THE RESULTS OF THE EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA.
The Result in Behalf of Science, Religion, and Humanity of the
Explorations and Missionary Labors of Dr. Livingstone and Others in
Africa -- Review of Recent Discoveries in Respect to the People and
the Physical Nature of the African Continent -- The Diamond Fields of
South Africa -- Bird’s-Eye View of that Division of the World -- Its
Capabilities and Its Wants -- Christianity and Modern Journalism
Dissipating Old Barbarisms, and Leading the Way to Triumphs of
Civilization.
It would be difficult to estimate the result present and sure to come,
in behalf of science, religion, and humanity, of the explorations and
missionary labors of Dr. Livingstone and others in Africa during a
period which embraces but little more than a quarter of a century. The
manner in which Livingstone conducted his missionary labors has already
been pointed out, but more with reference to their connection with
peoples outside of Africa: with men of letters, of science, and of trade
in the civilized world: than with reference to the natives themselves.
Nevertheless, it is a fact that the Christian religion has nowhere in
Africa been anything like so generally adopted, practiced, and honored
by the natives as in the country of the Bakwains. And it was among the
Bakwains that Dr. Livingstone performed his principal missionary work.
Among that people only did he establish a permanent missionary station.
There he had his home in Africa: there his children were born.
Unquestionably the labors of the Rev. Dr. Moffat, Dr. Livingstone’s
father-in-law, were of the highest importance in some respects. The
scene of his studies was at Kuruman, several hundred miles to the
southward of Kolobeng where Livingstone was stationed. He translated the
Scriptures into the Bechuana language, travelled and preached over a
wide domain in South Africa, and accomplished vast good. But it was
Livingstone who infused into the spirit of Christian propagandism
practical wisdom and the argument of present as well as future good. He
is the Franklin of missionaries, having wonderful power in showing
pagans that, even so far as their temporal affairs and material
prosperity are concerned, the religion of Him of Nazareth is the best
policy. Much has been accomplished at the “Gaboon Mission” as it has
been called, on the east coast, but it may be said that the principal
good is in the mitigation of the woes of the slave trade, which here,
with the aid of nations which keep cruisers off the coast, has received,
perhaps, a mortal wound. Nevertheless, the tribes of this coast are
exceedingly depraved, drunken, and ignorant. They are universally
idolatrous and given to disgusting superstitions and habits. Scarcely
more than a hundred miles in the interior are tribes of cannibals, which
are doubtless succeeded by others practicing the horrid orgies of
man-eating across the continent to Tanganyika Lake. But with the great
decrease in the slave trade has sprung up among all these people a wish
to engage in legitimate commerce. With half the ideas of Christian
civilization which have been instilled into the Bakwains of South
Africa, these unhappy people would soon find ways and means to conduct a
large trade in ebony, India-rubber, ivory, and other products of their
country so much prized by commerce. Those who live on the coast have
become somewhat skilful and daring in navigation, their little vessels,
made of great trees hollowed out and pointed, making considerable
coastwise voyages. Upon the arrival of a vessel on the coast, great
numbers of these canoes, filled with natives, are constantly moving
about from ship to shore, too often carrying off the miserable beings
from the baracoons. This terrible traffic completely done with, they
must perforce seek other means of trade; and these their country happily
affords in great abundance.
[Illustration: DISCUSSING THE FEAST OF GAME.]
The Makololo of central South Africa, so often mentioned in this volume,
were greatly improved by the restless genius of the warrior-statesman
Sebituane, whose remarkable career has been delineated in these pages.
These people, possessing a country of great beauty and fertility along
the valley of one of the most magnificent rivers of the world;
possessing also vast herds of cattle and many villages and towns; and
endued by nature with tractable dispositions and ambitious spirit,
continue greatly to profit by the teachings and example of Dr.
Livingstone. Related to the Bakwains and with them speaking the Bechuana
language, Christian ideas are rapidly gaining adherents, so that it is
but reasonable to expect that ere long, that vast extent of country from
Cape Colony to Londa, between the eastern and western coast “shells” of
South Africa will have come under the benignant and progressive
influences of Christian civilization.
The value of the results of Dr. Livingstone’s explorations to science
can hardly be overestimated. Geography, geology, botany, natural
history, ornithology, have all received new facts of value by his
labors, while the latest intelligence from him clearly points to his
speedy success, should his life be spared, in the solution of that
problem in geography which for many years has elicited the studies of
the learned and the adventures of the adventurous.
[Illustration: A STREET SCENE IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE.]
But Dr. Livingstone has not been alone in giving the world intelligence
of the long unknown continent. In the interest of commerce, England sent
an expedition to central Africa in 1850 under Captain Richardson, with
whom were associated Dr. Overweg and the celebrated Dr. Barth, upon the
latter of whom the work of the mission devolved on account of the death
of both of his colleagues. The result was published in a most elaborate
work of which mention has been made in the early pages of this volume.
Dr. Barth traversed the African Sahara from north to south and again
from south to north, near the middle, passing through Murzuk, the
capital of Fezzan, Ghat, Tintellust, the capital of Asben, Agades, and
Katsena, whence on the journey out Dr. Barth proceeded to Kano, Messrs.
Richardson and Overweg going to Lake Tsad. Dr. Barth remained in Africa
about five years, exploring the country from east of Lake Tsad to
Timbuctoo. All this vast country is inhabited by a remarkable people, or
a variety of remarkable peoples, who are good horsemen, sustaining large
armies, chiefly of cavalry, adroit robbers, cruel, vindictive, having
the worst form of domestic slavery, but who number many millions of
souls; cultivate vast tracts of land, raising corn, rice, millet,
tobacco, cotton, and other products; have many extensive towns and
walled cities, carry on great operations in manufactures, trade, and
mining; and are almost constantly at war: for the different states are
independent of each other, each empire governed by its own sheik, the
lesser sovereignties by sultans. The common religion of the people is
that of Mahomet, but there are remnants of pagan tribes, some of which
are even yet independent, and wage deadly war with their cruel
oppressors. The country is well watered, and may be generally described
as a vast plain, diversified only at wide distances by insulated
mountains of no great height. In this expanse, the general name of which
is Soudan, or Soodan (Berr es-Soodan, “Land of the Blacks”), the most
celebrated city, perhaps, is Timbuctoo, which, from remote antiquity,
has been the meeting-place of many caravans and converging lines of
traffic. Sokato, or Sukatu, was formerly a city of 50,000 inhabitants,
but has of late years decreased in importance. It is noted for its
excellent manufactures of leather and iron, and its general markets,
which always bring together great numbers of people and a wonderful
variety of articles for sale. Kano, the capital of the province of
Houssa, has a population of forty thousand souls. The city is surrounded
by a wall of clay, thirty feet high, and more than fifteen miles in
extent. Much of the enclosed space is occupied by gardens and cultivated
fields. The cotton cloth woven and dyed at Kano is the chief article of
commerce. The fine cotton fabrics of the Timbuctoo market are really
manufactured at Kano. Dyed sheep-skins, sandals, ivory, the kola nut are
largely exported. Kuka, the capital of Bornu, is near Lake Tsad, but is
a small city of inconsiderable importance. Yola, the capital of Adamwa,
is larger than Kuka. It was in this province that Dr. Barth discovered
the Benue river, a navigable stream and the principal affluent from the
east of the Niger. There are many cities in this portion of Africa of
far more importance than the capitals of Bornu and Adamwa. Polygamy is
universally practiced, and there are probably more slaves than freemen
throughout all the vast expanse between the equator and the Desert of
Sahara, and Senegambia and Abyssinia.
In 1856, Captain Burton, whose “Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca”
(which he made in the disguise of a dervish) had just made a sensation
in the reading world, explored, with the lamented Speke, a considerable
portion of East Africa. The explorations of Grant and Speke in this
portion of the continent were also of the greatest value. Thus was a
knowledge of the expanse lying between Lake Nyassa, Tanganyika Lake,
Victoria Nyanza and the Indian ocean made known to the world. The
explorations of Sir Samuel Baker and others in search of the sources of
the Nile are familiar to the intelligent public. At this moment there
are at least two expeditions engaged in attempting to solve this
interesting geographical problem, one, under the patronage of the Prince
of Wales, the other under that of the Khedive of Egypt. With this
latter is a representative of the same American journal whose Search
Expedition under Mr. Stanley discovered the great discoverer on the
shores of Tanganyika.
[Illustration: AFRICAN BIRD-LIFE.]
The most interesting and valuable series of explorations from the west
coast of Africa which have been made of late years were those by Paul B.
Du Chaillu, an American traveller and student whose work has been freely
quoted from in this volume. His explorations embraced some three degrees
of latitude and six of longitude near the equator. He penetrated far
into the country of the gorilla and the cannibal, and his researches in
respect of the people, animals, vegetation, and birds of this part of
the continent are confessedly of great value to science.
Thus, if we consider the known portions of Africa at the time Dr.
Livingstone began his first expedition of discovery, and compare them
with the known portions of Africa at the time of the finding of
Livingstone by the “Herald” expedition, we shall see that nearly all
South Africa and much of East Africa has been explored by Livingstone
himself; that Baker, Burton, Speke, Grant have added much to our
knowledge of the supposed regions of the upper Nile and the “lake
country” of East Africa; that Richardson and Barth have informed us of
the true nature of the Desert of Sahara, the latter adding a vast fund
of information in respect to north-central Africa; that Du Chaillu’s
explorations and direct information almost impinge upon the vast area,
both upon the east and the south, explored by Dr. Livingstone. The
unexplored regions of Africa, therefore, are now small in comparison of
the regions explored and in regard to which trustworthy information has
been gathered. Whereas, when Dr. Livingstone went to Africa, only the
outer portions of the continent had been examined, the regions now
unknown are a wide belt eastward of Lake Tsad; a considerable expanse
south of Abyssinia; portions of the Desert of Sahara, and of Kalahari;
and that expanse in equatorial Africa between the recent explorations of
Livingstone among the supposed sources of the Nile and the eastern limit
of Du Chaillu’s journeys. It is true that these still unexplored regions
embrace the most interesting portion of the continent and extend over an
area several times larger than that of France, but in comparison of the
portions of this great division of the earth which have now come under
the view and the study of civilized man, they are but like a little
cloud in a clear sky.
Within the long explored regions of South Africa, a most important
discovery in respect to commerce has recently been made. Reference can
be had, of course, only to the discovery of the diamond fields of the
Orange and Vaal rivers, some seven or eight hundred miles, by a
traversable route, northeastward of Cape Town, but considerably nearer
either Port Elizabeth in Cape Colony, or Port Natal on the east coast.
Some twenty years ago England abandoned the tract of country now known
as the Orange River Free State, and it was occupied by emigrant Boers,
some of whom also proceeded still farther north and established the
Trans-Vaal Republic--a region over which Great Britain never had
dominion. The Boers are generally supposed to be descendants of the
Dutch colonists, but by some they are believed to be descended of
certain warlike North Germans, whom the Dutch employed to guard their
distant settlements, giving them lavish grants of lands in return for
their services. This latter opinion would seem to be substantiated by
the fierce and warlike nature of the present race of Boers. The diamond
fields commence near the junction of the Orange and Vaal rivers, and
extend indefinitely up both those streams. The diamond region is
described as “a desert country of bare rock and sand, far from the
upland pastoral districts” where the Boers successfully conduct
agricultural pursuits. The fields are reached by a journey of some eight
hundred miles from Cape Town. The distance from Port Elizabeth is about
five hundred miles; that from Port Natal about four hundred and fifty.
By the Port Elizabeth route, the traveller passes over the Zumberg
mountains, and over the Drakensberg range, should he start from Port
Natal. By either route, the scenery is described as magnificent and
calculated to put the traveller at once in love with the country. But
the region between Port Natal and the diamond fields is more wild and
desolate than that on either of the other routes, and great suffering is
often experienced by the way.
[Illustration: A STRETCH OF THE NILE.]
The first South African diamond is said to have been found in March,
1867. The fortunate person was a Dutch farmer named Schalk Van Niekerk,
who was struck with the appearance of a stone with which some children
were playing. It turned out to be a genuine diamond, and was purchased
by Sir Philip Wodehouse, then governor of the Colony, for $2,500. In a
short time the governor purchased several other fine and valuable
stones. In May, 1869, the magnificent diamond “Star of South Africa” was
discovered by a man named Swatbooy, near Sandfontein, on the Orange
river. This was a diamond of eighty-three and a-half carats and was
purchased for $56,500. Being cut, it produced a fine gem of forty-six
and a-half carats, valued at $100,000. The finder of this diamond sold
it for 500 head of sheep, 10 head of cattle, and a horse. In a single
year since their discovery these fields have yielded more than five
stones above forty carats. Professor Tennant thinks we shall have
diamonds from South Africa exceeding the famous Koh-i-noor in size and
equaling it in beauty when cut and polished. The Sultan of Matan, of the
island of Borneo, has a diamond of the first water, weighing 367 carats,
and worth at least $3,500,000. The Orloff diamond, belonging to the Czar
of Russia, weighs 195 carats, but is worth only about $500,000 on
account of being a little off color. It is not too credulous to believe
that the diamond fields of South Africa may produce stones equal to
these, and which will throw the fabulous “Moonstone,” about which Wilkie
Collins has written one of his most fascinating stories, completely in
the shade.
These diamond fields have already been visited by great numbers of
explorers, many of whom have been exceedingly lucky, while others had
better remained at home. Astonishingly few scenes of lawlessness and
violence have been witnessed, a fact which is owing to the peaceful
nature of the Africans who do the most of the digging. The result of
the discovery of this extraordinary diamond region was greatly to lower
the price of rough diamonds for a season. It is not believed that the
price will be permanently affected. Only about one tenth of the African
diamonds are of the first water. The ordinary trade in diamonds had been
about $800,000 a month--$400,000 from the mines of South America and
India, and $400,000 from private parties. The increase from the South
African fields has not yet been $100,000 a month, or anything like it on
the average. The introduction of machinery and of capital to direct and
control the workings, will doubtless add largely to the yield of these
precious stones. Rubies are also found here in large numbers, but they
are generally small. The probability of the discovery of gold also is
very great.
* * * * *
Reflecting upon all these recent explorations and discoveries in Africa,
how different would be a bird’s eye view of that continent now from what
it was when Dr. Livingstone first went ashore at Cape Town! The extreme
southern portion of the continent is under the dominion of Great
Britain. On the east and northeast are Natal and the Boer republics of
Orange River and Trans-Vaal. Here, of course, we find a people not
unlike the peasantry of Europe, with towns and cities and farms and
manufactures and commerce. The political institutions are liberal, and
popular education supported by the state, is becoming general. The
original inhabitants of this region were the Hottentots, a race bearing
more resemblance to the Mongols than to the negroes, having broad
foreheads, high cheek bones, oblique eyes, thin beards, and a yellow
complexion. They are of a docile disposition, and quick intellectual
perception. They were possessed of vast herds of cattle and large flocks
of sheep, but were enslaved by the Dutch. Emancipated in 1833 by
England, they are still found all over this region--still enslaved by
the Boers in their so-called republics--and in small bodies here and
there to a great distance in the interior. The Caffres, who inhabit the
eastern portion of South Africa north of the British possessions, and
form a large proportion of the population of the northern part of Cape
Colony, are described by Livingstone as “tall, muscular, and well made;
they are shrewd, energetic, and brave; altogether they merit the
character given them by military authorities of being magnificent
savages! Their splendid physical development and form of skull show
that, but for the black skin and woolly hair, they would take rank among
the foremost Europeans.” Near the east coast of Africa the Caffres are
brown or copper-colored. Their government is patriarchal, a petty chief
presiding over each kraal or village, who is tributary to a higher
chief, and these higher chiefs owe allegiance to the great chief, with
whom they form the National Council. They live by hunting and raising
cattle. Their women attend to the agriculture. They have no notion of a
Supreme Being, but are exceedingly superstitious in respect to witches,
spirits, and the shades of their ancestors. The missionary labors of
more than forty years have made no perceptible impression upon this
stalwart race except those who live under the British Colonial
government, and these have only been partially won over to civilization.
Caffre women are described as superior in beauty to the other native
races of South Africa. Then, and farther to the left, still looking
northward, we have the Bushmen, who are described by Livingstone as true
nomads. Then we come to the Griquas, an independent people north of the
Orange river. By Griquas is meant any mixed race sprung from natives and
Europeans. These are of Dutch extraction through association with
Hottentot and Bushwomen. Many of these have adopted Christianity. The
human inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert are Bushmen and Bakalahari, the
former supposed to be the aborigines of Southern Africa, the latter the
remnants of the first emigration of Bakwains. Both of these singular
people are possessed of an intense love of liberty, but the Bushmen live
almost exclusively on wild animals, while the Bakalahari have an
irrepressible love of flocks of domestic animals. They procure a
precarious existence over the dry expanse of Kalahari. East of the
Desert are the Bakwains, among whom Moffat and Livingstone labored.
These, numbering many different tribes, inhabit a large portion of
Southern Africa and by their migrations under Sebituane, have for a
number of years also held a vast territory on the Chobe and Zambesi
rivers, north of Lake Ngami. Many of the Southern tribes have embraced
Christianity and all are noted for intelligence and the desire of
progress. Between the Southern Bechuanas and their relatives the
Makololo are the Bamangwato and the Bayeiye, the latter “the Quakers of
Africa,” who do not believe in fighting. The former are sufficiently
savage and indolent. They live round about Lake Ngami. To the westward
of Kalahari and as far northward as the country under Portuguese
dominion we observe a region possessing many fertile tracts. A wide
expanse is called Namaqua Land, and is sparsely inhabited by Hottentots
among whom live a few Dutch. Northward of these are the Damaras, whose
domains extend far into the interior, but of whom little is known. Far
up the east coast extends the country of Mozambique, long known to
geography. Near the middle of this country the waters of the Zambesi
empty into the Indian ocean. Far up this stream we find many tribes of
ignorant men, all polygamous, but none, until we reach the watershed of
central South Africa, devoted to disgusting fetiches. There, where the
country is for a vast distance an immense flat, with a river, part of
whose sluggish waters seek outlet in the Atlantic and part in the Indian
ocean, we see negroes of the most savage nature and the most degrading
superstitions. And as we cast our vision westward toward the Portuguese
colony of Angola, we find them becoming more and more degraded, through
the immense territory of the Balonda, until we reach the magnificent
valley of the Quango, and begin to perceive the beneficent effects of
civilization, even though its representatives have not been of the best.
We shall look in vain over the whole expanse of Lower Guinea for notable
prospects cheering to the cause of man’s advancement. Then extending
our vision northward and eastward over what may for convenience sake be
called the equatorial region of Africa, we shall observe great lakes and
rivers on the east, the lakes scarcely less great in surface extent than
those of interior North America, while at the west we perceive extensive
rivers, and immense forests. Here the nobler wild animals do not live,
but repulsive apes and cannibals possess the gloomy shade of the vast
wilderness. Near the eastern portion of this expanse the great explorer
of Africa is at this time engaged in traversing that now most
interesting portion of the globe whence spring the sources of the Nile.
Still farther north, and extending nearly across the continent, we see
an immense territory crowded with a commercial, trading people, whose
cities have been noted for ages through the reports of caravans which
have brought their goods and gold across the great desert to the
Mediterranean sea. On the right of the desert we find Abyssinia, Nubia,
and Egypt. The desert itself is seen to have many oases, stately
mountains, and in places a growth of singular trees. Its caravans are
sometimes submerged by the terrible simoon; but the robbers of the
desert are more cruel and destructive than the winds and sands. On the
north of Sahara we see the countries bordering on the Mediterranean,
where in ancient times the great rival of Rome exercised supreme
authority, which was doubtless wrested from Carthage in a calamity to
mankind. To the westward of this famous seat of ancient empire, the
French now have a numerous and prosperous colony. Still farther westward
and looking out upon the pillars of Hercules, live the remnants of that
singular people who once possessed a large part of Spain, and whose
melancholy fate has been rendered wonderfully interesting to the
intelligent of all lands by the great and tender genius of our American
Irving. The descendants of the old possessors of Granada, the builders
of the Alhambra, may now be found in northwestern Africa, and
penetrating deeply into the regions of the Desert, with little to
suggest the ancient taste, and culture, and warlike prowess. With the
exception of Liberia, and the English, Portuguese, Dutch, and French
colonies, and of late some of the Bakwains who have become
Christianized, the people of whom we are taking this rapid view are
devoted to polygamy. As it exists throughout nearly the whole of the
vast continent it is both a social and a political institution. Of all
these people, perhaps those only who are actually progressive are the
Bakwains, under Sechele, the Makololo, under Sekeletu, successor to the
greatest of South African chieftains, Sebituane, some of the colonists
of extreme South Africa, and a province or two of central West Africa.
[Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE.]
Confining our view now to the physical aspect of Africa, we perceive
that the four great rivers are the Nile, the Zambesi, the Quango, or
Congo, and the Niger. The Orange river of the south is of less
magnitude, as is the Senegal of the west. Of these, the Nile is the
greatest and most interesting, the most interesting river, perhaps, of
the world. The Niger drains much of western and central Africa, and with
its affluents forms a system of drainage for an immense empire. The
Quango is the principal river of central South Africa, but between it
and the Niger are the Gaboon and the Fernand Vas with their many
affluents. The Zambesi is seen to drain a region many times larger than
Great Britain. The Orange with its affluents is at least equal to the
Ohio in the United States. All these rivers, with the exception of the
Nile, force their way through mountains which reach in almost unbroken
range around the continent from Abyssinia southwestward to Cape Colony,
then northwestward to Senegambia, whence they shoot off in broken
fragments over the Desert of Sahara.
[Illustration: VIEW ON THE LUALALA.]
[Illustration: VIEW ON THE ZAMBESI.]
The northern half of Africa is chiefly Mohammedan, the southern half
chiefly pagan. In the north we have sheikhs, khedives, sultans, harems,
intrigues, treachery, vindictiveness, and tortures. In the south we have
man-eating, superstitions, fetiches, degradation, but, unquestionably as
I think, very much less of man’s inhumanity to man. North and south,
except where the English have control, domestic slavery exists in its
most cruel forms, but nowhere in the world has it ever existed, perhaps,
in such monstrous shape of iniquity as in central Africa under the rule
of Islamism. Dr. Barth accompanied the sheikh of Bornoo on a predatory
(slave-catching) expedition into the Musgu country on one occasion. He
thus relates the principal business of a single day:
“The village we had just reached was named Kakala, and is one of the
most considerable places in the Musgu country. A large number of slaves
had been caught this day, and in the course of the evening, after some
skirmishing, in which three Bornoo horsemen were killed, a great many
more were brought in; altogether they were said to have taken one
thousand, and there were certainly not less than five hundred. To our
utmost horror, not less than one hundred and seventy full-grown men were
mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood, the greater part of them being
allowed to bleed to death, a leg having been severed from the body.”
The number of “slaves” (that is, free persons captured) on this
expedition was about 4,000, of whom nearly 1,000, being full-grown men,
were disposed of in the horrible manner above described.
--Those who have read the preceding pages can hardly help arriving at
the conclusion that the capabilities and the wants of Africa are very
great. Leaving out those portions of the continent which were known when
Dr. Livingstone first reached South Africa, we find that there have
since been discovered lakes, rivers, mountains, regions abounding in
precious stones and metals, vast fertile plains, forests rich in
valuable trees and vines, animals producing rare articles of commerce,
peoples rude indeed and degraded but neither cruel by nature,
vindictive, nor revengeful. Many of them are magnificent specimens of
mankind, so far as physical nature is concerned, while a great majority
of them are far above that which is too generally considered the typical
African. They are by no means wanting in intellectual powers; and their
almost universal love of children must be regarded as a most admirable
and redeeming trait. Even the cannibals of the equatorial regions are
unquestionably less cruel and infinitely less treacherous than the
Mohammedans of north Central Africa, while the numerous tribes of
Bakwains and Makololo are for the most part by nature gentlemen; brave,
magnanimous, and reasonable. The Bakalahari are a pastoral people; and
those who are fond of both children and flocks cannot be irreclaimably
depraved. Over a large part of South Africa, idolatry is unknown; and
skepticism is a much less powerful antagonist of Christian civilization
than fetiches.
These people have many navigable rivers, vast extents of arable lands,
large numbers of domestic animals, and some of them are wonderfully
skilful in the manufacture of certain fabrics and tools. Perhaps it is
hardly too much to say that the Fans (cannibals) of equatorial Africa
are the best blacksmiths in the world.
There can be little doubt that many of these people would have adopted
Christian civilization before this time but for polygamy. As has been
said a moment ago this is both a social and political institution. The
more wives a chief has the more fathers-in-law, the more friends, and
consequently the more influence. We have seen how this long kept the
chief Sechele from espousing Christianity. It appeared to his generous
nature like a cruelty to return his supernumerary “wives.” It is
difficult to see how any general progress can be made toward the
adoption of Christian civilization by these people until this
institution shall have been destroyed.
The abolition of domestic slavery is one of the greatest wants of the
continent. In no part of pagan Africa is this inhuman system upheld by
such barbarous practices as in many large portions under the sway of
Islamism. In pagan Africa the captives of war are made slaves, but the
adult males are not mangled and slain. Throughout a great extent of
Mohammedan Africa the system of slavery is upheld by nameless atrocities
in gratification of the terrible cruelty and scarcely less terrible lust
of the most cruel and lustful people. The legend of Legree in Mrs.
Stowe’s celebrated novel of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a pleasant fable in
comparison of many acts pertaining to African domestic slavery of which
truthful accounts might be given. It might appear that time is necessary
to prepare a people so cruel for the reception of Christian
civilization. The Boers of South Africa are exceedingly hard
task-masters with their slaves, compelling them to do a great deal of
hard labor and drudgery, but they have not been charged with
blood-thirstiness.
This wide-spread system of domestic slavery is, of course, an important
ally of the foreign slave trade but the slave trade is in some respects
a wrong and unutterable woe of itself. There is a certain intronational
slave trade, if we may so speak, in Africa, carried on between tribes
which are independent of each other. The importance of a chief is often
estimated by the number of his slaves and wives. Now that the recent
explorations of white men have made intercourse between tribes of more
frequent occurrence than formerly, a rude diplomacy has sprung up, which
is chiefly exercised in matters pertaining to slaves and the purchase of
wives. A chief strengthens himself at home by marrying as many of the
daughters of his “head men” as he can, and among other tribes by the
same course among them. A large number of slaves adds to the
consideration in which he is held at home and abroad. Thus polygamy,
domestic slavery, and the foreign slave trade are the great obstacles
which stand in the way of civilizing the continent of the black man. And
of these the greatest obstacle is the foreign slave trade. This, not
only because of its own cruelty, fearful wrongfulness, and hideous
practices, but because it gives the black man a fairly unanswerable
practical argument against civilization. Dr. Livingstone expressly tells
us, in letters which we have quoted, that the practices of the
slave-traders are more horrible and cruel than even those of the
man-eating Manyema. Is it to be expected that the natives of Africa will
adopt a system which, so far as they see, is more cruel than the most
horrible customs of their most degraded tribes? Those Africans only who
have to any considerable extent adopted Christian civilization live at
the greatest distance from the scenes of the foreign slave trade.
[Illustration: A DANCE BY TORCHLIGHT.]
The first great want of Africa, therefore, is the suppression of the
slave trade. This has been to great extent accomplished on the West
Coast. It has not been accomplished on the East Coast because of the
neglect of the British government. Not long since Zanzibar was visited
by a terrible hurricane, whose destructive fury laid waste its shipping,
its houses, and scattered death and desolation over a wide expanse. The
affliction was very great, and grievous to be borne. The slave trade of
Zanzibar is almost infinitely more cruel than the remorseless elements.
Its speedy suppression is demanded by the united cries of Christianity
and humanity. It is the undoubted duty of the government of Great
Britain to heed this demand, and put an end to the woes which exist
through the cupidity of British subjects and the inefficiency of British
officials at Zanzibar.
The other great wants of Africa are the abolition of domestic slavery
and the destruction of the system of polygamy. To accomplish these great
objects will be no easy achievement, nor one, it is believed, which can
be speedily brought about. It certainly can be done the more easily and
the more speedily after the suppression of the foreign slave trade.
Until that be done, it is simply impossible. That having first been
brought about, the national characteristic of all African peoples will
be found, it is confidently believed, to form an element of vast power
in bringing the continent under the sway of civilization. That
characteristic is the love of trade. It is another of the singular
anomalies of this division of the world, that while it is, upon the
whole, the least commercial of all, the people are natural traders. They
are universally fond of barter. This may be called the African
idiosyncrasy. Taking advantage of it, with his inculcations of religious
truth, Dr. Livingstone’s labors at the time and afterwards were crowned
with magnificent success. Those of his co-laborers who have succeeded
have pursued the same plan. Thus throughout a vast expanse have slavery
and polygamy passed away, and the institutions of Christian
civilization been adopted in their stead by a people naturally
intelligent, progressive, and brave.
[Illustration: A CAMP OF ARAB TRADERS.]
Christianity and modern journalism ought, therefore, to unite in urging
commerce to clasp hands with religion for the purpose of making a common
triumph for trade and civilization over the vast continent much of which
has so long sat in darkness. There, surely, are the foundations upon
which a mighty commerce may be built; there, beyond question, is a vast
field in which the labors of Christian propagandists have much to engage
them, and much to encourage great zeal and self-denial. Journalism and
Christianity thus succeeding in making a firm and earnest ally of
Commerce, cannot help leading the way, in the good time of Heaven’s
providence, to most gratifying triumphs of civilization; so that the
gloom and misery of centuries shall be dispelled, and even Ethiopia
shall soon stretch out her hands unto GOD.
[Illustration]