The Chinese, Who
Were As Civilized As They Are At The Present Day At A Period When The
English Were
Barbarians, were ever celebrated for the manufacture of
porcelain, and the difference between savages and civilized countries is
always thus
Exemplified; the savage makes earthenware, but the civilized
make porcelain - thus the gradations from the rudest earthenware will
mark the improvement in the scale of civilization. The prime utensil of
the African savage is the gourd; the shell of which is the bowl
presented to him by nature as the first idea from which he is to model.
Nature, adapting herself to the requirements of animals and man, appears
in these savage countries to yield abundantly much that savage man can
want. Gourds with exceedingly strong shells not only grow wild, which if
divided in halves afford bowls, but great and quaint varieties form
natural bottles of all sizes, from the tiny phial to the demijohn
containing five gallons. The most savage tribes content themselves with
the productions of nature, confining their manufacture to a coarse and
half-baked jar for carrying water; but the semi-savage, like those of
Unyoro, affords an example of the first step towards manufacturing art,
by the fact of COPYING FROM NATURE: the utter savage makes use of
nature - the gourd is his utensil; and the more advanced natives of
Unyoro adopt it as the model for their pottery. They make a fine quality
of jet black earthenware, producing excellent tobacco-pipes most finely
worked in imitation of the small egg-shaped gourd; of the same
earthenware they make extremely pretty bowls, and also bottles copied
from the varieties of the bottle gourds: thus, in this humble art, we
see the first effort of the human mind in manufactures, in taking nature
for a model; precisely as the beautiful Corinthian capital originated in
a design from a basket of flowers.
A few extracts from my journal will describe the delay at Atada: -
"JAN. 26th, 1864. - The huts are very large, about 20 feet in diameter,
made entirely of reeds and straw, and very lofty, looking in the
interior like huge inverted baskets, beehive shaped, very different to
the dog-kennels of the more northern tribes. We received a message today
that we were not to expect Kamrasi, as 'great men were never in a hurry
to pay visits.' None of the principal chiefs have yet appeared. Kidgwiga
is expected today; but people are flocking in from the country to see
the white lady. It is very trying to the patience to wait here until it
pleases these almighty niggers to permit our people to cross the river."
"JAN. 27th. - Time passing fruitlessly while every day is valuable. The
rains will, I fear, commence before my work is completed; and the Asua
river, if flooded, will cut off my return to Gondokoro. In this district
there is a large population and extensive cultivation. There are many
trees resembling the Vacoua of Mauritius, but the leaves are of a
different texture, producing a species of flax.
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