THE MANDINGOES.
LANGUAGE AND APPEARANCE OF THE MANDINGOES -- THEIR RELIGION -- BELIEF
IN AMULETS -- A MANDINGO SONG -- MARRIAGE AND CONDITION OF THE WOMEN
-- NATIVE COOKERY-A MANDINGO KING -- INFLUENCE OF MAHOMETANISM.
Before proceeding across the continent toward Abyssinia, we must
briefly notice the Mandingo nation, who inhabit a very large tract
of the country through which the Senegal and Gambia flow. They are
deserving of notice, if it were only on the ground that their language
is more widely spread than any that is spoken in that part of Africa,
and that any traveller who desires to dispense as far as possible
with the native interpreters, who cannot translate literally if they
would, and would not if they could, is forced to acquire the language
before proceeding through the country. Fortunately it is a peculiarly
melodious language, almost as soft as the Italian, nearly all the words
ending in a vowel.
In appearance the Mandingoes are tall and well made, and have the
woolly hair, though not the jetty skin and enormous lips, of the true
negro. “The structure of the language,” says Mr. M’Brair, who has
made it his special study, “is thoroughly Eastern. In some of its
grammatical forms it resembles the Hebrew and Syriac; its most peculiar
sound is of the Malay family; its method of interrogation is similar
to that of the Chinese, and in the composition of some verbs it is
like the Persian. A few religious terms have been borrowed from the
Arabic, and some articles of foreign manufacture are called after their
European names.”
As a rule, the religion of the Mandingoes is Mahometanism, modified to
suit the people, but they still retain enough of the original negro
character to have an intense faith in gregrees, which are made for
them by the marabouts, or holy men, and almost invariably consist of
sentences of the Koran, sewed up in little leathern cases beautifully
tanned and stamped in patterns. Mahometanism has put an end to the
noisy songs and dances which make night hideous; but the Mandingoes
contrive, nevertheless, to indulge their taste for religious noise at
night. Instead of singing profane songs they sing or intone the Koran,
bawling the sacred sentences at the full stretch of their voices, and
murdering sleep as effectually as if they had been still benighted
idolaters singing praises in honor of the moon. Some ceremonies in
honor of the moon still remain, but are quite harmless. When it
appears, they salute it by spitting in their hands and waving them
round their heads. For eclipses they account by saying that there is
a large cat living somewhere in the sky, who puts her paw between the
moon and the earth.
They are very strict Mahometans indeed, the marabouts always calling
them to prayers one hour before sunrise; that, according to theological
astronomy, being the time at which the sun rises at Mecca. Mahometanism
has done much for the Mandingoes. It has substituted monotheism
for idolatry, and totally abolished human sacrifices. It has not
extirpated the innate negro character of the Mandingoes; but it has
raised them greatly in the scale of humanity. It has not cured them of
lying and stealing--neither of which vices, by the way, are confined
to idolaters; but it has brought them to abhor the system of child
selling, which is so ingrained in the ordinary negro, and a Mandingo
Mahometan will not even sell a slave unless there is just cause of
complaint against him.
The Rhamadan, or Mahometan fast, is rigidly observed by the Mandingoes,
and it is no small proof of the power of their religious system that it
has made a negro abstain from anything which he likes.
The principal rite of Mahometanism is of course practised by the
Mandingoes, who have contrived to engraft upon it one of their own
superstitions, namely, that if a lad remains uncircumcised, he is
swallowed by a peripatetic demon, who carries him for nine days in his
belly. This legend is religiously believed, and no one has yet been
daring enough to put it to the test.
Fourteen years is the usual age for performing this ceremony, whole
companies of lads partaking of it at the same time, and proceeding
to the appointed spot, accompanied by their friends and relatives,
who dance and sing songs by the way, neither of them being peculiarly
delicate. Here the old negro nature shows itself again, proving the
truth of the axiom that nature expelled with a pitchfork always comes
back again. After the ceremony they pass a month in an intermediate
state of existence. They have taken leave of their boyhood, and are
not yet men. So until the expiration of the month they are allowed
unlimited license, but after that time they become men, and are ranked
with their fathers. Even the girls undergo a ceremony of a somewhat
similar character, the officiants being the wives of the marabouts.
As a natural consequence of this religion, which is a mixture of
Mahometanism engrafted upon fetishism, the marabouts hold much the
same exalted position as the fetish men of the idolaters, and are the
most important men of the community. They do not dress differently
from the laity, but are distinguished by the colors of their caps,
which are of some brilliant hue, such as red, blue, or yellow. The
whole of education is in their hands, some being itinerant teachers,
and others establishing regular schools. Others, again, mingle the
characters of musicians and merchants, and all make the principal part
of their living by the sale of amulets, which are nothing more than
Mahometanized gregrees. So great is the demand for these amulets, that
a wealthy man is sometimes absolutely enclosed in a leathern cuirass
composed of nothing but amulets sewed up in their neat leathern cases.
One of the Mandingo songs, translated by Mr. W. Reade, shows clearly
the opinion in which these men are held. “If you know how to write
Marabout (_i. e._ Arabic, and not Mandingo), you will become one of the
disciples of God. If you know Marabout, you are the greatest of your
family. You maintain them. If they commit a fault, it is you who will
protect them.”
Another of these proverbial sayings expresses the uselessness of
gregrees. “The Tubabs went against Galam. The King of Maiel said to
a woman, ‘Take your child, put it in a mortar, and pound it to dust.
From its dust I will make a man rise who will save our town.’ The woman
pounded her child to dust. From the dust came a man; _but the Tubabs
took Maiel_.” The “Tubabs” are the French, and the saying evidently
refers to the manufacture of a gregree similar in character to that
which has been mentioned on page 604.
Still, their innate belief in the power of gregrees is too strong to be
entirely eradicated; and if one of their chief men dies, they keep his
death secret, and bury his body in a private spot, thinking that if an
enemy could get possession of his blade-bone he would make a gregree
with it, by means of which he could usurp the kingdom for himself.
Marriages are solemnized by the marabout, in the mosque, with an odd
mixture of native and borrowed ceremonies. Next to the marabout the
bridegroom’s sister plays the most important part at the ceremony and
in the future household; gives the article of clothing which takes the
place of our wedding ring, and which in this country would be thought
rather ominous,--namely, a pair of trousers,--and, if a child be born
of the marriage, has the privilege of naming it. Polygamy is, of
course, the rule, and each woman has her own house. So, when a girl is
married, she stays with her parents until her own house is built, when
she is conducted to it in great state by her young friends, who sing a
mournful song deploring the loss of their companion.
The women have every reason to be contented with their lot. They are
not degraded slaves, like the married women in so many parts of Africa,
and, if anything, have the upper hand of their husbands. “They are the
most tyrannical wives in Africa,” writes Mr. Reade. “They know how to
make their husbands kneel before their charms, and how to place their
little feet upon them. When they are threatened with divorce, they
shed tears, and, if a man repudiates his wife, they attack him _en
masse_--they hate, but protect, each other.
“They go to this unfortunate husband, who has never felt or enjoyed
a quiet moment in his own house, and say, ‘Why do you ill treat your
wife? A woman is helpless; a man has all things. Go, recall her, and,
to appease her just anger, make her a kind present.’ The husband prays
for forgiveness, and, when his entreaties take the form of a bullock or
a slave, she consents to return.”
The food of the Mandingoes is chiefly rice and milk, but when they are
wealthy they indulge in many luxuries. The same author who has just
been quoted gives the details of an entertainment cooked by half-bred
Mandingoes. First they had oysters plucked from the branches of
trees, to which they attached themselves at high water, and were left
suspended when the floods recede. Then there were soles, carp, and
mullet, all very bad, but very well cooked. “Then followed gazelle
cutlets _à la papillote_; two small monkeys served cross-legged and
with liver sauce, on toast; stewed iguana, which was much admired; a
dish of roasted crocodiles’ eggs; some slices of smoked elephant (from
the interior), which none of us could touch; a few agreeable plates of
fried locusts, land-crabs (previously fattened), and other crustaceæ;
the breasts of a mermaid, or manatee, the grand _bonne-bouche_ of
the repast; some boiled alligator, which had a taste between pork
and cod, with the addition of a musky flavor; and some hippopotamus’
steaks--_aux pommes de terre_.
“We might have obtained a better dessert at Covent Garden, where we can
see the bright side of the tropics without the trouble or expense of
travelling. But we had pineapples, oranges, roasted plantains, silver
bananas, papaus (which, when made into a tart with cloves, might be
taken for apples), and a variety of fruits which had long native names,
curious shapes, and all of them very nasty tastes. The celebrated
‘cabbage,’ or topmost bud of the palm tree, also formed part of the
repast, and it is said to be the finest vegetable in the world. When
stewed _en sauce blanche_, it is not to be compared with any vegetable
of mortal growth. It must have been the ambrosia of the gods.”
The Mandingoes who have not embraced Mahometanism are much inferior to
their compatriots who have renounced their fetishism. Mr. Reade tells
a ludicrous story of a native “king,” who was even dirtier than any
of his subjects, and if possible was uglier, his face being devoid of
intelligence and utterly brutish; he made long speeches in Mandingo,
which, as usual with such speeches, were simply demands for everything
he saw, and acted in a manner so consonant with his appearance, that
he excited universal disgust, and remarks were made very freely on the
disadvantages of being entirely in a savage state, and never having
mixed with superior beings.
At last the tedious interpreting business was at an end, and nothing
remained except the number of kola nuts to be given as the present of
friendship--a customary ceremony in this country. Six had been given,
and the king made a long speech, which turned out to be a request for
more. “Well, we can’t very well refuse the dirty ruffian,” said the
visitor; “give him four more, that will make ten.”
“_Make it twenty_” cried the king eagerly, forgetting that his _rôle_
was to appear ignorant of English. He had lived for some years at
Sierra Leone, and could speak English as well as any one when he chose,
and had heard all the remarks upon his peculiar appearance without
giving the least indication that he understood a word that was said.
One of the old superstitions which still holds its own against the
advance of Mahometanism is one which belongs to an island on the Upper
River. On this island there is a mountain, and on the mountain lives
a spirit who has the unpleasant power of afflicting human beings so
severely that they can never sit down for the rest of their lives.
Therefore, on passing the hill, it is necessary to unclothe the body
from the waist downward, to turn the back to the mountain, and pray the
spirit to have compassion on his votaries, and continue to them the
privilege of sitting. Every one is forced to undergo this ceremony, but
fortunately the spirit is content if it be performed by deputy, and
all travellers therefore, whether men or women, pay natives of their
own sex to perform this interesting rite for them. However, like the
well-known etiquette of crossing the line, this ceremony need only
be performed on the first time of passing the hill, the spirit being
satisfied with the tribute to his power.
The universal superstition respecting the power of human beings
to change themselves into bestial shapes still reigns among the
Mandingoes, and it is rather doubtful whether even the followers
of Mohammed have shaken themselves quite free from the old belief.
The crocodile is the animal whose form is most usually taken among
the Mandingoes, and on one occasion a man who had been bitten by a
crocodile, and narrowly escaped with his life, not only said that the
reptile was a metamorphosed man, but even named the individual whom he
knew himself to have offended a few days before the accident.