THE AFRICAN NEGROES.
Causes of the Inferiority of Negro Civilisation—Natural Capabilities of the Negro—Geographical Formation of Africa—Its Political Condition—Physical Conformation of the Negro—Fetishism—The Rain-Doctor—The Medicine-Man—Religious Observances—Gift-Offerings—Human Sacrifices—Ornaments—The Pelélé—The Bonnians—Their Barbarous Condition—The Town of Okolloma—Negroes of the Lake Regions—The Iwanza—Slavery—A Miserable Group.
With the exception of the narrow strip of territory fertilized by the annual inundations of the Nile, where stately pyramids and the ruins of vast palaces and temples proclaim the ancient glories of Egypt; or of the coast-lands of the Mediterranean, where once Carthage reigned and Utica flourished, Africa has ever been a region without influence on the progressive march of mankind. From the vast and still partly unknown countries inhabited by the Negro or the Kaffer no gleam of genius has ever shone forth to enlighten the world; no invention has ever proceeded for the benefit of the human race; no individual has ever risen to eminence in science or in art; but all, from generation to generation, has519 ever been one dull monotonous scene of ignorance, barbarism, and stagnation.
As to the causes of this stationary unprogressive state opinions are greatly divided, for while some authorities consider the African as decidedly inferior in intellect to the more favoured races of Europe, he is according to others merely the victim of unfortunate circumstances, which have never allowed the latent germs of improvement to quicken into life? That there is no defect in his organisation to account for his low condition, is sufficiently proved by the celebrated physiologist, Tiedemann, who found, as the result of numerous measurements and examinations, that his brain is by no means smaller than that of the European, and that its form and structure are identical.
Travellers and missionaries who have had the best opportunities of forming a just estimate of the character and capacities of the Negroes, describe them as social, generous, and confiding. No one, such is their opinion, can live among them without being impressed with their natural energy of character, their shrewdness and close observation, the cunning with which they can drive a bargain, and the perfect adroitness with which they practise upon the unsuspecting credulity of white men. They have long since risen above the hunter life, have fixed habitations, cultivate the soil for the means of subsistence, have herds of domestic animals, construct for themselves houses sufficient to protect them alike from the scorching heat of the sun and the chilly damps of night, show a taste for the mechanical arts, a surprising skill in the fabrication of implements of warfare and articles of ornament, and at the same time a decided taste and aptitude for commercial pursuits.
The Southern Kaffers gradually pass through the transition of intermediate tribes into the pure typical equatorial Negroes, and travellers have been astonished at the acuteness of intellect displayed by the Zulus, Betchuanas, and other Kaffer nations. Of the Mandingoes, a pure Negro race, inhabiting parts of Senegambia and Upper Guinea, shrewd observers assure us that no one who has had personal intercourse with them, can have the least doubt as to their intellectual equality with Europeans. These few examples, to which many others520 might be added, sufficiently prove that there is no wide impassable gulf between the negro and the white races.
The aboriginal Africans are indeed averse to all abstract discussions, but they have excellent memories, lively imaginations, much instinctiveness, and very close observation. With the exception of the Veys, who have recently invented an alphabet for themselves (a circumstance in itself sufficient to establish their claims to a high degree of intelligence), none of the nations along the sea coast regions have any written literature, but this is not to be set down as a mark of mental imbecility. Their thoughts, as a matter of necessity, must operate in a comparatively narrow circle; but it does not follow that they are less active on that account. They have abundant stores of unwritten lore, allegories, legends, traditionary stores, fables—and many of their proverbs bear testimony to their sound good sense.
Men of remarkable ability have risen up among the Africans from time to time, as well as amongst other portions of the human family. Some have excited the admiration of large districts by their wisdom, others have been the wonder of their generation by their personal prowess and deeds of arms, but the total absence of literature leads to the loss of all former experience and the lessons of the sage and the feats of the hero have been alike forgotten.
The detractors of the Negroes have generally formed their opinion upon the most unfavourable specimens of the race, upon tribes living in a pestilential climate along the sultry coasts of Guinea, upon the victims of oppression, upon slaves or the descendants of slaves. But everywhere we find physical and moral inferiority resulting from conditions which cramp the natural energies of man, and among the most highly civilised nations a considerable part of the population shows the fatal stigmas of ignorance and want in a stunted growth and a blighted intellect. It is evidently as erroneous to judge of the whole Negro race by its inferior representatives, as it would be to measure the English nation by the low standard of the refuse of our cities. The reasons for the torpid state of Africa, when compared with the ancient civilisation of Asia or the progressive march of Europe, must therefore be sought for, not in an organic and consequently incurable incapacity521 for higher attainments, but in unfavourable external circumstances, and these are quite sufficient to account for its existence.
Among the causes which have contributed to retard the march of improvement in Africa, one of the most important is its compact geographical formation and the natural obstacles which render the access to its interior so extremely difficult. While Europe possesses a vast extent of coast line, numerous harbours, large peninsulas, deep gulfs and bays, and broad navigable rivers, Africa is deprived of these physical advantages. Though more than three times larger than Europe, its coasts are not only less extensive by one-fourth, but are also frequently bounded, particularly within the tropics, by sandy deserts or unhealthy swamps, which render them in a great measure inaccessible or useless to man. We there see no such peninsulas as Italy or Portugal and Spain, stretching far out into the ocean, and affording a seat to a numerous maritime population; no such great mediterranean seas as the Baltic, the Adriatic, or the Ægæan; and while in Europe many rivers carry the tides far into the interior of the land, and extend as it were the domains of ocean into the bosom of the continent, a great number of the streams of Africa are often rendered unnavigable by long-continued droughts, or even cease to flow altogether during a considerable part of the year. But the sea is not only the great highway of commerce, it also enlarges the sphere of man’s ideas, by bringing him into easier contact with other nations; it not only conveys the productions of every zone from coast to coast, but civilisation is also wafted upon its waves from shore to shore. Thus the vicinity of the sea has been as favourable to the development of a great part of Europe as the confinement or isolation of the Negro within the bounds of his native continent has tended to retard his improvement.
Even in the interior of Africa itself, communications are rendered difficult by many natural obstacles. The fertile regions of the Soudan are separated from the coast lands of the Mediterranean by the vast deserts of the Sahara, which have always opposed an insurmountable barrier to the spread of European civilisation. Here enormous tracts of arid land, there immense marshes and swampy lake districts, or high mountain ranges522 covered with impervious woods, impede the progress of the traveller, and separate one nation from the other.
Along with its unfavourable geographical formation, the political condition of Africa has likewise tended to maintain its ancient barbarism. As far as history reaches into the past, slavery has been its curse, nor has it ever enjoyed the advantages of a strong and permanent government. Thus, to cite but one example, the Manganja were all formerly united under the government of their great chief Undi, whose rule extended from Lake Shirwa to the river Loangwa, but after Undi’s death it fell to pieces. This has been the inevitable fate of every African empire from time immemorial. A chief of more than ordinary ability arises, and subduing all his less powerful neighbours, founds a kingdom which he governs more or less wisely, till he dies. His successor not having the talents of the conqueror cannot retain the dominion, and some of the abler or more ambitious under-chiefs set up for themselves, and in a few years the remembrance only of the empire remains. This, which may be considered as the normal state of African society, gives rise to frequent and desolating wars, and perpetuates a state of general insecurity which paralyses improvement and prevents the accumulation of wealth, that great lever of civilisation. Ignorance, superstition, intolerance are the natural consequences of the misgovernment under which Africa suffers, and contribute in their turn to maintain it. Even the most gifted nations must eventually sink under such a load of adverse circumstances, and when we recollect for how many centuries the genius of Europe languished after the fall of the Roman empire, we must not be too hasty in depreciating the natural abilities of the Negro.
A black, soft, and unctuous skin, woolly hair, thick lips, a flat nose, a retiring forehead, and a projecting maxilla, are his well-known physical characters; but both his colour and his features are considerably modified both by the climate of the land which he inhabits and the degree of civilisation he has attained. Considerable elevations of surface, as they produce a cooler temperature of the air, are also productive of a lighter-coloured skin. Thus, in the high parts of Senegambia, which fronting the Atlantic Ocean are cooled by westerly winds, we find the light copper-coloured Felatas surrounded on every523 side by the darker-coloured Negro tribes inhabiting the surrounding lower countries. In the interior of Africa, the Bornui, the occupants of the low basin of Lake Tsad, are also the most like the typical Negroes of the coast. Their moral and social condition, or the degree of barbarism and civilisation in which they live, has likewise a considerable influence on the physical conformation of the Negroes. The tribes in which the distinctive marks of the race are developed in the highest degree invariably occupy the lowest grade in the scale of African humanity: they are either ferocious, barbarous, or sunk in stupidity and sloth—as, for instance, the Papels, Balloms, and other savage hordes on the coast of Guinea, where the slave trade was formerly carried on to a great extent, and exerted, as usual, its baneful influence. On the other hand, where we hear of a Negro state whose inhabitants have made some progress in the social arts, we constantly find their physical character considerably deviating from the strongly pronounced Negro type. The Ashantees and the Sulimas may be cited as examples. The Negroes of Guber and Haussa, where a considerable degree of civilisation was a long time dominant, are perhaps the finest race of true Negroes in all Africa. The Joloff, who, since the time of their first discovery by the Portuguese, have enjoyed a certain degree of culture, are also tall, well-made Negroes, with the nasal profile less depressed, and the lips less prominent than is the case with the more typical tribes.
The religion of Mahomet has spread over many North African countries, but Fetissism, or the adoration of natural objects, animate or inanimate, to which certain mysterious powers are attributed, is still the superstitious creed of the greater part of that continent. Anything which chances to catch hold of the fancy of a Negro may be a fetish. One selects the tooth of a dog, of a tiger, or of a cat, or the bone of a bird; while another fixes on the head of a goat, or monkey, or parrot, or even upon a piece of red or yellow wood, or a thorn branch. The fetish thus chosen becomes to its owner a kind of divinity, which he worships, and from which he expects assistance on all occasions. In honour of his fetish, it is common for a Negro to deprive himself of some pleasure, by abstaining from a particular kind of meat or drink. Thus one man eats no524 goat’s flesh, another tastes no beef, and a third no brandy or palm wine. By a continual attention to his fetish, the Negro so far imposes upon himself as to represent it to his imagination as an intelligent being or ruling power, inspecting his actions and ready to reward or punish. Hence, like the Russian with his image of St. Nicholas, or the ancient Roman with his household gods, he covers it up carefully whenever he performs any action that he accounts improper. The importance or value of a fetish is always estimated according to the success of its owner whose good fortune induces others to adopt it. On the contrary, when a Negro suffers any great misfortunes, he infallibly attributes it to the weakness of his fetish, which he relinquishes, and adopts another that he hopes will prove more powerful. Sometimes a whole tribe or a large district has its fetish, which is regarded as a kind of palladium upon which the safety of their country depends. Thus, at Whidah, on the coast of Ashantee, they worship as their national fetish a kind of serpent of monstrous size, which they call the grandfather of the snakes. They say that it formerly deserted some other country on account of its wickedness, and came to them, bringing good fortune and prosperity along with it. The national fetish of the Kanga is an elephant’s tooth, and that of the tribe of Wawa a tiger. At Bonny divine honours are paid to huge water-lizards. Undisturbed, the lazy monsters crawl heavily through the streets, and as they pass the Negroes reverentially make way. A white man is hardly allowed to look at them, and hurried as fast as possible out of their presence. An attempt was once made to kidnap one of these dull lizard gods for the benefit of a profane museum, but the consequences were such as to prevent a repetition of the offence, for the palm oil trade was immediately stopped, and affairs assumed so hostile an aspect that the foreigners were but too glad to purchase peace with a considerable sacrifice of money and goods. When one of the lizards crawls into a house, it is considered a great piece of good fortune, and when it chooses to take a bath, the Bonnians hurry after it in their canoes. After having allowed it to swim and plunge several times, they seize it for fear of danger, and carry it back again to the land, well pleased at once more having the sacred reptile in their safe possession.
525 From this account of the fetishes of the Negroes, it is evident that the rudeness of their idolatry is on a level with the low state of their social condition. A victim to evil passions and to a vague and nameless awe engendered by the fantastical and monstrous character of the animal and vegetable productions around him, the Fetissist peoples with malevolent beings the invisible world, and animates material nature with evil influences. The rites of his dark and deadly superstition are all intended to avert evils from himself by transfering them to others; hence the witchcraft and magic which flow naturally from the system of demonology.
Like the Schaman of the Polar World, the Negro priest, or professional holy man, is supposed to have the power of controlling evil spirits, and founds his influence on the gross superstition and baseless fears of those who trust in his agency. His office includes many duties. He is a physician or medicine man, a detecter of sorcery by means of the ordeal, a vase maker, a conjuror or augur, and a prophet.
As all diseases are attributed by the Fetissist to ‘possession,’ the medicine man is expected to heal the patient by casting out the devil who has entered his body and disturbs its functions. The unwelcome visitant must be charmed away by the sound of drums and dancing, and when the auspicious moment for his expulsion arrives, is enticed from the body of the possessed into some inanimate article, which he will condescend to inhabit. This may be a certain kind of bead, two or more bits of wood bound together by a strip of snake’s skin, a lion’s or a leopard’s claw, and other similar articles, worn round the head, the arm, the wrist, or the ankle. Hence also the habit of driving nails into and hanging rags upon trees, which are considered apt places for the laying of evil spirits.
The second and perhaps the most profitable occupation of the medicine man is, the detection of sorcery. The unfortunate wretches, accused of practising the black art, are generally required to prove their innocence by submitting to various ordeals, similar to the fire tests of mediæval Europe. The commonest trial consists in the administration of some poisonous liquid, such as the red water of the Ashantees, which is extremely apt to find the accused person guilty. If he escape unhurt, however, and without vomiting, he is judged innocent.526 Much dancing and singing takes place on account of his escape, and he is allowed to demand that some punishment be inflicted on his accusers, on account of the defamation. Among the Eastern Africans visited by Captain Burton, a heated iron spike driven into some tender part of the person accused is twice struck with a log of wood. The Wazaramo dip the hand into boiling water, the Waganda into seething oil, and the Wazegura prick the ear with the stiff bristles of a gnu’s tail.
The crime of sorcery is usually punished by the stake; and in some parts of Eastern Africa, the roadside shows at every few miles, a heap or two of ashes with a few calcined and blackened human bones, telling the shocking tragedy that has been enacted there. The prospect cannot be contemplated without horror: here and there, close to the larger circle where the father and mother have been burnt, a smaller heap shows that some wretched child has shared its parents’ terrible fate, lest growing up he should follow in their path.
In countries where a season of drought causes dearth, disease, and desolation, the rain maker or rain doctor, is necessarily a person of great consequence, and he does not fail to turn the hopes and fears of the people to his own advantage. The enemy has medicines for dispersing the clouds which the doctor is expected to attract by his more potent charms. His spells are those of fetissists in general, the mystic use of something foul, poisonous, or difficult to procure. As he is a weatherwise man, and rains in tropical lands are easily foreseen, his trickery sometimes proves successful. Not unfrequently, however, he proves himself a false prophet, and when all the resources of cunning fail he must fly for his life, from the exasperated victims of his delusion.
The holy man is also a predictor and a soothsayer. He foretells the success or failure of commercial or warlike expeditions, prevents their being underta............