Now, This Is A Mild Specimen Of The "Rowdy" Negro, Who Has
Contributed More To Open Africa To Enterprise And Civilisation
Than Any One Else.
Possessed of a wonderful amount of loquacity,
great risibility, but no stability - a creature of impulse - a
grown child,
In short - at first sight it seems wonderful how he
can be trained to work; for there is now law, no home to bind
him - he could run away at any moment; and presuming on this, he
sins, expecting to be forgiven. Great forbearance, occasionally
tinctured with a little fatherly severity, is I believe, the best
dose for him; for he says to his master, in the most childish
manner, after sinning, "You ought to forgive and to forget; for
are you not a big man who should be above harbouring spite,
though for a moment you may be angry? Flog me if you like, but
don't keep count against me, else I shall run away; and what will
you do then?"
The language of this people is just as strange as they are
themselves. It is based on euphony, from which cause it is very
complex, the more especially so as it requires one to be
possessed of a negro's turn of mind to appreciate the system, and
unravel the secret of its euphonic concord. A Kisuahili grammar,
written by Dr. Krapf, will exemplify what I mean. There is one
peculiarity, however, to which I would direct the attention of
the reader most particularly, which is, that Wa prefixed to the
essential word of a country, means men or people; M prefixed,
means man or individual; U, in the same way, means place or
locality; and Ki prefixed indicates the language.
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