed that he knew something
about making biscuits. It was immediately voted that he take half a day
off and exercise his culinary talent. The biscuits were made and appeared
that evening on the table. When I surveyed them I suggested that it would
be fitting that we should keep them as happy memorials of this first
triumph. So saying I took the two that were coming to me and put them in
my box of curios under the bed. I have them after all these years. Time
works no change upon them.
Some months later I had a severe attack of dysentery and for three days
had been allowed no food but the white of an egg. The physician, who
happened to be visiting at Efulen at the time, told me one morning, in
response to my eager inquiry, that he would allow me something a little
heavier than the white of an egg. I immediately applied for a mince pie;
for we had minced meat in tins. The proposition was promptly vetoed by
the doctor. But a week later, when I was again on my feet, the request
was granted. This mince pie was the most pretentious achievement that
we had yet undertaken, and the most stupendous failure. If too many
cooks spoil a pie, as it is said of some other things, I think that the
whole community of Efulen, white and black, must have had a hand in that
ill-fated pie, for a few persons could never have made so many mistakes.
The oven was a pot set on an outside fire, with another pot turned upside
down to cover it. An explosion occurred during the process of cooking. I
do not know what caused it—possibly a stone bursting or the overheated
pot cracking. At any rate it was a good opportunity for Dr. Good’s wit,
who contended that the pie had exploded through the neglect to put
air-holes in the top of it. And that night he presented a resolution that
hereafter cooks should be obliged to punch air-holes in the top of every
pie, lest they should explode, thereby endangering our property and our
lives and entailing the loss of the pie itself. I suggested an amendment,
that in no case should a cook be allowed to make such pies upon tin
plates, lest the plates, not being observed, might be cut up and eaten
with the pie. Efulen has now passed the experimental stage. One can get
as good cooks and better food there than at the coast.
In the work of the station, though formally we were equal, yet as a
matter of fact, we recognized Dr. Good as head, owing to his years
of experience and his competence. Dr. Good spent most of his time
itinerating—preaching in the streets of the villages near and far. He
also made several long tours of two or three weeks for the purpose
of exploring the further interior. While at the station he studied
the language, translated, and did a large amount of medical work. Mr.
Kerr had charge of the work of building, and most of the material work
necessary in establishing the station. I studied the language, did all
the buying from natives and went to the coast when it was necessary that
a white man should conduct the caravan. Later in the year I did what I
could of Dr. Good’s medical work in his absence, the chief result being
invaluable experience on my part, and no fatalities that could be proved
to be the direct result of my treatment.
I am sure that those who have never been among uncivilized people, or
at least those who have not a vivid realization of their ignorance
will not know what a layman with experience may accomplish in healing
the sick and instructing the mind through healing. When I went to
Africa I was as ignorant of medicine as an educated man could be, and
I had neither Dr. Good’s liking nor aptitude for it. But, in the first
place, like other white men in that climate, I was soon compelled to
become my own physician. For even if there is a professional physician
at the same station, he cannot be there always; but self-care must be
constant, and so one accumulates a considerable experience. And what
he does for himself he can do for the natives. For however ignorant he
may be of medicine he is wiser than they. When I saw a woman writhing
in a convulsion I at least suspected poisoning; but they suspected
witchcraft and beat drums around her to drive out the bad spirit. When
I saw a poor boy delirious with fever and instead of administering some
remedy the distracted parents were only trying to discover who had
bewitched him, the difference between my knowledge and their ignorance
seemed immeasurable, and I could advise them and help them, for already
I had learned considerable about malarial fever. When a poor child was
suffering with worms, that frightful scourge of Africa, incredible to us
in the extent of its prevalence, and the parents, though they knew and
could tell me what was the matter, yet knew of no remedy but to change
the child’s fetishes, I knew, even if I had been in Africa only a few
months, that santonine is far more effective than any change of fetishes.
And no man ever lands in Africa before he knows that sulphur is excellent
for itch. Ulcers also are exceedingly common. Cuts, scratches and wounds
are always neglected and may become bad ulcers; and sometimes the blood
is so tainted by the diseases of vice that ulcers will not heal without
internal remedies such as potassium iodide. There is abundant need of
all the skill of the best equipped physician. But the majority of cases
needing medical treatment are simple in the diagnosis and the treatment;
for the weak and the sickly are bound to die young. Fevers, ulcers,
worms, and itch are very common and cause more suffering than everything
else. But any layman can do something for these. And if he is associated
with a physician for a time, he can learn to do much for the relief of
suffering. He can do as much as he has time to do; and knowledge grows
with experience. So it was that even I, despite unusual ignorance of
medicine and original ineptitude, after some years, when I was in charge
of a boys’ boarding-school, treated from fifteen to twenty boys a day;
for the parents were especially willing to send their sick boys; and at
the end of the term there was very little sickness among them.
There is much less sickness among the tribes of the interior than those
at the coast. If we knew all the reasons for this we might also know
why the coast tribes everywhere are dying out, many of them being now
but small remnants of formerly great and powerful tribes. The coast
tribes have all come from the interior, and the interior tribes to-day
are all moving towards the coast. The change of climate may have been
for the worse; for the strong sea-breeze alternating with the stronger
land-breeze is hard on those who are not protected by clothing. The slave
traffic greatly reduced the coast tribes and threatened the extinction of
some of them; but it is not a reason why they should still continue to
decrease. The excessive use of the white man’s rum without doubt reduces
the birth-rate among coast tribes. Besides, certain diseases have been
imported with the white man’s vices. And it is also possible that the
greater amount of sickness and disease among coast tribes may be in part
due to the better care of children among the semi-civilized people of the
coast, with the result that a greater number of weak and sickly children
live to maturity than in the savage life of the interior, where none but
the robust are likely to survive.
Many sick people came to Efulen, most of them with very bad ulcers. They
realized the benefit, and it won their good-will and their desire to
have us stay among them; but I cannot say that it won their gratitude.
Even when they paid nothing for medicines or for bandages, they took for
granted that we were in some way serving our interest by healing them.
Their psychology allowed no place for any altruistic motive. The outer
bandage with which Dr. Good bound their ulcerated limbs, he used several
times, in fact as long as he could, for bandages were not easy to supply
and many were required. But his patients, especially the women, liked to
have new white bandages each day, for they regarded them as ornamental.
So they would take off the bandage before coming to him and would declare
that they had lost it, or that it had been stolen. But frequently when
he would tell a woman that he would not dress the ulcer until she should
find the bandage she would deliberately take it out of her basket before
his eyes and hand it to him half laughing and half scolding. Shortly
after our arrival at Efulen a chief came from a distant town bringing
his sick wife. He left her, however, in the village at the foot of the
hill and first came up alone to talk the palaver with Dr. Good and see
what the white man would give him if he would bring his sick wife to
him to be healed. Very frequently they asked for pay for being treated
and for taking our medicine. The medical work therefore did not serve
our missionary purpose as greatly as I had anticipated. But that is no
argument against it. Duty is duty; and to relieve pain and suffering
as far as we are able is a duty quite apart from any consideration of
gratitude or reward.
No more notable event occurred during the entire year than the visit of
Mrs. Laffin, one of our missionaries at Batanga, who had only been in
Africa a short time, and was destined soon to find a grave there. Dr. and
Mrs. Laffin came in the dry season, when the roads were at the best, and
Mrs. Laffin was carried in a hammock much of the time. Mrs. Laffin was a
saintly woman, an ideal missionary and a very charming lady. She was the
first white woman who ever visited the Bulu country, and it required a
superb courage. She greatly desired to see the Bulu people; and besides,
with the true woman’s sympathy, she wished to know how we were really
living at Efulen and to offer suggestions for our comfort. Our new house,
for the first time, seemed very bare and quite unfit for such a visitor.
As soon as we heard of her coming I sent to the coast for a number of
things that I felt we must have for her reception. Among other things I
asked Mr. Gault to send me some table-cloths, out of one of my boxes;
though we had never felt any need of them before. He sent me bed-sheets
instead; but they served the purpose admirably; and we had towels for
napkins.
One day, when I was apologizing to Mrs. Laffin for our having only the
comforts and none of the luxuries of life, she replied about as follows:
“If I had loved a fine house and housekeeping more than anything else I
would have stayed in America where both are possible. But I have chosen
missionary work in preference, and housekeeping therefore is only a
hindrance. Now, if you had carpets, upholstered furniture, and pictures
on the walls, I, having a woman’s domestic conscience, would feel that,
instead of giving my time to the people, I ought first of all to oversee
your house and order the housekeeping. But, as it is, this house gives me
no more concern than if it were a wood-shed or a stable, and I can go to
the towns without restraint or any conscientious scruple. I believe that
in Africa we ought to have as good food as possible, comfortable beds
and chairs, and plenty of room, and I hope that you will soon have all
these; but for the brief period of my visit here your house just suits
me.” I may say that I made no more apology.
One day while Mrs. Laffin was there she was buying some food from a
native for which she paid him in salt. She gave him the right amount,
but he as usual thought it was not sufficient and told her to go and
bring some more. When she did not do as he said, he ordered her in the
threatening tone that he would use to a Bulu woman. I immediately came
forward and taking up his cassava threw it down the hill and told him to
follow it “quickly, quickly.” He looked at me in surprise and hastened
to explain that it was not I whom he was addressing, but only the woman,
and that he would never address a _man_ in that manner. I told him that
I would far rather he would address me in that way than the white woman.
But he still repeated: “It was not you, white man; it was not you, but
only a woman that I spoke to.”
At length, however, he understood my meaning, but was only more surprised
than ever and calling out to his friends told them, to their great
amusement, that in the white man’s country the men obey the women,—which
was not exactly the idea that I had intended to convey. I then told him
that if he would tell the white woman that he was sorry for his rudeness
she would still buy his cassava.
It was strange how Mrs. Laffin without knowing a word of Bulu, and making
but little use of an interpreter, yet, by the language of a sympathetic
heart expressed in manner and in actions, reached the hearts of those
poor Bulu women, and discovered some womanly quality in them. They all
followed her through the village, and they were almost gentle in her
presence. I heard them telling afterwards how that in passing through a
certain village she saw a child who had cut its finger and was crying. It
was a cut that his mother would not even have noticed, but Mrs. Laffin
instantly drawing a pretty handkerchief from her pocket tore it in two
to bind the bleeding finger. In another matter they showed surprising
modesty, which Mrs. Laffin evidently thought was natural to them; but,
indeed, it was natural to them only in her presence. One cannot describe,
nor even understand, the powerful influence of such a woman upon the
degraded and fallen of her own sex; but even all good women have not
Mrs. Laffin’s influence. When she was leaving Efulen after two weeks, to
return to Batanga, the Bulu women as she passed through their villages
left their work and their palavers to follow her far along the way in
silence, only asking that she might some time come back again.
It was not many months afterwards that she was stricken with the dreaded
fever, that came suddenly and unawares, like some stealthy beast creeping
out of the jungle in the darkness. The third day she died. She had been
in Africa a little more than a year. Such is the price of Africa’s
redemption. But we may not say that her life was wasted. Such a life and
such an influence cannot be in vain.
[Illustration: THE PASSION FOR CLOTHES.
_They soon begin to wear clothes which they regard as mere ornamentation;
nor do they always distinguish the “gender” of the garments sold them by
the white man._]
VII
THE BUSH PEOPLE
The natives of Efulen, the Bulu tribe, are a branch of the great Fang
tribe. They are brown—not black, in colour, and are several shades
lighter than most of the coast tribes. They need not be commiserated for
their colour. It is quite to their liking; and they think they are far
better-looking than white people.
The Bulu go almost entirely naked. The men wear a strip of cloth a few
inches wide, suspended from a string around the hips, one end of the
cloth being fastened in front and the other behind. They wore only
bark-cloth when we first went among them, made from the bark of a tree,
the pulp being hammered out of it and the coarse fiber remaining. The
women wore less than the men, their entire dress consisting of a few
leaves suspended from a similar string around the hips and a square-cut
bobtail of coloured grass. Children wear nothing but the string around
the waist, which is put on immediately after birth and has a fetish
significance. An occasional rub with oil and then with red powder, made
of camwood, completes the toilet of the adults. Before our first year
had passed some of the men in the villages near by were wearing imported
cloth, and in larger pieces. By this time both men and women are wearing
it. Superficial changes follow rapidly in the wake of the white man. But
further back in the interior the conditions are still unchanged.
If they have but little use for clothing, they are excessively fond
of ornamentation, and the women are slaves of fashion. Most of their
ornaments are imported trinkets from the white man’s country, which have
travelled far in advance of the white man himself. Both men and women
have a peculiar and striking way of dressing the hair. Crossing it back
and forth over strips of bamboo, they build it into three or four ridges,
several inches high, running from the front to the back of the head.
Each ridge is mounted with a close row of common white shirt-buttons.
When shirt-buttons cannot be procured, a certain small shell is used.
Sometimes the ridges are circular, one within another like a story cake,
iced with shirt-buttons. In addition to this the women often sew on
above each ear a card containing as many as six dozen buttons. Sometimes
they also build a kind of splash-board behind the head, from ear to ear,
to hold more buttons. The hair thus arranged remains undisturbed for
several months. It forms a convenient place for wiping their hands or
the bread-knife (which is also every other kind of knife) or anything
else that may be particularly dirty. After dressing the hair grease is
smeared over it, from time to time, which in the sun melts into the hair,
giving it a rich gloss; and some of the grease passing through issues in
a very black stream down the back. This enables it to support an amazing
abundance of small animal life. They are very generous in helping one
another to remove these, and in passing through a village one may often
see some one reclining with his or her head in the lap of a friend who is
performing this kindly office. It is especially appropriate that a host
should thus accommodate a guest. It is done in the street, of course,
where everything else is done. For if they should retire to the house any
length of time something might happen and they not be there to see; or,
some bit of particularly spicy scandal might be detailed and they not
hear it, and life even at the best is dull enough.
But we have not completed the decorating of these women; for they would
be ashamed to be seen in this paucity of ornamentation. Across the middle
of the forehead they wear several strings of beads, or sometimes a strip
of monkey-skin, an inch wide, edged with shirt-buttons, and fastened
behind the head. They also have bangles three inches to a foot long,
all around the head, consisting of loose hair strung with beads of all
colours. But there is still room for more, and they wear around the neck
countless strings of a small blue-black bead, piled up sometimes several
inches high on the shoulders. Occasionally they pierce the septum of
the nose and insert a string of beads or a brass ring; and the ears are
treated in the same manner. A black tattooed marking between the eyes,
and two broad artistically designed lines of the same upon the cheeks
running from the direction of the ear towards the mouth, complete the
head-ornamentation of a fashionable Bulu woman.
Upon one arm, or both, she wears an enormous cuff, made of heavy brass
wire, an eighth of an inch in diameter, coiled into a solid gauntlet,
large at the elbow, tapering down to the wrist and spreading again
towards the hand. It is made on the arm and is not supposed to be
removed. Sometimes it is worn on the upper arm, in which case it chafes
the arm, and after a while causes an ulcer. These are also frequently
worn on the lower leg. But for this latter purpose they prefer a large
brass ring, several of which they wear on each leg, and which they keep
brightly polished. A woman if she can afford it, wears as many of these
brass rings as she can walk with.
It is strange that they have no love of flowers, and still more strange
when one considers their instinctive love of music. Passing through a
village and seeing a woman performing her semi-annual duty of combing her
hair, I have suggested the decorative possibilities of flowers rather
than shirt-buttons. I have even gathered them for her and have put them
in her hair, and I am sure they were becoming. But to her they were
ridiculous; nor was she moved when I told her that white women in my
country infinitely preferred flowers to shirt-buttons.
The men are tattooed on their faces and their breasts; but the markings
are light and scarcely disfigure the face. Every man carries at his left
side a long, two-edged, sword-like knife. It is a splendid article, which
they themselves manufacture. It is carried in a sheath of python-skin,
suspended from a shoulder-strap of leopard-skin, though sometimes
monkey-skin or goat-skin is substituted. The flint-lock gun had reached
there long before our time; and every man had a gun which he carried all
the time.
The men are usually tall, athletic and remarkably well-formed, though not
as full in the chest as a perfect physique would require. Most of the
younger men are good-looking. Many of the younger women have decidedly
pretty faces, but they are not as intelligent-looking as the men. Most
of the children are beautiful, with sweet, good-natured faces and
lovely eyes. Indeed, all of those whom one would call good-looking have
beautiful, large and expressive eyes, that can look brimful either of
laughter or affection; and the boys, to the age of fourteen or fifteen,
have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.