In this book as in the one that preceded it, _The Jungle Folk of
Africa_, the author endeavours to exhibit the _humanity_ of the African
as it impressed himself.
The difference between the two books is chiefly a difference of
emphasis, and is indicated in the titles. In the former the African
is described in relation to his surroundings—his exterior world.
Much is said about the forest—deep, solemn, vast, impenetrably
mysterious—wherein he roams at large with nature’s own wild freedom;
contending also with its mighty forces, and wresting from it the
means of existence by his own resourcefulness of expedient. In the
present volume the author essays the more difficult task of
revealing the interior world of the African—his mental habits and
beliefs. Much is said about _fetishism_ and _folk-lore_.
If, despite all that is said herein, the philosophy of fetishism should
remain obscure—and there is no doubt of it; if the reader should close
this book with the consciousness of a broad, comprehensive ignorance of
the subject, it may be to some extent the fault of fetishism itself,
which is the jungle of jungles, an aggregation of incoherent beliefs.
The world of the African is as wild and strange as the weird world that
we often visit on the brink of sleep. It was far from Africa that
Siegfried thought it worth while to encounter the dread dragon, Fafner,
and slay him for the possession of the magic tarnhelm forged by the
Nibelung. In Africa everybody has a tarnhelm. Second-hand tarnhelms are
for sale everywhere. I myself had a rare one; but I have lost it, or
mislaid it. To us, who think of nature as the realm of law, order, and
uniformity, the world of the African seems to have gone mad. This
madness, however, is more apparent than real. The African thinks in
terms of the miraculous; natural effects are explained by supernatural
causes; supernatural, but not therefore unintelligible, still less
irrational. Therefore, if we should not find the fabled thread out of
this amazing labyrinth of fetishism, it may be possible to find a thread
_into_ it; and not only possible, but also worth while, if within the
labyrinth we shall find the African himself and come to know him, mind
and heart, a little better.
One need not apologize for the space given to folk-lore so long as Brer
Rabbit and Brer Fox retain their present popularity with old and young;
for in African folk-lore we have the originals of the stories of Uncle
Remus. Aside from the entertaining quality of folk-lore, its idealism
has a human value. In Mr. Lecky’s essay, _Thoughts on History_,
published since his death, the great historian pays the following
remarkable tribute to idealism:
“Legends which have no firm historical basis are often of the highest
historical value as reflecting the moral sentiments of their time. Nor
do they merely reflect them. In some periods they contribute perhaps
more than any other influence to mould and colour them and to give them
an enduring strength. The facts of history have been largely governed by
its fiction. Great events often acquire their full power over the human
mind only when they have passed through the transfiguring medium of the
imagination, and men as they were supposed to be have even sometimes
exercised a wider influence than men as they actually were. Ideals
ultimately rule the world; and each, before it loses its ascendency,
bequeaths some moral truth as an abiding legacy to the human race.”
Inasmuch as the history of most African tribes must ever remain unknown
to us, their legends and all that is included in their folk-lore possess
additional anthropological value as a medium through which to study the
African mind.
The African, despite his degradation, is interesting; and that, not
merely as an object of religious endeavour, but on the human level, as a
man. The testimony of Mr. Herbert Ward—traveller, adventurer, soldier
and artist—who first went to Africa with Stanley, and afterwards went a
second time and spent several years, is the testimony of all
sound-hearted men who have lived in Africa. Mr. Ward, in _A Voice From
the Congo_, says:
“There was a good side even to the most villainous-looking savage....
They appealed strongly to me by reason of their simplicity and
directness, their lack of scheming or plotting, and by the spontaneity
of everything they did.” And again: “It has been my experience that the
longer one lives with Africans, the more one grows to love them.
Prejudices soon vanish. The black skin loses something of its unpleasant
characteristics, for one knows that it covers such a very human heart.”
Nevertheless, the degradation of the African is a fact. And it is being
proved that there is no power of moral renovation for him inherent in
material progress. Christianity, and nothing else, vitalizes his moral
nature; and therefore it contains the potentialities of civilization.
When Mr. Giddings, and other sociologists of a certain class, ignoring
spiritual values, demand a gospel for the life that now is, we offer
them the same Gospel of Christ, and point to its actual results in
Africa; maintaining that the missionary is the chief agent in Africa’s
civilization, and affirming that civilization is but the secular side of
Christianity.
One of the stories in this volume appears also in Dr. Robert H. Nassau’s
admirable book, _Fetishism in West Africa_; and two of the stories are
told, in slightly different form, in Mr. R. E. Dennett’s interesting
book on the folk-lore of the _Fjort_. Most of the illustrations are from
photographs taken by Mr. Harry D. Salveter.