So Imbued Are The
Natives' Minds With Belief In The Power Of Charms, That They Pay
The Magician For Sticks, Stones, Or Mud, Which He Has Doctored
For Them.
They believe certain flowers held in the hand will
conduct them to anything lost; as also that the voice of certain
wild animals, birds, or beasts, will insure them good-luck, or
warn them of danger.
With the utmost complacency our sable
brother builds a dwarf hut in his fields, and places some grain
on it to propitiate the evil spirit, and suffer him to reap the
fruits of his labour, and this too they call Uganga or church.
These are a few of the more innocent alternatives the poor
negroes resort to in place of a "Saviour." They have also many
other and more horrible devices. For instance, in times of
tribulation, the magician, if he ascertains a war is projected by
inspecting the blood and bones of a fowl which he has flayed for
that purpose, flays a young child, and having laid it lengthwise
on a path, directs all the warriors, on proceeding to battle, to
step over his sacrifice and insure themselves victory. Another
of these extra barbarous devices takes place when a chief wishes
to make war on his neighbour by his calling in a magician to
discover a propitious time for commencing. The doctor places a
large earthen vessel, half full of water, over a fire, and over
its mouth a grating of sticks, whereon he lays a small child and
a fowl side by side, and covers them over with a second large
earthen vessel, just like the first, only inverted, to keep the
steam in, when he sets fire below, cooks for a certain period of
time, and then looks to see if his victims are still living or
dead - when, should they be dead, the war must be deferred, but,
otherwise commenced at once.
These extremes, however, are not often resorted to, for the
natives are usually content with simpler means, such as flaying a
goat, instead of a child, to be walked over; while, to prevent
any evil approaching their dwellings a squashed frog, or any
other such absurdity, when place on the track, is considered a
specific.
How the negro has lived so many ages without advancing, seems
marvellous, when all the countries surrounding Africa are so
forward in comparison; and judging from the progressive state of
the world, one is led to suppose that the African must soon
either step out from his darkness, or be superseded by a being
superior to himself. Could a government be formed for them like
ours in India, they would be saved; but without it, I fear there
is very little chance; for at present the African neither can
help himself nor will he be helped about by others, because his
country is in such a constant state of turmoil he has too much
anxiety on hand looking out for his food to think of anything
else. As his fathers ever did, so does he. He works his wife,
sells his children, enslaves all he can lay hands upon, and,
unless when fighting for the property of others, contents himself
with drinking, singing, and dancing like a baboon to drive dull
care away. A few only make cotton cloth, or work in wood, iron,
copper, or salt; their rule being to do as little as possible,
and to store up nothing beyond the necessities of the next
season, lest their chiefs or neighbours should covet and take it
from them.
Slavery, I may add, is one great cause of laziness, for the
masters become too proud to work, lest they should be thought
slaves themselves. In consequence of this, the women look after
the household work - such as brewing, cooking, grinding corn,
making pottery and baskets, and taking care of the house and the
children, besides helping the slaves whilst cultivating, or even
tending the cattle sometimes.
Now, descending to the inferior order of creation, I shall
commence with the domestic animals first, to show what the
traveller may expect to find for his usual support. Cows, after
leaving the low lands near the coast, are found to be plentiful
everywhere, and to produce milk in small quantities, from which
butter is made. Goats are common all over Africa; but sheep are
not so plentiful, nor do they show such good breeding - being
generally lanky, with long fat tails. Fowls, much like those in
India, are abundant everywhere. A few Muscovy ducks are
imported, also pigeons and cats. Dogs, like the Indian pariah,
are very plentiful, only much smaller; and a few donkeys are
found in certain localities. Now, considering this good supply
of meat, whilst all tropical plants will grow just as well in
central equatorial Africa as they do in India, it surprises the
traveller there should be any famines; yet such is too often the
case, and the negro, with these bounties within his reach, is
sometimes found eating dogs, cats, rats, porcupines, snakes,
lizards, tortoises, locusts, and white ants, or is forced to seek
the seeds of wild grasses, or to pluck wild herbs, fruits, and
roots; whilst at the proper seasons they hunt the wild elephant,
buffalo, giraffe, zebra, pigs, and antelopes; or, going out with
their arrows, have battues against the guinea-fowls and small
birds.
The frequency with which collections of villages are found all
over the countries we are alluding to, leaves but very little
scope for the runs of wild animals, which are found only in dense
jungles, open forests, or praires generally speaking, where hills
can protect them, and near rivers whose marshes produce a thick
growth of vegetation to conceal them from their most dreaded
enemy - man. The prowling, restless elephant, for instance, though
rarely seen, leaves indications of his nocturnal excursions in
every wilderness, by wantonly knocking down the forest-trees.
The morose rhinoceros, though less numerous, are found in every
thick jungle.
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