With The Love Of Music Is Naturally Connected A Taste For Poetry;
And Fortunately For The Poets Of Africa They Are In A Great Measure
Exempted From That Neglect And Indigence Which In More Polished
Countries Commonly Attend The Votaries Of The Muses.
They consist
of two classes; the most numerous are the singing men, called jilli
kea, mentioned in a former part of my narrative.
One or more of
these may be found in every town. They sing extempore songs in
honour of their chief men, or any other persons who are willing to
give "solid pudding for empty praise." But a nobler part of their
office is to recite the historical events of their country; hence in
war they accompany the soldiers to the field, in order, by reciting
the great actions of their ancestors, to awaken in them a spirit of
glorious emulation. The other class are devotees of the Mohammedan
faith, who travel about the country singing devout hymns and
performing religious ceremonies, to conciliate the favour of the
Almighty, either in averting calamity or insuring success to any
enterprise. Both descriptions of these itinerant bards are much
employed and respected by the people, and very liberal contributions
are made for them.
The usual diet of the negroes is somewhat different in different
districts; in general the people of free condition breakfast about
daybreak upon gruel made of meal and water, with a little of the
fruit of the tamarind to give it an acid taste. About two o'clock
in the afternoon a sort of hasty pudding, with a little shea butter,
is the common meal; but the supper constitutes the principal repast,
and is seldom ready before midnight. This consists almost
universally of kouskous, with a small portion of animal food or shea
butter mixed with it. In eating, the kafirs, as well as
Mohammedans, use the right hand only.
The beverages of the pagan negroes are beer and mead, of each of
which they frequently drink to excess. The Mohammedan convert
drinks nothing but water. The natives of all descriptions take
snuff and smoke tobacco; their pipes are made of wood, with an
earthen bowl of curious workmanship. But in the interior countries
the greatest of all luxuries is salt. It would appear strange to a
European to see a child suck a piece of rock salt as if it were
sugar. This, however, I have frequently seen, although, in the
inland parts, the poorer class of inhabitants are so very rarely
indulged with this precious article that to say a man ate salt with
his victuals is the same as saying he is a very rich man. I have
myself suffered great inconvenience from the scarcity of this
article. The long use of vegetable food creates so painful a
longing for salt that no words can sufficiently describe it.
The negroes in general, and the Mandingoes in particular, are
considered by the whites on the coast as an indolent and inactive
people - I think without reason.
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