Negroes in Negro Land

1
H'i'^
LIBRARY
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
THE
NEGROES IN NEGROLx\ND;
THE
NEGROES
IN
AMERICA;
AND
NEGROES GENERALLY.
ALSO,
THE SEVERAL RACES OF WHITE MEN,

CONSIDEKED AS THE INVOLUNTARY AND PREDESTINED SUPPLANTERS OF
THE BLACK RACES.
A COMPILATION, BY
HINTON ROWAN HELPER,

I
A RATIONAL REPUBLICAN,
Crisis of the South," " Nojoque," and other writings
iu behalf of a Free and White America.
Author of" The Impending
"A coranassioa
for that
which
is
not and caunot be useful or lovely,
is
degrading and futile."

Kali'U Waldo Emersoit.
negroes, no science has been developed, and few questions are ever discussed, except
those which have au intimate connection with the wants of the stomach."
"Among the
" It lias been proved by measurements, by microscopes, by analyses, that the typical negro is something between a child, a dotard, and a beast. X cannot struggle against these sacred facts of science.
WiNWonn Ueade.
"Our countrv might

'
It is the strictlv
well have shrunk from assuming the guardianship of the negro."
Geokge Bancroft.
white races that are bearing onward the flambeau of civilization, as displayed in
JosiAU Clark Nott.
the Germanic families alone."
.>
NEW YORK:
p.
W.
CAf\LETON,
LONDON:
S.
PUBLISHEI\.
LOW, SON, & CO.
MDCCCLXVni.
/o>L<iÔU-^Cî^'''-
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, by
G
In the Clerk's
Oflfice
AELETOX
of the District Court for the Southern District of
New York,
TO
ûirgc
'Hlcrrimon,
(FORMERLY OF ASHEVILLE, NOW OF RALEIGH,)

WHO,
AS A GOOD 3[Ay,
A8 AN ABLE LAWYER, AS AX EMINENT CIVIL PATRIOT,

AS A WISE AND NATIONAL STATESMAN,
"U'lLL,
IT IS
HOPED, AT NO DISTANT DAY
BE
A FITLY
REWARDED SERVANT OF NORTH CAROLINA,

IN
THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

THIS
IS
VOLUME
MOST RESPECTFULLY
DEDICATED.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
Paob
I.
15
Cannibalism in Negroland
CHAPTER
Human Butcheries, and Human
Human
Skulls as Sacred Relics
II.
Sacrifices in
Negroland,
CHAPTER
III.
and Ornaments in Negroland,
19
25
.29
CHAPTER
IV.
Blood-thirstiness and Barbarity of the Negroes in Negroland,
CHAPTER
V.
Slavery and the Slave-trade in Negroland,
CHAPTER VI.
Heathenish Superstition and "Witchcraft in Negroland,
37
45
CHAPTER
VII.
Fetichism, Priestcraft, and Idolatry in Negroland,
CHAPTER
57
VIII.
Rain Doctors, and Other Doctors in Negroland,
70
CHAPTER IX,
Nakedness, Shamelessness, and Prostitution in Negroland,
CHAPTER
.75
X.
Drunkenness and Debauchery in Negroland,
79
CHAPTER XI.
Night Carousals, and Noisy and Nonsensical Actions in Negroland,
CHAPTER
and Robbery
in Negroland,
CHAPTER XIII.
Wrangling, Lawlessness, Penury, and Misery in Negroland,
Theft, as a Fine Art,
among
80
82
XII.
Inhospitality to Strangers, Begging, Extortion,
CHAPTER
.89
XIV.
the Africans,
94
CHAPTER XV.
Lying, as an Accomplishment,
among
the Africans,
CHAPTER
,,,,,,
XVI.
Duplicity and Venality of the Negroes in Negroland,
CHAPTER
97
98
XVII.
Revolting Voracity and Gluttony of the Negroes in Negroland,
.100
CONTENTS.
ri
Page
CHAPTER
Dislike of their
own Color by the Negroes
XVIII.
in Negroland,
CHAPTER
102
XIX.
Courtship, Marriage, and Concubinage in Negroland,
.105
117
118
CHAPTER XX.
Mumbo Jumbo in Negroland,
CHAPTER
XXI.
Funeral and Burial Rites in Negroland,
CHAPTER
Indolence and Improvidence of the Negroes,
CHAPTER
....
XXII.
122
XXIII.
Timidity and Cowardice of the Negroes,
125
CHAPTER XXIV.
African Anecdotes,
130
CHAPTER XXIV.
Utter Failure and Inutility of all Missionary Enterprises in Negroland,
134
CHAPTER XXVI.
Miscellaneous Peculiarities, Manners, Habits, and Customs, of the Negroes
138
in Negroland,
CHAPTER
XXVII.
Huts, Hovels, and Holes (but no Houses) in Negroland,
152
CHAPTER
XXVIII.
Gradual Decrease, and Probable Extinction of the Negro Race,
158
CHAPTER XXIX.
Natural, Repulsive, and Irreconcilable Points of Difference, Physical, Mental,
162
and Moral, between the Whites and the Blacks,
CHAPTER XXX.
American Writers on the Negro,
173
CHAPTER XXXI.
Mulattoes
the Offspring of Crimes against Nature,
CHAPTER
216
XXXII.
Albinos, White Negroes, and Other Creatures of Preternatural Whiteness,
CHAPTER
"
I.,
II
223
XXXIII.
Increasing Preeminence and Predominance of the White Races,
Appexdix
.227
...*..
......
237
249
INTRODUCTION.
The
compiler of this volume deems
it
proper to protest
here, at the very outset of his undertaking, against the un-
just and ill-boding practice of indiscriminately stigmatizing
man, whether in the North or in

the South, in the East or in the West, who, in the exercise
of his constitutional rights and honest convictions, raises his
voice in opposition to the revolutionary and destructive
measures of the party now dominant in oiu* National Legislature.
With deep solemnity and truth, he declares that he
was always earnest and emphatic, and even enthusiastic,
in deploring and
and not less so now than heretofore,
condemning the act of secession, and, at the same time, in
justifying and defending the principles upon which the Government of the United States, when opposed by force of
arms, maintained itself, and re-established its authority from
as a traitor almost every
Potomac to the Rio Grande. Why, then, why does a

man who never, by word nor by deed, gave the least aid or
comfort to the rebellion, but, on the contrary, did all he
why does a man of these
could to weaken and suppress it,
the
antecedents, a plain, unpretentious citizen, who, until he*
became a Republican, was always a Whig of the school of

Clay and Webster who, from first to last, heartily endorsed
and supported the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and
who has no ambition beyond the exact knowledge and per;
formance of his duty
why does a man of
this sort find it
impossible to yield his suffrage or commendation to the

/
a party which, with Pharisaical boastparty now in power,
INTRODUCTION.
VIII
ing, lays claim to the distinctive
and exclusive
of having saved the country from disruption ?

is
broad, plain, and even more than sufficient.
patriotisna
The reason
The party
and unpardonably abandoned the old landmarks of just and sacred

and it is now advocating what means the
fealty to race
prostitution in bulk of a great and good white integer to a
small and bad black fraction. The policy of the Radical
has, since the termination of the war, viciously
(not the Republican) party, if carried out to
its logical
ends,
will inevitably result in the forced political, religious, civil,
and
social equality of the white
and black races
and the
and
direful sequence of that result, so flagrantly unnatural
wrong in itself, can only be reasonably looked for in the ultimate degradation, division, and destruction of the Republic.
It is in the sincere hope of lessening at least some of the
dangers of the shocking and wide-spread calamities thus
al-
to, that this compilation is offered to an intelligent

and discriminating public.
There are now in the United States of America thirty
millions of white people, who are (or ought to be) bound
luded
together
b}^
the ties of a kindred origin,
b}^
the affinities of a
sameness of noble purpose, by the links of a common naand by the cords of an inseparable destiny. We
have here also, unfortunatelj" for us all, four millions of
black people, whose ancestors, like themselves, were never
known (except in ver}^ rare instances, which form the exceptions to a general rule) to aspire to any other condition
These black
than that of base and beastlike slavery.
people are, by nature, of an exceedingly low and grovelling
tionality,
They have no trait of character that is lovely

admirable. They are not high-minded, enterprising, nor
disposition.
or
prudent.
In no age, in no part of the world, have
the}',
of
themselves, ever projected or advanced any public or private

Interest,
nor given expression to any thought or sentiment
that could worthily elicit the praise, or even the favorable
;;
tX
INTRODUCTION,
mention, of the better portion of mankind. Seeing, then,

thcat the negro does, indeed, belong to a lower and inferior
order of beings, why, in the name of Heaven, why should we
forever degrade and disgrace both ourselves and our posterity by entering, of our own volition, into more intimate
relations with
May God, in
him ?
his restraining mercy, for-
ever do this most foul and wicked thing

Acting under the influence of that vile spirit of deception
and chicanery which is always familiar with every false pre-
bid that
we should
tence, the
members of a Radical Congress, the
editors of a
venal press, and other peddlers of perverted knowledge, are

now loudly proclaiming that nowhere in our country, henceforth,
must there be any
any discrimination, on
distinction,
account of color; thereby covertly inculcating the gross

error of inferring or supposing that color is the only difference
and
that a very trivial
whites and the blacks
difference
Now, once
between
the
for all, in conscientious
be distin ctly made known and acknowledged, that, in addition to the black and baneful color
deference to truth, let
it
of the negro, there are numerous other defects, physical,

mental; and moral, which clearly mark him, wEen_compared
with the white
m an,
as a ver^jUffemuiandJnferior creature.
an involuntary repugnance which we

cannot control, and with a wholesome antipathy which it
would be both unnatural and unavailing in us to attempt to
^Miiie, therefore, with
destroy,
we behold
let us, also, at the
His
His
His
His
His
His
His
the crime-stained blackness of the negro,
same time, take cognizance of
low and compressed Forehead
hard, thick Skull

small, backward-thrown Brain
short, crisp
flat
Hair
Nose
thick Lips
projecting, snout-like
Mouth
INTR OD UCTION.
His strange, Eunuch-toned Voice
The scantiness of Beard on his Face
The Toughness and Unsensitiveness of his Skin
The Thinness and Shrunkenness of his Thighs
His curved Knees
His calfless Legs
His low, short Ankles
His long, flat Heels
His glut-shaped Feet
The general Angularity and Oddity of his Frame
The Malodorous Exhalations from his Person
;
His
His
His
His
His
Puerility of
Mind
Inertia and Sleepy-headedness
proverbial Dishonesty
and
Propositions and Enter-
predisposition to fabricate Falsehoods
Apathetic Indifference to
all
prises of Solid Merit.
Many
other differences might be mentioned
but the score
and more of obvious and undeniable ones here enumerated

ousfht to sutUce for the utter confusion and shame of all those
disingenuous politicians and others, who, knowing better, and
who are thus guilty of the crime of defeating the legitimate
ends of their
own knowledge, would,
for
mere
selfish
and
pai'tisan xûrposes, convey the delusive impression that there

is
no other
difference than that of color.
any time hitherto, the white people

of the United States, influenced by circumstances which are
well understood, seem to be particularly interested to know
This is an
precisely what manner of man the negro is.
country.
whole
the
for
favorably
auspicious fact. It augurs
What the people require now is light, information, knowl-
Now,
far
more than
at
Let them have this, and the great principles of

Only
Virtue, Truth, Right, and Honor will be maintained.
let the masses of our people earnestly and fairly prosecqte
edge.
INTRODUCTION.
XI
and investigations in reference to the negro,

erelong, by the irresistible force of involuntary conviction, come to pronounce an enlightened and just
judgment upon all of the more important questions which
now affect the relations of the two hetero2:eneous races amons:
In the very nature and fitness of things, it cannot be
us.
otherwise than that the verdict which, at no distant day,
may thus be looked for from the public, will be a conclusive
finding and a finality against the negro,
a verdict which,
of rightful necessity, must be sweepingly abrogative of all
the hasty and unsound decisions which have been so recently
and so rashly pronounced by the corrupt arbiters to whom
the Radical party owes its inexpressibly ignoble and pertheir inquiries
and they
will,
nicious existence.
To many worthy persons, who desire to deal intelligently

and honestly with the political questions which are now agitating the public mind, a thorough knowledge of the nature
of the negro has become almost indispensable and, to all
persons of this sort, it is humbly hoped and believed that this
;
compilation
may
prove highly serviceable.
Attention is par-
ticularly invited to the testimonies, herein quoted, of such
observant and veracious African travellers as
Mungo
Park,
Denham, Clapperton, Lander, Livingstone, Barth, Lichtenstein, Du Chaillu, Caillie, Valdez, Bruce, Baker, Speke, Duncan, Wilson, Moffat, Reade, Richardson, Burton, and Barrow.
Following the interesting and instructive statements of these

disinterested white men, mostly Europeans, who have seen
the negro in Negroland, are also portrayed the opinions of
numerous American
of the races of
writers,
men generally,
whose views of the negro, and

are equally essential to a proper
understanding of all the points in controvers3^ Of these American writers, those from the North are here more particularly
referred to
and
it is
trusted that the reader will ponder well
the words of such truly able and representative
men
as
John
Adams, Daniel Webster, Horace Mann, Theodore Parker,
INTRODUCTION.
XII
Samuel George Morton, "William Henry Seward, and others

of scarcely less distinction. Among the ablest and best of
the Southern men, from whose writings on the negro, and on
other kindred subjects, extracts are here given, will be noticed
the
names of Thomas
Jefferson,
Henry Clay, Thomas Hart
Benton, Abraham Lincoln, Montgomery Blair, and Josiah

Clark Nott. No language of the compiler can do justice to
the perfect portraiture which
we have of the negro from the
pen of the philosophic and profound Jefferson. Let his sterling words of wisdom be most thoroughly and attentively perused.
It will be particularly observed that everything herein
quoted from him was written many years subsequently to the

time when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. The
fact should also be constantly borne in
mind that, while
Declaration of Independence Mr. Jefferson, in

probabilitj^,
in the
rational
all
had no reference whatever to any race except
that to which he himself belonged, in the extracts herein

given, he discusses the negro by emphatic and frequent designation,
and
in the
most
direct
and positive manner.
reference to the Index, the reader will perceive the
many
By
names of
other eminent and unimpeachable writers, both North-
ern and Southern,
and also
European,
to
all
of
whom
the compiler, at least, would here offer his most heart}' ac-
knowledgments for much new and valuable information.

There are many points of general dissatisfaction and dispute, which should not, on any account, be overlooked in the
discussion of the subjects here presented.
One
of these
is,
that white people, whose reason and honor have not been vitiated, object to close relationship with negroes, not
wishing
them in the same house

them in the same society, assembly, or congregation not wishing to ride with them in the same omnibus,
and not wishing to mess with them at the
car, or carriage
same table, whether at a hotel, in a restaurant, on a steamer,
to live with
not wishing to fellow-
ship with
;
or elsewhere.
Now, any and every white person who does
INTRODUCTION.
not think and act in
strict
XIIl
accordance with the just and pure
promptings here indicated,
is,
in reality, a
despicable representative of his race.
Even the lower animals,
the beasts, the

and
many distinct species of wdiich are apparently
the creatures of mere instinct,
the fishes,
most unworthy and

birds,
and hourly examples of the eminent propriety of each kind forming and maintaining separate
communities of their own and so we always find them,
in herds, in flocks, and in shoals^] How can the negro be a
fit person to occupy, in any capacit}', our houses or our hoquite similar, set us daily
our theatres or our churches, our schools or our colleges,

our steamers or our vehicles, or any other place or places
tels,
convenience, which owe their cretheir perpetuity, to the wîites

and
ation, their proper uses,
places and improvements about which the negro, of
alone,
himself, is, and always has been, absolutely ignorant and inof
uncommon comfort and
Neither in his own country nor elsewhere has the

?J
he has never erected
nesfro ever built a house or a theatre
a church nor a college he has never constructed a steamer
different
nor a railroad, nor a railroad-car,
nor, except when under
the special direction and control of superior intelligence, has
he ever invented or manufactured even the minutest appendage of any one of the distinctive elements or realities of
human
progress.
Yet, let this not, by any means, be un-
derstood as an argument, nor even as a hint, in behalf of
and lasting honor of the Republic that slavery in the United States is abolished forever.
In losing her slaves, the South lost nothing that was worth
the keeping. Had slavery only been abolished b}^ law many
years ago, our w^hole country would be infinitely better off
It is to the great
slavery.
to-day.
be possible for the compiler to erase from his

memory the feelings of weighty sadness and disgust which
overcame him, a few months since, when, while sojourning
in the city of Washington, he walked, one day, into the Cap-
Never
will
it
INTRODUCTION,
XIV
and, leisurely passing into the galleries of the two houses

of Congress, beheld there, uncouthly lounging and dozing
upon the seats, a horde of vile, ignorant, and foul-scented
itol,
negroes.
nant,
He was
perplexed, shocked, humiliated, and indig-
and could not
sit
down.
With merited emotions of
and contempt for those narrow-minded white men,

detestable folly and selfishness so great an
whose
through
outrage against public propriety and decency had been perindeed, it was not in his power
petrated, he turned away
to contemplate with calmness that motley and monstrous
manifestation of national incongruit}^, ugliness, and disgrace.
bitterness
Then
it
was
that, for the first time in his
life,
he wished him-
a Hercules, in order that he might be able to clean,

thoroughly and at once, those Augean stables of the black
self
ordure and Eadical
filth
which, therein and elsewhere, had
already accumulated to an almost insufferable excess.
It
was the powerful and long-lingering momentum of the impressions received on that occasion, more than any other
circumstance, that gave definite form and resolution to the
purpose (although the idea had been previously entertained)
of preparing this compilation. The object of the compiler
will have been well attained if the work aids materially in
more fully convincing his countrymen, North, South, East
and West, /'that negro equality, negro supremacy, and negro
dominationTa's
now tyrannically
enforced at the point of the
and atrocious innovations, which ought to

H. R. H.
be speedily terminated.
bayonet, are cruel
Abheville, North Carolina, June
2,
1868.
THE NEGROES IN NEGROLAND.

CHAPTER
I.
CANNIBALISM IN NEGROLAND.
*
It
is
plain,
from
all history,
that
two abominable
practices,
the one the eating of men, the other of sacrificing them to the
prevailed all over Africa. The India trade, as we have
deTil,
seen in very early ages,

slaves
established the buying and selling of
first
since that time, the eating of
men, or
sacrificing
them,
the eastern side of the peninsula, that
has so greatly decreased on

now we scarcely hear of an instance of either of these that can be
properly vouched. On the western part, towards the Atlantic
Ocean, where the sale of slaves began a considerable time later,
after the discovery of
America and the West
horrid practices are general."
Bruce'
Indies, both of these
s Africa, Vol. I.,
page 393.
'The common food of the natives of Ansiko is men's flesh,

insomuch that their marliets are provided with that, as ours in
Europe with beef or mutton all prisoners of war, unless they can
:
sell
them
alive with greater advantage, otherwise, as
we
said,
they fatten them for slaughter, and at last sell them to the butchers.
To this savage barbarity they are so naturalized, that some slaves,
whether as weary of their lives, or to show their love to their
masters, will proffer themselves freely to be killed and eaten.
But that which is most inhuman, and beyond the ferocity of beasts,
is,
that the father scruples not to eat his son, nor the son his father,
nor one brother the other, but take them by force, devouring their
Ogilby's
flesh, the blood yet reeking hot between their teeth."
Africa, page 518.

15
16
*'
Whosoever
dies,
be the disease never so contagious, yet they
eat the flesh immediately, as a festival dish."
page
Ogilbifs
Africa^
518.
*'
Bello, the Governor of Sackatoo, said that whenever a person
complained of sickness amongst 'the Yamyams, even though only
a slight headache, they are killed instantl}^ for fear they should
be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by
sickness that the person falling sick is requested by some other
family, and repaid when they had a sick relation that universall}^
when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten
that the hearts were claimed by the head men and that, on asking
them why they eat human flesh, they said it was better than any
other, and that the heart and breasts of a woman were the best
Denliam and ClapiJertoii's Africa, Vol. IV.,
part of the body."
;
page 262.
" Many of Ibrahim's party had been frequent witnesses
acts
among
the Makkarikas.
these cannibals as remarkably
good people, but
of cannibalism, during their residence
They described
to
possessing a peculiar taste for dogs and
human
flesh.
They
ac-
and invariably ate

companied
the bodies of the slain. The traders complained that they were
bad associates, as they insisted upon killing and eating the children which the party wished to secure as slaves their custom
was to catch a child b}' its ankles, and to dasli its head against
the ground thus killed, they opened the abdomen, extracted the
stomach and intestines and tying the two ankles to the neck, they
carried the body by slinging over the shoulder, and thus returned
to camp, where they divided it by quartering, and boiling it in a
the trading party in their razzias,
large pot.
One
of the slave girls attempted to escape,
and her proprietor immediately fired at her with his musket, and
she fell wounded the ball had struck her in the side. The girl
was remarkably fat, and from the wound a large \\xm^ of yellow
No sooner had she fallen than the Makkarikas rushed
fat exuded.
upon her in a crowd, and, seizing the fat, they tore it from the
wound in handfuls, the girl being still alive, while the crowd were
quarrelling for the disgusting prize. Others killed her with a
;
CANNIBALISM IN NEGROLAND,
17
and at once divided her by cutting oflf tlie head, and splitbody with their lances, used as knives, cutting longitudibetween the legs along the spine to the neck." Baker's
from
nally
Great Basin of the Nile, page 201.
lance,
ting the
" The butchers' shops of the Anziques are filled with human
For they eat the eneflesh, instead of that of oxen or of sheep.
mies whom they take in battle. They fatten, slay, and devour
slaves
their
but none
unless
also,
price for them.
they
think they
good
shall get a
There are indeed many cannibals,
such as these, since the others only eat their enemies;
own
blood relations."
African Explorations
by Eduardo Lopez, quoted hy Huxley, in Man''s Place in Nature,
but these eat their
page
"
55.
On the
occasion of the appointment of a chief to the supreme

is sacrificed by the Samba Golambole, as also
command, a bullock
a white sheep, and a white or fawn-colored pigeon, together with

various other victims. But the principal sacrifice is that of one
slave from each of the nations under the dominion of the paramount chief, the heads of whom are carried in triumph and exhibited to the populace, accompanied
by drums and other
instru-
The bodies are added to those of the other animals, and

cooked together, and distributed as a savory dish to the chief
Valdez's Africa, Vol. II., page 331.
and the other nobles."
ments.
all
" The next morning we moved off for the Fan village, and now
I had the opportunity to satisfy myself as to a matter I had cherished some doubt on before, namely, the cannibal practices of
I was satisfied but too soon. As we entered the
town I perceived some bloody remains which looked to me to be
human; but I passed on, still incredulous. Presently we passed
these people.
woman who
She bore with her a piece of the

thigh of a human body, just as we should go to market and carry
thence a roast or a steak."
Du CTiaillu's Equatorial Africa, page
a
solved
all
doubt.
103.
2*
18
both well
Until to-day I never could believe two stories,
authenticated, but seeming quite impossible to any one un*
which are told of them on the Gaacquainted with this people,

down to the sea-shore once to
came
who
Fans,
party of
boon.
body from the cemeand ate it among them and another party
took another body, conveyed it into the woods, cut it up, and
smoked the flesh, which they carried away with them. The circumstances made a great fuss among the Mpongwe, and even
see the sea, actually stole a freshly-buried
tery,
and cooked
it
the missionaries heard of
it,
but I never credited the stories
till
now, though the facts were well authenticated by witnesses. In

fact, the Fans seem regular ghouls, only they practise their horrid
custom unblushingly and in open day, and have no shame about
it.
These stories seem so incredible, and even the fact that these
restpeople actually buy and eat the corpses of their neighbors
much
excited
so
alone
has
statement
upon
my
does
ing as it
evident disbelief among friends in the country, to whom I have
mentioned this custom, that I am very glad to be able to avail

myself of the concurrent testimony of a friend, the Kev. Mr.
Walker, of the Gaboon mission, wiio authorizes me to say that he
vouches for the entire trath of the two stories above related."
Du Chaillu's Equatorial Africay page 120.
" While I was talking to the king to-day, some Fans brought in
a dead body, which they had bought in a neighboring town, and
which was now to be divided. I could see that the man had died
some disease. I confess I could not bear to stay for the cutting up of the body, but retreated when all was ready. It made
me sick all over. I remained till the infernal scene was about to
Afterward I could hear them from
beo-in, and then retreated.
the division. This is a form of canover
noisy
growing
my house
of
nibalism
eating
those
who have
died of sickness
of which I
had never heard in any people so that I determined to inquire if

it were indeed a general custom, or merely an exceptional freak.
They spoke without embarrassment about the whole matter, and
I was informed that they constantly buy the dead of the Osheba
Du Chaillu's Equatorial Aftribe, who, in return, buy theirs."
ricaj page 120.
;
HUMAN BUTCHERIES AND SACRIFICES IN NEGROLAND.
19
"After visiting the house assigned me, I was taken through

where I saw more dreadful signs of cannibalism in piles
of human bones, mixed up with offal, thrown at the sides of sevthe town,
eral houses."
Dm Chaillu's Equatorial Africa, page 105.
On going
out next morning I saw a pile of ribs, leg and arm

bones, and skulls piled up at the back of my house, which looked
**
horrid enough to me.

in the face
In fact, symptoms of cannibalism stare me

wherever I go."
Du Chaillu's Equatorial Africa, page
106.
CHAPTER
HUMAN BUTCHERIES AND HUMAN
"
The main
Dahomey
II.
SACRIFICES IN NEGROLAND.
object contemplated in the national anniversary of
may water the graves of his ancestors

with the blood of human victims. These are numerous, consisting of prisoners taken in war, of condemned criminals, and of
many
is,
that the king
The captives are brought out

arms pinioned, and a feticheer, laying
his hand upon the devoted head, utters a few magic words, while
another from behind, with a large scimitar, severs it from the
body, when shouts of applause ascend from the suiTounding multitude.
At any time when the king has a message to convey to
one of his deceased relations, he delivers it to one of his subjects,
then strikes off his head, that he may cany it to the other world
and, if anything further occurs to him after he has performed this
ceremony, he delivers it to another messenger, whom he despatches in the same manner. Another great object of this periodical festival is the market for wives.
All the unmarried females
throughout the kingdom are esteemed the property of the sovereign, and are brought to the annual customs, to be placed at his
disposal.
He selects for himself such as appear most beautiful
and engaging, and retails the others at enormous prices to his
seized by lawless violence.
in succession, with their
HUMAN BUTCHEmES AND
20
No choice on this occasion is allowed to the

In return for his twenty thousand cowries, a wife is
handed out, and, even be she old and ugly, he must rest contented; nay, some, it is said, have in mockery been presented
with their own mothers. The king usually keeps his wives up to
chiefs
and nobles.
purchaser.
the
number
ties,
of three thousand,
being
who
serve
him
in various capaci-
partly trained to act as a body-guard, regularly
regimented, and equipped with drums, flags, bows and arrows,

while a few carry muskets. They all reside in the palace, which
merely of an immense assemblage of cane and mud tents,

The skulls and jawbones of enemies
slain in battle form the favorite ornament of the palaces and temples.
The king's apartment is paved, and the walls and roof
stuck over with these horrid trophies and, if a further supply
appears desirable, he announces to his general that his house
wants thatch, when a war for that purpose is immediately undertaken."
Hurray's African Discoveries, page 199.
consists
enclosed by a high wall.
*'
At Coomassie the customs, or human sacrifices, are practised
on a scale still more tremendous than at Dahomey. The king had
lately sacrificed on the grave of his mother three thousand victims,
two thousand of whom were Fantee prisoners and at the death
of the late sovereign, the sacrifice was continued weekly for three
months, consisting each time of two hundred slaves. The absurd
belief here entertained, that the rank of the deceased in the future
world is decided by the train which he carries along with him,
makes filial piety interested in jDromoting by this means the exal.
tation of a departed parent.
and princes,
On
these occasions, the caboceers
in order to court royal favor, often rush out, seize the
person they meet, and drag him in for sacrifice. While the
customs last, therefore, it is with trembling steps that any one
crosses his threshold and, when compelled to do so, he rushes
along with the utmost speed, dreading every instant the murderous grasp which would consign him to death." Murraifs African
first
Discoveries, page 204.
*'
is
The
common
human
appease evil spirits

but in no place more frequent, or on a larger scale.
practice of offering
sacrifices to
HUMAN BUTCHERIES AND
SACRIFICES IN NEGROLAND. 21
than in the kingdoms of Ashantee and Dahomi, and in the

River.
Large numbers of victims,
Bormy
chiefly prisoners of war, are
statedly sacrificed to the manes of the royal ancestors in both of

the first-mentioned places, and under circumstances of shocking
cruelty.
At the time of the death of a
of his principal wives and favorite slaves
and almost unparalleled

king, a large
number
are put to death, not so much, however, as sacrifices to aj)pease

his wrath, as to be his companions and attendants in another
world,
a practice, which, though cruel and revolting in itself,
istence."
nevertheless keeps
up a
lively impression of a future state of ex-
Wilsoii's Africa,
page 219.
"We find throughout all the
country north of 20, which I con-
sider to be real negro, the custom of slaughtering victims to ac-
company
the departed soul of a chief, and human sacrifices are

occasionally offered, and certain parts of the bodies are used as
charms."
*'
Livingstone's Africa, page 631.
When
him
a chief
dies,
a number of servants are slaughtered with

in the other world."
Livingstone's
form his company

Africa, page 342.
to
"When
an Ashantee of any distinction
deceased's slaves are sacrificed.

in
some shadowy ideas of a future
they imagine that those
dies,
several of the
This horrible custom oricrinates

state of existence
in
which
who have
departed hence stand in need

of food, clothing, and other things, as in the present world and
that, as a vast number of concubines and slaves are the chief
;
among them here, so it must also be in a

Accordingly, as I walked out early in the morning,
I saw the mangled corpse of a poor female slave, who had been
marks of
superiority
future state.
beheaded during the night, lying in the public

partially covered with a
common
unusual, I concluded that
it
from
my
view.
was thrown
street.
It
was
covering
is
over, in order to hide
it
mat, and, as
this
In the course of the day I saw groups of the
natives dancing round this victim of superstitious cruelty, with
numerous
frantic gestures,
and who seemed
to
be in the very

22
zenith of their happiness.

That only one person wa3
immolated, I believe, resulted entirely from my j)resence in the
town."
Freeman's Africa^ page 24.
.
"Amidst great
to harrow up the
saw what was calculated

and most painful feelings,
the royal
executioners, bearing the blood-stained stools on which hundreds,
and perhaps thousands, of human victims have been sacrificed by
decapitation, and also the large death-drum, which is beaten at
the moment when the fatal knife severs the head from the body,
the very sound of which conveys a thrill of horror. This rude instrument, connected with which are most dreadful associations,
was literally covered with dried clots of blood, and decorated
with the jawbones and skulls of human victims."
Freeman's
Africa, page 47.
**
ostentatious display, I
strongest
To-day another human victim was
sacrificed,
on account of
As I was going out of the town,

saw the poor creature lying on the
the death of a person of rank.

in the cool of the evening, I
ground.
The head was severed from
short distance from
it
the body, and lying at a
several large turkey-buzzards were feast-
ing on the wounds, and rolling the head in the dust. He appeared
to be about eighteen years of age a strong, healthy youth, who
;
might, in
have lived forty,

Freeman'' s Africa^ page 28.
all probability,
years longer."
fifty,
or even sixty
" Throughout the day I heard the horrid sound of the deathdrum, and was told in the evening that about twenty-five human
victims had been sacrificed, some in the town, and some in the
surrounding villages, the heads of those killed in the villages
I learned that
being brought into the town in baskets.
several more human victims had been immolated during the day,
but could not ascertain the exact number. The most accurate
account I could obtain was, that fifteen more had suffered making
a total of forty, in two days.
These poor victims wêre
allowed to lie naked and exposed in the streets, until they began
to decompose and such is the callous state of mind in which the
...
MUMAN BVTCEERIES AND

people
bodies,
live, that
smoking
SACRIFICES IN NEGROLAND. 23
many were walking

their jDipes,
about
with amazing
among
the putrefying
indifference."
Free-
man's Africa^ pages 53 and 54.
The
executioner, at one
blow on the back of the neck, divided
the head from the body of the first culprit, with the exception of
a small portion of the skin, which was separated by passing the
knife underneath. Unfortunately, the second man was dreadfully
mangled, for the poor fellow, at the moment the blow was struck,
having raised his head, the knife struck in a slanting direction and
only made a large wound the next blow caught him on the back
of the head, when the brain protruded. The poor fellow struggled violently. The third stroke caught him across the shoulders,
The next caught him on the neck,
inflicting a dreadful gash.
;
which was twice repeated. The officer steadying the criminal

now lost his hold on account of the blood which rushed from the
blood-vessels on all who were near. The executioner, now quite
palsied, took hold of the head, and, after twisting
it
several times
convulsed and struggling trunk.

execution the head predisgusting
this
part
of
latter
During the
sented an awful spectacle, the distortion of the features, and the
eyeballs completely upturned, giving it a horrid appearance.
round, separated
it
from the
still
fellow, with his eyes partially shut and head

near
to the ground, remained all this time in susdrooping forward
pense casting a partial glance on the head which was now close
to him, and the trunk dragged close past him, the blood still rush-
The next man, poor

;
ing from
it
like a fountain.
so fortunate, his
The
head not being separated
The body afterwards
fourth culprit
till
was not
after three strokes.
rolled over several times,
when
the blood
my face and clothes. The most disgusting part of

abominable and barbarous execution was that of an old, illlooking wretch, who, like the numerous vultures, stood with a
small calabash in his hand, ready to catch the blood from each
individual, which he greedily devoured before it had escaped
After decapitation the body
one minute from the veins.
spurted over
this
is immediately dragged off by the heels to a large pit at a considerable distance from the town and thrown therein, and is immediately devoured by wolves and vultures, which are here so
24
raveuous that they will almost take your victuals from you." Duncan's Africa, Vol. /., pages 250 and 252.
our way up the river Calabar my attention was attracted

by something of a very extraordinary appearance hanging over
the water from the branch of a tree. My curiosity was excited by
I did not remain
it, and I was at a loss to conjecture what it was.
sufficiently
soon
passed
near
it to enable
we
for
suspense,
in
long
of
one
of
the
natives
the
body
suspended
me to discover that it was
"
by
On
the middle, with the feet
and hands just touching the water.
The natives of this place are pagans, in the most depraved

condition. They believe in a good spirit, who, they imagine,
.
such as that just mentioned

are frequently made to him, with the idea of gaining his favor and
The object selected for this purpose is generally
protection.
dwells in the water
some unfortunate old
and
sacrifices
slave,
who may
be worn out and incapable
of further service, or unfit for the market; and he is thus left to

suffer death, either from the effects of the sun, or from the fangs
some hungry alligator or shark which may chance to find the

The circumstance of the hands and feet being just allowed to be immersed in the water is considered by these deluded
people as necessary, and they are thereby rendered an easier
of
body.
prey.''
Lander's Travels in Africa,
Vol. II.,
page 315.
month was announced as the beginning of

were to last five days. Early in the
morning, two hundred females of the Amazonian guard, naked to
'"The
sixth of the
the sacrificial rites, which
the waist, but richly ornamented with beads and rings at every
joint of their oiled and glistening limbs, appeared in the area
Very soon
band of Avarriors
manoeuvres, keeping pace, with rude but not unmarA short distance from the
the native drum and flute.
before the king's palace,

the sovereign
began
their
tial skill, to
made
armed with blunt
his appearance,
when
cutlasses.
the
palace, within sight of the square, a fort or inclosure, about nine

feet high, had been built of adobe, and surrounded by a pile of
Within this barrier, secured to stakes, stood

fifty captives, who were to be immolated at the opening of the
festival.
AYhen the drill of the Amazons and the royal review
tall
prickly briers.
HUMAN SKULLS AS SACRED
RELICS AND ORNAMENTS.
25
were over, there was, for a considerable time, perfect silence in

the ranks and throughout the vast multitudes of spectators.
Presentl}^ at a signal from the king, one hundred of the women
departed at a run, brandishing their weapons and yelling their
heedless of the thorny barricade, they leaped the
walls, lacerating their flesh in crossing the prickly impediment.
The delay was short. Fifty of these female demons, with torn
war-cry,
till,
limbs and bleeding faces, quickly returned, and offered their howling victims to the king. It was now the duty of this personage to
begin the sacrifice with his royal hand. Calling the female whose
impetuous daring had led her foremost across the thorns, he took
a glittering sword from her grasp, and in an instant the head of
the first victim fell to the dust." CanoVs Tioenty Tears of an
African Slaver, page 267.
CHAPTER
HUMAN SKULLS AS SACKED
III.
RELICS AND OENAMENTS IN NEGRO-
LAND.
*'
Human
skulls
were
built in the walls of the palace,
about
half the skull projecting beyond the surface of the walls. After a
number of introductions, similar to those on the former days, the
king's mother entered the court, preceded by six women, carrying
large brass pans filled with skulls, with shank-bones fixed perpendicularly to the outside of the pans. Another pan, covered with
scarlet cloth, as also two other pots of an oval shape, were carried
on the heads of females, with a skull placed on the top or over

the mouth of each. After parading these different vessels round
the palace-yard, they were placed on the ground, in front of several calabashes (previously placed there), containing a
of scalps."
Duncan''
Africa, Vol.
I.,
number
page 253
" About ten yards in front of the place where his majesty lay,
HUMAN SKULLS AS SACRED
26
RELICS AND ORNAMENTS.
three skulls were placed on the ground, forming an equilateral

triangle, about three feet apart.
three-named
.slvull.s,
At a
little
skulls of distinguished
men
pole of each standard
was mounted with the
or ruler of a town."
**
distance from the
a calabash was placed, containing several
taken or killed in war.
Duncan's Africa,
The
skull of a caboceer,
Vol. /., ^)aê 245.
In the collection of skulls, I found a numljer of them orna-
and riveted together with iron. These were

who were killed by the king's women or
wives. Amongst these was the richly ornamented skull of the
King of Nahpoo, in tlie Annagoo country his name was Adafi'o.
His town was taken, and he himself made prisoner, by the female
regiments, commanded by the female commander, Apadomcy.
Many of the skulls still retained the hair. It appears that this
part of the human Ixxly has always been a favorite ornament on
the palace walls of Abomey, and even in the walls, entrances of
Duncan's Africa, Vol. II., page 27G.
gateways and doorways."
mented with
brass,
the huads of rival kings,
"Permission
to see the
town was
giv'en,
and we paid a
visit to
a noisy crowd attempted to rush in after us but

a vigorous application of the long sticks of the guards drove them
the Juju-house
liack.
Masses of human skulls hang from the walls, and numer-
ous rows of skulls cover the roof of a sort of altar. In front of

this altar sat the, Jnjii-man, having a footstool of human skulls.
Tlui Okrika had (jatcn the victims whose skulls decorate the Jujuhous(i.
An old man who accompanied us spoke with evident
tlu; different cannibal feasts he had partaken of, and
mentioned the parts of the human body which he considered the
Consul Charles Livingstone ; at the Bight of Biafra.
sweetest."
gusto of
**
When
a guest
is
entertained of
whom
presents are expected,
way, goes from time to time into the f(iti(;hhouso and scrapes a little bone-powder from a favorite skull, and
puts it into the food which is being cooked, as a present to the
The idea is, that, by consuming the scrapings of the
guest.
skull, the blood of their ancestors enters into your body, and thus,
the host, in a quiet

nUMAK SKULLS AS SACRED
RELICS
AND ORNAMENTS. 27
becoming of one blood, you are naturally led

grant them what they wish.
to love
them, and
It is not
a pleasant subject of reflection, but I have no doubt been operated uôn on previous jour-
being now, however, aware of the custom, I refused the

told Mayolo I cared very little to eat of the scraped
skull of his grandfather."
Du Chaillu's AsJiango-Land, page 200.
neys
food,
and
"On a small island, near the mouth of the Niger, the people
have some strange customs. They have a large town, of about
three thousand inhabitants their huts are built within mud walls,
with the streets crossing each other at right angles. At every
corner there is a creature stuck up, like our scarecrows in America, with a gourd for a head, and dressed up with clothes, shells,
and beads. This thing is called Juju, and whatever is devoted to
it is sacred.
Thus the little animal called the Iguana
a species
of lizard, which elsewhere is eaten - here is allowed to increase
and run all over the island. At one end of the town there is a
temple dedicated to the Juju. It is higher than most of the other
houses, with an arched doorway, the sides and arch of which are
formed of human skulls. Inside the hut, at one end, is a sort of
sacred altar, that, with an arched recess behind, is formed of
children's skulls, the east side and floor being the skulls of adults.
In the eye-sockets of each a square piece of board is inserted, first
painted red, and then an eye painted on it. Outside the door is a
post to which prisoners are tied, and beaten to death with clubs,
and then their skulls, after being dried and bleached, are used for
replacing any that may have become cracked or otherwise injured.
There are three priests whose business is to put prisoners to death,
;
and attend to the dressing of the JuEvery-Day Life in Africa page 343.
to take care of the temple,
jus."
BrittarCs
It is revenge,
as much as desire to perpetuate the remembrance of victory, which makes them eager for the skulls and
jawbones of their enemies, so that in a royal metropolis, walls,

and floors, and thrones, and walking-sticks are everywhere lowering with the hollow eyes of the dead. These sad, bare, and
whitened emblems of mortality and revenge present a curious and
startling spectacle,
cresting and festooning the red clay walls
28 B.VMAN SKULLS AS SACRED RELICS AND ORNAMENTS.

of Humassi, the capital of Ashantee."
Foote's
Africa and the
American Flag, page b&.
*'
"When a human head
is
desired to be preserved, the brains are
extracted through the spinal connection, and the head lield on the
end of a stick in the smoke till it becomes quite hard and dry. I
have seen some thousands preserved in this way in Dahomey."
Duncan'' s Africa^ Vol. II. page 159.
"Near
the king were placed several large staffs or walkingwith a skull fixed on the upper end of each, the stick passing through the skull so as to leave about seven inches of the stick
sticks,
when
above the skull for the hand

Vol. L, page 246.
**
sits
The
Moyara was a powerful
father of
among
walking."
Duncan's Africa,
chief,
now
but the son
the niins of the town, with four or five wives and very
few people. At his hamlet a number of stakes are planted in the

ground, and I counted fifty-four human skulls hung on their points.
These were Matebele, who, unable to approach Sebituane on the
island of Loyela, had returned sick and famishing. Moyara's
father took advantage of their reduced condition, and, after put-
ting
them
The
old
to death,
man who
mounted
their heads in the
perpetrated this deed
now
Batoka fashion.
lies in
the middle of
his son's huts, with a lot of rotten ivory over his grave.
not
heljD feeling
They inhabited
One
thankful that the reign of such wretches
is
the whole of this side of the country, and
can-
over.
were
probably the ban'ier to the extension of the Portuguese commerce
"When looking at these skulls, I remarked to

them were those of mere boys. He assented
and pointed them out as such. I asked why his father
in this direction.
Moyara
readily,
had
that
many
killed boys.
of
'
To show
his fierceness,'
was
the answer.
'
It
they had no business here.'

When I told him that this probably would insure his own death if
AVhen I hear of their
the IMatebele came again, he replied,
is
fierceness to kill boys.'
Yes
coming
I shall
hide the bones.'
He was
trophies of his father's ferocity, and I
evidently proud of these
was assured by other
BLOOD-THIRSTINESS OF THE NEGROES.
29
Batoka that few strangers ever returned from a visit to this

quarter. If a man wished to curry favor with a Batoka chief, he
ascertained when a stranger was about to leave, and waylaid him
at a distance from the town, and when he brought his head back
to the chief, it was mounted as a trophy, the different chiefs vying with each other as to which should mount the greatest number of skulls in his \\\\^gQy Livingstone's Africa, page 569.
CHAPTER
IV.
BLOOD-THIKSTINESS AND BARBARITY OF THE NEGROES IN NEGRO-
LAND.
*'
There is apparently in
people a physical delight in cruelty

The sight of suffering seems to bring
this
man.
them an enjoyment without which the world is tame. In almost
all the towns on the Oil Rivers, you see dead or dying animals
fastened in some agonizing position. Poultry is most common,
because cheapest they are tied by the legs, head downwards, or
lashed round the body to a stake or a tree, where they remain
to beast as well as to
fragments. If a man be unwell, he hangs a live

chicken round his throat, expecting that its pain will abstract from
Goats are lashed head downwards tightly to
his sufferings.
wooden pillars, and are allowed to die a lingering death even
till
they
fall in
the harmless tortoise cannot escape impalement. Blood seems

to be the favorite ornament for a man's face, as pattern-painting
with some dark color like indigo is the proper decoration for a
At funerals numbers of goats and poultry are sacrificed

for the benefit of the deceased, and the corpse is sprinkled with
the warm blood. The headless trunks are laid upon the body, and
seconds
if the fowls flap their wings, which they will do for some
after decapitation, it is a good omen for the dead man."
Eutchinson''s Western Africa, Vol. II., page 283.
woman.
3*
BLOOD'THIESTINESS OF THE NEGROES.
30
"
not so easy to offer any probable reason for the eagerness

Its appallto share in cruelty which glows in a negro's bosom.
inof character consists rather in the amount of bloodshed which
It is
than in the studious prolongation of pain.

Superstition probably excused or justified to him some of his
gratifies the negro,
worst practices. Human sacrifices have been common everywhere. There was no scruple at cruelty when it was convenient.
The mouths of the victims were gagged by knives run through
their cheeks and captives among the southern tribes were beaten
;
with clubs in order to prevent resistance, or to take away their

strength, that they might be more easily hurried to the hill of
'
Footers Africa
death,' or authorized place of execution."

the
and
American Flag, page 52.
shedding of human blood

is wrong, but, havinfancy,
they are remarkbloodshed
from
ing been accustomed to
ably callous to the enormity of the crime of destroying human
*'
is
It is
hard to make them
a great crime
life."
feel that the
they must be conscious that it
Livingstones Africa, page 217.
* The
late Matiamvo sometimes indulged in the whim of running a muck in the town and beheading whomsoever he met, until
he had quite a heap of human heads. Matiamvo explained this
conduct by saying that his people were too many, and he wanted
He had absolute power of life and death."
to diminish them.
Livingstone's Africa,
page 341.
Nothing less than the entire subjugation, or destruction of the

vanquished, could quench their insatiable thirst for power. Thus
when they conquered a town, the terrified inhabitants were driven
mass to the outskirts, when the parents and all the married
women were slaughtered on the spot. Such as have dared to be
brave in the defence of their town, their wives, and their children,
are reserved for a still more terrible death dry grass, saturated
with fît, is tied round their naked bodies and then set on fire.
The youths and girls are loaded as beasts of burden with the
spoils of the town, to be marched to the homes of their victors.
in a
BLOOD-THIRSTINESS OF THE NEGROES,

town be
31
an isolated position, the helpless infants are left

to perish either with hunger, or to be devoured by beasts of prey.
On such an event, the lions scent the slain and leave their lair.
The hyenas and jackals emerge from their lurking-places in broad
day, and revel in the carnage, while a cloud of vultures may be
seen descending on the living and the dead, and holding a carniIf the
in
val on human flesh."
Mqfatfs Africa, page 365.
"We found the criminals seated on blocks of wood, in a street

near the king's residence, each accompanied by an executioner.
One
of the executioners
was the lad who
told
me, on the 17th of
December, that he had himself decapitated eighty persons. Two

knives were forced through the cheeks of each criminal, one on
each side, which deprived them of speech. This is done, it is said,
We did not stop to gaze on the
to prevent them cursing the king.
Freeman's Africa, page 164.
horrid spectacle."
one of these chiefs dies, the news of his death is not

made known for one or two months afterwards and if any person
w^ho has learned the fact of his death discloses the secret, he is
immediately decapitated, and his family and relatives sold into captivity.
If there be no purchasers for them, they are all conducted
to the banks of the river, and there decapitated by the Samba Golambole, or common executioner; the bodies are then thrown into
**
When any
the river, and the heads are piled up at the entrance to the capital,
Valdez's Africa,
as a warning to all disclosers of state secrets."
Vol.
IL,2yage 331.
ox were then drawn together, and it

The animal was now secured firmly,
fell bellowing to the ground.
and prevented from rising. The chief butcher then, with a large
knife, cut open about a foot of the skin of the belly and lying on
the ground, amidst the groans of agony and helpless struggles of
the unfortunate brute, he thrust his right arm up to the shoulder
into the ox, gave a twist and a pull at the heart, ruptured one of
the large arteries, and drew away the omentum, which was thrown
"
The head and
legs of the
32
on a fire, cooked and eaten, before the convulsions of the victim

had ceased."
Alexander''s Africa, Vol. II., page 132.
*'
had
The
guide, attached to the expedition on return from
loitered behind for
footsore to walk.
some days, because
When
for fear lest she should
tired of waiting
become
his slave girl
he cut
gratis another
Burton^s Africa, page 515.
tJjiji,
was too
her her head,

man's property.
off
" Tembandumba, the Amazonian and cannibal queen of Congo,
commanded that all male children, all twins, and all infants whose
upper teeth appeared before their lower ones, should be killed by
their own mothers. From their bodies an ointment should be
made in the way which she would show. The female children
should be reared and instructed in war; and male prisoners,
before being killed and eaten, should be used for juu-poses of procreation, so that there might be no future lack of female warriors.
Having concluded her harangue, with the publication of other laws
of minor importance, this young woman seized her child which
was feeding at her breast, flung him into a mortar, and pounded
him to a pulp. She flung this into a large earthen pot, adding
roots, leaves, and oils, and made the whole into an ointment, with
which she rubbed herself before them all, telling them that this
would render her invulnerable, and that now she could subdue the
universe. Immediately her subjects, seized with a savage enthusiasm, massacred all their male children, and immense quantities
of this human ointment were made.
It is clear enough
that Tembandumba wished to found an empire of Amazons, such
as we read of as existing among the Scythians, in the forests of
South America, and in Central Africa. She not only enjoined the
massacre of male children,
she forbade the eating of woman's
flesh.
But she had to conquer an instinct in order to carry out
her views she fought against nature, and in time she was subdued."
Beade's Savage Africa, page 292.
.
**
On
our march to the market-place
we
the walls of the palace, which covers an
passed along part of
immense
space.
The
33
walls as well as houses are made of red, sandy claj^ and

on tof) of the walls, at intervals of thh'ty feet, human skulls were
placed along their whole extent. On approaching nearer the
market-place we beheld, on an elevated pole, a man fixed in an
upright position, with a basket on his head, apparently holding it
with both hands. A little further on we saw two more men, now
in a state of decomposition, hung by the feet from a thick pole,
placed horizontally on two upright poles about twenty feet high.
Passing close to them the smell was intolerable. The arms hung
extended downwards, and at a little distance a stranger would
(from their shrivelled and contracted condition) suppose them to
be large sheep or goats; the skin, from exposure, had turned
nearly to the color of that of a white man. I found, upon inquiry,
that the bodies had been in this position about two and a half
moons.
All reckoning here
is
by the moon.
The
vulture
was
in-
dustriously endeavoring to satisfy his appetite, but the heat of the
sun had dried the skin so as to render it impenetrable to his
On
the opposite side of the market
in the
same
position as those I have just mentioned, with the ex-
ception that the bodies had been mutilated."

Vol.
efforts.
were two more human bodies
Duncan"
s Africa^
L, page 219.
"I have already spoken of the system of intermarriages, by

which a chief gains in power and friends. But there are other
means of securing allies. For instance, two tribes are anxious for
a fight, but one needs more force. This weakling sends one of
its
men
secretly to kill a
man
woman
or
near, but having no share in the quarrel.
of some village living

The consequence is, not,
would seem most reasonable, that this last village take its revenge on the murderer, but, strangely enough, that the murderer's people give them to understand that this is done because
another tribe has insulted them whereupon, according to African
custom, the two villages join, and together march upon the enemy.
as
In
gain a village to a certain side in a quarrel, that side

murders one of its men or women, with a purpose of retaliation
effect, to
on somebody
**
Sail
else."
Du
showed extreme
CTiaillu^s
folly in
Equatorial Africa, po.ge 74.
remaining behind, andKamrasi,
BLOOD-THIRSTINESS OF THE 2TEGItOES.
34
him to be seized
and cut to pieces he was accordingly tied to a stake, and tortured
by having his limbs cut off piecemeal,
the hands being first
severed at the wrists, and the arms at the elbow-joints."
Baker's Great Basin of the Nile, page 406.
suspicious of his complicity, immediately ordered
;
number
women had been
taken in the general slave

up with their
victors during the return march they had accordingly all been
killed on the road, as being cumbersome. In every case they were
killed by being beaten on the back of the neck with a club."
*'
hunt
of old
these could not walk sufficiently fast to keep

;
Bakefs Great Basin of the
**Amarar called
propitious
moment
Nile,
page 405.
his soothsayer,
and required him
for the sally.
The
to
name
oracle retired to his den,
and, after suitable incantations, declared that the effort should be
made
hands of Amarar were stained in the blood

of his own son. It is said that the prophet intended the victim to
be a youthful son of Amarar, who had joined his mother's family,
and was then distant but the impatient and superstitious savage,
seeing a child of his own, two years old, at hand, when the oracle
announced the decree, snatched the infant from his mother's arms,
threw it into a rice mortar, and, with a pestle, mashed it to death.
The sacrifice over, a sortie was ordered. The infuriate and starving savages, roused by the oracle and inflamed by the bloody
Amarar, armed with the
scene, rushed forth tumultuously.
pestle, still warm and reeking with his infant's blood, was foremost in the onscit. The besiegers gave way and fled the town
as soon as the
was
re-provisioned
the fortifications of the
enemy demolished
and the soothsayer rewarded with a slave for his barbarous preAt another time, Amarar was on the point of attacking
diction
a strongly fortified town, when doubts were intimated of success.
Again the wizard was consulted, when the mysterious oracle de!
clared that the chief

his mother''s
womb
"
*'
could not conquer
page 333.
he returned once more to
That night Amara committed the blackest

was repulsed, and the false prophet
CanoVs Twenty Years of an African Slaver,
of incests; but his party
stoned to death."
till

"It was not long after
my
instalment at Cape Mount, that I
Some
accidentally witnessed the ferocity of the chief.
country
aflair
me
caused
35
to visit the king; but,
trifling
upon landing
at
The manner of my informant,

message was untrue and accord-
Toso, I was told he was abroad.
however,
satisfied
ingly, with the
me
that the
man
usual confidence of a white
in
Africa, I
searched his premises till I encountered him in the palaver-house.

The large inclosure was crammed with a mob of savages, all in
perfect silence around the king, who, in an infuriate manner, Avith
a bloody knife in his hand, and a foot on the dead body of a
negro, was addressing the carcass. By his side stood a pot of
My sudhissing oil, in which the heart of his enemy was frying
!
den and, perhaps, improper entrance seemed to exasperate the

infidel, who, calling me to his side, knelt on the corpse, and digging it repeatedly with his knife, exclaimed, with trembling
For twenty
passion, that it was his bitterest and oldest foe.
years he had butchered his people, sold his subjects, violated his
and with each
daughters, slain his sons, and burnt his towns;
Canofi
charge, the savage enforced his assertion by a stab."
Twenty Years of an African Slaver, page 432.
By
degrees the warriors dropped in around their chieftain.

A palaver-house, immediately in front of my quarters, was the
general rendezvous and scarcely a bushman appeared without
**
some maimed and bleeding victim. The mangled

but living captives were tumbled on a heap in the centre, and
soon every avenue to the square was crowded with exulting
the body of
savajres.
Rum
Avas brought forth in
abundance
for the chiefs.
Presently, slowly approaching from a distance, I heard the drums,

horns, and war-bells and, in less than fifteen minutes, a proces;
sion of
women, whose naked limbs were smeared with chalk and
ochre, poured into the palaver-house to join the beastly rites.
Each of these devils was armed with a knife, and bore in her
a corpulent wench
hand some cannibal trophj\ Jen-Ken's wife,
dragged along the ground, by a single limb, the
of forty-five,
slimy corpse of an infant ripped alive from
its
mother's
womb.
those of her husband, the two fiends yelled forth

a shout of mutual joy, while the lifeless babe was tossed in the
Then
air and caught as it descended on the point of a spear.
As her eyes met
36
the refreshment, in the shape of rum, powder, and blood,

which was quaffed by the brutes till they reeled off, with linked
came
hands, in a wild dance around the pile of victims. As the women

leaped and sang, the men applauded and encouraged. Soon the
was broken, and, with a yell, each female leaped on the

body of a wounded prisoner, and commenced the final sacrifice
with the mockery of lascivious embraces.
ring
my
wanderings in African forests, I have often seen the

tiger pounce upon its prey, and, with instinctive thirst, satiate its
appetite for blood and abandon the drained corpse; but these
African nesTresses were neither as decent nor as merciful as the
beast of the wilderness. Their malignant pleasure seemed to
consist in the invention of tortures, that would agonize but not
In
There was a devilish
slay.
ed
my
eyes to the spot.
spell in the tragic scene that fascinat-
A slow, lingering, tormenting mutilation
and, in every
exceeded that of the men.
I cannot picture the hellish joy with which they passed from body
to body, digging out eyes, wrenching off lips, tearing the ears,
and slicing the flesh from the quivering bones; while the queen
of the harpies crept amid the butchery, gathering the brains from
each severed skull as a dainty dish for the approaching feast
After the last victim yielded his life, it did not require long to
kindle a fire, produce the requisite utensils, and fill the air with
the odor of human flesh. Yet, before the various messes were
half broiled, every mouth was tearing the delicate morsels with
shouts of joy, denoting the combined satisfaction of revenge and
In the midst of this appalling scene, I heard a fresh
appetite
exultation,
as a pole was borne into the apartment, on
of
cry
which was impaled the living body of the conquered chieftain's
A hole was quickly dug, the stave planted, and fagots
wife.
supplied but before a fire could be kindled, the wretched woman
was
practised on the living, as well as on the dead
instance, the brutality of the
women
wâs dead, so that the barbarians were defeated in their hellish
scheme of burning her alive.

I do not know how long these
very
little
in plaintain leaves
conveyed
had been
whatever
remember
bushmen packed
brutalities lasted, for I
after this last attempt, except that the

flesh
was
to their friends in the forest.
left
from the orgy, to be
This was the
firct
time
it
my lot to behold the most savage development of

African nature under the stimulus of war. The butchery madti

SLAFERY AND SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND.
37
I sank on the earth benumbed with

nightfall, when my Kroomen bore
till
aroused
was
I
nor
stupor;
negotiated our redemption for
and
town,
me to the conqueror's
CanoVs Twenty Years of an African
the value of twenty slaves."
me
sick, dizzy, paralyzed.
Slaver, pages 384-386.
CHAPTER
V.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND.

seems quite natural that everyone, even the most thoughtwould feel at least some slight emotion on being
native country, and enslaved. But so far is this
his
exiled from
from being the case, that Africans, generally speaking, betray
the most perfect indifference on losing their liberty, and being deprived of their relatives while love of country is seemingly as
great a stranger to their breasts as social tenderness and domesLander^s Travels in Africa, Vol. II., page 208.
tic affection."
*It
less barbarian,
"The
reader must bear in mind that
my
observations apply
chiefly to persons of free condition, who

not more than one-fourth part of the inhabitants at large the
other three-fourths are in a state of hopeless and hereditary
constitute, I suppose,
;
slavery."
Mungo Park's
"Large
1st Journal,
page 32.
families are very often exposed to absolute want, and,
as the parents have almost unlimited authority over their children,

it frequently happens, in all parts of Africa, that some of the latter are sold to purchase provisions for the rest of the family."
Mungo
Park's 1st Journal, page 216.
"Every evening
4
I observed five or six
women come
to the
SLA VBR Y AND SLA VE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND.
38
raansa's house,
and receive each of them a certain quantity
of
knew how valuable this article was at this juncture,

I inquired of the mansa whether he maintained those poor women
from pure bounty, or whether he expected a return when tlie harAs
corn.
Observe that boy,' said he, pointhis mother has sold

me for forty days' provision for herself and the rest of her
I have bought another boy in the same manner."
Man-
vest should be gathered in.
ing to a fine child about five years of age
him
to
famil}'
go Fark'^s Travels in Africa, page 116.
The slave-market
**
is
held in two long sheds, one for males, the
other for females, where they are seated in rows, and carefully
decked out for the exhibition the owner or one of his trusty slaves
near them. Young or old, plump or withered, beautiful
or ugly, are sold without distinction but, in other respects, the
buyer inspects them with the utmost attention, and somewhat in
the same manner as a volunteer seaman is examined by a surgeon
on entering the navy he looks at the tongue, teeth, eyes, and
limbs, and endeavors to detect rupture by a forced cough.
.
.
;
sitting
Slavery
is
here so
ted, that they
the
women,
common,
or the
slaves
is
so constitu-
always appeared much hajDpier than their masters
especially, singing with the greatest glee all the time
they are at work."
"The whole
Clajpperton's Africa, Vol. IV,, page 36.
population of Katunga
state of slavery, either to the

ton'^s
mind of
Africa, Vol. IV.,
may be
considered in a
king or his caboceers."
Clapper-
page 211.
They had nearly a hundred slaves, the greater part female,

and girls of from twelve to eighteen years of age, some of them
from Nyfee, and still further to the West, of a deep copper color,
and beautifully formed but few of these were ironed. The
males, who were mostly young, were linked together in couples
by iron rings around their legs yet they laughed, and seemed in
good condition."
Denliam & Clapperton''s Africa, Vol. II., 'page
**
134.
SLAVERY AXD SLAVE-TRADE
l^T
NEGROLAND.
39
Slaves in Africa are in proportion to the freemen of about

three to one but, although the number of individuals reduced to
'
a state of bondage by the operation of the above causes, and the

destruction created, both as regards life and property, is immense, the whole combined are but as a single grain of dust in
the balance, when compared with the slavery, the destitution, and
the desolation,
that are daily entailed
struggles betwixt state and state.
by the unceasing bloody
Towns and
villages are then
from the face of the earth and thousands upon thousands of the population, of whatever age or sex, are hurried into
hopeless captivity."
Harris's Adventures in Africa, page 314.
obliterated
"Crime, necessity arising from
distress, insolvency, the inhu-
manity of a harsh creditor, a spirit of retaliation in petty disputes,

and the sordid love of gain, for which parents will even sell their
own
children, severally assist in feeding the
demand
for slaves,
the law of every African state either tolerating or directly sanc-
tioning the evil."
Harrises Adventures in Africa, page 314.
Not even the appearance of affection exists between husband

wife, or between parents and children. So little do they care
for their offspring, that many offered to sell me any of their sons
or daughters as slaves. They are, to speak the truth, in point of
*'
and
parental affection, inferior to brutes."
page
*'
Vol. /.,
79.
slave in
Gabun was once asked why he
money, which he was known

His reply was,
and I prefer to buy a slave
page 272.
himself.
*'
Duncan's Africa,
The
'
to wait
liability to fall into
did not take the
have accumulated, and ransom

have as much freedom as I want,
to
upon me.'
"
Wilson^
a condition of servitude
s Africa,
is
not so
where there is a higher appreciation of

personal liberty; nor does the same odium attach to the term
slave as is attached to it amons: civilized men. The African sees
frightful in Africa as
it is
SLAVERY AND SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND,
40
very little difference between the authority exercised over him by

one whom he acknowledges as his master and the petty tyranny
which
is
exercised by most African chiefs over their subjects
but
little
own
and
worked moderately, and treated kindly, he has

cause for dissatisfaction, and not infrequently by his
so long as he
is
choice places himself in this condition."
Wilson'' s Africa,
page 156.
**
are
Adamawa, and there

who have more than a thousand
Slavery exists on an immense scale in
many
slaves.
ivory."
private individuals
The only
articles of
BartlCs Africa
export at present are slaves and
Vol. II. ^
page
190.
With the abolition of the slave-trade all along the northern

and south-western coast of Africa, slaves will cease to be brought
down to the coast, and in this way a great deal of the mischief
and misery necessarily resulting from this inhuman traffic will be
cut off. But this, unfortunately, forms only a small part of the
evil. There can be no doubt that the most horrible topic connected
with slavery is slave-hunting; and this is carried on, not only
'
for the purpose of supplying the foreign market, but, in a far
more
extensive degree, for supplying the wants of domestic slavery."
BarWs Africa^
Vol. J.,
"A large number
page
12.
of slaves had been caught this day, and in
some skirmishing,
the course of the evening, after
Bonn horsemen were

in;
killed,
a great
many
in
which three
others were brought
altogether they were said to have taken one thousand, and
there were certainly not less than five hundred.

horror, not less than one hundred
To our utmost
and seventy full-grown men
were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood, the greater part of

them being allowed to bleed to death, a leg having been severed
Bartli's Africa, Vol. II. page 369.
from the body."
*'
and
In times of necessity, a
children,
man
and when they
will part with his parents, wives,
fail,
he will
sell
himself without
SLAVERY AND SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND,
41
shame. As has been observed among many tribes the uncle has
Burtons Africa,
a right to dispose of his nephews and nieces."
page 515.
" The busiest scene is the slave -market, composed of two long
These
rano-es of sheds, one for males and another for females.
poor creatures are seated in rows, decked out for exhibition the
buyer scrutinizes them as nicely as a purchaser with us does a
;
and limbs, making them

cough and perform various movements, to ascertain if there be
Murray's African Discoveries, page 164.
anything unsound."
horse, inspecting the tongue, teeth, eyes,
negro by the bounty of nature,

have served only to make him a slave, trodden down by every
remorseless foot, and to brand him for ages with the epithet of
outcast; the marked unceasing proof of a curse, as old as the
And
origin of society, not even deserving human forbearance
true it is, that the worst slavery is his lot, even at home, for he is
*'
The good
qualities given to the
there exposed to the constant peril of becoming also a victim,

Tyrant of his
slaughtered with the most revolting torments.
blood, he traffics in slavery as
it
makes war
own wives and
wêre merchandise
purposely to capture neighbors, and sell even his

SmitJi's Natural History of the Human Species, page
children."
197.
*'
One method
of procuring slaves
is
by women who are main-
tained for the express purpose of ensnaring the unsuspecting with

their blandishments, and who carry on their infamous trade with
who frequently bestow upon

damages imposed, as a reward for
and an encouragement for future infi-
the connivance of their husbands,
them a portion of the
fine or
their successful enterprise,
These harpies being very industrious in their vocation,

and being ably seconded by the ungovernable passions of men
living in a state of nature, consign a numerous body of victims to
Superstition, and the tricks and impostures of the
bondage.
The
priests, or fetichmen, conti'ibute also their quota of slaves.
numerous and expensive observances which these prescribed, to
delity.
4*
SLAVERY AND SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND.
42
be observed with the view of avoiding or alleviating some calamoften oblige the applicant for ji^'i^stly comfort to part
with one half of his family, to secure a blessing for the other.
Even death, which might be supposed calculated to terminate
ity,
the family responsibility, becomes an active enslaver, on. account of the expensive obsequies which it is considered the
CruickshaiiJc's Africa, Vol.1.,
chief point of honor to perform."
page 326.
*'
The whole system
of slave-holding
rather on the coast, or at Zanzibar,
is
by the Arabs
slaves, "both in individual physical strength
superior to the
Arab
foreigners, that
if
and
in
numbers, are so
they chose to rebel, they
might send the Arabs flying out of the land.

ever, that they are spellbound, not
in Africa, or
exceedingly strange, for the
knowing
It
happens, how-
their strength
more than domestic animals." Speke's Africa, page 26.
**
On arrival
at the desired locality, the slave-traders
any
disembark
and proceed into the interior until they arrive at the village of
some negro chief, with whom they establish an intimacy. Charmed
with his new friends, the power of whose weapons he acknowledges, the negro chief does not neglect the opportunity of seeking
Marching throuo;hout
their alliance to attack a hostile neio^hbor.
the night, guided by their negro hosts, they bivouac within an
hour's march of the unsuspecting village doomed to an attack
about half an hour before break of day. The time arrives, and,
quietly surrounding the village, while
its
occupants are
ing, they fire the grass huts in all directions,
musketry through the flaming thatch.
still
sleep-
and pour volleys of
Panic-stricken, the unfor-
men are
women and chil-
tunate victims rush from their burning dwellings, and the

shot
down
like pheasants in a battue, while the
dren, bewildered in the danger and confusion, are kidnapped and
secured.
The herds
of cattle,
still
within their kraal, or " zareeba,"
and are driven off with great rejoicing, as

the prize of victory. The women and children are then fastened
together, the former secured in an instrument called a sheba,
made of a forked pole, the neck of the prisoner fitting into the
fork, secured by a cross-piece lashed behind, while the wrists,
are easily disposed
of,
SLAVERY AND SLAVE-TRADE JN NEGROLAND.
43
brought together in advance of the body, are tied to the pole.

children are then fastened by their necks with a rope attached
to the women, and thus form a living chain, in which order they
The
are
marched
herds.
This
to the head-quarters in
is
the
commencement
company with
the captured
Should there be
of business.
ivory in any of the huts not destroyed by the
fire, it is appropria general plunder takes place. The trader's party dig up
the floors of the hut to search for iron hoes, which are generall}^
thus concealed, as the greatest treasure of the negroes
the
granaries are overturned and wantonly destroyed, and the hands
are cut off the bodies of the slain, the more easily to detach the
ated
copper and iron bracelets that are usually worn."

Basin of the Nile, page 13,
Bdker''s Great
" The Cassangas, the Banhuns, and all the other neighboring
tribes and nations, punish all crimes by perpetual banishment.
In such cases they consider it more advantageous to dispose of
their convicts by selling them to strangers than to bear the burthen
of their support. Thus they reap a rich harvest themselves, and,
at the same time, encourage that detestable traffic, the slave-trade.
To such an extent, indeed, does their cupidity lead them, that
they outrage all the laws of justice and humanity. When any
person comes under the lash of their sanguinary laws, he himself
is not alone exposed to punishment, but his whole family is involved in ruin along with him."
Valdez's Africa, Vol. I., page 293.
few days after my arrival at Timbuctoo I fell in wîth a

who was parading about the streets two women, whom I
recollected to have been fellow-passengers with me on board the
canoe. These women were not young, but their master, to give
them the appearance of an age better suited to the market, had
dressed them well. They i^<)re fine white handkerchiefs, large
gold ear-rings, and each had two or three necklaces of the same
metal. When I passed them, mey looked at me, and smiled.
**
negro,
They
did not appear in the least mortified at being exhibited in
streets for sale, but
enough account
for
manifested an iVidi3"erence, which I could easily
by the
state of degradation to
i
which they had
SLAVERY AND SLAVE-TRADE IN NEGROLAND.
44
been reduced and
mankind."
their total ignorance of the natural rights of
CaiYîVs Africa, Vol. II.,
page
63.
better iUustration could be given of the way in which the

slave system has ingrafted itself upon the life and policy of these
tribes than this, that, from the sea-shore to the farthest point in the
No
'*
interior
which I was able to reach, the commercial unit of value
a slave. As we say dollar, as the English say pound sterling,

so these Africans say slave. If a man is fined for an offence, he
If he is bargaining for a wife, he
is mulcted in so many slaves.
is
Perhaps he has no slaves

but he has ivory or trade-goods, and pays of these the value of
contracts to give so
so
many
slaves,
wood, or the
place,
buy
many slaves
that
amount
so
many
is
for her.
to say, as
much
ivory or ebony, or bar-
in trade-goods wliich would, in that precise
slaves."
Du
Chaillu's Equatorial Africa,
page 380.
prices are a great temptation to the cupidity of the African, who, having, by custom, rights of property in his children,
often does not hesitate to sell these where other produce is lacking.
High
one of his children is not bright, that it has no sense,

or that it wants to bewitch the father. Then a consultation ensues with the relatives of the mother they are promised a share
for they have rights also in the
in the produce of the sale,
brought
to consent, the unhappy
are
when
they
and,
child,
Du Chaillu's Equatorial Africa, page 381.
child is sold off."
He
finds that
would be a task of many pages, if I attempted to give a full

account of the origin and causes of slavery in Africa. As a naAfricans have
tional institution, it seems to have existed always.
bear their
monuments
oldest
the
and
everywhere,
been bondsmen
servitude.
images linked with menial toils and absolute
Man, in truth, has become the coin of Africa, and the legal tender
**
It
Five-sixths of the population are in

Twenty
Tears
chains." Canofs
of the African Slaver, page 126.
of a brutal trade.
SUPERSTITION AND WITCBCEAFT IN NEGROLAND.
CHAPTER
45
VI.
HEATHENISH SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND.
"One
to the
death,
of the Africans' deep-rooted superstitions is witchcraft,

operation of which they generally ascribe disease and
the very infirmities of age
influence.
being attributed to the same

The doctor, being sent for upon emergencies of this
nature, gives
some
administration of
root or
it
drug
to his patient,
accompanying the
with a farcical expression of countenance, and
a mysterious assumption of manner, pretending to charm from the

sufferer some noxious reptile, by which he alleges that the malady
is
occasioned, and contriving, at the
same time,
secretly to pro-
duce one, which is supposed to have been withdrawn from the

person afflicted. If the patient should happen to recover, the
Igiaka is greatly commended for his skill, and obtains an adequate remuneration if, on the contrary, the sickness should indiscoverer of bewitching
crease, another doctor, called the
summoned,
who
professes
to discover the party
matter,' is then
supposed to have bewitched him. The guilt having been affixed,
after many absurd ceremonies, upon some unfortunate wretch, a
report is made to the chief, who directs torture to be inflicted on
him, for the purpose of eliciting confession. The usual method
of torture is by the aj)plication of heated stones to the tenderest
parts of the outstretched body, the hands and feet being first made
fast to four stakes at equal distances, while myriads of ants are
scattered over the agonized victim, whose skin is exposed to the
painful gnawing of these swarming insects. It can be no matter
of surprise that innocent persons, subjected to these terrible pun;
ishments, should be induced to confess the agency of which they
have been accused, and instances are on record of many individuals, perfectly guiltless, who have admitted the crime rather than
to undergo the fiery ordeal, through a natural dread of its
horrors."
Steadman's Africa^ Vol. J., page 37.
*'
Witchcraft
is
a prominent and leading superstition
the races of Africa,
among
all
and may be regarded as one of the heaviest
46
SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND,
curses which rests
upon
endowed with
mysterious art
this
than omnipotence.
He
that benighted land.

is
... A
supposed to possess
person
little less
exercises unlimited control, not only over
the lives and destiny of his fellow-men, but over the wild beasts of
the woods, over the sea and dry land, and over all the elements
of nature.
He may
community
in
transform himself into a tiger, and keep the

which he lives in a state of constant fear and perturbation into an elephant, and desolate their farms or into a
shark, and devour all the fish in their rivers. By his magical
arts he can keep back the showers, and fill the land with want
and distress. The lightnings obey his commands, and he need
only wave his wand to call forth the pestilence from its lurkingThe sea is lashed into fury, and the storm rages to exeplace.
In short, there is nothing too hard for the
cute his behests.
machinations of witchcraft. Sickness, poverty, insanity, and al;
most every evil incident to human

Wilson'' s Africa, page 222.
life,
are ascribed to
its
agency."
Every death which occurs in the community is ascribed to

witchcraft, and some one, consequently, is guilty of the wicked
deed. The priesthood go to work to find out the guilty person.
It may be a brother, a sister, a father, and, in a, few extreme
cases, even mothers have been accused of the unnatural deed of
causing the death of their own ofi'spring. There is, in fact, no
Age, the ties of reeifectual shield against the suspicion of it.
lationship, oflacial prominence, and general benevolence of char*'
The priesthood, in consequence

unavailing.
of the universal belief in the superstition, have unlimited scope
for the indulgence of the most malicious feelings, and, in many
acter, are alike
cases,
it is
exercised with unsparing severity."
Wilsori's Africa,
page 223.
"The intercourse which the natives have had with white men
does not seem to have much ameliorated their condition. A great
number of persons are reported to lose their lives annually in different districts of Angola by the cruel superstitions to which they
are addicted and the Portuguese authorities either
of them, or are unable to prevent their occurrence.
;
know nothing
The
natives
SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND.

are
bound
to secrecy
by those
avIio
47
administer the ordeal, which

person, when ac-
generally causes the death of the victim.
cused of witchcraft, will often travel from distant districts, in

order to assert her innocency and brave the test. They come to
a river on the Cassange, called Dua, drink the infusion of a

A woman was accused by
a brother-in-law of being the cause of his sickness while we were
at Cassange.
She offered to take the ordeal, as she had the idea
Captain Neves
that it would but prove her conscious innocence.
refused his consent to her going, and thus saved her life, which
would have been sacrificed, for the poison is very virulent. When
a strong stomach rejects it, the accuser reiterates his charge the
dose is repeated, and the person dies. Hundreds perish thus
poisonous tree, and perish unknown.
every year in the valley of Cassange."
Livingstone^
Africa^
page 471.
"In
is
several tribes, a child which
put to death.
'
is
said to *tlolo' (trangress)
Tlolo,' or transgression, is ascribed to several
A child who cut the upper front teeth before the

under was always put to death among the Bakaa, and, I believe,
also among the Bakwains.
In some tribes, a case of twins renders one of them liable to death; and an ox, which, while lying
in the pen, beats the ground with its tail, is treated in the same
way. It is thought to be calling death to visit the tribe. When
I was coming through Londa, my men carried a great number of
If one
fowls, of a larger breed than any they had at home.
tlolo,'
and
was
crowed before midnight, it had been guilty of
killed.
The men often carried them sitting on their guns, and if
one began to crow in a forest, the owner would give it a beating,
by way of teaching it not to be guilty of crowing at unseasonable
hours."
Livingstone'' s Africa, page 618.
curious cases.
'
*'
When
taken ill, or dies, the cause is

the nature of the disease, but in some
a person of influence
is
eagerly sought after, not in

person who was at enmity with the deceased, or who had acted in
some way to excite suspicion. This was very natural in them, as
they did not believe in an overruling Providence. It was the
universal belief, as well as their wish, that men would live ahvay,
48
SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCEAFT IN NEGROLAND.
and that death was entirely the result of witchcraft, or medicine

imiârted by some malignant hand, or of some casualty, or want
of food. The death of the poor excited but little sorrow and less
surmise on the other hand, I have known instances where the
domestics of a principal man have been murdered in cold blood,
just because it was suspected that they had something to do with
their master's sickness."
Moffafs Africa, page 292.
;
towns and villages through which we passed,

all the sick to be cured.
Nor was it the sick
alone who sought advice, but men and women of all descriptions,
the former for some remedy against impotency, and the latter
Many came for preventives against appreto remove sterility.
hended or barely possible calamities and, in anticipation of the
imaginable ills of life, resorted to us in full hope and confidence
of our being able to ward them off. The women were particularly fanciful in these matters, and were frequently importunate
to receive medicines that would preserve the affections of their
gallants, insure them husbands, or, what was highly criminal,
effect the death of some favored rival."
Clapperton's Africa, Vol.
III., page 239.
**
At the
different
they brought to us
"At my instance, Benderachmani sent a courier to Nyffee, to

endeavor to recover Mr. Hornemann's manuscripts, for which I
offered him a reward of a hundred dollars but on my return from
Sackatoo I found the messenger come back with the information,
that Jussuf Felatah, a learned man of the country, with whom
Mr. Hornemann lodged, had been burned in his own house, together with all Mr. Hornemann's papers, by the negro rabble,
from a superstitious dread of his holding intercourse with evil
Clappertoii's Africa, Vol. IV., page 56.
spirits."
;
"The Damaras have
great faith in witchcraft.
versed in the black art are called
Individuals
Omundu-Onganga, and are
much sought after. Any person falling sick is immediately attended by one of these impostors, whose panacea is to besmear
the mouth and the forehead of the patient with the ordure of the

SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCIiAFT IN NEGnOLAND.
hyena, which
is
supposed to possess particularly healing virtues/'
Andersson's Africa,
*'
To become
49
j^cige 173.
a Avitch-doctor of any importance, a person
is re-
quired to be instructed by one previously well versed in the mys-
He must begin his lessons by swallowing

animal poison, be bitten by venomous reptiles, or have poison
inoculated into his body. A cap, a handkerchief, or any sort of
clothing worn by such a person until it has become perfectly saturated with filth, is considered the most infallible cure for all kinds
of diseases, poisonous bites, etc. On emergencies, a corner of
teries of the black art.
this treasure is
washed, and the dirty water thus produced is given
to the patient to drink."
Andersson's Africa, page 256.
On other portions of the coast their customs are more cruel

about witchcraft than among the Greboes. Any one, once accused
of witchcraft, is burnt most cruelly. In some places a slow fire is
made, and four posts sunk into the ground, at certain distances,
the person tied hands and feet to these posts, and suspended over
the fire, thus being slowly burnt sometimes they are left to die
there at other times they are taken down before death, cast into
the bush, and left to perish miserably. Xo one must pity a witch.
Sometimes they torture them a different fashion they are fastened down so that they cannot move, and then red-hot coals are
placed on difi'erent parts of the body, and there left to eat into the
**
flesh."
Brittan's Every-Day Life in Africa, page 344.
" They are believers in witchcraft to an unlimited extent; but

what they understand by the term is very difficult to say. I once
obtained the character of a wizard by mixing a seidlitz-powder,
and drinking it off during effervescence, for the spectators took it
for granted that the water was boiling."
Dray sorts Africa, 2âge
36.
"The
ladies solicited amulets to restore their beauty, to pre-
serve the affections of their lovers, and even to destroy a hated

rival.
The son of the Governor
of Kano, having called
upon Mr.
50
Clapperton, stated
it
as the conviction of the whole city
and
his
own, that the Englisli had the power of converting men into asses,
goats, and monkeys, and likewise that by reading in his book he
Murcould at any time commute a handful of earth into gold."
ray'^s African Discoveries, page 162.
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 j^lace when a chief
wishes to make war on his neighbor, by his calling in a magician
The doctor places
to discover a propitious time for commencing.
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 times of tribulation, the magician,
in,
when he
if
sets fire below, cooks for a certain jDcriod 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, otherSpeJce's Africa, page 21.
wise, commenced at once."
*'To prevent any evil approaching their dwellings, a squashed

any other such absurdity, when placed on the back, is
considered a specific."
;Spe7j6'5 Africa, page 22.
frog, or
The king was surrounded by sorcerers, both men and women.

These people were distinguished from others by witch-like chapsome of them had
lets of various dried roots worn upon the head
dried lizards, crocodiles' teeth, lions' claws and minute tortoiseshells, added to their collection of charms.
They could have
subscribed to the witches' caldron of Macbeth,
**
" Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
SUPERSTITIOX AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND.
51
Tor a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."
Bakers Great Basin of the Nile, page 411.

"
On
the 21st of June,
when
was
quietly sitting in
my house,
one of the governor's servants, who was

me, and who used to call occasionally, suddenly made his appearance with a very serious countenance, and, after some hesitation and a few introductory remarks, delivered a message from
He wanted to know from
the o-overnor to tlie following effect
me whether it was true (as was rumored in the town, and as the
people had told him) that, as soon as a thunder-storm was
gathering, and when the clouds appeared in the sky, I went out
of my house and made the clouds withdraw for they had assured
him that they liad repeatedly noticed that, as soon as I looked at
the clouds with a certain air of command, they passed by withwell disposed toward
out bringing a single drop of rain."
BartlCs Africa,
Vol. II.
page 509.
"A tree
Kukiya was remarkable on account of a peculiar

charm, which testified to the many remains of pagan rites still
It consisted of two earthen r)ots,
lino-erino: in these countries.
placed one upon the other, and filled with a peculiar substance,
and was supposed to guarantee prolificness to the mares of the
BartlCs Africa, Vol. II., page 427.
village."
in
part of Africa are a sort of screech-owls, which in the

night make a very dismal noise, and are taken by the natives for
'
In
this
witches.
If one of these birds
night, the people are all
up
happens
firing at
it
to
come
and as
into a
town
at
do not find that
they ever had the good fortune to shoot any of them, the poor
creatures still continue in the opinion of their being witches."
Moore'' s
*'
Inland Parts of Africa, page 107.
Black magic
is
usually punished by the stake.
In some parts

SUPERSTITIOX AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND,
52
of the country, the roadside shows, at every few miles, a heap oi

two of ashes, with a few calcined and blackened human bones
half-consumed charcoal, telling the tragedy

that has been enacted there. The prospect cannot be contemplated without horror. Here and there, close to the larger circles
where the father and mother have been burnt, a smaller heap
shows that some wretched child has shared their terrible fate, lest,
mixed with
bits of
growing up, he should follow
in his parents' path."
Burton^s
Africa^ page 92.
**
With
and black magic, they render their

can no one, especially
from being burned at a day's notice."
the aid of slavery
subjects' lives as precarious as they well
in old
age,
is
safe
Burton's Africa, page 96.
**
is
The
child
who
cuts the
either put to death, or
is
two upper incisors before the lower,

given away, or sold to the slave-mer-
chant, under the impression that
and death
*'
The
dirty
into the household."
it
will bring disease, calamity,
principal instrument of the magician's craft
little
gourds which he wears
the following
is
the usual
in a
bunch round
programme when
is
one of the
his waist,
the oracle
is
and
to be
implements in a bag of
matting his demeanor is serious as the occasion he is carefully
greased, and his head is adorned with the diminutive antelopehorns fastened by a thong of leather above the forehead. He sits
like a sultan upon a dwarf of stool in front of the querist, and begins by exhorting the highest possible offertory. Xo pay, no preDivination by the gourd has already been described the
dict.
magician has many other implements of his craft. Some prophesy
by the motion of berries swimming in a cup full of water, which
is placed upon a low stool, surrounded by four tails of the zebra
or the buffalo lashed to sticks planted upright in the ground.
consulted:
The magician brings
his
The kasanda is a system
of folding triangles not unlike those
which plaything soldiers are mounted. Held

it is thrown out, and the direction of the end points
in the right
upon
hand,
to the safe
SUPERSTITION AND WlTCHCItAFT IN NEGROLAND.
53
probably the rudest appliance of

wood about the size of a
man's hand, and not unlike a pair of bellows, with a dwarf
handle, a projection like a nozzle, and in the circular centre a
little hollow.
This is filled with water, and a grain or fragment
of wood, jDlaced to float, gives an evil omen if it tends toward the
and auspicious
This
is
Tlie shero
is
route.
prestidigitation.
a bit of
and favorable if it veers toward the handle of the nozzle."

Burtoii's Africa, page 609.
sides,
*'
The
natives of Bihe are, in
many
particulars, very supersti-
on setting out on a journey, a stag or goat crosses their

path, or if even a stick falls across it, they return and have recourse to their diviners, to interpret this formidable omen. Havtious.
If,
ing anointed themselves with some preparation of aromatic herbs

and roots, which have for a certain period been buried under their
beds, they consider that they may proceed on their journey without danger."
'*
Some
Valdes Africa^
Vol. II.,
page 330.
of their practices are most ridiculous.
For instance,
they will take the horn of a stag, and throwing into the cavity the
claws of certain birds, some feathers, and roots, cover it with the
monkey.
Then, taking a large horn, they throw into it

three smaller ones, extracted from fawns of a month old, and fill
"When they desire a favor from
it with a particular kind of paste.
any one of their idols they whistle into the horn, ignite some gunpowder which has been thrown into it, and then dance and sing.
They also preserve the powder of a certain kind of wood, the
all these
heads of certain snakes, and the claws of certain birds,
being considered as antidotes against disease. These customs are
observed by the chiefs themselves as lawful and necessary."
skin of a
Valdez's Africa, Vol. II., paged'SO.
'*
Superstition seems in these countries to have run wild,
every
man
believes
bly presents to
torial Africa,
him
what
page 383.
5*
his fancy,
by some
as hurtful or beneficial."
accident,
Du
most
CliailliCs
and
forci-
Equa^

SUPERSTITION AND IVITCHCEAFT IN NEGROLAND.
54
" If the African
is once possessed with the belief that he is beseems to change. He becomes suspicious of
nature
witched, his
The father dreads his children the son his
his dearest friends.
;
man
and the wives their husband. He fancies himself sick, and really often becomes sick
through his fears. By night he thinks himself surrounded with
He covers himself with fetiches and charms makes
evil spirits.
presents to the idol, and to Abambou and Mbuirri and is full of
wonderful and frightful dreams, wdiich all point to the fact that
Gradually the village
the village is full of wicked sorcerers.
grow suspicious.
people
The
itself becomes infected by his fears.
Chance turns their suspicions to some unlucky individual who is
supposed to have a reason for a grudge. Finally the excitement
becomes too high to be restrained and often they do not even
father
and mother
the
his wife
wait for a death, but begin at once the work of butchering those
whom
At least sevent^^-live
murders for supposed
Equatorial Africa, page 386.
is f:istened.
jDcr
cent, of the deaths in all the tribes are
sor-
on
cery."
public suspicion
Du
Cliaillu's
" I noticed in the village of Yoongoolapay a custom or superstition which is common to all the tribes I have visited, and the reason, or supposed reason for which, I have never been able
On the first night when the new
to persuade any one to tell me.
moon is visible, all is kept silent in the village; nobody speaks
but in anunder-tone and in the course of the evening King Ahipay
came out of his house and danced along the street, his face and
body painted in black, red, and white, and spotted all over with
spots the size of a peach. In the dim moonlight he had a frightI asked him
ful appearance, which made me shudder at first.
why he painted thus, but he only answered by pointing to the
Du ChailhCs Equatorial
moon, without speaking a word."
141.
Africa, page
;
* Greegrees are generally worn about the neck or waist; are

of the skins of rare animals, of the claws of birds, the teeth
of crocodiles or leopards, of the dried flesh and brains of animals,
of the feathers of rare birds, of the ashes of certain kinds of wood,
made
of the skin
and bones of serpents,
etc., etc.
Every greegree has
SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT IN NEGROLAND,
55
a special power. One protects from sickness another makes

heart of the hunter or warrior brave another gives success to
the lover another protects against sorcery some cure sterility,
and others make the mother's breast abound in milk for her babe.
;
tlie
The charmed
leopard's skin,
worn
alDOut the warrior's middle, is
supposed to render that worthy spear-proof; and, witli an iron

chain about his neck, no bullet can hit him. If the charm fails,
his faith is none the less firm, for then it is plain that some potent and wicked sorcerer has worked a too powerful counterDu Chaillu's Equaspell, and to this he has fallen a victim."
torial
Africa, page 385.
"Guessing the rascals had killed the poor old man, whom
they denounced as a wizard, and turning my step toward the
river, I was met by the crowd returning, every man armed with
axe, knife, cutlass, or spear, and these
weapons and
their
own
hands, and arms, and bodies, all sprinkled with the blood of their
victim. In their frenzy they had tied the poor wizard to a log
near the river bank, and then deliberately hacked him into
pieces.
They
finished
the brains in the water."
*'
One
by
splitting
open
his skull
many
and scattering
of the hunters had shot a wild bull, and
when
the carcass
good fellow sent me an abundant supply of

the best portions. The meat is tough, but was most welcome for
a change. I had a great piece boiled for dinner, and expected
King Quengueza to eat as much as would make several hungry
white men sick. Judge of my surprise, when, coming to the table
and seeing only the meat, he refused to touch it. I asked why.
And then, in answer to my
It is roondah for me,' he replied.
question, explained that the meat of the bos brachicheros was forbidden to his family, and was an abomination to them, for the
reason that many generations ago one of their women gave birth
was brought
in
the
'
a calf instead of a child. I laughed, but the king replied very

that he could show me a woman of another family
for which
whose grandmother had given birth to a crocodile,
Quengueza
family.
reason the crocodile was roondah to that
would never touch my salt beef, nor even the pork, fearing lest it
to
soberly
56
had been
Indeed they are all religiously

found, on inquiry afterward, that
with the beef.
in contact
scrupulous in this matter; and I

scarce a man can be found to whom some article of food is not
*
roondah.' Some dare not taste crocodile, some hippopotamus,
some monkey, some boa, some wild pig, and all from this same
They will literally suffer the pangs of starvation rather
belief.
than break through this prejudice and they firmly believe that if
one of a family should eat of such forbidden food, the women of
the same family would surely miscarry, and give birth to monstrosities in the shape of the animal which is roondah, or else die
Du Cliaillu's Equatorial Africa, page 355.
of an awful disease."
;
'When we stopped
for breakfast next day, I noticed a little
us an extraordinary tree, quite the largest in height and

circumference I ever saw in Africa. It was a real monarch of
even this great forest. It rose in one straight and majestic trunk,
way from
entirely branchless,
till
the top reached far above
all
the surround-
There at the top the branches were spread out somewhat like an umbrella, but could not give much shade, being so
high. I found that this tree was highly venerated by the people,
who call it the oloumi. Its kind is not common even here, where
Its bark are said to have certain healing
its home is said to be.
request from a belief that if a man going
in
also
and
is
properties,
ing trees.
on a trading expedition washes himself first all over in a decoction of its juices in water, he will be lucky and shrewd in making bargains. For this reason great strips were torn off this tree
Du Chaillu's Equatorial
to the height of at least twenty feet."
Africa, page 308.
off
*'
The morning
before
we
set out,
we
accidentally stumbled
across one of those acts of barbarism which chill the blood of a

I
civilized man, though but slightly regarded by the negroes.
was hunting in the woods near the village, and saw sitting on a
tree at some distance a pair of beautiful green pigeons, which I
wanted much
for
my
collection of birds.
By
dint of
much
exer-
tion, I penetrated the jungle to the foot of the tree, and here a
It was the corpse of a woman, young
ghastly sight met my eyes.
once mild and good. She had been
features
with
evidently, and
FETlCniSM^ PRIESTCRAFT,
AND IDOLATRY.
bi
up here on some infernal accusation of witchcraft, and
tied
tured.
The
tor-
torture consisted in lacerations of the flesh all over
the body, and in the cuts red peppers
This
had been rubbed.
is
of tormenting with these people, and as devilish

Then the corpse was dein ingenuity as anything could well be.
serted. I could only hope the poor girl died of her wounds,
a common mode
and had not to wait for the slower process of agonized starvation to
^hich such victims are left. Will the reader think hard of me
that I felt it in my heart to go back to the village and shoot every
man who had a hand in this monstrous barbarity.^ " Du ChailWs
o*-
CHAPTER
FETlCIIISJr,
"When
the
PRIESTCRAFT,
Congo
VII.
AND IDOLATRY
IX
priest appears in public
NEGROLAND.
he walks on his
hands, witli his body straight and his feet in the air. He can
walk in this manner, through constant practice, with great ease
and
rapidity.
He
is
the medicine-man or fetich-doctor, and
consulted in cases of sickness and witchcraft.
may
To
is
the cunning of
which I have deno one dies a natural

death. If any one dies in spite of the medicines of the priest, he
preserves his reputation by declaring that the patient has been
bewitched, and obtains more money by discovering the sorcerer.
There is still another jDriest, who officiates as rain-maker for this,
a knowledge of the seasons, which in Congo never vary more
than a few days, is all that is required. The ceremony of rainmaking is that of coverino; mounds with branches of trees and
ornaments of fetich, and of walking round these, muttering inReaders Savage Africa, page 288.
cantations."
this priest
easily be traced that superstition
scribed as prevalent in Equatorial Africa, that
FETJCHISMy PRIESTCRAFT^
58
'*
idol
AND IDOLATRY,
Idol worship in Africa confines the idolater to no particular

;
as he attributes his prosperity to the jirotecting care of his
fetich,
he
will, as
long as his prosperity continues, remain stead-
worship of that particular fetich but when difficulties

arise, and he is beset with perplexities, he will range at will, as
fancy directs him, to a thousand different objects, and make them
the gods of his gross idolatry. The prosperous man is therefore
confined in his worship to fewer idols and observances than the
unfortunate. The former has faith in the power of his idol, while
the latter cannot rest until he has found a relief from his troubles
fast to the
and hence the multiplication of
'
his idols
and of
his
modes of
Cniiclcshank's Africa, Vol. II., j?age 132.
worship."
When
any calamity
is
general, such as a drought, a dearth, a
whole population or
and head men, repair to the
chief boossum to make their offerings and sacrifice, and to seek,
through the intercession of the priests, a mitigation and a release
from their sufl'erings. These priests, aware of the necessity of
making a deep impression upon such momentous occasions, surround the whole of their proceedings with a fearful secrecy and
mysterious solemnity, calculated to awe the minds of the suppestilence, or
want of success
in war, the
their representatives, with their chiefs
plicants,
and they deliver
maybe
their oracles in such enigmatical lan-
capable of a double interpretation."
guage
as
slianJc's
Africa, Vol. 11. page 130.
Cmick-
one peculiar form, which the fetich worship of a

family about to be separated takes, which deserves to be recoi'ded,
In view
as in it we have no external representation of an idol.
from
ever
prevent
them
probably
will
most
which
separation
of a
made
their
they
have
which
again worshipping the boossum, to
devotions hitherto, they repair to the priest, or sofoo, and having
"There
is
explained their wants, he pounds up some fetich substance, and

mixes it with water into a drink, which the whole family swallow
While partaking of this strange communion, the priest

declares to them that his boossum commands that none of this
family shall ever after partake of such and such an article of food,
together.
naming, perhaps, fowl, mutton, beef, pork, eggs, milk, or any-

FETICHISMj PRIESTCRAFT^
AND IDOLATRY.
59
may clioose to mention at the time. The fetich

pronounced against a particular article of food under
such circumstances, no one of the family ever tastes it more and
thus we find one who will not taste a bit of chicken, another an
egg, a turkc}', and so on and this abstinence from a particular
species of food descends to the children, who are under the neces-
thing which he
edict once
observing a similar abstinence."
sity of
page
Vol. 11. ,
133.
"The Fans have

and even the
CruickshanJc's Africa,
little
a great reverence for charms and fetiches,
children are covered with these talismans, duly
consecrated by the doctor or greegree
man
They
of the tribe.
place especial value on charms which are supposed to have the
power
to protect their
owner
Chief
in battle.
among
these
is
an
iron chain, of which the links are an inch and a half long by an
inch wide.
down
This
wôrn over the left shoulder, and hanging
is
Besides this, and next to it in value, is a

suspended round the neck or to the side of the
the right side.
small bag, which
is
This bag
warrior.
is
make
of the skin of
some rare animal, and
contains various fragments of others, such as dried monkeys'
tails,
the bowels and claws of other beasts, shells, feathers of birds,
Du
and ashes of various beasts."

page 128.
"Their religion,
They
and
all
if it
may be
and good
is
the
same
They
all
in all tribes.
their idols, in charms, fetiches,
Mahommedanism has
spirits.
into this vast jungle.
called so,
power of
believe in the
in evil
ChailliCs Equatorial Africa,
not penetrated
believe in witchcraft,
which I
causing
more prevalent in the West than in the East,
an untold amount of slaughter."- ZJii Chaillu's Asliango-Land,
think
is
page 428.
"Their
human
fetiches consisted of fingers
hair, skin, teeth,
shells, feathers, claws,
or
wood
bones
and
seeds of plants
cannot; tej} whaj;
more.
and
skulls of birds
;
tails
of monkeys, of
of clay, old nails, copper chains,

;
pieces of iron, copper,
ashes of various substances
Fi'oni the great variety
and
and
plejify of

60
AND IDOLATRY.
FETICniSM^ PRIESTCRAFT^
these objects on their persons, I suppose these

superstitious people."
Du
Cliaillu's
Fan
to
be a very
Equatorial Africa^ page 93.
This evening I went to see the village idol (the patron saint
as it may be called), and to witness a great ceremony in the
sacred house. As with the Aviia and other tribes, the idol was a
monstrous and indecent representation of a female figure in wood.
*'
toward the interior,

the coarser these wooden idols were, and the more roughly they
were sculptured. This idol was kept at the end of a long, narrow, and low hut, forty or fifty feet long, and ten feet broad, and
was painted in red, white, and black colors. When I entered the
hut it was full of Ashango people, ranged in order on each side,
with lighted torches stuck in the ground before them. Amongst
them were conspicuous two priests, dressed in clothes of vegetaI
had remarked that the further
I travelled
ble fibre, with their skins painted grotesquely in various colors,
one side of the face red, the other white, and in the middle of the
the circuit of the eye was also
breast a broad yellow stripe
daubed with paint. These colors are made by boiling various
kinds of wood, and mixing the decoction with clay. The rest of
the Ashangos were also streaked and daubed with various colors,
and, by the light of their torches, they looked like a troop of devils assembled in the lower regions to celebrate some diabolical
Around their legs were bound white leaves from the heart
rite.
;
of the palm-tree
some wore
feathers, others
in the shape of horns behind their ears,
palm-leaves in their hands."
Du
and
had leaves twisted

had a bundle of
Asliango-Land, page
all
Cliaillu's
313.
*'
As we came away from Mouina's village, a witch-doctor, who
had been sent for, arrived, and all Mouiua's wives went forth
There they would be cominto the fields that morning fasting.
named
goho,' which
is used
performed
When a man suspects that any of his wives has bein this way
witched him, he sends for the witch-doctor and all the wives go
forth into the field, and remain fasting till that person has made
an infusion of the plant. They all drink it, each one holding up
pelled to drink an infusion of a plant

as an ordeal.
This ceremony
is
called
'
muavi,' and
is
FETJCHISM, PmESTCIiAFT,
AND IDOLATRY.
61
her hand to heaven in attestation of her innocency. Those \k\\o

vomit it are considered innocent, while those whom it purges are
Livingstone's
pronounced guilty, and put to death by burning."
Africa, page QQQ.
our course we came upon votive offerThese usually consisted of food and every
deserted village still contained the idols and little sheds with pots
of medicine in them. One afternoon we passed a small frame
house, with the head of an ox in it as an object of worship. The
dreary uniformity of gloomy forests and open flats must have a
depressing influence on the minds of the people. Some villages
appear more superstitious than others, if we may judge from the
Livingstone's Africa, page
greater number of idols they contain."
**
At
dififerent points in
ings to the Barimo.
603.
**We passed two small hamlets, surrounded by gardens of

maize and manioc, and near each of these I observed, for the first
the figure of an animal,
time, an ngly idol, common in Londa,
resembling an alligator, made of clay. It is formed of grass,
Two
plastered over with soft clay.

eyes,
and numbers of the
bristles
cowrie-shells are inserted as
from the
tail
of an elephant are
called a lion, though,
if
not told so, he would conclude it to be an alligator.

a shed, and the Balonda pray and beat drums before
it
stuck in about the neck.
in cases of sickness."
It is
It
one were
stood in
all
night
Livingstone's Africa, page 30i.
**
I was disturbed this evening from my repose, on the dry sand,
under the pale moonlight, by the most unearthly noises, coming
from a group of our black servants. On getting up to see what
it was, I found that one of our negresses, a wife of one of the serDevil,' and working herself
vants, was performing Boree, the
up into the belief that his satanic majesty had possession of her.
She threw herself upon the ground in all directions, and imitated
the cries of various animals. Her actions were, however, somewhat regulated by a man tapping upon a kettle with a piece of
'
wood, beating time

6
to her wild
manoeuvres.
After some delay,
AND IDOLATRY.
FETICHISM, PRIESTCRAFT,
62
believing herself now possessed, and capable of performing her

work, she went forward to half a dozen of our servants, who were
squatting down on their hams, ready to receive her. She then
took each by the head and neck, and pressed their heads between
not in the most decent
they sitting, she standing,
her legs,
whole
body, certain inelegant
with
her
them,
over
made
way, and
Puchardsoii's Africa, Vol. J.,
motions, not to be mentioned."
page 286.
At the back of our hut stands a fetich god, in a small thatched

by four wooden pillars, which is watched continually by two boys and a woman. We were desired to roast our
bullock under him, that he might enjoy the savory smell of the
smoking meat, some of which he might also be able to eat, if he
desired. We were particularly enjoined to roast no yams under
iiim, as they were considered by the natives too poor a diet to
Lander's Travels in Africa, Vol, II. page
offer to their deity."
**
hut, supported
163.
"This day a long and gay procession, formed by the female

followers of the ancient religion of the country, passed through
the town, walking and dancing alternately, with large-spreading
branches of trees in their hands.
The
priestess, at the
time
we
and was carried on the

saw
shoulders of one of the devotees, who was assisted by two female
companions, supporting the trembling hands and arms of their
mistress. Her body was convulsed all over, and her features
shockingly distorted, while she stared wildly and vacantly on the
troop of enthusiasts and other objects which surrounded her.
The priestess was then believed to be possessed with a demon.
Indeed, to us they all appeared to be so, for not one of them
seemed in their sober senses, so indescribably fantastic were their
actions, and so unseemly did tliey deport themselves. A younger
woman was likewise borne on the shoulders of a friend, and carried along in the same manner as her mistress but she was by
her,
had just swallowed
fetich water,
no means so uncouth a figure, nor was her agitation so great as

The whole of
that of the priestess, by whom she was preceded.
the
women
forming
this strange
procession might amount to be-
FETICHISM, PRIESTCRAFT^
AND IDOLATRY*
63
tween ninety and a hundred. Their motions were regulated at

times by the sound of drums and fifes, and to this music they
They were arranged in couples,
joined their wikl, shrill voices.
and, with the branches of trees shaking in the air, presented one
of the
most extraordinary and grotesque spectacles that the hu-
man mind
can conceive."
Lander^s
Travels in Africa^ Vol.
I.,
page 322.
" Immediately opposite
to the first square,
which forms the en-
trance to the chiefs residence, stands a small tree, profusely decorated with human skulls and bones. This tree is considered by
the people as fetich, or sacred and is supposed to possess the
;
from entering the chief's residence. Near the tree stands the house which is inhabited by
a class of beings certainly in the most savage confetich priests,
virtue of preventing
the evil spirit
dition of nature that
it is
possible to imagine.
Brass town chalked themselves from head

after a fashion of their
own
The fetich priests of
to foot, besides dressing
but these fellows outdo them by
far,
and make themselves the most hideous and disgusting objects jôsWhether it may be with the idea of personifying the evil
sible.
but they go about
spirit they are so afraid of, I could not learn
;
the
town with a human
skull fastened over their face, so that they
can see through the eye-holes this is surmounted by a pair of

their body is covered with net, made of stained
grass and, to complete the whole and give them an appearance
as ridiculous behind as they are hideous before, a bullock's tail
protrudes through the dress and hangs down to the ground, rendering them altogether the most uncouth-looking beings imaginaSometimes a cocked-hat is substituted for the horns, and the
ble.
skull of a dog or monkey used, which renders their appearance, if
Thus equipped they are ready to
possible, still more grotesque.
;
bullock's horns
perform the mysteries of their profession, which I had not sufficient opportunity to inquire into, but which are quite enough to
Lander'^s Travels in Africa, Vol.
enslave the minds of the people."
II., page ^1^.
"Becoming obese by age and good living, Fundikira, Chief of

fell ill in the autumn of 1858, and, as usual, his re
the Unyannvezi,
FETICBISM^ PEIESTCRAFTj
64
lations
were suspected of compassing
these regions the death of one
summoned
man
AND IDOLATRY,
his
end by black magic. In
causes many.
to apiÎy the usual ovdeal.
The
drug, he broke the neck of a fowl, and, splitting
tic
lengths, inspected the interior.
about the wings,
it
priest
was
After administering a mysit
into
two
If blackness or blemish appear
denotes the treachery of children, relations,
the backbone convicts the mother and grandand kinsmen

mother the tail shows that the criminal is the wife, the thighs the
concubines, and the injured shanks or feet the other slaves. Hav;
ing fixed ujDon the class of the criminals,
the}-
are collected to-
gether by the priest, who, after similarly dosing a second hen,

throws her up into the air above the heads of the crowd, and
upon whom she alights. Confession is extorted by tying the thumb backward till it touches the wrist, or by
some equally barbarous mode of question. The consequence of
condemnation is certain and immediate death the mode is chosen
by the priest. Some are speared, others are beheaded or clubbed
a common way is to bind the cranium between two stiff pieces of
wood, which are gradually tightened by cords till the brain bursts
out from the sutures. For women they practise a peculiarly horrible kind of impalement. These atrocities continue until the chief
singles out the jDcrson
at
the commencement of his attack, in one

household eighteen souls, male and female, had been destroyed
should his illness be protracted, scores will precede him to the
grave, for the magician must surely die."
Burtoii's Africa, page
recovers- or dies,
300.
" The Shangalla have but one language, and of a very guttural
They worship various trees, serpents, the moon,
planets, and stars in certain positions, which I never could so perfectly understand as to give any account of them.
A star passing
near the horns of the moon denotes the coming of an enemy.
pronunciation.
They have
priests, or rather diviners
but
it
would seem that these
are looked upon as servants of the evil being, rather than of the
They prophesy bad events, and think they can afflict their
enemies with sickness, even at a distance.*'
Brace's Travels, Vol.
II. page 554.
good.
" At
Whydah
I found the natives addicted to a very grovelling
FETICniSM, PRIESTCRAFT^
species of idolatry.
It
was
AND IDOLATRY.
good
their belief that the
65
as well as
man
In the home
the evil spirit existed in living iguanas.
with whom I dwelt, several of these large lizards were constantly
fed and cherished as gods nor was any one allowed to interfere
of the
with their freedom, or to
harm them even when they grew insuf-
of one of these crawling deities is

considered a calamity in the household, and grief for the reptile
Caiwfs Twenty
becomes as great as for a departed parent."
ferably offensive.
The death
Years of an African Slaver, jâge 2G6.
"When
King of Whydah, in 1694, heard that Smith, the

chief of the English factory, was dangerously ill with fever, he
sent his fetichman to aid in the recovery. The priest went to the
sick man, and solemnly announced that he came to save him. He
then marched to the white man's burial-ground with a provision
of brandy, oil, and rice, and made a loud oration to those that
O you dead white people, you wish to have Smith
slept there
the
but our king likes him, and it is not his will to let
among you.' Passing on to the grave of Wyburn,
the founder of the factory, he addressed him * You, captain of all
the whites who are here Smith's sickness is a piece of your work.
among you;
him go
to
be
company, for he is a good man but our king does

him, and you can't have him yet.' Then digging
to
lose
not want
a hole over the grave, he poured into it the articles which he had
brought, and told him that if he needed these things, he gave
them with good-will, but he must not expect to get Smith. The
Foote'^s Africa and the American
factor died notwithstanding."
You want
his
Flag, page bS.
*'
A musket among those tribes is an object of
almost supernat-
ural dread individuals have been seen kneeling down before it,
speaking to it in Avhispers, and addressing to it earnest supplica;
tions."
" The purposes for which fetiches are used are almost without
number. One guards against sickness, another against drought,
and a third against the disasters of war. One is used to draw
6*
FETICHISM, PEIESTCRAFT,
66
down
AND IDOLATRY,
good crops, and a third fills the sea

and makes them willing to be taken in the
fishermen's net. Insanity is cured by fetiches, the sterility of
wômen is removed, and there is scarcely a single evil incident to
human life Avhich may not be overcome by this means the only
condition annexed is that the right kind of fetich be employed.
and
rain, another secures
rivers with fishes,
Some
are intended to preserve
life,
others to destroy
it.
One
in-
man
with courage, makes him invulnerable in war, or

paralyzes the energy of an adversary. They have also national
spires a
towns from fire, pestilence, and from surby enemies. They have others to procure rain, to make
fruitful seasons, and to cause abundance of game in their woods,
and fish in their waters. Some of these are suspended along the
highways, a larger number are kept under rude shanties at the
entrances of their villages but the most important and sacred are
kept in a house in the centre of the village, where the high-priest
Most of these, and especially those
lives and takes care of them.
at the entrances of their villages, are of the most uncouth forms,
representing the heads of animals or human beings, and almost
fetiches to protect their
prise
always with a formidable pair of horns. One of the first things

which salutes the eyes of a stranger, after planting his feet upon
the shores of Africa, is the symbols of this religion. He steps
forth from the boat under a canopy of fetiches, not only as a se-
own
guaranty that he does not carry

the elements of mischief among the people he finds them susjjcnded along every i)ath he walks; at every junction of two or
more roads at the crossing-place of every stream at the base
of every large rock or overgrown forest-tree at the gate of every
village over the door of every house, and around the neck of
every human being whom he meets. They are set up on their
farms, tied around their frait-trees, and are fastened to the necks
of their sheep and goats to prevent them from being stolen. If a
curity for his
safety, but as a
man
upon the property of his neighbor, in defiance of

the fetiches he has set up to protect it, he is confidently expected
If he
to suffer the penalty or his temerity at some time or other.
is overtaken by a formidable malady or lingering sickness aftertrespasses
ward, even should it be after the lapse of twenty, thirt}', or forty

years, he is known to be suffering the consequence of his own
rashness.
**
And
not only are these fetiches regarded as having
power
to
AND IDOLATRY.
67
men, but they are equally omnipotent
to shield
FETICHISM^ PRIESTCRAFT,
protect or piinisli
"White
themselves from violence.
men
are frequently challenged
by shooting at them and if they are

destroyed in this way (and this is a very common occurrence),
the only admission is, that that particular fetich had no special
Wilson's Africa, page
virtues, or it would have defended itself."
to test their invulnerability,
212.
the Gold Coast there are stated occasions, when the people turn out en masse (generally at night) with clubs and torches,
*'
On
away the evil spirits from their towns. At a given signal,

whole community start np, commence a most hideous howl-
to drive
the
nook and corner of their dwellings, then

rush into the streets, with their torches and clubs, like so many
frantic maniacs, beat the air, and scream at the top of their voices,
until some one announces the departure of the spirits through
some gate of the town, when they are putsued several miles into
the woods, and warned not to come back. After this the people
breathe easier, sleep more quietly, have better health, and the
town is once more cheered by an abundance of food. Demoniacal possessions are common, and the feats performed by those
ing, beat about in every
Avho are supposed to be under such influence are certainly not unFrantic gestures,
like those described in the New Testament.
convulsions, foaming at the mouth, feats of supernatural strength,
furious ravings, bodily lacerations, gnashing of teeth, and other
may be witnessed in most of the

under diabolical influences."
be
cases which are supposed to
things of a similar character,
Wilson's Africa,
"
On some
page 217.
parts of the Gold Coast the crocodile
is
sacred; a
on the Slave Coast, and the shark at

Bonny, are all regarded as sacred, and are worshipped, not on
their own account, perhaps, but because they are regarded as the
certain class of snakes,
temples, or dwelling-places of spirits. Like every other object of

the kind, however, in the course of time the thing signified is forgotten in the representative, and these various animals have long
since been regarded ^\\W\ superstitious veneration, while little is
thought of the indwelling
spirit."
Wilson's Africa, page 218.
FETICHISM, PRIESTCRAFT^
68
AND IDOLATRY.
*'
In the afternoon, nearly all the principal persons in the town
were dressed in their gayest attire a large group of them was
collected under the fetich-tree, to see and hear the fetichraan,
w^hile he made his orations, and danced to the sound of several
drums which were played by females. The appearance of the
fetichman was very much like that of a clown his face was daubed
with white clay he had a large iron chain hanging around his
neck, which seemed to be worn as a necklace around his legs
were tied bunches of fetich and he held in his hand an immense
Someknife, about fifteen inches long, and two and half broad.
frantic
other
times
with
many
gestures
and
at
times he danced
stood gazing around him with every indi(âtion of a vacant mind.
While I wâs at a distance looking at him, he set out, and ran to a
distance of about a hundred yards. Anxious to keep him in sight,
I w'alked forward, past a small shed, which would have concealed
him from me, and saw him standing with a musket at his shoulder,
taking aim at a turkey-buzzard on a tree hard by."
Freemaii's
;
Africa, lâge 26.
Worship is not confined to any particular species of serpent,

but is extended generally to all. A woman was seen one day
worshijoping a small serpent, and overheard praying to it the
unique and selfish prayer, Give rain to my garden, let me have
*'
'
plenty; and let there be nobody in the wôrld but you and me.'
On
meeting a serpent in the road, a woman will take off some of

her beads and offer them as a present or sacrifice, in token of veneration.
They are regarded as representing, in some way, their
dej)arted ancestors and hence, one has been heard addressing a
serpent, and saying, Ah, I see in your eyes my former chief.'
These are additional facts which serve to illustrate the doctrine of
one of the strangest
the almost universal wôrship of serpents,
Freemaii's Afanomalies in the religious history of mankind."
;
rica^ 'page 279.
*'
The
to see.
Whydah are snakes and a largo

a snake-house which I used to go often
chief objects of worship in
cottonwood-tree.
There
The snakes
fifteen feet in length.
is
are of the boa species, and are from five to
You can
almost always see them crawling
FETICniSM. PRIESTCRAFT.
AND IDOLATRY.
G9
When the natives see them they fall down and

They are perfectly harmless, as I have often seen
the natives take them np and carry them back to the fetich-house.
It is not at all unfrequent to find them on the mat alongside of you
about the streets.
kiss the earth.
in the morning, as the huts are without doors.
what was once an English
now
had
my
lodging
and is a favorite resort of the snakes.

I never found one in my room, but
one morning, upon looking in the room adjoining mine, I found
one almost seven feet long. The penalty for killing one is
for
in
but
is
in ruins,
the
a white person
fort,
price of sixty slaves;
for a native, he is
shut up in a bamboo house, and then the house is set on fire. The
poor fellow has the privilege of getting outif he can, and running for
the lagoon, a distance of two miles, followed by the mob, and if
he reaches the water he is free. But very few can ever avail
themselves of this water cure. It is a great dodge with the fetichman, if he knows that you are peculiarly averse to this kind of
god, to bring them near your house and put them down, knowing
they will enter, and he will be sent for to come and take them
away, for which he gets a few strings of cowries."
Wesfs Afri-
can Correspondence of the Boston Post, 1859.
We
passed along a narrow path some distance, till we came

one on each side of the path, with a small
piece of white cotton rag on the top of each. The boys declared
that it would be at the peril of my life if I proceeded any further
**
to
two
sticks, stuck ujd,
in that direction, for this was the road to a fetich-house and the
fetichman had stuck up those sticks as a warning not to attempt
to proceed any further.
I pretended, however, not to compre;
hend
their palaver,
the spot,
when
and walked on till I was some distance past

and ordered them to come on
I looked round,
but they stood trembling, watching, expecting to see
down
dead.
After
superstition, they
many
were
" The snake
is
drof)
assurances of the absurdity of such
at last induced to follow
infatuation of the people all along the
most places I have yet

Vol. L, page 174.
me
West
visited in the interior."
also a fetich or idol here
me.
Such
is
the
Coast, and, in fact, in
Duncan's Africa,
and houses are
built
70
liAIN-DOCTORS
AND OTHER DOCTORS.
in several parts of the town

where they are regularly fed.
accommodation of snakes,
These houses are about seven feet
for the
high in the walls, with conical roof, about eight feet diameter,
and circular. The snakes are of the boa-constrictor tribe, and
are considered quite harmless, although I have my doubts ujDon
They generally leave this house at intervals and, when found

it.
by any of the natives, are taken up and immediately conveyed
back to the fetich-house, where they are placed on the top of the
wâll, under the thatch.
It is disgusting to witness the homage
paid to these reptiles by the natives. When one of them is picked
up by any one, others will prostrate themselves as it is carried
past, throwing dust on their heads, and begging to be rubbed
over the body with the reptile."
Duncan's Africa, Vol. L,
page 126,
;
CHAPTER
VIII.
RAIN-DOCTOKS AND OTHER DOCTORS IN NEGROLAND.

'
The
gives
natives,
them
finding
it
irksome to
rain from heaven, entertain the
that they can help themselves
as charcoal
sit
made
and wait
until
God
more comfortable idea
by a variety of preparations, such
of burned bats, inspissated renal deposit of the
mountain cony, the internal parts of different animals,

as
jackals' livers, baboons' and lions' hearts, and hairy calculi from
the bowels of cows,
serpents' skins and vertebroe, and every
kind of tuber, bulb, root, and plant to be found in the country.
Although you disbelieve their efiicacy in charming the clouds to
pour out their refreshing treasures, yet, conscious that civility is
useful everywhere, you kindly state that you think they are mistaken as to their power. The rain-doctor selects a particular
bulbous root, pounds it, and administers a cold infusion to a sheep,
which, in five minutes afterward, expires in convulsions. Part
of the same bulb is converted into smoke, and ascends toward
the sky rain follows in a day or two.
The inference is obvious.'*
Livingstone'' s Africa, page 24.
BAIN-DOCTORS AND OTHER DOCTORS,
71
**The modes in which the rain-makers propitiate the clouds are

various. The one most commonly practised is by collecting a few
leaves of each individual variety of tree in the forest, which they
allow to simmer in large pots over a slow fire, while a sheep is
killed by pricking it in the heart with a long sewing-needle, while
the rain-maker is employed in performing a variety of absurd incantations.
The steam arising from the simmering leaves is supjoosed to reach and propitiate the clouds, and the remainder of
the
da}'
is
spent in dances, which are joined in
and kept up
till
b}^ all
the tribe,
midnight, being accompanied with songs having
a long-continued chorus, in which all join, and the burden of

but the fields
is the power and praises of the rain-maker
which
young corn become parched and withered."
of
Curnming's
Africa, Vol. II., page 63.
**When the rain-makers fail to

ways ascribe their want of success
terious agency,
infallible
fulfil their
which has destroyed the
nostrums.
promises, they
effect of their
One of the anti-rain-making
al-
some mys-
to the presence of
otherwise
articles is ivory,
is believed to have great influence in driving away rain, in

consequence of which, in the summer season, they produce it only
as the sun goes down, at which time it is brought for the trader's
inspection, carefully wrapped in a kaross.
I remember on one
occasion incurring the censure of a whole tribe, who firmly believed me to have frightened the rain from their dominions by
exposing a quantity of ivory at noon-day and, on another occa-
which
sion, the chief of
whom
am
a certain tribe
commanded
acquainted, to remove
his house, these
all the rafters from the roof of

having been pointed out by the rain-maker as
obstructing the success of his incantations."

Vol, II. y
"
It
a missionary, Avith
page
Cumming'^s Africa^
64.
occurred some time ago, while the Rev. Mr.
Lemne was
when
residing here, that a horse died at the village, at a time

rain
was much wanted.
Mr. Lemne very properly had the
cass of the animal dragged

evils arising
from
its
away
putrefaction in so hot a climate.
became a matter of great
car-
to a great distance, to avoid the
consultation, and
it
This act
was decided in some
BAIN-DOCTORS AND OTHER DOCTORS.
72
way that
this dragging to a distance the remains of the dead horse

prevented the rain coming; and the chief above named actually
sent men, with leathern cords, to drag it again to the village, and
there it was placed, at no great distance from Mr. Lemne^s house,
Freeman's Africa, page 269.
and left to decay "
!
*'
They
are subject to a variety of diseases which baffle the skill
of their medical advisers, who, in such cases, have recourse to

smearing the patient with cow-dung, and keeping up his spirits
with the constant excitement of dancing and singing within his

hut."
'*
Steedman's Africa,
The Kru candidate
Vol. I.,
page 207.
for medical honors is not subject to
formal examination by a board of trustees, but is required to

evince his proficiency in a different way. The head of a chicken
is secretly deposited in one of a number of earthen jars provided
for the occasion,
which
it is
and he
secreted.
is
required to go and point out the one in
If he does this promptly,
proof of his qualification to be a doctor, and
is
it
is
conclusive
the occasion of
unbounded exultation on the part of his friends. His head is then

shorn, and the hair is carefully folded up, and kept as an indisjDcnsable means of success, and is sometimes pawned as a security
The docfor his good behavior and faithful discharge of duty.
tor's badge of office is a monkey's skin, which he carries in the
form of a roll wherever he goes, and of which he is quite as proud
as his white brother
Africa,
"
page
When
is
of his sheep-skin diploma."
Wilsoii's
134.
ready for the trial, I went down to look at the

Ouganga doctor, who looked literally like the devil. I never saw
a more ghastly object. He had on a high head-dress of black
His eyelids were painted red, and a red stripe, from
leathers.
the nose upward, divided his forehead in two parts. Another red
The face was painted white, and
stripe passed round his head.
on each side of the mouth were two round red spots. About his
neck hung a necklace of grass, and also a cord, which held a box
all
against his breast.
This
little
box
is
sacred, and contains spirits.
RAIN-DOCTORS AND OTHER DOCTORS.
73
number of strips of leopard and other skins crossed his breast

and were exposed about his jierson and all these were charmed,
and had charms attached to them. From each shoulder down to
his hands was a white strijê
and one hand was painted quite
white. To complete this horrible array, he wore a string of little
bells around his body.
*',He sat on a box or stool, before which stood another box containing charms. On this stood a looking-glass, beside which lay
a buffalo-horn containing some black powder, and said, in addition, to be the refuge of many spirits.
He had a little basket of
snake-bones, which he shook frequently during his incantations,
as also several skins, to which little bells were attached. Near
by stood a fellow beating a board with two sticks. All the people
of the village gathered about this couple, who, after continuino*
;
came to the climax.

names of persons in the village,
their incantations for quite a while, at last
Jombuaiwas
told to call over the
iu order that the doctor
might ascertain
As each name was
did the sorcery.
if
any one of those named
called, the old cheat
looked
During the whole operation, I

stood near him, which seemed to trouble him greatly. At last,
after all the names were called, the doctor declared that he could
not find any 'witch-man,' but that an evil spirit dwelt in the
village, and many of the people would die if they continued
there."
Z)?f Chaillu's Equatorial Africa, page 282.
in the glass to see the result.
A celebrated doctor had been sent for from a distance, and

appeared in the morning, decked out in the most fantastic manner.
Half his body was painted red and the other half white his
face was daubed with streaks of black, white, and red and, of
course, he wore around his neck a great quantity of fetiches.
The villagers were assembled, and the doctor had commenced his
'*
divinations,
this
when
I arrived at the place, a witness
gloomy ceremony,
which was
Commi
different
once again of
from that of the
people seen formerly by me, as related in Adventures in

The doctor counterfeited his voice when
speaking, in order to impress on the 2êople a duo sense of his
supernatural powers of divination all the painting, dressing, and
'
Equatorial Africa.'
mummery
have the same object in view, namely, to strike awe

into the minds of the peoiDle.
A black earthenware vessel filled
7
74
ItAIN-DOCTORS
AXD OTHER DOCTORS,
with water, and surrounded by charmed ochre and fetiches, served

the purpose of the looking-ghiss used by the coast tribes.
The
on his stool, looked intently and mysteriously into

the water, shook his head, then looked into a lighted torch, which
he waved over it, made contortions with his body, trying to look
as ugly as he could, then repeated the mummeries over again,
and concluded by pronouncing that the persons who were bewitching the village were people belonging to the place."
Du Cliaillu's AsJiango-Land, page 173.
doctor, seated
'*
Whilst I
what
am on the
saw afterwards
subject of native doctoring, I
must
in the course of Mayolo's illness.
relate
knew
and
wondered what she did to him. At lenojth, one mornius: I
happened to go into his house when she was administering her
cures, and remained an interesting spectator to watch her operations.
Mayolo was seated on a mat, submitting to all that was
done with the utmost gravity and jjatience. Before him was
the old chief had been regularly attended by a female doctor,

often
extended the skin of a wild animal. The woman was enoâged in

rubbing his body all over with her hands, muttering all the while,
in a low voice, words which I could not understand.
Having
continued this wholesome friction for some time, she took a piece
of alumbi chalk and made with it a broad stripe along the middle
This done, she chewed a
of his chest and down each arm.
quantity of some kind of roots and seeds, and, having well
charged her mouth with saliva, spat upon him in diflferent places,
but aiming her heaviest shots at the parts most aifected. Finally,
she took a bunch of a particular kind of grass, whicli had been
gathered when in bloom and was now dry, and, lighting it,
touched with the flame the body of her patient in various places,
beginning at the foot and gradually ascending to the head. I
could jDerceive that Mayolo smarted with the pain of the burns,
when the torch remained too long. When the flame was
extinguished, the woman applied the burnt part of the torch to her
Bu Chaillu's Ash'
patient's body, and so the operations ended."
ango-Land, page 169.
NAKEDNESS SHAMELESSNESSj AND PROSTITUTION,

i
CHAPTER
Ni^LKEDNESS, SHAMELESSNESS,
75
IX.
AND PROSTITUTION
IN NEGROLAND.
Close to the place where we stood, was a ch'cle of naked

savage women, all black as a coal, who were performing the
oddest antics imaginable and still nearer stood a wild-looking
group of their male companions, resting on their tall spears and
*
participating in the frolic with all their hearts.
three-cornered
rush or straw hat, having a high peak, but without a brim, was
Lander^'s Travels
the only article of dress worn by these men."
page 307.
in Africa, Vol. I.,
**
The Shangalla
of both sexes, while single,
go
entirely
naked
the married men, indeed, have a very slender covering about
and married women the same. Young men and

young women, till long iâst the age of puberty, are totally
uncovered, and in constant conversation and habits with each
other, in woods and solitudes, free from constraint, and without
Bruc^s Africa^
any punishment annexed to the transgression."
Vol. II., page 558.
their waist,
"The
came down
They
are something
naked as they
came into the world their bodies rubbed with ashes, and their
hair stained red by a plaster of ashes and cow's urine. These
there
fellows are the most unearthly-looking devils I ever saw,
is no other expression for them.
The unmarried women are also
entirely naked the married have a fringe made of grass around
natives
way
superlative in the
to the boats.
of savages; the
men
as
their loins." Baker's Great Basin of
*'
There
that
is little
the Nile,
page 42.
difficulty in describing the toilet of the natives,
men
being simplified by the sole covering of the

head, the body being entirely nude. It is curious to observe
among these wild savages the consummate vanity displayed in their
of the
NAKEDNESS, SHAMELESSNESS, AND PROSTITUTION.
76
Every tribe has a distinct and unchanging fashion

for dressing the hair and so elaborate is the coiffure that liairdressing is reduced to a science. European ladies would be
head-dresses.
man requires
startled at the fact, that to perfect the coiffure of a
a period of from eight to ten years."

Nile,
"
page
Bakefs Great Basin of
tlie
42.
Among
the worst characteristics of Kaffir society,
is its
great
Most young women are frequently and forcibly

and widows are considered public propWhen the chiefs wish to carry any particular point, they
erty.
seize a number of young women, and give them up to their wild
warriors. This I do not think has been noticed before in any
account of the Kaffirs and, with wholesale and periodical rape,'
incontinence.
violated before marriage
constitutes a very black feature in their character.

is
Adultery also
among them and the fine is merely a cow. The folknow to be a fact A Kaffir coveted a handsome cow, or
frequent
lowing I
one with a musical voice, the property of his neighbor he ordered
his wife to throw herself in his neighbor's way the guilty pair
were detected and the injured husband secured the object of his
desires."
Alexander's Africa, Vol. I., page 397.
:
"The women clothe themselves better than the Balonda,

the men go in puris naturalibus. They walk about Avithout
smallest sense of shame.
the
it
would be
better to adopt a
little
the
of
he did not
He looked
lost the tradition
I asked a fine, large-bodied old
fig-leaf.'
think
They have even
but
man
covering.
if
.
with a pitying leer, and laughed with surprise at my thinking him

at all indecent he evidently considered himself above such weak
I told him that, on my return, I should have my
superstition.
family with me, aud no one must come near us in that state.
What shall we put on, we having no clothing? It was con;
good joke when I told them that, if they had nothing

Livingstone's Africa^
they must put on a bunch of grass."
sidered a
else,
page 690.
**
There
is
no difference between the sexes during their early
years.
sense of shame or modesty seems altogether
77
unknown
nor is it unusual to find ten or a dozen of both

genders huddled promiscuously beneath a roof whose walls are
not more than fifteen feet square. True to his nature, a Vey
bushman rises in the morning to swallow his rice, aild crawls
or disreirarded
back to his mat, which is invariably placed in the sunshine, where

he basks till moontide, when another wife serves him a second
meal. The remainder of the daylight is passed either in gossip
or a second siesta, till, at sundown, his other wives wash his body,
furnish a third meal, and stretch his wearied limbs before a blazing fire to refresh him for the toils of the succeeding day. In fact
the slaves of a household, together with its females, form the
entire working class of Africa."
Canofs Twenty Years of an African Slaver, page 430.
Women
and before
shame.
Young men
erroneously suppose that there is something voluptuous in the excessive dishabille of an equatorial girl. On the contrary, nothing
is so moral and so repulsive as nakedness.
Dress must have been
the invention of some clever woman to ensnare the passions of
men."
B.ead^s Savage Africa^ pcig^ 424.
**
in Africa will frequently bathe in public,
strangers, without the
slightest
*The
chastity
women
is
in all the tribes are
an unknown virtue."
Du
much
given to intrigue, and
CJiaiUu's Equatorial Africa,
page 382.
*'
Some
of their customs are so obscene that even the record of
them would be inadmissible
here."
Valdez's
Africa,
Vol. II.,
page 163.
women I did not much relish, and desired

them what they wanted. They replied that
their object was to obtain a dram of rum, and offer themselves
as wives, saying that every great man had a number of wives,
and, knowing me to be a stranger with no wife, they supposed
**
my
This freedom of the
servants to ask
78
that of course I
wanted a few."
DuncarCs Africa^
Vol. I.,
page
172.
'
The women
of Inasamet not only
made
the
first
advances,
their
what is worse, they were offered even by the men,
brethren or husbands. Even those among the men whose behavior
was least vile and revolting did not cease urging us to engage
but,
with the women, who failed not to present themselves soon afterwards. It could scarcely be taken as a joke. Some of the
women were immensely fat, particularly in the hinder regions."
Bartli's Africa, Vol. I.,
was in a certain degree subject to

Bornu but it seemed rather an ironical assertion that
prince would be pleased with the arrival of the exiDcdition.
The
chief just mentioned
the rulers of
this
page 408.
"While describing his reception at the court of the chief, the scout
indulged in a lively description of the customs prevalent among

these people. His majest}', he said, used to indulge in amorous
intercourse with his female slaves, of whom he had two hundred,
an account which was rather conbefore the eyes of his people,
firmed by Belal, who had been his host several times. Belal,
a very jovial old fellow, also stated that this little j^rince
who was
was not jealous of the favors bestowed by his female partners

upon his guests, but, on the contrary, that he himself voluntarily
gave them up to them."
Bartli's Africa, Vol., II., page 216.
The people in general are very libidinous, but their ability

answers not their desire however, their too frequent actions and
their dealing with variety of women draw upon them no small
inconveniences. Nor do the women fall short of the men in their
unchastity, wholly giving themselves up to venereal exercises;
and if continually troubled with a furor uterinus, at all times chew
and eat such herbs and barks of trees as are the greatest incentives to heighten their desires to almost hourly congresses."
*'
Ogilby^s Africa,
page 390.
DRUNKENNESS AND DEBAUCHERY.
CHAPTER
79
X.
DRUNKENNESS AND DEBAUCHERY IN NEGROLAND.

"
large quantity of palm-trees in and around the village

furnishes the inhabitants of Mokaba with a ready supply of their
for, as I have said before, they are a
favorite drink, palm-wine
The
merry people,
and make a regular
practice of getting drunk
obtainable. I often saw them

every day, as long as the wine
climb the trees in early morning, and take deep draughts from the
calabashes suspended there. Like most drunken people they beis
and being a lively and excitable race, many

frays occur. Happily the palm-wine season lasts only a few
months in the year; it was the height of the drunken season
when I was at Mokaba. I saw very few men who had not scars,
or the marks of one or more wounds, received in their merry-
come quarrelsome
Their holidays are very frequent. Unthe chief amusement, together with dancing,
making scrimmages.
limited drinking
is
tam-tamming, and wild uproar, which

liCs Asliango-Land, page 260.
"The
was
was drunk when
kino-, as usual,
too tipsy to stand on his legs
and boasting
last all night."
Cliail-
Indeed, he
I arrived.
nevertheless, he
in a loud tone of voice.
Du
was bullying
had not been
in his place
long before he ordered another calabash full of palm-wine, and

drank off about a gallon of it. This finished him up for the day
he fell back into the arms of his loving wives, ejaculating many
The voice soon betimes, ' I am a big king I am a big king
!
'
came
inaudible,
and he
fell
asleep." Bu
Chaillu's Asliango-Land,
page 41.
" The king's usual
way
of living
is
to sleep all day,
till
toward
sunset then he gets up to drink, and goes to sleep again till midnight then he rises and eats, and if he has any strong liquors,
will sit and drink till daylight, and then eat, and go to sleep again.
When he is well stocked with liquor, he will sit and drink for five
or six days together, and not eat one morsel of anything in all
;
80
KIGHT CAROUSALS^
that time.
It is to that insatiable thirst of his after
his subjects'
ETC.,
freedom and families are
for he very often goes with
some of
IN NEGROLAND,
brandy that
in so precarious a situation
his troops
daytime, and returns in the night, and sets
by a town
fire to
in the
three parts of
and sets guards at the fourth to seize the people as they run
out from the fire. He then ties their arms behind them, and
marches them to the 23lace where he sells them into slavery."
Moore's Inland Parts of Africa, page 87.
it,
"The
Even
the
virtue of chastity I
widow Zuma
lets
rest of the ^êople of the town.

tue.
do not believe
to exist in
"Wawa.
out her female slaves for hire, like the
Neither
is
sobriety held as a vir-
was in a place in my life where drunkenness was so

Governor, priest, and layman, and even some of the
I never
general.
was pestered for three or four days by

to come several times in a day,
ladies, drink to excess.
the governor's daughter,
who used
Wawa fashion, but

always half tipsy. I could only get rid of her by telling her that
I prayed and looked at the stars all night, and never drank anything stronger than water. She always departed in a flood of
tears.
ClappertorCs Africa^ page 129.
painted and bedizened in the highest style of
CHAPTER
XI.
NIGHT CAROUSALS, AND NOISY AND NONSENSICAL ACTIONS IN NEGROLAND.

"
The
show their joy and work off their excitement in dances and songs. The dance consists of the men standing nearly naked in a circle, with clubs or small battle-axes in
iêople usually
their hands,
and each roaring
while they simultaneously
lift
at tlie loudest jjitch of his voice,
one leg, stamp heavily twice with
NIGHT CAROUSALS,
ETC.,
IX NEGROLAND.
81
the other and give one stamp with that this is the
only movement in common. The arms and head are often thrown
about, also, in every direction and all this time the roaring is
then
it,
lift
kept up
with the utmost possible vigor
the continual stamping
makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave a deep ring in the
ground where they stood. If the same were witnessed in the
lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate even, as a means of letting off the excessive excitement
of the brain
making
tion."
joined in the perform-
as others whose youth might be an excuse

stream off their bodies with the exerperspiration
the
Livingstone's
"The
men
much zest
ance with as
for
but here gray-headed
villagers,
Africa, page 245.
were even
especially in the remoter districts,
more troublesome, noisy, and inquisitive than the

'notable passion of wonder' appeared in them.
Wagogo.
We
felt like
a moment, and scrutinized from

inquisitive wretches stood on
The
every point of view by them.
tiptoe; they squatted on their hams; they bent sideways; and
baited bears
we were mobbed
in
they thrust forth their necks like hissing geese to vary the prospect."
*'0n the spot were the people assembled, with every instrument capable of making a noise which could be procured in the
whole town. They had formed themselves into a large treble
circle, and continued running round with amazing velocity, cry-
and groaning with
ing, shouting,
all their
might.
They tossed
all manner
and liuno- their heads about, twisted their bodies into
stamped with their feet on the

ground, and flourished their hands above their heads. No scene
in the romance of Robinson Crusoe was so wild and savage as
Little boys and girls were outside the ring, running to and
this.
groups of
fro, and clashing empty calabashes against each other
men were blowing on trumpets, which produced a harsh and discordant sound some were employed in beating old drums oth-
of contortions,
jumped
into the air,
bullock's horns
and, in the short in-
were blowing on
between the rapid succession of all these fiend-like noises,
was heard one more dismal than the rest, proceeding from an iron
ers again
tervals
82
JNHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS^ ETC.
indeed, everyby the clinking of chains,

thing that could increase the uproar was put in requisition on this
memorable occasion nor did it cease till midnight. Never have
tube, accompanied
we
witnessed so extraordinary a scene as this. If a European,

a stranger to Africa, were to be placed of a sudden in the midst
of these people, he would imagine himself to be among a legion
of demons, holding a revel over a fallen spirit, so peculiarly un-
and horrifying was the appearance of the dancing

group, and the clamor which they made."
Landefs Travels in
Africa, Vol. I., page 366.
earthly, wild,
Ct
CHAPTER
XII.
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS, BEGGING, EXTORTION,
AND ROB-
BERY IN NEGROLAND.
*'
Gratitude with the African is not even a sense of prospective

He looks upon a benefit as the weakness of his benefactor
favor.
and
the
his
own
strength
consequently he will not recognize even
hand that feeds him.
He
will, jierhaps,
the death of a parent or a child, but the
lament for a night
morrow will
find
him
thor-
The name of hospitality, except for interested

motives, is unknown to him. *What will you give me?' is his
first question.
To a stranger entering a village the worst hut is
oughly comforted.
assigned, and,
he complain, the answer is that he can find encamping-ground outside. Instead of treating him like a guest,
which the Arab Bedouin would hold to be a point of pride, of
honor, his host comjDcls him to pay and prepay every article
if
otherwise he might starve in the midst of plenty."

rica,
**
Burton's Af-
page 490.
The
curiosity of these people,
and the
little
ceremony with
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS, ETC,
83
A
they gratify it, are, at times, most troublesome.
stranger must be stared at total apatliy is the only remedy if
the victim lose his temper, or attempt to dislodge them, he will
wliicli
a swarm of bees. They will come for miles

to sow gape-seed.' If the tent-fly be closed, they will peer and
peep from below, comphiining loudly against the occupant and,
On the road
if further prevented, they may proceed to violence.
find
it
like disturbing
'
hosts of idlers, especially
women,
boys, and girls, will follow the
these uncaravan for hours. It is a truly offensive spectacle,

couth figures, running at a gymnastic pace,' half clothed, except
with grease, with iDendent bosoms shaking in the air, and cries
that resemble the howls of beasts more than any effort of humau
'
articulation."
"To
chants,
Burtoivs
Africa, page 496.
travellers, the African
from Avhom he expects
is,
of course, less civil than to mer-
to gain something.
He
will refuse
a mouthful of water out of his abundance to a man dying of thirst

utterly unsympathizing, he will not stretch out a hand to save
another's goods, though worth thousands of dollai'S."
Burton's
Africa^ page 491.
*'
The
traveller cannot practise pity
and
liberally
he
is
ever in the dilemma
Were he
of maltreating or being maltreated.
with this people, he would starve
to
deal civilly
it is
vain to offer
a price for even the necessaries of life it would certainly be refused, because more is wanted, and so on beyond the bounds of
;
possibility."
Burton^
s Africa, xâge 88.
" The Wagogo are importunate beggars, who specify their long
list of wants without stint or shame
their principal demand is tobacco, which does not grow in the land and they resemble the
Somal, who never sight a stranger without stretching out the
hand for bori.' The men are idle and debauched, spending
their days in unbroken revelry and drunkenness, while the girls
and women hoe the fields, and the boys tend the |locks and
herds," ^- i>.rô?i's Africa page 215.
;
'
84
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS^ ETC.
**
In proportion as the traveller advances into the interior, he
finds the people less
humane, or rather less human. The Waviuza,
the Wajiji, and other lakist tribes,
They
much resemble one
another.
are extortionate, violent, and revengeful barbarians
Muyamwezi
no
dares to travel alone through their territories, and
small parties are ever in danger of destruction."
Burtons Africa^
page 498.
"From
the highest to the lowest, all classes are most pertina-
cious beggars.
Whatsoever
is
seen
is
knives, scissors, beads, cloth, mirrors,
surely demanded,
guns,
The
love of
and
dollars.
every sense of shame and no compunction is felt in asldng for the cloak from off the back, or in
Harrises Adventures
carrying it away during a pitiless storm."
acquiring i^roperty
stifles
in Africa,
*'
They
page
299.
are a people remarkable for their disregard for titith,
wickedness which I regret to state I found very prevalent in Southern Africa. They are also great beggars, generally commencing
by soliciting for trexels,'
a trexel being a pound of tea or coffee.
Knowing the gallantry of our nation, they affu'm this to be a present for a wife or daughter, whom they represent as being poorly.
If this is granted, they continue their importunities, successively
fancying your hat, neckcloth, and coat." Cumming''s Africa, Vol.
I.,
page
128.
was extremely anxious to get away from this place, as I

was sorely pestered by begging parties,
the inhabitants of
**I
Wuruo and Sokoto

world."
beino: the
Barth's Africa,
Vol.
most troublesome be<?gars in the

III., page 137.
"The peojDle are in general faithless and very covetous, and

they never make a present without expecting to receive three times
as
much in
return."
Valdez's Africa, Vol.
IL, page 208.
INHOSPITALITY TO STIiANGEES, ETC.
85
* I retired to
my hut in disgust. This afternoon a messenger
arrived from the king with twentj'-four small pieces of straw, cut
into lengths of about four inches.

These he laid carefully in a
row, and explained that Speke had given that number of presents,
whereas I had only given ten,
the latter figure being carefully
he wished to know why I

did not give him the same number as he had received from
Speke.' This miserable, grasping, lying coward, is nevertheless
a king, and the success of my expedition depends upon him."
Baker''s Great Basin of the Nile, page 313.
exemplified by ten pieces of straw
"True
to his natural instincts, the kino^
and being much struck with
manded
it
my
commenced
beoro-ino-,
Highland costume, he de-
as a proof of friendship, saying, that
not be his friend.
were asked
My watch,
for in their turn
if I refused I could
compass, and double Fletcher rifle
all
of which I refused to give him.
He
appeared much annoyed, therefore I presented him with a

pound-canister of powder, a box of caps, and a few bullets. He
replied, 'What's the use of the ammunition, if you won't give me

your rifle ?
I explained that I had already given him a gun,
and that he had a rifle of Speke's. Disgusted with his importu'
nity, I rose to depart, telling him that I should not return to visit
him, as I did not believe he was the real Kamrasi. I had heard
that Kamrasi was a great king, but that he was a mere beggar,
and was doubtless an impostor."
Bahefs Great Basin of the Nile,
page 386.
"Nothing seems
to us so incommensurable with the trouble,

and danger of African travel as the small success which
usually rewards the explorer of this impenetrable continent. In
other countries it has been said you ought to travel alone on foot,
or eji grand seigneur, if you wish to understand the people or their
customs. In Africa either method is impossible to any purpose.
In its savage equatorial districts no EurojDean can travel alone
fatigue,
his necessary
He must
baggage
calls for
a small company of followers.
He cannot avoid
arousing the cupidity of every tribe with which he comes in contact,
trade and he must defend his goods.
and yet he must depend upon

8
their good-will for his
chance
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS, ETC.
SQ
Infinitely more strange to them than they

can be to him, he is at once associated with any misfortune which
has happened to them, either shortly before 'his arrival, during
his stay with them, or following close upon his departure.
He
of seeing any other.
becomes the object of constant

simple efforts at extortion.
intrigues,
and of unceasing,
if
How can it be otherwise ? He carries
about with him what, in the eyes of the savages by whom he is

surrounded, is wealth greater than that in Aladdin's cave. Only
by the rarest good fortune can he hope to escape from some contingency which will rob him not only of
all
of most of the tangible results of his labors,
he possesses, but also

if
not of his
life."
Westminster Beview, 1867.
"
When
they can no longer ask, they begin to borrow, with the

what is worst of all, when,
firm resolution of never repaying; and,
they
make
a present, they hold
it
a deadly offence not to receive
at least double the value in return."

ies,
page
Murrarfs African Discover-
G9.
the South Africans are most ceaseless and imporAt Mr. BurchelPs first entrance, they observed a certain
degree of ceremony, and only one solitary cry for tobacco was
heard but this feeling of delicacy or decorum soon gave way.
"In begging,
tunate.
Mattivi himself
made
a private request that the presents intended
him should not be seen by the people at large, by whom they

would soon be all begged away. They seemed to have more
pride in what they procured by solicitation than in a thing of
for
greater value
if
received as a spontaneous gift."
Murray^s Afri-
can Discoveries, page 222.
Tjopopa would spend whole days at our camp in the most aband apathy, teasing us with begging for everything
he saw. Like all Damaras, he had a perfect mania for tobacco,
and considered no degradation too deep provided he could obtain
He was supposed to havê no
a few inches of narcotic weed.
two of whom, I found to my astonishless than twenty wives,
ment, were mother and daughter. I have since ascertained that
'*
solute idleness
87
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS^ ETC.

it is
by no means an unusual practice amongst

Anderssoiis Africa, page 135.
nation."
"It often came about that our liouse was
this
like
demoralizecl
a shop where
there are customers in abundance, except that in our case they
were customers who wished to have everything for nothing. One

wanted a hatchet, another a garment, a third needles, a fourth a
and so, in one day,
dollar, a fifth salt or joepper, a sixth physic
we sometimes had fifteen or twenty applicants, all begging, and
often after a very cunning fashion."
Krapfs Africa, page 175.
;
"The
now
said something to his boys, and then retired

Immediately a dozen or more boys were in chase
of an unfortunate rooster ever}^ boy or girl who came up was
chief
out of sight.
pressed into service, so that soon nearly
all
the children of the
town were engaged in the chase. Finally the rooster was captured, and taken to the chief, who now came forward and, with a
low bow, presented it to me. We were now allowed to proceed.
You may be sure, if you are acquainted with the African character, that the chief did not fail to pay me a visit soon after, when I
had to make him a return present of four or five times the value
of his fowl. Nor was this suflicient, but he must come four or
five times, giving me to understand he wanted something."
Scotfs
Dag Dawn
in Africa,
page
108.
" Both men and women give themselves wholly up, as it were,
wantonness and toward strangers they are churlish and uncivil,
not only exacting from them beyond reason, but defrauding them
by many subtle and sly inventions."
Ogilby''s Africa, p)age 521.
to
" I was about to take
my
leave, when the King of Bondou,

began a long preamble in favor of
the whites, extolling their immense wealth and good dispositions.
He next proceeded to an eulogium on my blue coat, of which the
yellow buttons seemed particularly to catch his fancy and he
concluded by entreating me to present him with it, assuring me,
desiring
me
to
stop awhile,
INHOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS^ ETC,
88
for
my
all
public occasions, and inform every one
consolation under the loss of
would wear it on
who saw it of my great
liberality toward him.
The request of an African prince, in his
own dominions, particularly when made to a stranger, comes
little short of a command.
It is only a way of obtaining by gentle
means what he can, if he pleases, obtain by force and, as it was
against my interest to offend him by a refusal, I very quietly took
off my coat, the only good one in my possession, and hiid it at his
feet."
Mungo Parh^s Travels in Africa, page 44.
it,
tliat lie
Another drew his

which remained upon
*'
pocket.
upon a metal button

oft' and put it in his
were now obvious, and I thought that
knife, and, seizing
my waistcoat,
Their intentions
the easier they were permitted to rob
cut
me
it
of everything, the less I
to search my pockets
without resistance, and examine every part of my apparel, which
they did with the most scrupulous exactness. But observing that
I had one waistcoat under another, they insisted that I should cast
them both oft"; and at last, to make sure work, they stripped me
had
to fear.
I,
therefore, allowed
them
Even ray half boots (though
quite naked.
the sole of one of
them
my foot with a broken bridle-rein) were minutely

While they were examining the plunder, I begged
them, with great earnestness, to return my pocket-compass; but
when I pointed it out to them, as it was lying on the ground, one
of them, thinking I was about to take it up, cocked his musket,
and swore that he would lay me dead on the spot if I j^resumed to
put a hand upon it. After this, some of them went away with my
horse, and the remainder stood considering whether they should
leave me quite naked, or allow me something to shelter me from
the sun. They returned me the worst of the two shirts and a
lâir of trousers and, as they went away, one of them threw back
my hat, in the crown of whicli I kept my memorandums; and
this was i^robably the reason he did not wish to keep it.
After
they were gone, I sat for some time looking around me with
amazement and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing appeared but danger and difficulty. I saw myself in the midst of a
vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season, naked and alone,
surrounded by savage animals, and men still more savage. I
was five hundred miles from the nearest European settlement.
was
tied
on
to
inspected.
WRANGLING, LAWLESSNESS, PENURY, ETC,
89
crowded at once on my recollection, and

began to fail me. I considered my fate
as certain, and that I had no alternative but to lie down and
perish."
Mungo ParWs Travels in Africa, page 113.
All these circumstances
I confess that
my
spirits
CHAPTER
XIII.
WKANGLING, LAWLESSNESS, PENURY, AND MISERY IN NEGROLAND.

" Africa from the earliest ages has been the most conspicuous
and of wrong; where social life has lost the
theatre of crime
traces of primitive simplicity, without rising to order, principle,
or refinement
where fraud and violence are formed
into national
man
trembles at the sight of his fellow-man. For

centuries this continent has seen thousands of her unfortunate
systems, and
children draofoêd in chains over

to spend their lives in foreign
and
its
deserts
and across the ocean,
distant bondage.
Superstition,
tyranny, anarchy, and the opposing interests of numberless petty
maintain a constant and destructive warfare in this suffering portion of the earth."
states,
Grumbling and dissatisfied, they never do business without a

Revenge is a ruling passion, as the many rancorous
fratricidal wars that have prevailed between kindred clans, even
for a generation, prove.
Retaliation and vengeance are, in fact,
their great agents of moral control. Judged by the test of death,
the East African is a hard-hearted man, who seems to ignore all
Their squabthe charities of father, son, and brother.
.
bling and clamor jjass description they are never happy except
**
grievance.
when
in
dispute.
After a rapid plunge into
excitement, the
brawlers alternately advance and recede, pointing the finger

of threat, howling and screaming, cursing and using terms of
insult
which an
inferior ingenuity,
8*
not want
of will,
causes
WRANGLING^ LAJVLESSNESS, PENUEY, ETC.
90
model vituperation. After abusing

both parties usuallj^ burst into a loud
to fall far short of the Asiatic's
each other to their
full,
After a
lauofh or a burst of sobs.
with his hands and cry as

Africa,
*'
if his
to
The
be
children have
disputes, biting
little
will cover his face
Burtoii's
the frowning
all
and unj)repossessing look

and seem to spend
wild-cats. There appears
little civilities,
and clawing
like
family affection in this undemonstrative race."
ton's Africa,
'*
man
page 492.
of their parents; they reject

life in
cuff,
heart would break."
Bur-
page 323.
Property
among them
is
insecure
man
has always a vested
and when he dies his brothers and

relations carefully plunder his widow and orphans."
Burtoii's
Africa, page 97.
right in his sister's children,
*'
All the natives, escorts, guides, carriers, slaves,
are as bad as bad can be
idle,
cowardh%
and
villagers,
thievish, full of every
kind of trick and deception. Your own hired people are insubordinate, quarrelsome, and ready to desert at a moment's noThey stop when they please, liurry on when you wish them
tice.
to go slow, and creep when you want them to hasten, always
grumbling, and getting drunk whenever they can."
Maehrair's
Africa, page 352.
" The Bushman,
who has lost his wife by elopement, walks out

with his gun and shoots the first man whom he meets. He then
proclaims that he has done this because a man has run away with
The clansmen of the murdered man are enraged, not
his wife.
who has simply complied with a usage of

because the duty of the avenger is now cast upon
them. As the gay Lothario is out of their reach, they kill a man
belonging to the next village his friends retaliate on their unsuspecting neighbors and so rolls on this ball of destruction till the
against the husband,
society,
but
whole country
is
on the
alert.
The gates
of all the villages are
WHANGZING, LAWLESSNESS^ PENURY, ETC.
91
some luckless clan can gain no opporwrong

in somebody's else blood.
The
tunity of washing
chief of that clan then summons a council, and puts forward his
claim against the man who has run away with the wife. The
husband has no longer anything to do with the matter. The chief
closed and barricaded, and
out their
of the culprit's clan offers pecuniary compensation, and general
concord
is
restored.
Everything that comes in their way, which they cannot appropriate on the spot to their own use, is destroyed, tliat it may not
be of advantage to others. If they discover an ostrich's nest, and
circumstances do not permit their continuing on the spot till all
they find there is consumed, they eat as much as they can, but
the rest of the eggs are destroyed. Do they meet a large flock of
springboks, they wound as many as possible, although six or
eight are sufficient to last them several days the rest are left to
'
die,
and
rot on the ground."
Liclitenstehi's Africa, Vol. II.,
page
50.
"On
attacking a place,
it is
the custom of the country instantly
and as they are all comjDosed of straw huts only, the

by the flames. The unfortunate inhabitants fly quickly from the destructive element, and fixll immediately into the hands of their no less merciless enemies, who
surround the place the men are quickly massacred, and the
women and children lashed together, and made slaves." Denham and Clapperton''s Africa, Vol. II., page 120.
to fire
whole
it
shortly devoured
is
"In
the whole district of
Taganama, where
so
many
different
nationalities border close together, the greatest insecurity reigns,
and the inhabitants of one town cannot
safely trust themselves to
those of a neighboring place without fear of being sold as slaves,
or at least of being despoiled of the

Africa, Vol.
"With
/.,
little
they have."
BartlCs
page 548.
the acquisition of their liberty the people of Fundi soon
lost the little
sense of right and
wrong which they once had and,

;
"
WRANGLING^ LAWLESSNESS, PENURY, ETC,
92
having no leader for whom they eared, and no law which they
obeyed, they threw off all manner of restraint, and, from robbing
each other, they tm*ned to plundering the property of their neighbors, and waylaying every unprotected stranger or traveller that
had occasion to pass through their country. The same unruly,
outrageous, and turbulent spirit, and desjDerate conduct prevail
among the natives of Fundi to the present time, and similar acts
of rapacity and violence are consummated by them every day, so
that their country is dreaded and shunned by every one acquainted
Landefs Travels in Africa, Vol.
with their character and habits."
I. y
page 335.
"Like the natives of Yarriba, the inhabitants of Layaba appear

moment's reflection either on public misery
upon their own misfortunes or the calamor individual distress,
Kature has moulded their minds to enjoy
ities of their neighbors.
to bestow scarcely a
the
life
moment
they lead; their grief,
if
they grieve at
all, is
but for a
sorrow comes over them and vanishes like the lightning's flash they weep, and, in the same breath, their spirits regain their elasticity and cheerfulness they may well be said to
drink of the waters of Lethe whenever they please. As long as
;
they have food to eat, and health to enjoy their frivolous pastimes,
they seem contented, happy, and full of life. They think of little
else.
^'
'
Lander''
Thought would destroy
their paradise.'
s Travels in Africa, Vol. II.,
page
40.
" There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring

hungry lion, who stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till some peace-offering be made to him. In general
their children cease to be the objects of a mother's care as soon as
Kicherer, quoted in
they are able to crawl about in the field."
49.
page
Moffafs Africa,
to the
On
our return
we saw
a child, about eight years old, standing

WRANGLING, LAWLESSNESS, PENURY, ETC.
in the
middle of the street weeping, and, being almost a skeleton,
attracted our attention.
it
when
93
the
women
We
inquired respecting
its
disease;
was well enough, and
told us, the child
that
that the father
and
want of food had brought it into that state,
that he had gone away with another woman,
mother were poor,
and was hunting in the south that the mother was gone to the
westward, searching for food. Neither the men, women, nor
children present seemed by their countenances to express the
They
least sympathy or feeling for this forsaken, starving child.
said, laughing, that
am
we might
take the child with us
if
we pleased.
London would have excited pity in the hearts of thousands. We took

the child to our wagons, desiring the people to inform its mother,
when she returned, where she might find her. When some meat
was given to the child, she devoured it with the voracity of a tiger."
CamphelVs Africa, page 266.
I
certain that the sight of this
little girl
in the streets of
'
I thanked
God
that I
was not a
native African.
people lead dreadful and dreary lives.

their
enemies among neighboring
accidents to which a savage
life is
These poor
Not only have they
tribes,
to fear
as well as the various
especially liable, such as starva-
wild beasts, etc., but their whole lives are sadand

dened
embittered by the fears of evil spirits, witchcraft, and
other kindred superstitions under which they labor."
Du ChailIk.s Equatorial Africa, page 102.
tion, the attacks of
The
daughter was the best-looking girl that I have

was about sixteen. Her clothing
consisted of a piece of dressed hide, about a foot wide, slung
across her shoulders, all other parts being exposed. All the girls
of this country wear merely a circlet of little iron jingling ornaments around their waists. They came in numbers, bringing small
bundles of wood to exchange for a few handfuls of corn. Most
of the men are tall, but wretchedly thin the children are mere
skeletons, and the entire tribe appears thoroughly starved."
Baker's Great Basin of the Nile, page 48.
*'
seen
chief's
among
the blacks; she
THEFT AS A FINE ART AMONG THE
9i
'*
The people
of the
Kytch
tribe are
mere
AFJRICANS,
apes, trusting entirely
to the productions of nature for their subsistence
hours in
dio-crino'
out field-mice from
they will spend
we
their burrows, as
should
They are the most pitiable set of savages that can be

imagined; so emaciated, that they have no visible posteriors;
they look as though they had been planed off, and their long, thin
legs and arms give them a peculiar gnat-like appearance. At
for rabbits.
night they crouch close to the
fires,
At
the clouds of mosquitoes.
this
lying in the
smoke
to escape
season the country
is
a vast
the only dry spots being the white ant-hills; in such
swami?,
places the natives herd like wild animals, simply rubbing themSo misera.
.
.
selves \\ath wood ashes to keep out the cold.
and
dead animals the bones are pounded between stones,
and when reduced to powder they are boiled to a kind of porridge
nothing is left even for a fly to feed upon, when an animal either
Baker's Great Basin of the
dies a natural death, or is killed."
49.
NilCf page
ble are the natives of this tribe, that they devour both skins
bones of
all
CHAPTER XIV.
THEFT AS A FINE ART AMONG THE AFRICANS.
" Shoav
me
a black man, and I will show you a thief."
inson^ s Western Africa, Vol. II.,
"We found the people

Journal,
Hutch-
page 280.
thieves to a
man."
Mungo
Parkas
2d
page 201.
" The most prominent defect in their character was that insurmountable propensity, which the reader must have observed to
THEFT AS A FIXE ART AMONG THE AFRICANS.
from me the property of

Mungo Park's Journal, page 193.
prevail in all classes of them,
which
**
was possessed."
The Africans
to steal
1st
them thieves. They have no sense of

have never yet had a negro servant (and
are all of
honor-in that respect.
have had a great many) who did not rob

article, whether he was pagan or Christian.
tell
lie
more
petty larceny,
me
.
not recognized
of some trifling
The Africans
Falsehood, like
Readers
readily than they tell the truth.

is
95
among them as a fault."
Savage Africa, page 447.
**
The
ladies of the principal persons of the country visited
me,
They examined
even to the pockets of my trousers and more inquisI never saw in any country they begged for every-
accompanied by one or more female

evei7thing,
slaves.
itive ladies
and nearly all attempted to steal something when found

out, they only laughed heartily, clapped their hands together, and
exclaimed, Why, how sharp he is Only think Why, he caught
Denliarri's Africa, Vol. III., page 24.
us "
thing,
" The
thievish propensities of the people of Logon are very remarkable, and the first intimation which I received of it was an
official caution given to me to beware of the slaves of my house."
Bartli's Africa, Vol. II., page 444.
a prevailing vice with the

Bechuanas and, from what I have seen of them, I am confident
that the wealthiest and the most exalted amongst them would not
From
the king to the slave, theft
is
he effect it without
no bounds and
habits
know
pilfering
Their
compromised.
being
When grouped
dexterity.
they carry on the game with much
about our camp fires, I have kaown them to abstract the tools with
which we have been working nay, indeed, the very knives and
forks from our plates. Once, they actually took the meat out of
the pot, as it was boiling on the fire, substituting a stone. They
will place their feet over any small article lying on the ground,
hesitate to steal the shirt off one's back, could
THEFT AS A FINE ART AMONG THE AFRICANS,
96
burying
away
it
in the
sand with their toes
at the time, they return to fetch
period."
Anderssoii's Africa, page 372.
and,
it
if
unable to carry
at a
it
more convenient
is here unlimited, and depravity of every descripan extraordinary extent. The longer I reside here, the
more am I convinced, however, that the most predominant pas-
Polygamy
*'
tion to
sion of the African
is theft.
accomplished rogues they
The more they
become."
are taught, the
JDimcaii's
more
Africa, Vol.
/.,
2)age 141.
" Another innate quality they have is to steal anything they can
lay their hands upon, especially from foreigners, and among themselves then make boast thereof, as an ingenious piece of subtlety
and so generally runs this vicious humor through the whole race
of blacks, that great and rich merchants do sometimes practise
;
small filching
at rest
till
for being
come to the trading ships they are not

away something, though it be but
they have taken
which no sooner done, than with a singular slight

of hand ihey convey it from one to another; but if they chance
to be trapped, they all leap instantly overboard for fear of a beating but if caught, and soundly bastinadoed, then, as past doubt
nails, or lead
of other punishment, they never avoid the ship, but

the next day as usual to trade."
come again
Ogilhifs Africa, page 452.
"The men naturally incline to cheating and thieving, but not

so much among themselves as toward strangers, to whom they
are also bloody, barbarous, and unnatural."
Ogilhy^s
Africa^
page 486.
'
The people
of the Grain Coast are very envious of all strangers,
from them whatever they can lay their hands on so

that it behooves all dealers to have a circumspect eye over their
goods and, in some places, they must be careful of themselves,
and
steal
being cannibals, they eat whomsoever they can get into their
power."
Ogilby's Africa, page 415.
for,
tTlNG AS
AN ACCOMPLISHMENT IN
today a
97
AFRICA,
cunning
and deceit of the native African. My people had spread out on
mats, in front of my hut, a quantity of ground-nuts which we had
bought, wiien I observed from the inside of the hut a little urchin,
about four years old, slyly regaling himself with them, keeping
I suddenly
his eyes on me, and believing himself unnoticed,
came out but the little rascal, as quick as thought, seated himself on a piece of wood, and dexterously concealed the nuts he
had in his hand under the joints of his legs and in the folds of his
abdominal skin then looked up to me with an air of perfect innocence. This, thought I, is a bright example of the unsophisti*
I witnessed
striking instance of the inborn
cated children of nature,
whom some
writers love to describe, to
the disadvantage of the corrupted children of civilization
Thiev-
ing, in these savage countries, is not considered an offence against

the community; for no one complains but he who has been
robbed.
My precocious little pilferer would, therefore, have no
teaching to prevent him from becoming an accomplislied thief as
he grew older."
Du Chaillu's Ashango-Laiid, page 190.
*o^
CHAPTER XV.
LYING AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT AMONG THE AFRICANS.
* The truth
not in them, and to be detected in a lie is not the

Clapperton's Africa,
smallest disgrace it only causes a laugh."
is
page
184:.
" Almost every African is guilty of gross exaggeration in his

Lander's
statements, and too many of them areconfirmed liars."
375.
Travels in Africa^ Vol. J., page
**
Lying
is
thought an enviable accomplishment
among
all
the
DUPLICITY AND VENALITY OF THE NEGROES.
98
and a more thorough and unhesitating liar than one of

is not to be found anywhere."
Du CliailliCs Equa*
Africa, page 437.
tribes,
these negroes
iorial
'*
Lj'ing being
more
familiar to their constitution than truth-
saying, they are forever concocting dodges with the view, which
they glory
page
in,
of successfully cheating people."
Speke^s Africa,
28.
**They little esteem any promises made to foreigners, but

break them if they can see any advantage in it in brief, they are
a treacherous, perjured, subtle, and false people, only showing
friendship to those they have most need of."
Ogilby''s Africa,
page 452.
;
CHAPTER XYI.
DUPLICITY AND VENALITY OF THE NEGROES IN NEGROLAND.
**It seems
it
was a custom
in this country (and not j'et entirely
repealed) that whatever commodity a
he may,
to
him
if
man
sells in the
morning,
he repents his bargain, go and have the things returned

money any time before the
again, on his paying back the
same day and this custom is still in force

the
river,
up
but here below it is at present pretty well
very high
worn out. However, I shall here give an account how a gentleman, who had the honor of being at the head of the company's
Not
affiiirs here, was served at this very town of Nackway.
trading
vo}"sloop
on
a
a
years
ago,
he
went
up
in
above twelve
age to Nackway, where he got a hut built, and took his goods
ashore to trade with. It happened that one morning a man
brought a cow to sell to him, which he bought for an iron baiT.
Soon after he bought it, he cut the cow's tail off, which bemg
setting of the sun the
DUPLICITY AND VENALITY OF THE NEGROES.
99
carried to the ears of the fellow that sold the cow, he resolved to
make a handle of it, in order to extort money from the governor.

Accordingly, about noon the same da}^ he came to the port of
in a seeming good-humor, and a great number of
people with him, Mith a plausible story, that, as he was going the
next day to marry one of his daughters to a young man for whom
Nackway,
he had a great regard, and had nothing to make him a present

of, he therefore had thought better of it, and was not Avilling to
sell his cow, as he intended, and so desired he might have it returned to him. The governor, not dreaming of the plot, immediately ordered one of his servants to bring the cow, and return
Accordingly, the cow was proit to the person who brought it.
duced, at which the fellow seemed surprised, and told the governor that that was not his cow. The governor told him it was.
How can that be ? says he my cow had a tail on when I
brought her to you this morning.'
It is very true,' quoth the govwhen I bought her, she had a tail but, when I had paid
ernor
How,' says the fellow, durst you
for her, I cut the tail off.'
have the assurance to cut off my cow's tail without my leave? I
value the cow and her tail at three hundred barrs, and that sum
you shall pay me before you stir from this place.' The governor
was very much out of humor, and endeavored to prove that after
he had paid for the cow she belonged to him but it was all to no
purpose, for every one present gave it against him (expecting to
come in for a snack of the money), and so he was obliged to go to
his store and pay the fellow three hundred barrs for only docking
the cow's tail."
Moore's Liland Parts of Africa, page 122.
*
'
'
'
'
" In morality, according to the more extended sense of the

word, the East African is markedly deficient. He has no benevolence, but little veneration (the negro race is ever irreverent),
and, though his cranium rises high in the region of firmness, his
futility prevents his being firm.
The outlines of law are faintly
traced upon his heart. The authoritative standard of morality,
fixed by a revelation, is in him represented by a vague and varying custom, derived traditionally from his ancestors he follows
;
in their track for old sake's sake.
unknown
murder,
is
His only fear, after committing a treacherous

that of being haunted by the angry ghost of the dead
to him.
is
The accusing conscience

VORACITY AND GLUTTONY OF THE NEGROES.
100
he robs as one doing a good deed, and he begs as if it were his

calling.
His depravity is of the grossest intrigue fills up all
the moments not devoted to intoxication."
Burtoii's Africa^
;
page
496.
"The queen
has slandered and defamed the character of her

In more civilized or rather more
among
the
reasonable
part of mankind, a
polished countries,
mutual interchange of benevolent intentions produces a reciprocand we would hope that the present of yams
ity of kind feeling
from her brother would excite the queen's more generous and
brother to us most shamefully.
affectionate sentiments for him.
slander
other,
is
universal in Africa
Yet
despicable vice of
all speak ill of each

Landefs Travels inAfricat
the people
from the monarch to the slave."
Vol. J.,
this
pageUo,
o*-
CHAPTER
XVII.
REVOLTING VOKACITY AND GLUTTONY OF THE NEGROES IN

NEGROLAND.
Hunger compels them to feed on eveiything edible. Ixias,

wild garlic, mysembryanthemums, the core of aloes, gum of
acacias, and several other plants and berries, some of which are
*
extremely unwholesome, constitute their fruits of the field while

almost every kind of living creature is eagerly devoured,
The poisonous,
lizards, locusts, and grasshoppers not excepted.
as well as innoxious serpents they roast and eat. They cut off
;
the head of the former, which they dissect, and carefully extract
the bags, or reservoirs of poison, which communicate with the
fangs of the upper jaw.
They mingle
it
with the milky juice of

After simmering
the euphorbia, or with that of a poisonous bulb.

for
some time on a slow
fire, it
acquires the consistency of wax,

VORACITY AND GLUTTONY OF THE NEGROES.
with which they cover the points of their arrows."
Africa, page
101
MoffaVs
47.
Eveiy animal is entrapped and eaten. Gins or snares are

seen on both sides of the path, every ten or fifteen yards, for miles
together. The time and labor required to dig up moles and mice
from their burrows would, if applied to cultivation, atford food
*
any amount of fowls or swine but the

for
with."
*'
it is
latter are
seldom met
When
a horde has taken anything in the chase, or by plunder,
concealed as
much
as possible from
all
the others
since
who-
something to be eaten, comes without

any ceremony, or waiting for an invitation to partake of it. As
everything is common property, the booty cannot be withheld, or
a part of it at least, from any one who requires it. Thence the
incredible voracity with which they immediately devour whatever
Lichtensteiri's Africa^ Vol. IL, page 50.
they catch in the chase."
ever learns that there
is
The Bagos are great eaters, and their diet principally consists
of diy fish, swimming in palm oil, which renders it so disgusting
that a European could not touch it. When they kill a sheep, they
mix the skin and entrails, unwashed, with the stews which they
Caillie's
make; they also eat snakes, lizards, and monkeys."
*'
Africa^ Vol. I.,
'*
The
page
166.
Kaffirs eat like ogres, but at a pinch they can easily
three days without food.
I once
saw a clever mischievous
go
Kaffir
named April, hide inside an elephant we had shot that day.

caught two vultures by the legs as they were tearing away at
the carcass, pulled the first inside, and shoved him forward into
the vacant space where the Masaras had taken out the elephant's
Baldwin's
heart, and then proceeded to capture his mate."
lad,
He
Africa,
page 306.
9*

DISLIKE OF THEIR
102
*
'
Hosts of savages by
away
OWN COLOR BY THE NEGROES.
whom we were
the carcasses of the
game we
attended quickly cleared

slew, and then quarrelled for
hope the reader has understood that these barbarians generally devour the meat raw, although when at leisure they
do not object to its being cooked. They usually seize a piece of
flesh by the teeth, cutting a large mouthful of it with a knife close
to the lips, before masticating it, which they do with a loud sputThe meal being finished they never fail to wipe
ter and noise.
their
bodies, and then being generally gorged they
hands
on
their
lay themselves down to repose."
Harris's Expedition into Southem
Afnca, page loO.
the entrails.
CHAPTER
DISLIKE OF THEIR
**
The whole
XVIII.
OWN COLOR BY THE NEGROES
IN
NEGROLAND.
of the colored tribes consider that beauty and fair-
ness are associated, and
women
long for children of light color so

much, that they sometimes chew the bark of a certain tree, in
hopes of producing that effect. To my eye the dark color is much
more agreeable than the tawny hue of
the half-caste, which that
of the Makoloto ladies closely resembles.
The women generally
escape the fever, but they are less fruitful than formerly and to
on account of the dispropor;
their complaint of being undervalued

tion of the sexes, they
dren, of
whom
now add
they are
all
their regrets at the
excessively fond."
want
of chil-
Livingstone''
Africa, page 204.
Katema, the ruler of the village, asked if I could not make

a dress for him like the one I wore, so that he might appear as a
white man when any stranger visited him."
Livingstone^s Africa,
page 517.
**
OWN COLOR BY THE
DISLIKE OF THEIR
NEGROES..
" The people under Bango are divided into a number of
There are
men
One
his councillors, as the highest,
who
103
classes.
are generally head
of several villages, and the carriers, the lowest freemen.

class above the last obtains the privilege of wearing shoes
from the chief by paying for it another, the soldiers or militia,

pay for the privilege of serving, the advantage being that they
are not a,fterward liable to be made carriers. They are also
divided into gentlemen and little gentlemen, and, though quite
black, speak of themselves as white men, and of others who may
;
not'
wear
shoes, as
'
The men
blacks.*
of
all
these
classes trust
wives for food, and spend most of their time in drinking

the palm-toddy."
Livingstone's Africa^ page. 445.
to their
**
The negro
energy of character, in scope of unskill, and in the pracof life, he is hopelessly distanced by the
feels that, in
derstanding, in the exercise of mechanical

tice of all the useful acts
white man."
Wilson^s Africa,
pctg^ 343.
*'The whole court, which was large, was filled, crowded,

crammed with people, except a space in front, where we sat, into
which his highness led Mr. Houston and myself, one in each hand
and there we performed an African dance, to the great delight of
the surrounding multitude. The tout ensemble would doubtless
have formed an excellent subject for a caricaturist, and we regi'etted the absence of Captain Pearce, to sketch off the old black
caboceer, sailing majestically around in his damask robe, with a
train-bearer behind him, and every now and then turning up his
old, withered face, first to myself, then to Mr. Houston; then,
whisking round on one foot then marching slowly, with solemn
gait; twining our hands in his,
proud that a white man should
dance with him."
Clapperton's Africa, Vol. IV., page 199.
;
'*
Zuma, a
me
rich
widow
of
Wava,
the
owner of a thousand
slaves,
husband had been dead these ten years that she

had only one son, and he was darker than herself; that she
loved white men, and would go to Boussa with me."
Clapperton's
Africa, Vol. IV., page 222.
told
that her
DISLIKE OF THEIR
10-4
OWy COLOR BY THE NEGROES.
" The Fonlabs evidently consider

inferiors
Africa,
when
among the white
and,
themselves
page
the negro natives as theif
all
talking of different nations, always rank
people."
Mungo
Parle's Travels in
23.
" Observing the improved
our manufactures, and our

life, Harfa, the intelligent negro merchant, would sometimes appear pensive, and exclaim, with an involuntary sigh, ^Fato fing inta feng^''
black
state of
manifest superiority in the arts of civilized
men
*'
are
good
for nothing."
The women
Mungo Parle's
1st Journal,
page 259.
are well disposed toward strangers of fair com-
plexion, apparently with the permission of their husbands."

Burtoii's Africa,
'*
The
page 216.
Kaffirs believe that white
men
can do anything."
Baldwin^ s Africa, page 266.
"The negro Mohammedans worship God under the name of

they acknowledge Mohammed as a prophet, but do not
Allah
pay him divine honors; they have some
traditions respecting
Jesus Christ, whom they call Nale, the son of Malek, and whom
they speak of as a great prophet, who had wrought wondrous miracles. They denounce as imjîous the doctrine that God could have
carnal conversation with a woman, but have a prophecy of their
own ^that some day they shall be all subdued by a white people."
Eeades Savage Africa, page 354.
"The European
stranger, travelling in their country,
to patronize their wives
and daughters and they

;
dishonored, by his refusing to gratify them.
is
expected
feel hurt, as
The custom
is
if
very
At Gaboon, perhaps it reaches the

one
breath offer the choice between his
acme there a man will in
wife, sister, and daughter. The women of course do as they are
bid by the men, and they consider all familiarity with a white
prevalent along this coast.
;

COURTSHIP^ MARRIAGE,
man
a high
page
'
Western
Ilutcliinson's
105
Africa^ Vol.
11.,
24.
men
honor."
AND CONCUBINAGE,
know the
in fact I
white men, too, said the prince,
they are good
have reason to speak well of them, for I also
am of opinion that they are
white man, and therefore I

blood as ourselves.'
It is in this
manner
that
of the
am
same
Falatahs endeavor
to claim relationship with Em'opeans, though these people are
and this passion

most ridiculous height.
White men, how sorry soever their outward appearance may be,
are certainly considered, not only by Falatahs, but l.)y the native
blacks, as a superior order of beings, in all respects more excellent than themselves. At Yaoorie we recollect having overheard
a conversation between two men, who were quarrelling in the
very height of passion.
What!' exclaimed one of them to his
fellow,
thou pitiful son of a black ant dost thou presume to say
either of a swarthy complexion or black as soot
to be considered fair
is
often carried to a
'
was my father ^ Look at these Christians for as

they are, I am; and such were my ancestors; answer me not, I
say, for I am a white man
The speaker was a negro, and his
skin was the color of charcoal."
Lander's Travels in Africa, Vol.
that a horse
'
II. y
page
79.
CHAPTER XIX.
COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND CONCUBINAGE IN NEGROLAND.
**
The highest aspiration to which an African ever
a large number of wives.
rises is to
His happiness, his reputation,
ence, his position in society, all depend
upon
this.
have
his influ-
The conse-
little better than slaves.

than to administer to the wants
and gratify the passions of their lords, who are masters and owners, rather than husbands.
It is not a little singular, however.
quence
is,
that the so-called wives are
They have no other purpose
in life
COURTSHIP^ MARRIAGE^
106
AND CONCUBINAGE,
upon the burden of whom
degrading instituits continuance

tion mainly
as the men themselves. A woman would infinitely prefer to be
one of a dozen wives of a respectable man, than to be the sole
that the females,
rests, are quite as
representative of a
much
man who had
this
interested in
not force of character to raise
himself above the one- woman level. That such a state of feeling
should exist in the mind of a heathen woman is not surprising.
She has never seen any other state of society nor has she had
any moral or intellectual training that would render such a posi;
tion revolting to her better feelings.
On
the contrary, such
is
the
degradation of her moral character, that she would greatly prefer

would enjoy as
the wider margin of licentious indulgence that she
one of a dozen wives, than the closer inspection
to
would be subjected as the only wife of her household."
which she
Wilson's
Africa, page 112.
"The
wife
is
always purchased; and as
great majority of cases,
when
she
is
this is done, in the

but a child, her wishes, as a
matter of course, are never consulted in

of her whole
Her consent
of dried
is
fish,
plished the
The
life.
to
be
first
won by
this
is
affair
to the mother.
When
this is
accom-
prepared for opening negotiations with the
father and his family,
main question
made
small presents, such as beads, plates
or a few leaves of tobacco.
way
most important
overture must be
who
are the real owners of the child.
The
and indeed the only one about which

whether the applicant is able to pay
the dowry, and will be likely to do so without giving much trouble.
The character of the man, his position in society, his family connections, or circumstances in life, are seldom taken into the account.
The price of a wife is usually three cows, a goat or a sheep, and a
few articles of crockery ware or brass rods, the whole of which
would scarcely exceed twenty dollars. The goat and the smaller
articles go to the mother's family, and the cows belong to
the family of the father, which pass out of their hands without
much delay in payment for a wife for some other member of the
family. Bullocks may be seen passing from village to village,
there
is
much
to be settled,
negotiation,
is
almost
every day, in fulfilment of these matrimonial arrange-
ments."
AND CONCUBINAGE,
107
has a large number of wives he can of course

bestow but a moderate portion of his time upon any one of them.
If it is necessar}' for him to watch his wives, they in turn are not
less jealous of any superabundant attentions that he might confer
"When
man
upon any one of
their
own number.
The
chief business of his
life is to adjust these petty jealousies, and, to a still

greater extent, the quarrels and strifes which are hourly springing
up among the children of the different branches of the same house-
domestic
bold."
Wilson's Africa^ page
l-i4.
' The present King of Dahomey has appropriated no less than

three thousand women to his own use. The number belonging to
his head warriors depends upon their bravery, but no one is allowed to have a number large enough to suggest most remotely
any idea of rivalry with the king. It is well known that many of
the wives of the king must be sacrificed at the death of their lord,
and this, no doubt, is a powerful motive to induce tliem to take
the best care of hhn, and prolong his life as much as possible, but
never deters any from freely entering into this honored relationship."
" The Ashantee wife
not placed on a footing of social equalHer position is a menial one, and she selis
with her husband.

aspires to anything higher than merely to gratify the passions
of her husband. She never takes a seat at the social board with
him. Indeed it would be regarded as a degradation on the part
of the husband. The different women of his household, at a given
ity
dom
among themselves, bring each their quota of food, and set

before their lord, each one taking up a small portion of their
respective dishes and eating it in his presence, as evidence that
concert
it
they have not used poison in the preparation of his food, then
retire to their respective houses, while he partakes of his repast
His smaller children, and generally those of the wives who

have provided his food, gather around him with their little wooden
bowls to receive at his hands a portion of the superabundant supWilson's Africa, page 182.
ply that has been set before him."
alone.
108
"Polygamy
like
AND CONCUBINAGE.
a favorite institution with the Ashantees, and,

it is carried to an extravagant length.
is
everything of the kind,
man's importance in society is rated according to the number of

his wives and slaves and, naturally enough, the only limit known
to the multiplication of them in a country where both can be had
for money, is a man's ability to purchase. In Ashantee the law
limits the king to three thousand three hundred and thirty-three.
;
Whether
No
one
requires
it
is
him
to
come up
to this
mark
is
not known.
permitted to see the wives of the king except female
messengers as he may send, and even these

must communicate Avith them through their bamboo walls. Some
times they go forth in a body through the streets, but are always
preceded by a company of boys, who warn the people to get out
of the way, and avoid the unpardonable offence of seeing the
king's wives. The men especiall}', no matter what their rank,
must get out of the way, and, if they have not had sufficient time
to do this, they must fall flat on the ground and hide their faces
To see one of the king's wives,
until the procession has passed.
even accidentally, is a capital offence and the scene of confusion
which occasionally takes place in the public market, in consequence of the unexpected approach of the royal cortege, is said to
Wilson^s Africa, page 180.
be ludicrous beyond all description."
relatives, or such
*' Married women are extremely superstitious in having their

beds covered with the skins of particular animals when their husbands visit them and never fail to predict the fate and fortune of
a child in consequence of these arrangements. A panther or a
leopard's skin is sure to produce a boy, or nothing. Should the
father be a soldier, and a chief, the boy will be a warrior, bold,
;
and bloody.
together
lion's
skin
is
said to j^revent child-bearing al-
yet exceptions to this rule sometimes occur.
It is
then
and a wonderful one. He puts his foot on the necks

of all the world, and is alike brave, generous, and fortunate."
Denliam and ClappertoTi's Africa, Vol. III., page 182.
alwaj'S a boy,
for a wife.
I said
'
I followed with the
Yes.'
kin":'s
me
would take his daughter

The old woman went out, and
head man. I went to the house of the
*'Yano, Chief of Kiaraa, asked

.
if I
AND CONCUBINAGE.
109
daughter, which consists of several coozies separate from those

of the father, and I was shown into a very clean one a mat was
;
spread I sat down and the lady coming in and kneeling down,
I asked her if she would live in my house, or I should come and
live with her; she said, whatever way I wished; very well, I
said, I would come and live with her, as she had the best house."
ClappertoTfi's Africa, Vol.. IV., page 215.
;
Assulah, the Chief of Chaki, inquired how many wives an

Englishman had. Being told only one, he seemed much astonWhat does he
ished, and laughed greatly, as did all his people.
Assulah has
do,' said he, 'when one of his Avives has a child?
20i.
page
Vol..
IV.,
"
Clapperton's
thousand.'
Africa,
two
*
**
Of wives,
the Chief of
Katunga
said,
know how many,
he himself had plenty,
but he
he did not exactly

hand, they would reach from Katunga
Africa, Vol. IV., page 212.
to
was
sure that, hand to
Jannah."
Clapperton's
tenderness or sociability exists between a married

if they should happen to be slaves, that they
have nothing in common and, though they eat and sleep in the
same hut, they seek a separate livelihood. Perhaps it would be
*
So
little
couple, particularly
speaking within compass to say that

lation in this countr}^ are slaves."
I.,
four-fifths of the
whole popu-
Lajider^s Travels in Africa,
Vol.
page 377.
**
The king
from the
of his elderly wives

likely to
charm of us
solicited a
effects of fire,
to-day, to preserve his house
and cause him
made
become a mother
to
become
rich
while one
a doleful complaint of having been

for the last thirty years,
and begged
piteously for medicine to promote and assist her accouchement.
We
man easily
we conceived
could satisfy the old
chondriacal complaint
with by unprofessional hands.
pitied, for the
enough, but his wife's hypotoo dangerous to be meddled

Poor woman, she is much to be
odd delusion under which she has been laboring so

10
COURTSHIP, MAItniAGE,
110
lono- a time
AND CONCUBINAGE,
has jriven her considerable uneasiness, so that life itAll that we could do for her
to her.
become a bm-den
self has
mind, by telling her that her distemper was

very common, and not at all dangerous; and promising tiiat on
our return this way, should nothing transpire in her favor in the
mean time, we would endeavor to remove the cause of her complaint.
This comforted the aged matron exceedingly, and, in the
fulness of her heart, she burst into tears of joy, dropped on her
knees to express her acknowledgment, and pressed us to accept
was
to soothe her
Lander''
of a couple of goora-nuts."
page
s Travels in Africa, Vol. /.,
193.
**The chief recreations of the natives of Angola are marriages

and funerals. When a young woman is about to be married she
is placed in a hut alone, and anointed with various unguents, and.
many incantations are employed in order to secure good fortune
and fruitfulness. Here, as almost everywhere in the south, the
height of good fortune is to bear sons. They often leave a husband altogether if they have daughters only. In their dances,
where any one may wish to deride another, in the accompanying
song a line is introduced, So and so has no children, and never will get any.' She feels the insult so keenly that it is not uncommon for her to rush away and commit suicide." Livingstone's Africa, page 446.
*
esteem that opportunities of infidelit}^ are often afforded by husbands to some of his
less favorite wives, for the purpose of extorting money and get*'
Female
virtue
ting rid of her.
Coast
is
is
held
in
The common
sixteen dollars.
more than twenty years
little
and at Cape
very seldom purchased when
price of a wife here
A wife
old
so
is
but generally
when
five or six
years
younger, so that very old men have frequently ten or a dozen

Buncaii's Afwives much younger than their own daughters."
rica, Vol. I,,
*In
page
Maopongo
riage the
two
79,
it
was a
prevailing practice that before mar-
parties should live together for
some time, and
AND CONCUBINAGE.
Ill
trial of each other's tempers and inclinations, before they

formed the final engagement. To this system of probation the
people were most obstinately attached, and the missionaries in
vain denounced it, calling upon them at once either to marry or to
separate. The j'oung ladies were always the most anxious to
have the full benefit of this experimental process, and the mothers, on being referred to, refused to incur responsibility, and expose themselves to the reproaches of their daughters, by urging
them to an abridgment of the trial, of which they might afterward repent. The missionaries seem to have been most diligent
in the task, as they call it, of reducing strayed souls to matrimony.' Father Benedict succeeded with no less than six hundred,
but he found it such laborious work that he fell sick and died in
Murray''s African Discoveries, page 55.
consequence."
make
'
'
*'
The Bushmen use no form
in their man'iages.
A young man
courts the object of his affection teazes her in the night time to
take him to be her husband, and will sometimes pull her out of
the hut while asleep, and teaze her till he obtains her consent.
;
He need not ask the consent of her parents, or even tell them,
but at marriage he makes a feast for them, when he gives them a
CamphelVs Africa^
present of a bow and arrows, oi* a skin sack."
page 439.
As the Bosjesman lives without a home, and without property,

the
he must be without the great medium of moral refinement,
A horde commonly consists of the different memsocial union.
bers of one family only, and no one has any power or distinction
**
above the
rest.
Every
difference
is
decided by the right of the
not sanctioned by any law or

The wife is not indissolubly united to her husband
regulation.
but, when he gives her permission, she may go whither she will,
strongest; even the family
tie is
and associate with any other man; nay, the stronger man will
sometimes take away the wife of the weaker, and compel her,
LicJitenstein's Africa,
whether she will or not, to follow him.'"
Vol. II.,
page 48.
COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE,
112
AND CONCUBINAGE,
my remarks upon the languages of these savages, observed, as a thing worthy of notice,
that they seem to have no idea of the distinction of girl, maiden,
and wife they are all expressed by one word alone. I leave
every reader to draw from this single circumstance his own inference with regard to the nature of love, and every kind of moral
feeling among them."
Liclitensteiri's AfHca, Vol. II. page 48.
*'
I have,
on a former occasion,
in
*'When
the
Muata Cazembe
falls in
love with a female, either
from personal observation or from a report of her attractions, he

causes her to be convej'ed to his gauda, where she is compelled
to discover all the objects of her former amours, who, by order
of the Muata, are immediately put to death, and all their property
confiscated. When all objects of jealousy are thus removed by
the Cata-Dofo, or high commissioner of the seraglio, who is the
chief agent in carrying out the orders of the Muata, the new object of his passion
The
sent to join the other ladies of the seraglio.
is
introduction of a
signal for a
is this
number
new
wife into the harem
of deaths
wreak
tims of their hatred."
thus always the
and, indeed, to so great an excess
carried, that the occasion
for the jealous to
is
is
often laid hold of as a pretext
vengeance on the unsuspecting

Valdez's Africa, Vol. 11. page 253.
their
vic-
**The palavers were numerous and difficult to settle. They

related either to runaway wives (a fertile source of ill-will and
blood-shed) or to homicides.
by
accident, satisfaction
When
man
must be given.
not more excusable than wilful murder.
away
wives, the laws are very severe.
is
killed here, if only
Deaths by accident are
...
Any
As regards runwife refusing
to
remain with her husband, or running away, is condemned to have

her ears and nose cut off. Any man debauching his neighbor's
wife has to give a slave to the injured husband, and, if he cannot
pay this fine, he must have his ears and nose cut off. They have
Du CJiaillu's Ashango-Land, page
no laws to punish robbery."
74.
A man
pays goods or slaves for his wife, and regards her,
AND CONCUBINAGE.
Young
therefore, as a piece of merchandise.
dren in arms
are married to old men for
girls
even
political effect.
113
chil-
The
seems unknown to the Africans.

On the sea-shore a man will hire you his mother, wife, or sister,
for the vilest uses, and the women are never averse if they can
we
idea of love, as
understand
it,
only obtain the wages of prostitution,"

Africa^
page
Du
Chaillu's Equatorial
75.
Obedience is the wife's first duty, and it is enforced without

mercy. A whip is made of the hide of the hippopotamus or manatu, and is a barbarous weapon, as stiff, and hard, and heavy as
h'on.
This is laid on with no light hand, the worthy husband
crying out, Rascal, do you think I paid my slaves for you for
The wives are more harshly treated than the slaves
nothing?
a stroke of the whip often leaves a lifelong mark and I saw
very few women in my travels who had not some such marks on
Du Chaillu's Equatorial Africa^ page 382.
their persons."
*'
'
'
**
With usual African
wife on
my
hospitality,
arrival at his place.
my
This
is
kingly friend offered

the
the negroes wish to pay respect to their guests
understand why white men

mere matter of course."
me
common custom when

;
and they cannot
should decline what they consider a
Du
Chaillu^s Equatorial Africa^
page
71.
to such sudden importance among the naneighboring chiefs and kings sent me daily messages of friendship, with trifling gifts that I readily accepted.
One of these lords, more generous and insinuating than the rest,
hinted several times his anxiety for a closer connection in affec*'
had now grown
tives, that the
upon becoming my
had always heard that it was something to receive
the hand of a princess, even after long and tedious wooing; but
now that I was surrounded by a mob of kings, who absolutely
thrust their daughters on me, I confess I had the bad taste not to
tion as well as trade, and, at length, insisted
father-in-law.
leap with joy at the royal offering.

tion, as
Still I
was
in a difficult posi-
no graver offence can be given a chief than to

10*
reject his
114
child.
an insult
It is so serious
AND CONCUBINAGE.
to refuse a wife, that,
high-born
natives, in order to avoid quarrels or war, accept the tender boon,
and as soon as
etiquette permits, pass
it
over to a friend or rela-
was made to me personally by the king, I found

the utmost difficulty in escaping. Indeed, he would receive no
excuse. When I declined on account of the damseFs youth, he
tion.
As
the offer
If I urged the feebleness of my health

and tardy convalescence, he insisted that a regular life of matrimony was the best cordial for an impaired constitution." Canofs
laughed incredulously.
During the whole time that the old lady was at work she was
uttering disjointed remarks to me, and at length proposed, in the
most shameless and barefaced manner, that I should marry her
daughter. I requested to know which of the damsels then present was the proposed bride, and was shown a young lady about
twelve years old, who had very much the appearance of a picked
Cochin-China fowl. I concealed my laughter, and told the old
lady that when this lassie becvame taller, and very fat, I might
then think more seriously of her proposition but as at present I
had not six cows (the required price) handy, I could not entertain the subject. The old lady told me she would get the skin and
bone adorned with fat by the time I came on another visit, and,
for all I know, this black charmer may be now waiting in disapDrayson''s Africa, page 227.
pointed plumpness."
**
always expected to provide a separate house

,for each of his wives; but even this precaution cannot prevent the
quarrels and strife which are continually occurring among the
The wives are never treated as
different wives and children.
to
sit down to a meal with their
allowed
are
not
They
equals.
husbands but after they have prepared their food, they are required in their presence to taste it, to show that it has not been
**
The husband
is
poisoned. This process
Day Dawn
in Africa^
is
called
page
taking off the witch.' "
ScoWs
50.
A man must marry because it is
necessaiy to his comfort, con-
demands
father
for her as
115
a marketable commodity. Her

cows, cloths, and brass-wire
woman becomes
sequently the
AND COXCUBIXAGE,
many
he thus virtually sells her, and

she belongs to the buyer, ranking with his other live-stock. The
husband may sell his wife, or, if she be taken from him by another
bracelets as the suitor can afford
is ruled by what she would fetch

Polygamy is unlimited, and the
pride themselves upon the number of their wives, varying
man, he claims her value, which

in the slave-market.
chiefs
from twelve
woman
to
to three
hundred.
It is
no disgrace for an unmarried
become the mother of a family."
Burton's
Africay
page 493.
" There is no such thing as love in those countries, the feeling is

not understood, nor does it exist in the shape in which we understand it. Everything is practical, without a particle of romance.
are so far appreciated as they are valuable animals. They
grind the corn, fetch the water, gather firewood, cement the floors,
cook the food, and propagate the race but they are mere servants, and as such are valuable. The price of a good-looking,
Women
young wife, who could carry a heavy jar of water, would

thus a man, rich in cattle, would be rich in domestic
cows
be ten
strong,
bliss, as
he could
command a
multiplicity of wives.
The simple
one daughter is worth ten

cows, ten daughters must be worth a hundred, therefore a large
family is the source of wealth the girls produce the cows, and
the boys milk them. All being perfectly naked (I mean the girls
and the boys) there is no expense, and the children act as herdsmen
Baker's Great Basin of
to the flocks as in the patriarchal times."
rule of proportion will suggest that
if
the Nile,
page
148.
of Katchiba's wives had no children, and she came to me

to apply for medicine to correct some evil influence that had
lowered her in her husband's estimation. The poor woman was
*
One
and complained that Katchiba was very cruel to

been unable to make an addition to his family,
had
she
because
her
but that she was sure I possessed some charm that would raise
her to the standard of his other wives. I could not get rid of her
until I gave her the first pill that came to hand from my medicine-
in gi-eat distress,
COURTSHIP, MARJilAGE,
116
chest,
and with
Basin of
AND CONCUBINAGE.
she went away contented."

page 216.
this
the Nile,
Baker's
Great
When a man becomes too old to pay sufficient attention to his

numerous young wives, the eldest son takes the place of his
Bakefs Great Basin of the
father and becomes his substitute."
Nile, page 50.
*
Negro women can
*'
gratify the desire of a libertine, but they
can never inspire a passion of the

love which must sometimes
tivated
man.
black skin,
for
which
soul,
gnaw
nor feed that hunger of
the heart of a refined and cul-
The negress has beauty,
beauty in
spite of
fools
might fling their fortunes to the dogs.

and loving in her own poor way.
gentle, and faithful,

is
the coy glance, the tender sigh, the timid blush
intellect,
her
which might create a furore in our demi-monde, and
which
is
And
she
is
But where
Where
the
is
the light within the crystal lamp, the genius
No, no, the negress is not a woman she is a

?
parody of woman; she is a pretty toy, an affectionate brute,
that is all."
Meade's Savage Africa, page 210.
within the clay
is
When
the Kino: of
put to death.
(for
it
seems that
She
all
Conô takes a fresh concubine, her husband

forced to give the names of her lovers
is
the married
women have
lovers),
and these
are also executed." Headers Savage Africa, page 286.
"
Equatorial savages of Africa should have

a remarkable antipathy to widows. Women never marry twice
they are compelled to go on the town on the death of their husIt is curious that the
.
band, and to pay all their earnings to their brothers.
he
visitor,
as
his
wives
to
a
should
offer
one
of
husband
That a
offers him a seat in his house and at his table, argues a want of
.
refinement only.
But the husband who uses
his wife, as is
done
over Africa, to decoy young men to ruin, slavery, and death,

practises a vice which seldom occurs among civilized nations."
all
Beade's Savage Africa,
page 218.
117
MUMBO JUMBO IN NEGROLAND.
In many parts of Africa, no marriage can be ratified till a jury

have pronounced a verdict of purity on the bride and
matrons
of
of capability on the husband. In other parts, especially in the
'
malarious
localities,
where women are so frequently
sterile,
no
one cares to marry a girl till she has produced a child. This has
given rise to a supposition that they prefer a wife who has earned
a little experience in dissipation. The real reason is, that if they
marry they must pay a high price for their wife. This price they
hope to regain by the sale of the children which she will bear."
Eeade's Savage Africa, page 425.
CHAPTER XX.
MUMBO JUMBO
IN NEGKOLAND.
**0n the 6th of May, at night, I was visited by a Mumbo

Jumbo, an idol, which is among the Mandingoes a kind of a cunning mystery. It is dressed in a long coat made of the bark of
trees, with a tuft of fine straw on the top of it, and when the person wears it, it is about eight or nine feet high. This is a thing
invented by the men to keep their wives in awe, who are so ignorant (or at least are obliged to pretend to be so) as to take it for
a wild man and indeed no one but he who knows it would take
it to be a man, by reason of the dismal noise it makes, and which
but few of the natives can manage. It never comes abroad but
;
in the niirht time,
which makes
ever the
men have any
Jumbo
sent for to determine
is
favor of the men.
it
have the better
dispute with the
Whoever
it
is
which
is,
may
this
When
hide themselves
the
in the coat, can order the others

;
but
it
into its
hear it coming, they run away and

you are acquainted with the person who
women
but if
has the coat on, he will send for them
;
Mumbo
say, always in
to do what he pleases, either fight, kill, or make prisoner

must be observed, that no one is allowed to come armed
presence.
When-
effect.
women,
all to
come and
sit
down,

FUNERAL AND BURIAL RITES,
118
them and if any refuse

and then whip them.
When a man has been a day or two from home, the wife
salutes him on her knees at his return, and, in the same posture,
she always brings him water to drink. This, I believe, is the
effect of, what I before mentioned, Mumbo Jumbo."
Moore's
116-122.
page
Inland Parts of Africa,
and sing or dance, as he pleases
to order
to come, he will send the people for them,

.
** Among the Mandingoes, if a married woman is suspected of

being unfaithful to her husband, the aid of Mumbo Jumbo is put
in requisition. This mysterious personage, so frightful to the
whole race of African matrons, is a strong, athletic man, disguised
in dry plantain leaves, and bearing a rod in his hand, which he
uses on proper occasions with most unsparing severity. Whea
invoked by an injured husband, he appears about the outskirts of
the village at dusk, and commences all sorts of pantomimes.
After supper, he ventures to the town hall, where he commences
his antics, and every grown person, male or female, must be present, or subject themselves to the suspicion of having been kept
away by a guilty conscience. The performance is kept up until
midnight, when Mumbo suddenly springs with the agility of the
tiger upon the offender, and chastises her most soundly, amidst the
shouts and laughter of the multitude, in which the other women
join more heartily than anybody else, with the view, no doubt, of
raising themselves above the suspicion of such infidelity."
Wil-
sorCs Africa, page 76.
CHAPTER XXI.
FUNERAL AND BURIAL RITES
IN
NEGROLAND.
Drums were beating, horns blowing, and people were seen

running in one direction. The cause was a funeral dance, and
I joined the crowd, and soon found myself in the midst of the en*
all
FUNERAL AND BURIAL RITES.

tertainment.
119
The dancers were most grotesquely got up.
About
a dozen huge ostrich feathers adorned their hehiiets

cither
leof)ard or the black and white monkey skins were suspended
from their shoulders, and a leather tied round the waist covered a
large iron bell, which was strapped upon the loins of each dancer
like a woman's old-fashioned bustle.
This they rung to the time
of the dance by jerking their posteriors in tlie most aljsurd manner. Every dancer wore an antelope's horn suspended round the
neck, which he blew occasionally in the height of his excitement.
These instruments produced a sound partaking of the braying of
a donkey and the screech of an owl. Crowds of men rushed
round and round in a sort of galop infernel,' brandishing their
lances and iron-headed maces, and keeping tolerably in line five
or six deep, following the leader who headed them, dancing backwards. The women kept outside the line, dancing a slow, stupid
step, and screaming a wild and most inharmonious chant."
Baker^s Great Basin of the Nile, page 165.
;
'
had noticed, during the march from Latome, that the

town was announced by heaps of human remains. Bones and skulls formed a Golgotha within a quarter of
a mile of every village. Some of these were in earthenware pots,
generally broken others lay strewn here and there, while a heap
in the centre showed that some form had originally been observed
in their disposition.
This was explained by an extraordinary
custom most rigidly obseiwed by the Latookas. Should a man
be killed in battle the body is allowed to remain where it fell, and
is devoured by the vultures and hyenas
but should he die a natural death, he or she is buried in a shallow grave within a few
**
vicinity of every
own
feet of his
dwelling."
"The
door, in a
little
court-yard that surrounds each-
Bakers Great Basin of
chiefs of
Unyamwezi
the Nile,
page 142.
generally are interred by a large
assemblage of their subjects with cruel rites. A deep pit is sunk,

with a kind of vault or recess projecting from it; in this the
corpse, clothed with skin and hide, and holding a bow in the
right hand,
stool,
is placed sitting, with a pot of pombe, upon a dwarfwhile sometimes one, but more generally three, female
FUNERAL AND BURIAL
120
RITES.
slaves, one on each side and the third in front, are buried alive to
preserve their lord from the horrors of solitude. A copious libation of pombe upon the heaped-up earth concludes the ceremony."
Burton's Africa, page^ 296.
The great headmen of Wadoc are buried almost naked, but

retaining their bead-ornaments, sitting in a shallow pit, so that
the fore-finger can project above the ground. With each man are
interred alive a male and a female slave, the former holding a billhook, wherewith to cut fuel for his lord in the cold death-world,
and the latter, who is seated upon a little stool, supports his head
in her lap."
"At
Barton^
Africa,
page
98.
women having
appeared and formed

a circle, one advanced into the midst, having a child tied on her
back, and went wriggling about on her heels, with her head and
hands inclined toward the ground. Her companions sang Fantee
songs
this funeral, the
some struck pieces of
first
iron together, three others clashed
hands calabashes surrounded with a loose net-work of

beads and meanwhile, men beat drums with their fingers in the
background. Next half a dozen wild-looking men appeared,
who seemed to be under the excitement of liquor, and their waistcloths trailing in the dust. They roared out songs rushed madly
ten or a dozen yards up the street, twisting violently their
shoulders, arms, and legs
then wheeled round and returned,
stopping and circling on their hams, whilst musicians beat drums
and dry sticks, and loudly joined in the chorus."
Alexa7ider^s
Africa, Vol. I., page 188.
in their
;
The Kaffirs
nations in their
difi'er
very materially from
manner
all
the neighboring
of disposing of the dead.
Funeral
rites
are bestowed only on the bodies of their chiefs, and of their

children.
The
own
first
dung
where
are generally interred very deep in the
accumulated in the kraals or places

and the bodies of infants are most
commonly deposited in the ant-hills that have been excavated by
the ant-eaters.
The common people are exposed to be devoured
of their
cattle
they are pent up at nights
FUNERAL AND BURIAL RITES.

by wolves.
As
these animals drag
121
them away immediately
their dens, the relations of the deceased are in
into
no danger of being
shocked or disgusted with the sight of the mangled carcass.

Kaffir, in consideration of this piece of service holds the life of
a
wolf to be sacred, at least, he never endeavors to destro}' it the
consequence of which is, that the country swarms with this voraBarrow's Africa^ Vol. I. page
cious and destructive animal."
;
174.
On
way home,
saw the corpse of a young slave, about

twelve years of age, slung to a pole, and carried by two men.
*'
our
This led to the disclosure of a fact, of which I had hitherto been

namely, that all slaves, except a few favored ones, are
considered not worth the trouble of a decent burial, and are consequently taken, and thrown into the water which runs round the
ignorant
town, where they are eaten by the thousands of fishes which the
river contains."
**
out
Every one
monument
Freemaii's Africa, po.g^ 135.
is
own house, withamong the commonalty the

as usual but among the great there is
The
is ever after abandoned.
buried under the floor of his
or memorial; and
house continues occupied
more refinement, and
it
bodies of slaves are dragged out of town, and
left
a prey to vultures
and wild beasts. In Kano they do not even take the trouble to
convey them beyond the walls, but throw the corpse into the
Clapperioii's Africa, Vol. IV.,
morass or nearest pool of water."
page 55.
A death had occuiTed in a village about a mile off, and the

people were busy beating drums and firing guns. There is noth"
ino:
more
heartrendino^
than
their
death- wails.
When
the
natives turn their eyes to the future world, they have a view
cheerless enough of their own utter helplessness and hopelessness. They fancy themselves completely in the power of the
disembodied spirits, and look upon the prospect of following them
as the greatest of misfortunes. Hence they are constantly depre-
cating the wrath of departed souls, believing that,

11
if
they are
INDOLENCE AND IMPROVIDENCE,
122
appeased, there
may
is
no other cause of death but witchcraft, which

Livingstone's Africa, page 'kll
be averted by charms."
One never expects to iind a grave nor a stone of remembrance set up in Africa; the very rocks are illiterate."
Living^
**
stone's Africa^
page 233.
Vr
CHAPTER XXII.
INDOLENCE AND IMPROVIDENCE OF THE NEGEOES.
*
The
natives are so lazy that at times the merchants cannot,
without great difficulty, get men to load or unload their ships.

is a very serious grievance, and often exposes our merchants
to great difficulties as well as loss.
One English laborer,
This
on an average, does more work than any twelve Africans and

the provision of the latter being so cheap (one penny per day is
sufficient for their supjDort), they have always plenty to eat.
I am
writing from actual observation, having had for three months a
number of hired men under my charge.
If a man is
urged to do anything like a tenth part of a day's work, he will go
away, and steal sufficient to maintain him for some time consequently, the towns on the coast abound with thieves and vagabonds, who will not work."
Buncan^s Africa, Vol. I., page 40.
;
...
**
Even
means of
indolent by
the free negroes labor merely to acquire the
Negroes are
They perform their
tasks carelessly, and have no idea of attention and iDunctuality,
two qualities indispensable for a good servant. If a service is
asked of a neofro, he commonlv shows g-reat readiness to undertake it, being stimulated with the hope of reward, but he has no
gi'atifying
their
animal enjoyment.
nature, and therefore indisposed to labor.
idea that a service quickly executed has double value.
He
returns
123
in as many hours as he should have taken minutes, and is quite

surprised at being found fault with for his slowness. He will
make no secret of his having in the mean time taken a stroll,
visited
a friend, stoj^ped at an inn, or perhaps performed some

The negro thinks it is quite enough to have per-
other work.
formed the service

of no moment."
as to
when
Burmeister''s
or how, he considers that a matter
Black Man^ page
15.
Laziness is inherent in these people, for which reason, although

extremely powerful, they will not work unless compelled to do so.
They have no love for truth, honor, or honesty."
Speke^s Africa, page 27.
The negro has been, and still is, thoroughly misunderstood.

However severely we may condemn the homble system of slavery,
**
the results of emancipation have proved that the negro does not
appreciate the blessings of freedom, nor does he show the slightest feeling of gratitude to the hand that broke the rivets of his
fetters.
His narrow mind cannot embrace that feeling of pure
philanthropy that first prompted England to declare herself
against slavery, and he only regards the anti-slavery movement
as a proof of his own importance. In his limited horizon he is
himself the important object, and as a sequence to his self-conceit,

he imagines that the whole world is at issue concerning the black
man. The negro, therefore, being the imjDortant question, must
be an important person, and he conducts himself accordingly,

he is far too great a man to work. Upon this point his natural
character exhibits itself most determinedly.
Accordingly, he
any attempt at coercion being free, his first impulse is to

claim an equality with those wliom he lately served, and to usurp
a dignity with absurd pretensions, that must inevitably insure the
disgust and abhorrence of the white community."
jBaA;er's Qreat
Basin of the Nile, page 197.
resists
"My
next eflfort was to procure laborers, for whom I invoked

the aid of Fana-Foro and the neighboring chiefs. During two
days, forty negroes, whom I hired for their food and aê/- diem of
124
'
twenty cents, wrote
faithfully
under
my
direction
stant task of felling trees, digging roots,
was
but the con-
and clearing ground
so unusual for savages, that the entire gang, with the excep-
tion of a dozen, took their
pay
in
rum and
tobacco, and quitted me.
A couple of
days more devoted to such endurance drove off the

remaining twelve, so that on the fifth day of my philanthropic
was left in my solitary hut with a single attendant. I

undertaken a task altogether unsuited to people whose
idea of earthly happiness and duty is divided between palm oil,
concubinafre, and sunshine. I found it idle to remonstrate with
the king about the indolence of his subjects. Fana-Toro enterenterprise I
had, alas
tained very nearly the
same opinion
as his slaves.
He
declared
and perhaps very sensibly that white men were fools to work
from sunrise to sunset every day of their lives nor could he comprehend how negroes were expected to follow their example
;
nay,
it
was not the
fashion of Africa
'
and, least of
could
all,
how a man possessed of so much merchanand property, would voluntarily undergo the toils I Avas preFor a while I tried the effect of
paring for the future.
rum, tobacco, and coin, could
but
an
increase
of
wages
higher
not string the nerves or cord the muscles of Africa. Four men's
labor was not equivalent to one day's work in Europe or America.
why
The negro's philosophy was both natural and self-evident:
Canofs
should he work for pay when he could live without it ? "
his majesty conceive
dise
**
writer in the 'Southern Planter and Farmer' states that
a gentleman
in Charlotte county, Virginia, thus tested the
parative results of white and black labor.
He
com-
furnished thirteen
negroes with mules and implements and provisions to raise a crop,

and at the same time furnished an outfit to two white men. The
negroes raised ninety-four barrels of corn, seven stacks of oats, and
five thousand pounds of tobacco. The two white men, with a little
negro girl to cook for them, raised one hundred and twelve and a
half barrels of corn, ten stacks of oats, and eight thousand pounds
tobacco. The negroes returned the mules in a poor, emaciated
The white men turned theirs over fat and sleek. The
negroes worked four mules, the whites two. The gentleman
To show
referred to will, this year, work white men exclusively.
condition.

TIMIDITY
AND COWARDICE OF THE NEGROES.
125
the improvidence of the negroes, he said the cart and mules

at their service to haul
Baleigh (N. C.)

*'
wood
to labor,
to get
made very
tardy i^rogress in these
the black inhabitants of which are so indisposed
and so wedded
them
Register, Jan. 17, 1868.
Civilization hitherto has
African wilds
were
yet they preferred to burn rails."
to settle
turists or as artisans
to their
down
;
nomadic
habits, that
it is
difficult
to industrious habits, either as agricul-
to say nothing of the colonist being obliged
to be at all times jDrepared to oppose their predatory incursions."
Valdez's Africa, Vol. II.,
page 109.
" The great national vice of the Africans is their indolence,

They have no athletic sports. They wonder at the white man who
walks to and fro from the mere love of walking."
Pieade's
Savage Africa, page 448.
*'
me
saw a man
afflicted
with palsy
for a remedy, but I could only
self every
day
in
warm
water,
in his head.
recommend him
He
applied to
to bathe him-
which will never be done for

perform any labor of
kind,
Puchardsoti's Africa, II.
;
these people are too indolent to
even if it be
page 303.
this
to save their lives."
CHAPTER
TIMIDITY
Vol.
XXIII.
** In their warfare, cunning

has a most important part. They
laugh at the courage of the white man, who faces his enemy, and
delight most in ambushes and sudden surprises. If one has a
quarrel with another, he lies in wait for him, shoots him as he is
11*
TIMIDITY AND COWARDICE OF THE NEGROES.
126
passing by the way, and immediately retreats. Then, of course,

the dead man's friends take up his quarrel then ensue other am^
bushes and murders frequently a dozen villages are involved in
the palaver, and the killing and robbing goes on for months and
;
even years, each party acting as occasion

Equatorial Africa^ page 195.
offers."
Du Chaillu's
" The wamors of this part of Africa

with the exception of
with courage. They
overstocked
not
are
Osheba
and
Fans
the
cowardly, and seem
and
cruel
inhumanly
applaud tricks that are
to be quite incapable of open hand-to-hand fight. To surprise
man, woman, or child in sleep, and kill them then to lie in ambush in the woods for a single man, and kill him by a single spearthrust before he can defend himself; to waylay a woman going to
the spring for water, and kill her or to attack on the river a ca-
these are the

noe much smaller and weaker than the attackers,
warlike feats I have heard most praised, and seen oftenest done
in this part of Africa."
" In war, they show no bravery, although on the hunt they are
certainly brave enough. They despise boldness and admire cunning prefer to gain by treachery, if possible have no mercy or
consideration for the enemy's women and children and are cruel
Du Chaillu''s Equatorial A/Hca,
to those who full in their power."
;
page 379.
a dispoBesides cowardice, their principal fault is thieving,

amiss
to
comes
nothing
and
sition which they never fail to evince
them, from wholesale robbery to petty prigging. Like the true
**
coward, too, they are bullies when they meet those more timid
Eutcliinson's Africa, Vol. II., page 22.
than themselves."
* During the war, which has continued these four months, the
on the part of the Yaoorie has been about a half-dozen men
killed, and the slaughter on the part of the rebels, it is said, has
been no less. This sanguinary contest is a specimen of their war-
loss
TIMIDITY
127
fare, so that there will never be any great danger of depopulation

from foreign wars or domestic broils.
The great war/
for wliich there was said to have been such mighty preparations
in Nouffie, and which caused so much consternation in this city
an evening or two ago, has terminated in the capture of a herd of
the King of Wowow's bullocks near the walls of his town."
Lander'' s Travels in Africa^ Vol. I., pages 273, 275.
.
'
*'
About two
o'clock, as I
was lying asleep upon a
bullock's hide
behind the door of the hut, I was awakened by the screams of

women, and a general clamor and confusion among the inhabitants.
At
I suspected that the
first
tered the town
but observing
my
Bambawans had
boy upon the
toj)
actually en-
of one of the
him to know what was the matter. He informed

Moors were come a second time to steal the cattle,
and that they were now close to the town. I mounted the roof of
the hut, and observed a large herd of bullocks coming toward
the town, followed by five Moors on horseback, who drove the
cattle forward with their muskets.
When they had reached the
Udells, which are close to the town, the Moors selected from the
herd sixteen of the finest beasts, and drove them off at a gallop.
During this transaction the town people, to the number of five
hundred, stood collected close to the walls of the town; and when
the Moors drove the cattle awaj^ though they passed within pistol-shot of them, the inhabitants scarcely made a show of resistance. I saw only four muskets fired, which, being loaded with
gunpowder of the negroes' own manufacture, did no execution.'*
Mungo Park's 1st Journal, page 85.
huts, I called to
me
that the
*'In an attempt to storm or subdue Cooniah, the capital of the
Ghoober, the number of fighting men

brought before the town could not, I think, have been less than
fifty or sixty thousand, horse and foot, of which the foot amounted
to more than nine-tenths.
For the depth of more than two hundred yards, all round the walls, was a dense circle of men and
horses. The horse kept out of the reach of bow-shot, while the
foot went up, as they felt courage or inclination, and kept up a
struggling fire with about thirty muskets and the shooting of arrebellious province of

TIMIDITY
128
These fellows, whenever they fired their pieces, ran

out of bow-shot to load. All of them were slaves; not a single
Felatah had a musket. The enemy kept np a sure and slow fight,
seldom throwing away their arrows, until they saw an opportunity
of letting fly with effect. Now and then a single horseman would
gallop up to the ditch, and brandish his spear, taking care to cover
himself with his large leathern shield, and return as fast as he
rows.
went, generally calling out

party,
'
Shields to the wall
when he got among his own

You people of Godado, why don't
lustily,
'
'
To which some voices would call out,

you hasten to the wall ?
* Oh
The cry of
you have a good large shield to cover you
was constantly heard from the several chiefs
Shields to the wall
to their troops but they disregarded the call, and neither chiefs
nor vassals moved from the spot.
At the conclusion of
this memorable battle, in which nothing was concluded, the whole
army set off in the greatest confusion, men and quadrupeds tumbling over each other, and upsetting everything that fell in their
Clappertoii's Africa^ Vol. IV. page 242.
way."
'
'
'
...
These unfortunate people seldom think of defending their

them up, and by that means gain time
Denham and Clapperton's Africa, Vol. II., page 121.
to escape."
**
habitations, but rather give
**It is only self-interest that
makes the African brave.
seen a small cow, trotting up with
tail erect,
hundred and fifty men carrying goods not

Africa, page 242.
"
It is confidently stated
Kongo
I have
break aline of one
their
own."
Burton's
by the missionaries that the King of

army of nine hundred thousand
raised the incredibly large
They say very little, however, for the bravery or discipline of this immense army, when they add that the main division of it was entirely routed by four hundred Portuguese muskemen.
teers."
Wilsoji's Africa,
"Twenty
page 322.
whites will put to flight a thousand Congoans."
Ogilbifs Africa,
page
533.
TIMIDITY
129
was
fortunately enabled to buy two camels instead of sumpwhich give great trouble on the road during the dry
season, especially if not properly attended to, and prepared everything for my journey but the people in these countries are all
cowards, and as I was to go alone without a caravan, I was un**
ter oxen,
able to find a
"I
good servant."
witnessed their
Port Royal, and
was
drill
BartlCs Africa, Vol.
I.,
page 503.
exercise a short time before leavino-
truly amusing.
During the exercises, they

manual of arms, and loading and firing
blank cartridge and when the command, Fire,' was given, nearly
one half of the line squatted and dropped down, frightened at the
noise of the guns in their own hands. I also conversed with sevpractised
them
it
in the
'
They told me they never expected it of the Yanmake them fight that they could not fight
Me drap
down gone dead, I get so skeered." Correspondence of a
eral of them.
kees to
right
Michigan
officer to the
National Intelligencer, August 13, 1862.
Of the negroes at Plarper's Ferry, and especially of those negroes who were more immediately concerned with John Brown
n bis Harper's Ferry raid, and who were afterward captured
and punished, the general newspaper accounts of that time
concur in representing them all (so very unlike their fearless
but misguided Anglo-American leaders) as the complete
victims of cowardice and trepidation. Thus
:
" The blacks made no resistance, but begged for mercy. . .

They ran with all the swiftness that their fears could excite.
Green, the negro, is a large man, with a very bad countenance and expression, and a most arrant coward. He cringes
.
and begs
every person
to
who approaches him."
How
the negi'o troops behaved on the occasion of the

attempt to blow up Petersburg, Virginia, on the 30th of July,
1864, may be seen by reference to the following Federal ac-
count from the regular army correspondent of a
newspaper
New York
AFRICAN ANECDOTES.
130
" The
rebels, exasperated at sight of the negroes, fought with
the fury of devils, and, reinforcements coming to their aid, the tide
of battle turned.
them
The colored
troops gave
way and broke
in con-
when
the rebels, having repulsed their charge, charged
in turn,
and then they ran, a terror-stricken, disordered mass
fusion,
of fugitives, to the rear of our white troops.
endeavored to rally them with
and
Whatever
pistol.
all
In vain their officers

the persuasion of tongue, sabre,
discredit attaches to the negroes
selves, their white officers are
them-
beyond reproach."
CHAPTER XXIV.
AFRICAN ANECDOTES.
*
So long
as the negro can laugh, he cares
the joke goes."
*'
little
against
whom
The enraged wife rushed out to seek her supposed rival, and
Women's fights in this country always begin by
battle ensued.
throwing
their
off their dengui, that
is,
stripping themselves en-
The challenger having thus denuded herself, her

enemy showed pluck and answered the challenge by promptly
doing the same so that the two elegant figures immediately went
tirely
naked.
and nail, for they fought like cats, and between the rounds reviled each other in language the most filthy
that could possibly be uttered. Mayolo being asleep in his house,
and no one seemingly ready to interfere, I went myself and separated the two furies*""
Du Chaillu's Ashango-Land, page 187.
at
it,
**
any
literally tooth
No
one can rely upon them even for a moment. Dog wit, or
remark, will set them giggling. Any toy will amuse
Highly conceited of their personal appearance, they are
silly
them.
forever cutting their hair in different fashions, to surj^rise a friend
or
if
a rag be thrown away, they will
all in
turn fight for
it
to
AFEICAX AXECDOTES.
131
bind on their heads, then on their loins or spears, peacocking

about with it before their admiring comrades."
Speke's Africa,
page 29.
" Should one happen to have anything specially to communicate to his master in camp, he will enter giggling, sidle up to
the pole of a hut, commence scratching his back with it, then
stretch and yawn, and gradually, in bursts of loud laughter, slip
dow^n to the ground on his stern, when he drums with his hands
on the top of a box until summoned to know what he has at heart,
when he delivers himself in a peculiar manner, laughs and yawns
again, and, saying it is time to go, walks off in the same way as
ho came."
Speke's Africa, page 29.
we sat in the shade together,

returned again, but were all dumb, because my
interpreters dared not for their lives say anything, even on my
*'
Proceeding to another court,
when
the
women
account, to the king's women.

Getting tired, I took out my
sketch-book and drew Lubuga, the pet, which amused the king
immensely, as he recognized her cockscomb. Then twenty naked

virgins, the daughters of Wakungu, all smeared and shining with
grease, each holding a small square of calico for a fig-leaf, marched
in a line before us, as a fresh addition to the harem, whilst the
hapiDy fathers floundered, yauzigging on the gi'ound, delighted to
find their darlings appreciated by the king.
Seeing this done in
such a quiet, mild way before all my men, who dared not lift
their heads to see it, made me burst into a roar of laughter, and
the king, catching the infection from me, laughed as well but the
laughing did not end there,
for the pages, for once giving way
to nature, kept bursting,
my men chuckled in sudden gusts,
while even the women, holding their mouths for fear of detection
responded,
and we all laughed together. Then a sedate old
dame rose from the squatting mass, ordered the virgins to rightabout, and marched them off, showing their still more naked
reverses."
A negro
dwarf,
who measured
three feet all but an inch, the
AFRICAN ANECDOTES,
132
keeper of Princess Miram's keys, sat before her with the insignia
of oflice on his shoulder, and richly dressed in Soudan tobes.
This little person afforded us a subject of conversation and much
laughter. Miram inquired whether we had such little fellows in
my country and when I answered in the affirmative, she said,
*
Ah, o-ieb what are they good for? Do they ever have children ?
I answered, * Yes that we had instances of their being fathers to
I thought
she replied
Oh, wonderful
tall and proper men.'
given
have
for
I
of
mine
dog
than
this
better
must
be
so they
;
'
'
'
'
my
handsomest and youngest slaves, but it is all to

no purpose. I would give a hundred bullocks and twenty slaves
to the woman who would bear this wretch a child,' The wretch,
and an ugly wretch he was, shook his large head, grinned, and
slobbered copiously from his extensive mouth, at this flattering
him
eight of
proof of his mistress' partiality."
page
Benhain's Africay
Vol.
III.,
3.
Their supreme happiness consists in having an abundance of

meat. Asking a man, who was more grave and thoughtful than
his companions, what was the finest sight he could desire, he
instantly replied, A great fire covered with pots full of meat,'
MoffaVs Afriadding, How ugly the fire looks without a pot "
**
'
'
ca,
page 306.
"They
some
things, one of which is,

sweet milk which they buy
of them, they will not, for any consideration, sell that person any
more, because they say that boiling the milk makes the cows
Moore's Inland Parts of Africa^ page 35.
dry."
that
if
are very superstitious in
they
know anybody
boils the
"During
my
absence, a French captain,
man,
was
"with
'
of our
donkey, which he brought

I at once
long-eared convenience on Prince Free-
most attentive friends, had

from the Cape de Verds, for
resolved to bestow the
who was one
left
my
especial delectation.
'
not only as a type, but a testimonial; yet, before a

over, the unlucky
week
quadruped reappeared at my quarters,

it might do well enough for
a message from the prince, that
AFRICAN ANECDOTES.
133
a bachelor like me, but its infernal voice was enough to cause the
miscarriage of an entire harem, if not of every honest women
throughout his jurisdiction. The superstition spread like wildfire.
The women were up
arms against the beast and I had no rest

by despatching it to Monrovia, where
till
the dames and damsels Avere not afraid of donkeys of any dimensions."
Canofs Twenty Years of an African Slaver page 2>lb,
in
I got rid of its serenades
" The women, in order not to accustom themselves to much

talking or scolding, take every morning, betimes, a little water in
their mouths, which they keep there till all their household work
is done
but then putting it out, give their tongues free liberty."
;
Ogilby's Africa, page 364.

"When
birds and
amongst
was busy preparing some skins of

amount of jesting
One fellow, more inquisitive and imper-
the chief arrived, I
snakes, which caused no small
his followers.
tinent than the rest, approached close to
the reptiles by the
tail,
held
it
me, and, seizing one of

up before the multitude, which
were now thronging my tent to inconvenience, and, addressing to

it some unintelligible words, the whole assembly burst out into a
deafening roar of laughter. Indeed, the mirth became so outrageous as to throw the party into convulsions, many casting
themselves at full length on the ground, with their hands tightly
clasped across their stomachs as if in fear of bursting, whilst their
greasy cheeks became furrowed with tears trickling down in
streams."
Andersson's Africa, page 345.
The
ideas of a Namaqua, as to the formation and rotary

motion of the heavenly bodies, if not very profound, are unquestionably very original. The sun, by some of the people of this
benighted land, is considered to be a mass of fat, which descends
nightly to the sea, where it is laid hold of by the chief of a white
man's ship, who cuts away a portion of tallow, and, giving
**
the rest a kick,
it bounds away, sinks under the wave, goes round

below, and then comes up again in the east."
Andersson''s Africa, page 257.
12
FAILURE OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES,
134
CHAPTER XXV.
UTTER FAILURE AND INUTILITY OF ALL MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES
IN NEGROLAND.
"The Austrian mission-station of St. Croix consists of about

twenty grass huts on a patch of dry ground close to the river.
The church is a small hut, but neatly arranged, Herr Morlang,
chief of the establishment, acknowledged, with great feeling, that
the mission was absolutely useless among such savages that he
;
had worked with much zeal for many years, but that the natives
were utterly impracticable. They wêre far below the brutes, as
the latter show signs of affection to those who are kind to them
while the natives, on the contrary, are utterly obtuse to all feelings of gratitude. He described the people as lying and deceitthe more they receive the more they
ful to a superlative degree
Twenty or thirty of
desire, but in return they will do nothing.
;
these disgusting, ash-smeared, stark-naked brutes,

clubs of hard
station.
wood brought
.
to a point,
Near by are
who have
were lying
armed with
idly about the
the graves of several
members
of
bones in this horrid land, while

not one convert has been made from the mission of St. Croix."
Baker''s Great Basin of the Kile, page 53.
the mission,
*'
The
state of the East-African heathen, their indifference
all that is spiritual,
are, as
God
Kebmann
or to any progress in mere
rightly says,
or to the workF)
ary a
Isaiah,
mood
'
left their
may
'
affairs (they
profitable in nothing, either to
easily beget in the heart of a mission-
of disappointment, in which he would say, witli
have spent my strength for

Krapfs Africa, page 507.
I have labored in vain
nought, and in vain.'"
"From this
human
toward
time forward the king began to develop his treach-
erous character, promising, in the hope of j)resents, to promote my

journey to Uniamesi, while all the while he had resolved to prevent
it.
Extortion, too, followed upon extortion,
his magician,Wessiri,
FAILUEE OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES.
135
speaking and acting in the king's name. I saw the stock of

goods which I had intended for Uniamesi gradually melting
awa}'; and when, by order of the king, I was obliged to part with
piece after piece of the calico which 1 had reserved for my further
journey, I could not suppress my tears. The king observed them,
and asked the cause. Wessiri replied that I wept because of the
when I rejoined that I was not weeping on
loss of my goods
that account, but because the things had been given me by
good people at home, who wished to send the Book of Life to all
Africans, with which object I had made the journey whereas I
was now deprived of my property, and the good design of my
friends was defeated "
Krapfs Eastern Africa^ page 260.
;
"A
clergyman of the Church of England, the Eev. Thomas

Thompson, proceeded to the Gold Coast in 1751, with the view
He
of attempting the introduction of the Christian religion.
re-
home
Quacoe, was edu-
mained chaplain at the Castle for four years, and brought
a few natives for education, one of whom, Philip

cated at Oxford, and was afterward chaplain at Cape Coast for
the long space of fifty years. No result followed his labors. It
is
even said
approach of death, he had recourse to

Cruickshank''s Africa, Vol. I., page 183.
that, at the
fetich practices."
"The most
important and interesting portion of the last num-
ber of the 'Journal of the Anthropological Society of London'
the
is
discussion before the AnthrojDological Society- on the efforts of
missionaries
among
Winwood Reade,
savages,
author of
discussion inaugurated by
Savage
who
Africa,'
Mr.
stated, as the
result of his observation in Equatorial Africa, that missionary ef-
even when directed by men eminently

qualified for the task. So far from professing Christians among
negroes being better than the heathen, they were, if possible,
I found that every
In plain words,' said Mr. Reade,
worse.
Christian negress was a prostitute, and that every Christian negro
forts
were
total failures,
'
was a
thief.'
'
'
Mr. Walker, of fourteen years' Gaboon experience,
confirmed this testimony. Captain Biu'ton, in a very forcible

speech, followed suit, giving the result of his observations, not
merely in Africa, but in Western India, the prairie
tribes of
FAILURE OF 3nSSI0NART ENTERPRISES,
136
America, and tropical Africa generally missionary efforts, he

The following is characteristic
said, being failures all.
;
'
or
US.' With
VERY DEAR PERSON TO

Mombas mission I am personally
the
last
African
Years ago
this ill-fated establishment had spent a sum of 12,000, and
what were the results? In 1857, when calling at the missionary station of Rabbai Mpia, near Mombas, I was informed
that a
to get
acquainted.
whose peculiar looks caused me

was a very dear person to us
and only convert.'
Yes,' added the husband, with
wild-looking negi'o,
my
bowie-knife handy,
'
he is our first
an amount of simplicity which might provoke a smile but for the
melancholy thought that it breeds, and he was prepared for
Christianity by an attack of insanity, caused by the death of all
*
his relations,
and
lasting five years."
London Dispatch, July
16,
1865.
*'Mr. Phillips, of Abeokuta, with the rest of the missionaries in

Central Africa, have been expelled from the country, suffering
the loss of their entire property.
destitute condition."
"The
fire if
The
Mr, Phillips
is
New York Tribune, Feh-uary
at
Lagos
in
11, 1868.
Catholic missionaries threatened the natives with hell
they refused to adopt the marriage system of the Christians.
were quite content to go where their

had gone before them. But the firmest opponents of these
innovations were the women and, as every one knows, a priesthood is only powerful when supported on female pillars. The
ladies of the court, who despised the monks on account of their
natives replied that they
fathers
chastity, determined to take advantage of this f)ious weakness.

Accordingly they chose a rivulet, which flowed before the garden
of the missionaries, as their place of bathing, and there exhibited

themselves during the whole day, often in very indecent attitudes.
The
afflicted fathers laid their distress before the king,
found the evil doubled by this proof of the effect which

duced."
Btade's Savage Africa, page 442.
it
but soon
had pro-
They dread a superhuman power, and they fear and worship
FAILURE OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES.

it
It is scarcely correct to
as being a measureless source of evil.
call
tliis
devil-worship, for this
is
137
title
of contrast, presuming
that there has been a choice of the evil in preference to the good.
The
fact in their case
seems
good
to be, that
action, are ideas foreign to their minds.
more
intense, nor
in will, or
good
in
Selfishness cannot bo
more exclusive of all kindness and generosity or
charitable affection, than
generally found
is
it
among
these bar-
barians. The inconceivableness of such motives to action has

often been found a strong obstacle to the influence of the Christian
They can worship nothing good, because they have
missionai-y.
They have
no expectation of good from anything powerful.
term inwe
what
equivalent
to
mysterious words or mutterings,
cantations, which is the meaning of the Portuguese word from
Footers Africa and the
fetich.'"
wliich originated the term
American Flag, page 55.
Soon an aged woman, to whom the missionary had often

spoken of the glorious gospel, joined the little praying-circle.
The change in this old woman, Yuwa, was very striking. She
had seemed to be one of the most unpromising characters in the
town of Nyaro, and the first time the missionary, who had charge
**
of the town, asked her

chapel, she replied,
Scott's
"
Bay Dawn
'
why
Me go
in Africa,
missionary at
she did not regularly attend the
to church,
page
and you no pay
me !'"
89.
Maopongo having met one
and finding her mind

mined to use sharper remedies, and, seizing
of the queens,
inaccessible to all his instructions, detera whip,
began
to ap-
The effect he describes as most

every successive blow opened her eyes more and more
to the truth, as she at length declared herself wholly unable to
resist such affecting arguments in favor of the Catholic doctrine."
ply
it
to her majesty's person.
auspicious
Murraifs African Discoveries, page
54.
"lam
not to be understood as intimating that any of tho

numerous tribes are anxious for instruction tlusy are not tluj inquiring spirits we read of in other countries ; they do not desire
;
12*
"
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES, HABITS, ETC,
138
the gospel, because they

fits."
know
Livingstone's Africa,
nothing about either
j)(^ff^
it
or
its
bene-
54i.
The town swarmed with thieves and drunkards, whose only

object in life was sensual gratification, iô where else had I met
**
with so
many impudent and
shameless beggars.
When
a mis-
sionary attempted to preach to a crowd in the streets or market,
was very common
some of them to reply by laying their

hands on their stomachs, and saying, White man, I am hungry.'
Bowen's Central Africa, page 101.
it
for
'
"All missionaries praise the African for his strict observance of

He would have three hundred and sixty-five Sabbaths in the year, if possible, and he would as scrupulously observe them all."
Bartons Wanderings in West Africa, Vol. /.,
page 266.
the Sabbath.
*' In the negroes^

own country the efforts of the missionaries for
hundreds of years have had no effect; the missionary goes away
and the people relapse into barbarism. Though a people may be
taught the arts and sciences known by more gifted nations, unless
they have the power of progression in themselves, they must inevitably relapse in the course of time into their former state."
Du, Chaillu's Ashango-Land, loage 436.
o^
CHAPTER XXYI.
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES, HABITS, MANNERS, AND CUST03IS OF THE NEGROES IN NEGROLAND.
" Their mode of salutation
themselves on
then* backs
is
quite singular.
They throw
on the ground, and, rolling from
139

side to side, slap the outside of their thighs
of
bomba.'
Kina
as expressions
thankfulness and welcome, uttering the words,

This method of salutation was to me very disagreeable, and I
'
never could get reconciled to
it.
I called out,
Stop
stop
but they, imagining I was dissatisfied, only

don't want that
tumbled about more furiously, and slapped their thighs with
greater vigor. The men being totally unclothed, this performance
imparted to my mind a painful sense of their extreme degrada!
'
dation."
of phantoms, and have half-developed

ideas and traditions of something or other, they know not what.
The pleasures of animal life are ever present to their minds as the
"They
fear all
supreme good."
manner
Livingstone''
Sambanza gave us a
*'
s Africa,
page 477.
detailed account of the political
afifairs
of the country, and of Kolimbota's evil doings, and next morning

performed the ceremony called 'Kasendi,' for cementing our
friendship. It is accomplished thus The hands of the parties are
joined (in this case Pitsane and Sambanza were the parties engaged) small incisions are made on the clasped hands, on the
pits of the stomach of each, and on the right cheeks and foreheads.
A small quantity of blood is taken off from these points in both
The blood from one person
parties by means of a stalk of grass.
:
put into a pot of beer, and that of the second into another
each then drinks the other's blood, and they are supposed to beLivingstone's Africa, page
come perpetual friends or relations."
is
625.
*'
The
chieftainship
is
elective
from certain
families.
Among
the Bangalas of the Cassange valley the chief is chosen from three
chiers brother inherits in preference to his
families in rotation.
The sons of a sister belong to her brother; and he often

By this and other unnatural
sells his nephews to pay his debts.
supplied. The
slave-market
the
is
customs, more than by war,
son.
prejudices in favor of these practices are very deeply rooted in

the native mind. Even at Loanda they retire out of the city in
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES, HABITS, ETC.
140
order to perform their heathenish rites without the cognizance of

Their religion, if such it may be called, is one of
the authorities.
dread. Numbers of charms are employed to avert the evils with

which they feel themselves to be encompassed. Occasionally you
meet a man, more cautious or more timid than the rest, with
twenty or thirty charms round his neck. He seems to act upon
the principle of Proclus, in his prayer to all the gods and goddesses among so many he surely must have the right one. The
disrespect which Europeans pay to the objects of their fear is to
Livingstone's Africa^
their minds only an evidence of great folly."
page 471.
;
Batoka tribes follow the curious custom of knocking

out the upper front teeth at the age of puberty. This is done by
both sexes and though the under teeth, being relieved from the
attrition of the upper, grow long and somewhat bent out, and
thereby cause the under lip to protrude in a most unsightly way,
no young woman thhiks herself accomplished until she has got
rid of the upper incisors. This custom gives all the Batoka an
uncouth, old- man-like appearance. Their laugh is hideous; yet
they are so attached to it than even Sebituane was unable to eradiHe issued orders that none of the children
cate the practice.
living under him should be subjected to the custom by their
parents, and disobedience to his mandates was usually punished
with severity but, notwithstanding this, the children would appear in the streets without their incisors, and no one would con*'
All the
When
fess to the deed.
practice, the
those
who
Whether
is
questioned respecting the origin of this

is to be like oxen, and
Batoka reply that their object
retain their teeth they consider to resemble zebras.
this is the true
reason or not,
it is
difficult to
say
but
it
noticeable that the veneration for oxen which prevails in many

be associated with hatred to the zebra, as among
tribes should here
the Bakwains
that this operation
that circumcision
is
The custom
unknown.
his teeth
is
borrowed
made
is
in other tribes
is
performed at the same age

and that here that ceremony
is
so universal that a person
who has
considered ugly, and occasionally, when the Batoka

looking-glass, the disparaging remark would be
my
respecting boys or girls
at the great teeth
'
Some
who still retained
their teeth,
of the Makololo give a
more
Look
facetious
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES^ HABITS^ ETC.

explanation of the custom
141
they say that the wife of a chief having in a quarrel bitten her husband's hand, he, in revenge, ordered
:
her front teeth to be knocked out, and all the men in the tribe followed his example but this does not explain why they afterward
;
knocked
out their
own."
Livingstone^
Africa, j^^d^ ^^l*
some peculiar customs of the Marghi

words
say
a
few
about their curious ordeal on the holy
must
but I
granite rock of Kobshi. When two are litigating about a matter,
each of them takes a cock which he thinks the best for fightins:,
and they go together to Kobshi. Having arrived at the hoh' rock,
they set their birds a-fighting, and he whose cock prevails in the
combat is also the winner in the point of litigation. But more than
*'
I have already noticed
that, the master of the defeated cock is punished by the divinity

whose anger he has thus provoked, and on returning to his village
Berth's Africa, Vol. II., page
he finds his hut in flames."
216.
All over Bornu no butter is prepared except with the dirty

and disgusting addition of some cow's urine, and it is always in a
Bartli's Africa, Vol. I., page 580.
fluid state."
*
There are no ceremonies on birth occasions, and no purificawomen among these people. When thQ mother perishes
in childbirth, the parents claim a certain sum from
the man that
Twins, here called wapacha, are usually
killed their daughter.'
sold, or exposed in the jungle, as among the Ibos of West Africa.
If the child die, an animal is killed for a general feast, and in
some tribes the mother does a kind of penance. Seated outside
the village, she is smeared with fat and flour, and exposed to tlie
derision of people who surround her, hooting and mocking with
offensive jests and gestures.
To guard against this calamity, the
Wazaramo and other tribes are in the habit of vowing that the
babe shall not be shaved till manhood, and the mother wears a
number of talismans
bits of wood tied with a thong of snake's
skin
round her neck, and beads of different shapes round her
head."
Burto?i's Africa, page 93.
**
tion of
'
12*
142
"
When meat is not attainable and good water is scarce, the

African severs one of the jugulars of a bullock and fastens upon it
This custom is common in Karagwah and the other
like a leech.
northern kingdoms; and some tribes, like the Wamjika, near
Burton's Africa,
Moiubasah, churn the blood with milk."
page 463
'
All the thoughts of the negroids are connected with this
life.
*Ah!' they exclaim, it is bad to die! to leave off eating and

As in the negro race gendrinking, never to wear a fine cloth
a slave never breaks a
erally, their destructiveness is prominent
thing without an instinctive laugh of pleasure and, however care*
'
ful
he
may
be of his
own life, he
does not value that of another,
During fires in the town

fuel, and singing
adding
of Zanzibar, the blacks have been seen
and dancing, wild with delight. On such occasions they are shot
down by the Arabs like dogs." Burton's Africa, page 493.
even of a
relative, at the price of a goat.
" In the absence of all refined pleasures, various rude sports are
pursued with eagerness, and almost with fury. The most favorite is wrestling, which the chiefs do not practise in person, but
train their slaves to exhibit in it as our jockeys do game-cocks,
taking the same pride in their prowess and victory. Death or
maiming, however, is no unfrequent result of these encounters.
The ladies, even of rank, engage in another very odd species of
Placing themselves back to back, they cause particular
parts to strike together with the most violent collision, when she
who maintains her equilibrium, while the other lies stretched, is
contest.
proclaimed victor with loud cheers."

ies,
*'
Murray's African Discover-
page 145.
After the heat of the day
was over, Yano, Chief of Kiama,

The most extraordinary persons
came, attended by all his train.

in it were himself and the bearers of his spears, which, as before,
were six naked young girls, from fifteen to seventeen years of age.
The only thing they wore was a fillet of white cloth round the
forehead, about six inches of the ends flying behind, and a string
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES^ HABITS, ETC,

of beads round their waists
in their right
143
hands they carried three
Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes,
light spears each.
and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground,
made them appear something more than mortal as they flew alongside of his house, when he was galloping and making his horse
curvet and bound. A man with an immense bundle of spears remained behind at a little distance, apparently to serve as a magazine for the girls to be supplied from when their master had expended those they carried in their hands."
Clajypertoii's Africa,
Vol. IV., page 2U.
**
At
moment one of
who had assisted in
that
their lucky
omens took
place.
My
bringing the presents, got up to receive the Goora nuts presented to me by the governor's orders
and in rising he overturned a pot of honey which had also been
servant,
given to us, but without breaking it, the honey running out on
the floor. Had the pot been broken, the omen would have been
unfortunate. As it was, the governor was highly elated, and
gi-aciously ordered the poor to be called in to lick up the honey.
They immediately made their appearance, equally rejoiced at the

lucky omen; and, upon their knees, quickly despatched the honey,
One man
not, however, without much strife and squabbling.
came off with a double allowance, happening to have a long
beard, which he carefully cleaned into his hand for a bonne bouche,
after the repast
Vol. III.,
**
all.
on the ground was finished."
Clapperton^s Africa,
page 2^2.
The ceremony of prostration before the king is required from

The chiefs who come to pay their court, cover themselves
on their bellies, having first practised
order to be perfect."
Clapperton''s Africa, Vol.
with dust, and then

the ceremony, in
fall flat
IV., page 208.
The Bomonese have twenty cuts or lines on each side of the

face, which are drawn from the corners of the mouth toward the
angles of the lower jaw and the cheek-bone and it is quite dis*'
tressing to witness the torture the poor
little
children undergo
who
144
are thus marked, enduring not only the heat, but the attacks o
They have also one cut on the forehead in the

on each arm, six on each leg and thigh, four on each
They are,
breast, and nine on each side, just above the hips.
however, the most humble of females, never approaching their
Denham and Clappertoii's
husbands except on their knees."
175.
page
III..,
Africa, Vol.
millions of
flies.
centre, six
" His Highness vouchsafed this day to sleep in my tent, and yesterday he did the Germans the honor of slaughtering lice in theirs.
It is a grand piece of etiquette in this country, that every man has
the privilege of murdering his own lice. If you pick a louse off a
man's slave, you must deliver it up instantly to him to be murdered, as his undoubted right and privilege."
rica, Vol. II.,
'
RicliardsorCs Af-
page 89.
Before they
sit
down
to eat
meat in company, the Kaffirs are

hands in fresh cow-dung, wiping
very careful to immerse their

them on the grass, which is considered the perfection of cleanliExcept an occasional plunge in a river, they never wash
ness.
themselves, and consequently their bodies are covered with verSteedman's Africa, Vol. I, page 2Qo.
min."
**
It is
very
common among
the Hottentots to catch a serpent,
squeeze out the poison from under his teeth, and drink it. They
and they imagine it presay it only makes them a little giddy
serves them afterwards from receiving any injury from the sting
CampbeWs Africa, page 401.
of that reptile."
;
*'
As
for the people of
Naraacqua, when their sons are declared
to be men, they erect a shade, kill an animal, and tie its fat on his
head and round his neck, which, according to custom, he must
wear till it gradually rots and falls off. They likewise cut several
strokes on his breast with a sharp instrument. The entrails of the

animal which was killed at the commencement of the ceremony,
being dried and pounded into a powder, are
now mixed
wtih
145
and he is then declared

He who does
to be a man m the presence of the whole kraal.
not submit to this ceremony eats only with women, and is deCamphdVs Africa, page 430.
spised."
water, with which he
is
rubbed
all
over,
**
curious custom, originating in the superstitious belief of the
people of the Gold Coast, prevails

As soon as
girl after conception.
among them,
in reference to
becomes generally apparent

that she is with child, her friends and neighbors set xiôn her,
and drive her to the sea, pelting her with mud and covering her
with dust. During this operation they abuse her vehemently;
and conclude the ceremony by tumbling her over among the
waves. She returns unmolested to her house and the fetichwoman binds charms of strings and parrots' feathers about her
"WTists, ankles, and neck, muttering a dark spell all tlie while, to
keep away bad luck and evil spirits. Without passing through
this ordeal, they believe that her childbirth would be unfortuCruickshank^s Africa^ Vol. II. page 200.
nate."
it
The Africans pay no attention either to domestic or wild animals even the dog or horse, the two most sagacious of all the
animal creation, excite in them no interest whatever.
If not
driven to it, they will suffer a horse to stand for days, tied up
without food or water. In fact, in no case do they exhibit any
feeling, either of regard or affection, to merit even a comparison
with any of the lower animals, being also selfish in the extreme."
Duncan''s Africa, Vol. /., page 90,
'
'* His prime minister and four others next in rank, who were
conducting me to his majesty's presence, desired me to halt till
the}' paid their compliment to his majesty, forming line in front
of me.
They completely prostrated themselves at full length,
rubbino" both sides of their faces on the n^round and kissins' it.
They then raised themselves on their knees, where they remained
till they had
completely covered themselves with dust, and
rubbed
their
arms over with
DuncarCs Africa,
Vol.
13
L,
dirt as
2^0 ge 220.
high as the shoulders."
146
*'Much neglect seems to prevail at the time of the birth of

male children, respecting the separation of the umbilical cord.
Many boys, and even men, may be seen with protruding navels
Duncaii's Africa, Vol. I., page 80.
as large as a duck's egg.''''
"Very
systematic control
little
and the children

reckless
earliest
are, for the
part, utterly disobedient
As they
of parental authority.
infancy to steal and
exercised by either parent
is
most
and
lie,
and
are taught in their
to indulge in other gross
One most cruel punishwhen they can no longer bear

rub red pepper in their eyes."
ScoWs Day
vices, nothing better could be expected.
ment
with them,
Damn
upon
inflicted
in Africa,
The Obbo
**
to
is
their children,
page
49.
natives are similar to the Bari in
some of
their
breaking my cow-keeper of
I have had
habits.
his diso:ustino: custom of washing the milk-bowl with cow's urine,
and even mixing some with the milk he declares that, unless he
washes his hands with such water before milking, the cow will
great difficulty in
lose her milk."
Bakefs Great Basin of
the Nile,
page 258.
" The entire crowd were most grotesquely gotten up, being
dressed in either leopard or white monkey skins, with cows' tails
strapped on behind, and antelopes' horns fitted upon their heads,
while their chins were ornamented with false beards, made of the
bushy ends of cows' tails sewed together. Altogether, I never
saw a more unearthly

tions of
my
cepting the
hoofs
*'
The women continue

last moment of their
out uttering
they were perfect illustra-
horns,
and
exfurnished by King
the lake." Bakefs Great Basiri of
they were
to
very
childish ideas of devils,
accompany us
Nile, page 321.
Kamrasi
the
set of creatures
to
to
our escort
tails,
all,
perform the severest labors until the
They give birth to children witha complaint, and one would almost believe tliat they
time.
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES^ HABITS, ETC.
147
are delivered without pain, for on the following day they resume
their usual occupations." Caillie's Africa, Vol. 1., page 351.
**
all
lip.
The women of Bambara, who were exceedingly dirty, have

a bit of calabash, or a thin slip of wood, stuck into the under
I could scarcely persuade nlyself that this was a mere matter
my
guide upon the subject; he assured

me that it was the ftishion of the country. I was equally at a loss
to conceive how this bit of wood, which was merely stuck through
of taste, and questioned
the
lip,
could keep
its
place.
The women allowed me
to see that
brought through to the inner part of
ornament was
and they laughed heartily at my astonishment. I asked
one of them to remove the piece of wood from her lip but she
told me that if she did so the saliva would run through the hole.
this curious
the
lip,
In short, I was quite amazed that coquetiy could induce them to

disfigure themselves in this manner yet it is the general custom
;
of this country.
had
in their
lower
saw young
girls eight or ten years of age,
lip little pieces
of
wood
who
of the circumference
of a pen-holder pointed at one end and stuck into the flesh. They
renew it frequently, and every time use a larger bit of wood,
which gradually widens the hole, until it becomes large enough to

admit a piece of wood of the size of a half-crown piece. I observed that this singular and inconvenient ornament contributed
CaiUie's Africa, Vol. L, page 374.
to their uncleauliness."
The male Mandingoes are circumcised between the age of

and twenty. The excision which females should undergo
when they are marriageable, is often delayed until they are promI even saw a married wôman, who, after having
ised in marriage.
*
fifteen
always performed by
women, and on several patients at once, who are thereby rendered for some time unable to work. In this state they are taken
care of by their mothers, who bathe the Avound several times a
day with an indigenous caustic, with the use of which they are
a child, submitted to this operation.
acquainted."
*'
CaiUie's Africa,
It is
Vol. I.,
page
351.
In Guinea, some of the customs practised on women,
aftei
148
most barbarous and inhuman. The mother

separated from her husband for a period of three years, that
their confinement, are

is
may give undivided attention to her offspring and, in the

mean time, the husband supplies himself with another partner."
she
Valdez's Africa, Vol.
L, page 218.
Their dances are mere steppings and turnings, in which there

nothing graceful, accompanied by the clapping of hands, and
*'
is
various distortions and gestures."
Valdez's Africa,
Vol. II,,
page
344,
On our walk to the house, we first saw a woman of the Bosjesman race, and had ocular conviction of the ti'uth of all we
had previously heard respecting the uncommon ugliness of these
people, particularly of the females. She sat more than half-naked,
*'
at the entrance of a miserable straw hut, near a fire of fresh
brushwood, which exhaled a terrible smoke and vapor, and was

occupied in skinning a lean hare. The greasy swarthiness of her
skin, her clothing of animal hides, as well as the savage wildness
of her looks, and the uncouth
manner
in
which she handled the

She took
hare, presented altogether a most disgusting spectacle.
no further
ward us."
'*
notice of us than
now and
Lichtenstein's Africa,
They generally
If they dress
it,
then to cast a shy leer to-
Vol. I.,
eat their flesh raw,
they scarcely
moment
make
it
page
bQ.
and chew
it
very
hot through, and bite
little.
it
with
The incisive
teeth, therefore, of the old Bosjesmans are commonly half worn
away, and have one general flat edge. They drink out of the
rivers and streamlets, lying down flat on their bellies, even when
the bank is very steep, so that they are obliged to support themselves in a fatiguing manner with their arms, to avoid falling into
their teeth the
the water."
**
it
is
taken out of the ashes.
Lichstenteiii's Africa, Vol. II.,
The queen, who accompanied her
cidedly the ugliest
woman
I ever saw,
page 48.
lord,
and who was de-
and very
old,
was
called
149
She was nearly naked, her only article of dress

being a strip of the Fan cloth, dyed red, and about four inches
wide. Her entire body was tattooed in the most fanciful manner her skin, from long exposure, had become rough and knotty.
iron being a precious
She wore two enormous iron anklets,
and had in her ears a pair of copper earmetal with the Fans,
rings two inches in diameter, and very heavy. These had so
weighed down the lobes of her ears that I could have put my
little finger easily into the holes through which the rings were
run."
])u ChaiUu's Equatorial Africa, page 104.
Mashumba.
*'
The men take care
who
to put all the hardest
their wives,
raise the crops, gather firewood, bear all kinds of
many
burdens
now by
men only cut down the trees and
which the women are then forced to bear
and, where the bar-wood trade

split
work on
is
carried on, as
it
is
Shekiani villages, the
them
into billets,
through the forests and jungle down to the riverbanks, as they have but rude paths, and beasts of burden are unknown in all this part of Africa. This is the most severe toil
imaoînable, as the loads have to be carried often six or seven
on
their backs
Bu Chaillu's Equatorial Africay page 197.
miles or more."
"It is curious what a stirring effect the sound of the tam-tam

has on the African. He loses all control over himself at its sound,
and the louder and more energetically the horrid drum is beaten,
jumps of the male African, and the more disDu Chaillu's

gustingly indecent the contortions of the women."
the wilder are the
"Many
of the Hottentots wear, as ornaments, the guts of

beasts, fresh and stinking, drawn two or three times, one through
another, about their necks,
Ogilhy^s Africa,
"The women
and the
like
about their legs."
page 591.
are so addicted to dancing, that they cannot for-
bear upon the hearing of any instrument, though they be ladea

13*
150
MISCELLANEOUS PECULIARITIES^ HABITS, ETC.
with one child in the belly, and another at the back, where they
Ogilhy''s Africa^ page 466.
commonly carry them."
**
The king of Congo
eats
and drinks
ters the house while he is at meals,
it is
in secrecy.
killed
If a
dog en-
and an instance
is
recorded of the king's son having accidentally seen his father

drinking palm wine, and of his being executed on the spot."
When the aged become too weak to provide for themselves,

and are a burden to those whom they brought forth and reared to
manhood, they are not unfrequentlj'' abandoned by their own
children, with a meal of victuals and a cruse of water, to perish
in the desert; and I have seen a small circles of stakes fastened
in the ground, -witliin which were still lying the bones of a parent
bleached in the sun, who had been thus abandoned."
MoffaVs
Africa, page 97.
**
*'
When
self, it is,
its
a mother dies, whose infant
is
not able to
shift for it-
without any ceremony, buried alive with the corpse of
mother."
Moffafs Africa, page 48.
They delight to besmear their bodies with the fat of animals,

mingled with ochre, and sometimes with grime. They are utter
strangers to cleanliness, as they never wash their bodies, but
**
hang a considerable
length from their elbows. Their huts are formed by digging a
hole in the earth about three feet deep, and then making a roof
of reeds, which is however insufficient to keejD off the rains. Here
they lie close together like jîgs in a sty. They are extremely
lazy, so that nothing will rouse them to action but excessive
hunger. They will continue several days together without food
suffer the dirt to accumulate, so that
it
will
rather than be at the pains of procuring
it.
When
compelled to
sally forth for prey, they are dexterous at destroying the various
beasts which abound in the country, and they can run almost as
well as a horse.
They are
total strangers to
domestic happiness.
151
The men have several wives, but conjugal affection is little

known. They take no great care of their children, and never
correct them, except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them
by severe usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or the
several wives of a husband, the defeated party wreaks his or her
vengeance on the ehild of the conqueror, which in general loses
its life."
Kicherer, quoted in MoffaVs Africa, page 49.
"The women
making large
of
Pongo
disfigure their faces very
much by
holes in their ears, and through the cartilaginous
parts of the nose.
Weights are attached
to
make
the hole large
enough to pass the finger through. Pieces of fat meat are frequently worn in these holes, but whether for ornament or fragrance is not known. I inquired of one of them once why she did
and received the laconic answer,
it,
*My husband
likes it.'"
" The person of the King of Loango is sacred, and he is, in

consequence, subjected to some very singular rules, especially in
connection with his eating and drinking. There is one of his
houses in which alone he can eat, and another where alone he can
drink. When the covered dishes which contain his food are carried into the eating-house, a crier proclaims it, and everybody gets
out of the way as quick as possible. The doors are then carefully
closed and bolted, and any person that should see the king in the
act of eating would be put to death. Proyart mentions the fact
that a favorite dog was immediately put to death for looking up
Another is mentioned of a
child that was accidentally left in the banqueting-room of the king
by his father, and who awoke and accidentally saw the king eating.
It was spared five or six days, at the earnest request of its
father, but was then put to death, and its blood sprinkled upon the
king's fetich. Others might be present when the king drank, but
they were bound to conceal their faces. In like manner no one is
into his master's face while eating.
allowed to drink in the king's presence without turning their

backs to him."
Wilson''s Africa, page 309.
'The King
of
Dahomi
is
one of the most absolute
tyi'ants in
152
HVTS^ HOVELS,
the world
AND HOLES IN NEGROLAND.
and, being regarded as a demi-god by his
own
sub-
jects, his actions are never questioned.

No person ever approaches him,
even his favorite chiefs,
without prostrating
themselves at full length on the ground, and covering their faces
and heads with earth. It is a grave offence to suppose that the
king eats, drinks, sleeps, or performs any of the ordinary functions of nature. His meals are always taken to a secret place, and
any man that has the misfortune or the temerity to cast his eyes
upon him in the act is put to death. If the king drinks in public,
which is done on some extraordinary occasions, his person is concealed by having a curtain held up before him, during which
time the people f)rostrate themselves, and afterward shout and
cheer at the very top of their voices."
Wilson's Africa^ page 202.
CHAPTER XXTII.
HUTS, HOVELS, AND HOLES (BUT NO HOUSES) IN NEGROLAND.
**It
is
impossible to look at some of their domiciles without the
inquiry involuntarily rising in the mind. Are these the abodes of
human
In a bushy country, they will form a hollow in a

and bring the branches together over the head.
Here the man, his wife, and probably a child or two, lie huddled
in a heap, on a little grass, in a hollow spot not larger than an osWhere bushes are scarce, they form a hollow under
trich's nest.
the edge of a rock, covering it partially with reeds or grass, and
they are often to be found in fissures and cav^ of the mountains.
When they have abundance of meat, they do .lothing but gorge
and sleep, dance and sing, till their stock is exhausted. But hunIt is
ger, that imperious master, soon drives him to the chase.
astonishing to what a distance they will run in pursuit of the animal which has received the fatal arrow. I have seen them, on the
beings
central position,
successful return of a hunting party, the merriest of the merry,
exhibiting bursts of enthusiastic joy
while their momentary hap-
nUTSy HOVELS^
AXD HOLES IN NEGROLAKD.
produced on
MoffaVs Africa, page 48.
piness, contrasted with their real condition,
the deepest sorrow."
153
my
mind
a curious fact that the circular form of hut is the only

style of architecture adopted among all the tribes of Central Afand that, although these differ more or less in the form of
rica
**It is
the roof, no tribe has ever yet sufficiently advanced to construct a
window."
Baher''s Great
" Their sheep, goats, and poultry eat and sleep in the same hut
with them, and a most intolerable stench is exhaled from all their
dwellings. They do not appear to have the least affection for
a parent will sell his child for the merest trifle in
their offspring
the world, with no more remorse or repugnance than he would a
chicken."
Landefs Africa, page 348.
:
"These huts
are erected so close to each other,
and with so
and a free circulation of air, that there is

town wide enough for more than one to
walk on at a time and, not having the advantage of shady trees,
the heat of the town is excessive and distressing. Its uncleanness,
and the
filth, and extreme nastiness have already been alluded to
odor emitted from the dirty streets is offensive and almost insupportable."
Landefs Travels in Africa, Vol. II., page 45.
little
reo;ard to comfort
scarcely a foot-path in the

;
" Their houses somewhat resemble a beehive or
ant-hill,
con-
boughs of trees stuck into the gi'ound in a circular

form, and lashed down across one another overhead so as to form
a framework, on which they spread large mats formed of reeds.
These mats are also used instead of cloth, and are very effectual
in resisting both sun and rain. The diameter of these dome-shaped
Cummi)ig''s Africa, Vol. I.,
huts varies from ten to fifteen feet."
page 127.
sisting of
*'
In the construction of their dwelliuor-houses the Mandingoes
HUTS^ HOVELS, AND HOLES IN NEGROLAKD.
154:
conform
also
to the general practice of the African nations
on
this
pait of the continent, contenting themselves with small and in-
commodious hovels. A circular mud wall, about four feet high,

upon which is placed a conical roof, composed of the bamboo cane,
and thatched with grass, forms alike the palace of the king and
Their household furniture is equally simple.
A hurdle of canes placed upon upright stakes, about two
feet from the ground, upon which is spread a mat or bullock's
hide, answers the purpose of a bed. A water-jar, some earthen
the hovel of the slave.
wooden bowls and calabashes,

compose the rest."
Mungo Parle's 1st
pots for dressing their food, a few
and one or two low

Journal, page 31.
*'
stools,
Houses are jotted down without any regard to the evenness
or regularity of the ground on which they are erected.
The
gledy-piggledy order of architecture prevails throughout
hig-
and the
axiom of Bacon that a house was meant to live in,' is carried

out in its most original simplicity in Old Kalabar. As I walk
*
through the passages intended for streets, I have to scramble over

eminences and down declivities in the best way I can. In a pathway between two houses opposite each other, or perhaps side by
side, there may be an ascent or a descent of a dozen or score of
feet and in wet weather it is impossible to escape a foot-bath in
some of the many ruts to be met with as one goes along. Heaps
of dirt and all kinds of refuse are thrown indiscriminately through
the town, as if to allow pasture-ground for the many turkey-buzzards, styled by Swainson, the
scavengers of nature,' that congregate upon them, and have a perpetual carnival in browsing
upon the festering offal."
Hutchinson's Western Africa, page 116.
;
"Their buildings generally resemble the humbler sort of English cow-house, or an Anglo-Indian bungalow."
Burton^s Africay
page 90.
'
Beyond
the line of maritime land the dwelling-house assumes
the normal African form, the circular hut described by every traveller in the interior.
Dr. Livingstone appears to judge rightly
HUTS^ HOVELS^ JXD HOLES IN NEGROLAND.

that
its
circularity
iveness."
**
is
155
the result of a barbarous deficiency in invent-
Burtoii's Africa^ pctge 251.
The inner
side of the roof
smoke, which winds
its
way
is
polished to a shiny black with
slowly through the door.
Smoke
and grease are the African's coat and small clothes they contribmuch to his health and comfort that he is by no means
anxious to get rid of them, and sooty lines depend from it like
negi'o-stalactites."
Burtoii's Africa^ page 253.
;
bute so
*'
The
settlements of the
Wak'hutu are composed of a few
straggling hovels of the humblest description, with doors
little
man canIn shape they difier, some

being simj)le cones, others like European haystacks, and others
like our old straw beehives."
Burtons Africa, page 97.
higher than an English pigsty, and eaves so low that a
not enter them except on all-fours.
throughout this continent are

simple, and limited in the greatest degree. There does not, prob**
All the accommodations of
ably, without
some foreign
life
interposition, exist in Africa a stone
house, or one which rises two stories from the ground.
The ma-
very best habitations are merely stakes of wood

plastered with earth, built in a conical form like beehives, and
resembling the first rude shelter which man framed against the
elements."
Murray^ s African Discoveries^ page 231.
terial of the
Except the state chairs or thrones of the great monarchs,

ascended only on very solemn occasions, there is not throughout
native Africa a seat to sit upon. The people squat on the ground
in circles, and if the chief can place beneath him the skin of a lion
or leopard, he is at the height of his pomp. For a table there is
at best a wooden board, whereon is neither plate, knife, fork, nor
spoon the fingers being supposed fully adequate to the j)erformance of every function."
Mwrafs African Discoveries, page 233.
*'
BUTS, HOVELS^ AND HOLES IN KEGEOLAND,
156
Their appearance indicated wretchedness in the extreme, and

they seemed to behold us with astonishment. Their dwellings
were so low as to be hardly visible among the bushes till quite
*'
They were
close to them.
the shape of the half of a hen's egg,
with the open part exposed to the weather, which must be extremely inconvenient in the rainy season, unless they are able to
turn the inclosed side to the storm, which might easily be done.
were so covered with dirt, mixed with

spots of very red paint, that it appeared probable none of them
had had any part of their bodies washed since they were born."
CamphelVs Africa, page 316.
.
The
inhabitants
Throughout the whole country the huts are small, ill-constructed, and extremely filthy the door is so low that to enter
you are obliged to crawl on all-fours. The residence of each family is composed of several huts surrounded by quick hedges,
planted at random and without taste. Sometimes this inclosnre is
formed merely of posts and rails, or a kind of palisade of straw.
The streets are extremely narrow, winding, and dirty, all sorts of
Both men and women are very unfilth being thrown into them.
cleanly, as in all the negro villages in this country, and they rub
Caillies Africa, VuL
a great quantity of butter upon their heads."
*'
I.,
page
"The
24.
village
was a new one, and
consisted mostly of a single
hundred yards long, on which were built the

houses. The latter were small, being only eight or ten feet long,
five or six wide, and four or five in height, with slanting roofs.
They were made of bark, and the roofs were of a kind of matting
made of the leaves of a palm-tree. The doors run up to the eaves,
about four feet high, and there were no windows. In these houses
they cook, eat, sleep, and keep their store of provisions, chief of
which is the smoked game and smoked human flesh, hung up to
the rafters."
street about eight
The palaver-house
is
an open shed, which answers the pur-
pose of a public-house, club-room, or town-hall, to these people
HUTS^ HOVELS^
AND HOLES IK NEGROLAND.
157
they meet there daily, to smoke and gossip, hold public trials or
Du Chaillu's Ashango-Land,
palavers, and receive strangers."
page 264.
best sort of Makololo huts consist of three circular walls,

with small holes as doors, each similar to that in a dog-house
and it is necessaiy to bend down the body to get in, even when on
The
formed of reeds or straight sticks, in shape

like a Chinaman's hat, bound firmly together with circular bands,
which are lashed with the strong inner bark of the mimosa-tree.
all-fours.
The
roof
is
prepared except the thatch, it is lifted on to the circular

wall, the rim resting on a circle of poles, between each of which
the third wall is built. The roof is thatched with fine grass, and
sewed with the same material as the lashings and, as it projects
far beyond the walls, and reaches within four feet of the ground,
the shade is the best to be found in the country. These huts are
When
all
very cool in the hottest day, but are close and deficient in ventilation
by night."
Livingstone's
Africa,
page 225.
whole life is
passed in wandering from place to place it even rarely happens
One excepthat he passes two nights together on the same spot.
that is,
and
rule,
general
this
tion may, however, be found to
when he has eaten till he is perfectly gorged that is to say, when
he has for several days together had as much as his almost incredSuch a reveliy is followed by a
ible voracity can possibly eat.
sleep, or at least a fit of indolence, which will continue even for
weeks, and which at last becomes so delightful to him, that he
had rather buckle the girdle of emptiness round him, than submit
to such an exertion as going to the chase, or catching insects. He
is fond of taking up his abode for the night in caverns among the
*'
The Bosjesman has no
settled residence
his
mountains, or clefts in the rocks in the plain he makes himself

a hole in the ground, or gets into the midst of a bush, where, bending the boughs around him, they are made to serve as a shelter
against the weather, against an enemy, or against wild beasts. A
bush that has served many times in this way as the retreat of a
;
Bosjesman, and the points of whose bent boughs are beginning to

grow again upwards, has perfectly the appearance of an immense
14
PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE NEGRO RACE,
158
bird's nest.
In this state
many
sorts of the pliant tarconanthus,
abundance of which grows on the other side of the Great River, are
and if they have been recently inhabited, hay,
leaves, and w*ool may be seen, forming the bottom of the nest. It
is the custom w^hich has given rise to the name by which the savages in question are now known. Bosje signifjing, in African
Dutch, a shrub or bush Bosjesman, consequently, a bush-man.
An additional reason for giving it being derived from their often
shooting at game, or at an enemy, from this retreat."
Lichtensteiii's Africa^ VoL II.., page 46.
often to be found
**
The
holes in the ground above mentioned, which sometimes
serve these people as beds, are only a few inches deep, of a long-
ish-round form, and even

ily,
when
they are to serve for a whole fam-
not more than five or six feet wide.
It is incredible
how they
manage to pack together in so small a space, perhaps two grown

persons and several children
each
is
wraj^ped in a single sheep-
which they contrive to roll themselves up in such a manner, round like a ball, that all air is entirely kept from them. In
very cold nights they heap up twigs and earth on the windward
side of the whole
but against rain they have no other shelter
than the sheepskin."
Lichtensteiii's Africa, Vol. II., page 47.
skin, in
CHAPTER XXVIII.
GRADUAL DECREASE AND PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE
NEGRO RACE.
I HAVE been struck with the steady decrease of the population,
even during the short time I have been in Africa, on the coast
and in the interior but before I account for it, let me raise my
voice in defence of the white man, who is accused as being the
cause of it. Wherever he settles, the aborigines are said to disappear. I admit that such is the case but the decrease of the pop**

rnOBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE NEGRO HACE.
ulation had already taken place before the white
white
whom
and
man
man came
159
the
but could not stop it.

Populous tribes
I saw for a second time, and who had seen no white man
noticed
it,
have decreased, and this decrease took place

before the terrible plague that desolated the land had made its
apiêarance. The negi'oes themselves acknowledge the decrease.
Clans in the life-time of old men have entirely disappeared in
others, only a few individuals remain."
Du Chaillu's AshangoLand, page 225.
his fiery water,
"The
causes
decrease of the African population is owing to several

the slave-trade, polygamy, barrenness of women, death
children, plagues, and witchcraft,
the latter taking
among
away more
than any slave-trade ever did. The negro does

not seem to diminish only in the region I have visited but in
every other part of Africa, travellers, who after the lapse of a
lives
few years have returned a second time

noticed a decrease of population.
same country, have

The women of the in-
in the
.
and in despite of it shall we assume that the

negro race has run its course, and that in due course of time it
will disappear, as many races of mankind have done before him ?
The Southern States of America were, I believe, the only country
in which the negro is known to have increased."
Du Chaillu.s
AsJiango-Land, page 435.
terior are prolific,
The name of Hottentot will soon be forgotten, or remembered

only as that of a deceased person of little note. Their numbers
of late years have been rapidly on the decline. It has generally
*'
been observed that wherever Europeans have colonized, the least

civilized have always dwindled away, and at length totally disappeared."
Barrow's Africa^
Vol. I., page 93.
*'
It is impossible to conceal one's fears for the ultimate existence of most of the colored races in South Africa I mean those,
in the first instance, within the colony, and those in the neighbor;
hood of places where the emigrant Boers have lately settled.

The lands of the native tribes become gradually encroached on j

PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE NEGRO RACE.
IGO
jealousies and animosities, wars
and
retaliations arise
the
na
tive tribes are driven back, lose their property, their lands, their
courage
they
tribes, where they encounter

become weaker and weaker, and the
back on other
fall
more
or less resistance,
white
man
advances, and absorbs the whole."
Freeman's Mis-
sionary Travels in Africa, page Q^.
**
At present,
it
appears to
me
that the prospects of the colored
races of South Africa, taken on the broadest scale, are such as

Christian philanthropy
may weep over.
I see no prospect of their
The struggle may
preservation for any very lengthened period.

last for a considerable time.
many
effort
may
not only save
of the souls of men, but help to defer the evil day of anni-
many
But annihilation is
and nothing can arrest it without an entire
the system of government, wherever British subjects
hilation as to
steadily advancing
change
come
Missionary
in
of the aboriginal tribes.
in contact with the native tribes."
Freeman'' s Missionary
Travels in Africa, page 261.
" In our
among
own day
a disintegrating process
is
ever spreading
the nations of Eastern Africa, and the East Africans them-
avow
went better with them in their fathers'

time that greater kings and chiefs existed then than now, and
that a new element must be introduced among them.
The descendants of Ham have outlived themselves."
Krapfs Africa^
selves
that things
page 393.
*' How the

negro has lived so many ages without advancing,
seems marvellous, when all the countries sun'ounding 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 by others, because his
country is in such a constant state of turmoil he has too much
;
PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THE NEGRO RACE,
161
anxiety on hand looking out for his food to think of anything else.
He works his wife, sells his
his fathers ever did, so does he.
As
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."
Rev. E.
M. Wheelock,
Secretary of the Board of Educa-
Department of the Gulf,

formerly
under
Chaplain of one of the New Hampshire Regiments,
date of New Orleans, Feb. 8, 1865, wrote to William Lloyd
tion of Freedmen,
Garrison as follows
**0n scores of plantations, labor was wholly suspended; and

the laborers in hundreds, with their wives and little ones, had
gathered around the forts and soldiers' camps. There they earned
a precarious living by such uncertain and intermitted employment as they might find the men as servants, hostlers, camp
followers, and hangers-on,
their wives as cooks, washerwomen,
Hunger, cold, fever, and small pox were caiTying ofi" the
etc.
;
children at a fearful rate of mortality.
The morals of
the
men
were being undermined by idleness and evil example, and the

modesty of the women debauched by contact with all that is
bebasing in military life. From month to month their numbers
visibly decreased and it really seemed as though the Southern
Negro, like the Indian, the Caffre, the Carib, and the Australian,
would become extinct before the rude shock of the war, and the
corrosive venom of our vices.
The slave in Louisiana had
become free, de facto, and in a qualified sense but, alas his
freedom only meant the power to become idle, to become immoral, to sicken and to die."
;
14*
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITES AND BLACKS,
162
CHAPTER XXIX.
NATURAL, REPULSIVE, AND IRRECONCILABLE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE, PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND MORAL, BETWEEN THE WHITES
AND THE BLACKS.*

" So great a
has ever existed upon the

intrinsic value of the negro, that the very perplexity of the quesSo long as
tion is a proof that he is altogether a distinct variety.
it is generally considered that the negro and the white man are to
diflference of opinion
be governed by the same laws and guided by the same management, so long will the former remain a thorn in the side of every
community to which he may unhappily belong. When the horse
and the ass shall be found to match in double harness, the white
man and the African black will pull together under the same regime. It is the grand error of equalizing that which is unequal
that has lowered the negro character, and made the black man a
Baker'^s Great Basin of the Nile, page 195.
reproach."
The obtuseness of the savages was such, that I never could

make them understand the existence of any good principle
the
force that could obtain all,
their one idea was power,
**
strong hand that could wrest from the weak.
In disgust
moment
orandum from which
illustrative of the time.
copy as
in
I frc-
my journal, a mem-
quently noted the feelings of the

I
1863,
wish the black sympathizers in England could

see Africa\s inmost heart as I do much of their sympathy would
subside. Human nature viewed in its crude state as pictured
amongst African savages is quite on a level with that of the
10th April.
brute,
dog.
and not to be compared with the noble character of the

There is neither gratitude, pity, love, nor self-denial no
For a
fuller
and more minute elucidation of the physical, mental, and moral

between white people and negroes, see the remaining por-
difl'ereuces whicli exist
tions of this work, especially the next succeeding chapter, entitled "American
Writers on the Negro." The testimonies given in the present chapter are almost
exclusively those of intelligent white travellers, who have seen (and who, as careful
and correct observers, have always seen only with indignation and disgust) the
negroes in Negrolaud.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHITES AND BLACKS,
1G3
no religion but covetousness, ingratitude, selfishand cruelty. All are thieves, idle, envious, and ready to
Baker's Great
plunder and enslave their weaker neighbors.'"
idea of duty
ness,
In childhood I believe the negro to be in advance, in intellectual quickness, of the white child of a similar age, but the mind
does not expand it promises fruit, but does not ripen and the
**
negro mind has grown in body, but has not advanced in intellect.
The puppy of three months old is superior in intellect to a child
of the same age, but the mind of the child expands, while that of
the doo- has arrived at
has
sufficient
ment
that
helpless in
it
its
its limit.
power and
of the common fowl

run in search of food the mo-
The chicken
instinct to
leaves the egg, while the
young of the eagle
lies
but the young eagle outstrips the chicken in

The earth presents a wonderful example of
classes of the human race, the animal and vegetable
nest
the course of time.

variety in all
People, beasts, and plants belonging to distinct classThe existence of

es, exhibit special qualities and peculiarities.
many hundred varieties of dogs cannot interfere with the fact that
kingdoms.
they belong to one genus,

pointer, poodle, mastiff,
and
the
greyhound, pug, bloodhound,
terrier, are all as entirely different
in their peculiar instincts as are the varieties of the
human
race.
the wild
and flowers continue the example,
to the
belong
although
they
but,
grapes,
are
grapes of the forest
the
and
Muscatel
same class, they are distinct from the luscious
wild dog-rose of the hedge, although of the same class, is inferior
From fruits and flowers we may
to the moss-rose of the garden.
the
air teeming with varieties of the
turn to insect life, and watch
same species, the thousands of butterflies and beetles, the many
members of each class varying in instincts and peculiarities. Fishes, and even shell-fish, all exhibit the same arrangement; that
every group is divided into varieties, all differing from each other,
and each distinguished by some pecuhar excellence or defect."
Baker'^s Great Basin of the Nile, page 195.
The
different fruits
**The negro is a being who invents nothing, originates nothing,

improves nothing; who can only cook, nurse, and fiddle; who

164
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHITES AND BLACKS.
has neither energy nor industry, save in rare cases, that prove the
rule ; he is the self-constituted thrall that delights in subjection
to, and in imitation of, the superior races. The Aboriginal American has never been known to slave the African, since he landed
;
has never, until

Wanderings in West
in Virginia, in 1620, has chosen nothing else
egged on, dreamed of being

Africa, Vol. J., page 175.
free."
Burton'' s
"Eastern and Central intertropical Africa also lacks antiquarian and historic interest it has few traditions, no annals, and
the hoary remnants of past splendor so dear to the
no i-uins,
It contains not a single
traveller and to the reader of travels.
dam is, and has ever
or
a
a
canal
useful or ornamental work;
Burton^s
been, beyond the naiTOW bounds of its civilization."
Africa, page 88.
;
**The African's wonderful loquacity and volubility of tongue

have produced no tales, poetry, nor display of eloquence though,
like most barbarians, somewhat sententious, he will content himself with squabbling with his companions, or with repeating some
meaningless word in every different tone of voice during the
BuHon''s Afnca, page 497.
weary length of a day's march."
;
*'
Music
tunists, the
Admirable tunists, and no mean

at a low ebb.
people betray their incapacity for improvement by re-
is
maining contented with the simplest and the most monotonous
combinations of sounds. As in everything else, so in this art,

creative talent is wanting. A higher development would have
produced other results yet it is impossible not to remark the delight which they take in harmony. The fisherman will accompany
his paddle, the porter his trudge, and the housewife her task of
shelling grain, with a song; and for long hours at night the
;
peasants will
sit
in a ring repeating, with a zest that
the same few notes,

Africa, page 468.
and the same unmeaning
never
line."
flags,
Burton's

*
165
Devotedly fond of music, the negro's love of tune has invented
and the whistle
nothing- but whistling
borrowed from the coast people.
He
his instruments are all
delights in singing, yet he
has no metrical songs he contents himself with improvising a

few notes without sense or rhyme, and repeats them till they
When mourning, the love of music assumes
nauseate.
;
a peculiar form; wômen weeping or sobbing, especially after

chastisement, will break into a protracted threne or dirge, every
period of which concludes with its own particular groan or wail.
After venting a
little
natural distress in a natural sound, the long,
loud improvisation, in the highest falsetto key, continues as before."
**
The sebaceous odor of the
skin
among
all
these races
is
over-
powering, and is emitted with the greatest effect during and after
Burtons Africa, page
excitement, whether of mind or body."
89.
" Up
age of fourteen, the black children advance as fast

as the white, but after that age, unless there be an admixture of
white blood, it becomes, in most instances, extremely difficult to
to the
carry them forward."

States, Vol.
Sir Charles LyelVs Second
Visit to the
United
L, page 105.
A certain skill in mechanics, without the genius of invention;

a great fluency of language, without energy in ideas a correct
in a word,
ear for music, without a capacity for composition,
a display of imitative faculties, with an utter barrenness of
creative power there is your negro at the very best. Even these
are rare, almost exceptional, cases; and to show such trained
'
samples of the negro is to make an exhibition of

black lies. One might almost as well assert, after the sights
which one sees at a country fair, that all pigs are learned that
the hare plays on a drum in its native state and that it is the nature of piebald horses to rotate in a circle to the sound of a brass
band."
JReade''s Savage Africa, page 33.
animals as
fair
166
has been proved by measurements, by microscopes, by

analysis, that the typical negro is something between a child, a
**
It
dotard, and a beast.
of science."
I cannot struggle against these sacred facta
Meade's Savage Africay
ijage 399.
be blamed by ignorant persons when I say that, if war

it must be a massacre, or it is useless.
appear,
it would, if followed out, be the
maxim
may
this
Cruel as
cause of less misery and bloodshed afterward. It must be remembered that the minds of savages are as differently constituted
from our minds, as are their bodies from our bodies
Forbearance these negroes ascribe to fear, and mercy to personal
Eeade^s Savage Africa, page 327.
interest."
**
is
I shall
waged
against savages,
"The
naked; they have several wives, and

They bring forth children with the utmost
Shangalla go
these very prolific.
all
ease, and never rest or confine themselves after deliveiy; but,

washing themselves and the child with cold water, they wrap it
up in a soft cloth made of the bark of trees, and hang it upon a
branch, that the large ants, with which they are infested, and the
serpents may not devour it. After a few days, when it has gathered strength, the mother carries it in the same cloth upon her
back, and gives it suck with the breast, which she throws over
her shoulder, this part being of such a length as, in some, to

Bruce's Travels, Vol. 11., p<7e 553,
reach almost to their knees."
"A
Shangalla woman, upon bearing a child or two, at ten or

fall immediately down to near
manner
of suckling her children is by
Her
common
her knees.
carrying them upon her back, as our beggars do, and giving the
infant the breast over her shoulders. They rarely are mothers
eleven years old, sees her breast
after twenty-two,
pv begin child-bearing before they are ten
that the time of child-bearing

Travels, Vol. 11. ,
is
but twelve years."
so
Bruce's
page 559.
The women of
this
part of Africa are certainly singularly
167
...
So miicli degifted with the Hottentot protuberance.

pends on the magnitude of those attractions for which their
southern sisters are so celebrated, that I have known a man,
about to make a purchase of one out of three, regardless of the
charms of feature, turn their faces from him, and looking at them
behind, in the vicinity of the hips, make choice of her whose perDmhain's
son most projected beyond that of her companions."
Africa, Vol, II.,
page
89.
Neither in the Desert nor in the kingdoms of Central Africa

there any march of civilization. All goes on according to a
is
certain routine established for ages past."

Vol. I.,
There
*'
Bicliardsoii's Africa,
page 305.
is
not a tincture of letters or of writing
There
aboriginal tribes of Africa.
is
among
all
the
not a hieroglyphic or a
nothing corresponding to the painted stories of iSlexico,

symbol,
or the knotted quipos of Peru. Oral communication forms the
only channel by which thought can be transmitted from one
country and one age to another. The lessons of time, the experience of ages, do not exist for the nations of this vast continent."
I found his majesty sitting
himself before a large
fire
upon a
bullock's hide,
for the Africans are sensible of the
smallest variation in the temperature of the
complain of cold when a European
Mungo
Parle's First Journal,
warming
is
air,
and frequently
oppressed with heat."
page 41.
" They seem to have no social tenderness, very few of those

amiable private virtues which would win our affection, and none
of those public qualities that claim respect or
command admira-
The love of country is not strong enough in their bosoms

incite them to defend it against the irregular incursions of a
tion.
to
and of the active energy, noble sentiments, and

contempt of danger, which distinguish the North American tribes
despicable foe

168
to be found among this slothful

Regardless of the past as reckless of the future, the j)resent alone influences their actions. In this respect they approach
nearer to the nature of the brute than perhaps any other people
and other savages, no traces are
people.
on the face of the globe."

page 176
*'
Clicking
is
Lander'^s Travels in Africa,
Vol. I.,
a peculiarity of several South African languages.
The Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kafiirs have each several clicks.

The Natal Kaffirs use but three, and these not frequently, as there
are few words but can be understood without the click. In the
Bushmen's language, very many are used, and I have heard that
a Bushman is not considered to speak his language elegantly
These curious little
until age has deprived him of all his teeth.
men use a great deal of action during their conversation and it
is said that if a Bushman wishes to talk during a dark night, he
;
is
obliged to light a
and thereby
Africa, page
fire,
fully to
to enable the listeners to see his action,
comprehend
his
meaning."
Braysori's
58.
*'The Bosjesmans, indeed, are amongst the ugliest of all human beings. The flat nose, high cheek-bones, prominent chin,
and concave visage, partake much of the apish character, which
The
their keen eye, always in motion, tends not to diminish.
into
rounded
Chinese,
is
upper lid of this organ, as in that of the
the lower on the side next the nose, and forms not an angle, as is
the case in the eye of a European, but a circular sweep, so that
the point of union between the upper and lower eyelid is not asTheir bellies are uncommonly protuberant, and
their backs hollow.
As a means of increasing their speed
.
in the chase, or when pursued by an enemy, the men had adopted
certainable.
a custom, which was sufficiently remarkable, of pushing the testicles to the upper part of the root of the penis, where they seemed
to remain as firmly fixed, and as conveniently placed, as if nature
had stationed them there."
Barrow's Africa,
" The great curvature of
Vol. I.,
the spine inwards,
page 234.
and the remark-
169
ably extended posteriors, are characteristic of the whole Hottenbut, in some of the small Bosjesmans, they are carried
tot race
an extravagant degree as to excite laughter. If the letter

considered
as one expression of the line of beauty to which
be
S
to such
degrees of aiDproximation are admissible, some of the women of

rank in point of form. A sec-
this nation are entitled to the first
tion of the body,
from the breast to the knee, forms really the
shape of the above letter. The projection of the posterior part,

in one subject, measured five inches and a half from the line
touching the spine. This protuberance consisted entirely of fat,
and, when the woman walked, it exhibited the most ridiculous
appearance imaginable, every step being accompanied with a
quivering and tremulous motion, as if two masses of jelly had
been attached behind her."
"The
loose, long,
Barrow's Africa,
hanging
ness of the hinder parts,
breasts,
page
page 237.
and disproportionate thick-
make a Bosjesman woman,
a European, a real object of horror."

I.f
Vol. I.,
in the eyes of
Lichtensfein's A/Hca,
VoL
117.
a distance from each

other, since the smaller the number the easier is a supply of food
procured. So trifling is the intercourse among them, that the
*'
For the most
part, the hordes
keep
at
names of even the most common objects are as various as the

number of hordes. Their language is disagreeably sonorous,
from the frequent clacking of the teeth, and the prevailing croaking in the throat; and it is extremely poor, no less in words than
thej" understand each other more by their gestures
in sounds
speaking. No Bosjesman has a name peculiar to
by
their
than
LicMensteiiis Africa, Vol. II. page 49.
himself."
;
which a man is amused, surprised, or deluded, is a fair measure of intellectual grade, I fear that African
minds will take only a very moderate rank in the scale of humanThe task of self-civilization, which resembles the self-filterity.
ing of water, has done but little for Ethiopia in the ages that have
passed simultaneously over her people and the progi'essive races
*'
If the ease with
15
170
of other lands."
Canofs Twenty Years of an African Slaver, page
231.
When two Namaquas
are talking together, and one
is relat-
ing a story, the listener repeats the last words of the speaker, even
For
if he should know as much of the matter as his informant.
along
walked
As
I
recital
saying,
by
instance, if a man begin his
the river, a very large rhinoceros rushed suddenly upon me.'
Rushed suddenly upon me,' echoes the auditor.

Very fat,' the other ejaculates, and so forth."
fat.'
'
lie
was very
Andersson'?
Africa, page 259.
Unfortunately the people are altogether deficient of any raMusic is scarcely known, or indeed
tional or charitable feeling.
*'
any other exertion of the mind calculated

natural passions."
Duncan'^s Africa,
to correct or
Vol. I.,
page
improve tho
199.
In every part of the United States, there is a broad and impassable line of demarcation between every man who has one
drop of African blood in his veins, and every other class in the
**
community. The habits, the feelings, all the prejudices of society,

prejudices which neither refinement, nor argument, nor educamark the people of color,
tion, nor religion itself, can subdue,
subjects
of
a degradation inevitable
the
as
or
free,
whether bond
and incurable. The African in this'country belongs by birth to the
very lowest station in society and from that station he can never
rise, be his talents, his enterprise, his virtues what they may."
African Repository
Vol. IV.,
page
118.
"The typical woolly-haired races have never invented a reasoned

or reasonable theological system; discovered an alphabet; framed
a grammatical language nor made the least step in science or
They have scarcely comprehended what they have learned
art.
;
them by contact with more refined

They have at no time
nor commenced a self-evolving civ-
or retained a civilization taught
nations, so soon as that contact has ceased.
formed great
political states,
'

ilization.'"
page
cies,
Sa>m7io?i
Smith's Natural History of the
171
Human
Spe-
196.
not wholly without talents, but they are limited

what has been previously known.
to imitation,
He has neither invention nor judgment. Africans may be considered docile, but few of them are judicious, and thus in mental
*'
The negro
is
the learning of
are disposed to see a certain analogy with the apes,

Burmeister's Black Man,
imitative powers are proverbial.'"
we
qualities
whose
page 14.
'
The tune
riations,
high,
and
the negroes sing

is
is
very simple, entirely free from va-
same key. The voice is

The key is commonly in moll,
constantly repeated in the
a sort of shrieking
falsetto.
and each verse of the song terminates in a longprotracted, soft sound, in the singing of which alone can we observe anything like freedom and variety of expression. Dull and
deep tones are disagreeable to the negro. He tries to raise his
voice to the highest possible pitch, and even his laughter has more
seldom
in dur,
the sound of whistling than laughing. The shrill, drawn-out hie

they constantly emit as a mark of joyful surprise, reminded me of
'
the harsh shrieking cries of the apes."
page
*'
Burmeister's Black Man,
16.
On
ognomy
several occasions,
that pleased
me,
when
I met with a negro with a physiattempted to begin a conversation with
him, in order to discover his intellectual and spiritual characterThe result, however, uniistics, after having studied his body.
versally satisfied me of his deficiencies in this respect, and served
to confirm
me
in
my
opinion that the negro cares only for those
things which belong to the very lowest grades of the

ily."
human fam-
Burmeister''s Black Man, page 12.
There is not a single bookseller's shop in either Eastern or

Livingstone''s Africa, page 689.
Western Africa."

172
*'
Among
the negroes, no science has been developed, and few
questions are ever discussed, except those which have an intimate
connection with the wants of the stomach."
Livingstone's Africay
page 138.
" The thermometer, placed upon a deal box in the sun, rose to
It stood at 108 in the shade by day, and 96 at sunset.
If
my experiments were correct, the blood of a European is of a
higher temperature than that of an African. The bulb, held
138.
under
98."
'*
my
tongue, stood at 100
Livingstone's
Among the
tations,
Some
Africtty
under that of the natives, at
page 548.
slaves living at Aniambie, to
were specimens of no
work
the king's plan-
less than eleven different tribes.
old slaves from the far interior seemed very
little
removed
from the Anthropoid apes in their shape and features,

lean legs,
heavy bodies, with prominent abdomen, retreating forehead,
and projecting muzzles
they were more like animals than
men."
Du Chaillu's Ashango-Land, page 42.
;
The reader who has followed me through the volume of my

former exploration and the present book, will have been able to
gather an idea of the general character and disposition of the
negro of this part of Africa, as he now stands. I have made researches to ascertain if his race had formerly left remains, showing that he had once attained a tolerably high state of civilization
my researches have proved vain I have found no vestige whatever of ancient civilization. Other travellers in different parts of
Lu Chaillu's
Africa have not been more successful than I have,"
*
Ashango-Land, page 435.
AMERICAN WHITE RS ON THE NEGRO,
173
CHAPTER XXX.
AMERICAN WRITERS ON THE NEGRO.
Thomas Jefferson, the fame of whose great intellect and

commanding abilities seems to increase with the growth of
was the first American who, having acquired a thorough
knowledge of the inferior and baneful nature of the negro,
wrote learnedly and truthfully about him and who, at the
same time, with the vision of an impassioned prophet, implored his countrymen to avert, by a system of emancipation
and deportation, *he very condition of national disgrace and
ruin which has at last so nearly overtaken us. Yet such are
time,
the vagaries of certain sophists that the opinions of the

renowned author of the Declaration of Independence are
sometimes appealed to in support of the

those
who
false positions of
favor the recognition of the negro, upon terms of
perfect equality, as a fellow-peer, a cousin-german, and a
brother
afforded
The latest notable instance of this fallacy

by the New York " Tribune," of April 14, 1866,
these words
is
in
and ought to be, held in sincere reverence

by all Radicals because of his agency in basing the Declaration of
Independence on the broad, comprehensive, eternal principle
of Equal Human Rights. As to the fundamental base of our
political system, Mr. Jefferson is and ought to be the highest
'*
Mr. Jefferson
is,
authority."
Now,
if
we
will but fairly scrutinize,
and weigh
well,
and write, at intervals,

during the long period of the half century immediately subsequent to the date of the Declaration of Independence, we
will find that he had, indeed, no sympathy whatever with the
erroneous and unnatural views touching the negro, which are
now so strenuously advocated by the " Tribune " and other
what Mr. Jefferson
15*
really did say
AMERICAN WRITERS
174
OJV
THE NEGRO.
oracular exponents of the Radical faith.

this,
remembering
that, without
any
For
specific
full
proof of
reference or
allusion to the negro, the Declaration of Independence
was
written in 1776, let us, in the following pages, see something
of what Mr. Jefferson did pointedly and specifically write
about the negro, between the date of that ever-memorable
document, July
4,
illustrious author,
1776, and the date of the death of its
July
4,
1826
"Deep-kooted prejudices entertained by the whites;

TEN thousand RECOLLECTIONS, BY THE BLACKS, OF THE INJURIES THEY HAVE SUSTAINED NEW PROVOCATIONS THE REAL.
DISTINCTIONS WHICH NATURE HAS MADE AND MANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCES, WILL DIVIDE US INTO PARTIES, AND PRODUCE CONVULSIONS, "WHICH WILL PROBABLY NEVER END BUT IN THE EXTo these
TERMINATION OF THE ONE OR THE OTHER RACE.
;
may be added
others, which are

which strikes us is that
of color. Whether the black of the negro resides in the reticular
membrane between the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin
itself; whether it proceeds from the color of the blood, the color
of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is
fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better
known to us. And is this difference of no importance ? Is it not
the foundation of a greater or less share of beauty in the two
races ? Are not the fine mixtures of red and white, the expressions of every passion by greater or less suffusions of color in the
one, preferable to that eternal monotony, which reigns in the
countenances, that immovable veil of black which covers the
objections,
which are
physical and moral.
political,
The
first diflference
....
The circumstance of
emotions of the other race?
superior beauty is thought worthy of attention in the propagation
of our horses, dogs, and other domestic animals why not in that
;
man ?
Besides those of color, figure, and hair, there are other

proving a difference of race. They have less
distinctions
physical
They secrete less by the kidneys,
hair on the face and body.
and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very
of
strong and disagreeable odor.

tion
renders them more
This greater degree of transpiraand less so of cold than
tolerant of heat,
175
They are more ardent after their female

seems with them to be "more an eager desire, than a
the whites.
but love
mixtm-e of sentiment and sensation.

Their
Those numberless afflictions, which render
it doubtful whether Heaven has given life to us in mercy or in
wrath, are less felt, and sooner forgotten, with them. In general,
their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection.
To this must be ascribed their disîosition to sleep when
abstracted from their diversions and unemployed in labor. An
animal whose body is at rest, and who does not reflect, must
be disposed to sleep, of course. Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to me that in
memory they are equal to the whites in reason much inferior, as
I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid and that in imagination
they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous."
Jefferson's Works, Vol.
VIII. page 380. Notes on Virginia; written in 1782.
tender,
delicate
griefs are transient.
*'
The "West Indies
offer a
more probable and
practicable retreat
Inhabited already by a people of their own race

and color climates congenial with their natural constitution insulated from the other descriptions of men nature seems to have
formed these islands to become the receptacle of the blacks transplanted into this hemisphere. Whether we could obtain from the
European sovereigns of those islands leave to send thither the persons under consideration, I cannot say; but I think it more probafor the negroes.
;
ble than the
inhabited
former propositions, because of their being already
more or less by the same

and undoubted resort,
offer a last
should
fail."
Jefferson's
Works,
race.
if all
Vol.
others
Africa would
more
IV., page 421.
desirable
Letter to
Gov. Monroe, Nov. 24, 1801.
You have asked my
opinion on the proposition of Mrs. Mifmeasures for procuring, on the coast of Africa, an
establishment to wliich the people of color of these States might,
from time to time, be colonized, under the auspices of different
governments. Having long ago made up my mind on this subject, I have no hesitation in saying that I always thought it the
*'
flin,
to take
176
most desirable measure which could be adopted for gi'adually

drawing off this part of our population most advantageously for
themselves as well as for us. Going from a country possessing all
the useful arts, they might be the means of transplanting them
among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus carry back to
the country of their origin the seeds of civilization, which might render their sojournment and sufferings here a blessing in the end to
Letter to
Jejferson's Works, Vol. F., paê 563.
that country."
John Lyncli, January 21, 1811.
I concur entirely in your leading principles of gradual
eman-
cipation, of establishment on the coast of Africa, and the patron-
emigrants shall be able to protect

details might be easily arranged.
But the bare proposition of purchase by the United States gener-
age of our nation
ally
would
;
the
excite infinite indignation in all the States north of
Marj'land.
them
until
The subordinate
themselves.
The
and the
sacrifice
difficult
must
fall
make any
sacrifice
how to
lessen this so as to
am
ready and
which shall ensure their gradual
reconcile our fellow-citizens to
desirous to
on the States alone which hold
question will be
it.
Personally I
but complete retirement from the State, and elFectuall}', at the

same time, establish them elsewhere in freedom and safet}'. But
have not perceived the growth of this disposition in the rising

generation, of which I once had sanguine hopes. No s3'mptoms
inform me that it will take place in my day. I leave it, therefore,
to time, and not at all without hope that the day will come, equally
desirable and welcome tons as to them."
Jefferson'^s Works, Vol.
VJL, 2Jage bl Letter to Dr. Thomas Hiunjjhreys, February 8, 1817.
I
"The
on the subject of slaves was a mere digest of the

existing laws respecting them, without any intimation of a plan
It was thought better that
for a future and general emancipation.
this should be kept back, and attempted only by way of amendment, whenever the bill should be brought on. The principles
of the amendment, however, were agreed on that is to say, the
freedom of all born after a certain day, and deportation at a
proper age. But it was found that the public mind would not yet
bear the proposition nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the
bill
177
when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will

MOKE CERTAINLY WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OP
FATE THAN THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE TO BE FREE NOR IS IT
LESS CERTAIN THAT THE TWO RACES, EQUALLY FREE, CANNOT
LIVE IN THE SAME GOVERNMENT. Nature, habit, opinion, have
day
hot distant
is
follow.
ISToxniXG IS
drawn indelible lines of distinction between them. It is still in

our power to direct the process of emancipation and deportation,
peaceably, and in such slow degree, as that the evil will wear off
insensibly, and their place be, pari passu, filled up by free white
laborers."
Jefferson's
Works, Vol.
I.,
page
AS).
Autobiography;
written in 1821.
The
on the African colonization of the people of color,

my attention, I have read with great consideration.
It is indeed a fine one, and will do much g-ood.
I learn
from it more, too, than I had before known, of the degree of
success and promise of that colony. In the disposition of this unfortunate people, there are two rational objects to be distinctly
kept in view. First the establishment of a colony on the coast
of Africa, which may introduce among the aborigines the arts of
cultivated life, and the blessings of civilization and science. By
doing this, we may make to them some retribution for the long
course of injuries we have been committing on their population.
The second object, and the most interesting to us, as
coming home to our physical and moral characters, to our happiness and safety, is to provide an asylum to which we can, by degrees, send the whole of that population from among us, and establish them, under our patronage and protection, as a separate,
free, and independent people, in some country and climate friendly
to human life and happiness.
I do not go into all the
details of the burdens and benefits of this operation.
And who
**
to
article
which you
invite
could estimate
its
blessed effects
I leave this to those
who
will
accomplishment, and to enjoy a beatitude forbidden to my age. But I leave it with this admonition, to rise and be
doing:' Jeffersofi's Works, Vol. VIL, page 332. Letter to Jar ed
Sparks, February 4, 1824.
live to see their
*'The proverbs of Theognis,
like those of
Solomon, are ob-

178
AMERICAN WRITERS ON THE NEGRO,
seryntions on
human
moral reflections on the

fact tliat there is as
and civil society, with

quote him as a witness of the
nature, ordinary
I
facts.
much
life,
difference in the races of
men
as in the
breeds of sheep, and as a sharp reprover and censurer of the sordid, mercenary practice of disgracing birth by preferring gold to
Surely no authority can be more expressly in point to prove
it.
the existence of inequalities, not of rights, but of moral, intellectual,
and physical
erations."
inequalities in families, descendants,
John Adams.
and gen-
Correspondence with Jefferson, Nov. 15,
1813.
'Inequalities of
mind and body are
so established
by God Al-
mighty, in his constitution of human nature, that no art or policy

John Adams.
can ever plane them down to a common level."
Correspondence with Jefferson.
**
I have never read reasoning
more absurd, sophistry more
gross, in proof of the Athanasian creed, or Transubstantiation,
than the subtle labors of Ilelvetius and Rousseau, to demonstrate
The golden
the natural equality of mankind.
rule,
'
Do
as
you
equality that can be supported or de-
would be done by,' is all tlie

fended by reason, or reconciled to
common
sense."
John Adams.
Correspondence with Jefferson.
*'It
is
dependence
equal,
all
it is
men
all mankind can, in any

and when the Declaration of In-
only as immortal beings that
sense, be said to be born equal
affirms, as a self-evident truth, that all
precisely the
same
as
if
are born
had been that

John Quincy Adams.
the affirmation
are born with immortal souls."
Lettei" to citizens
men
of Bangor, Maine, July
4,
1813.
'
I would not dwell with any particular emphasis upon the sentiment, which I nevertheless entertain, with respect to the great
I do not know how far, in that rediversity in the races of men
.
might not encroach on those mysteries of Providenca

Daniel Webster
which, while I adore, I may not comprehend."
spect, I
AMERICAyr WRITERS OX THE NEGRO.

*
In
my
and
as
it
observations upon slavery as
now
exists, I
it
179
existed in this country,
have expressed no opinion of the mode of
extinguishment or melioration. I will sa}^ however, though

I have nothing to propose, because I do not deem myself so competent as other gentlemen to take any lead on tliis subject, that
if any gentleman from the South shall jDropose a scheme to be
its
carried on
b}- this
government upon a large
scale, for the trans-
portation of the colored people to any colony or any place in the
world, I should be quite disposed to incur almost any degree of
expense
to
accomplish that object."
Webster's
Works, Vol.
V.,
page 364.
"It
is
a question of races, involving consequences which go to
the destruction of one or the other.
ago, and the
wisdom
This was seen
fifty
years
seems to
be above human reason now. But there is a wisdom above human, and to that we must look. In the mean time do not extend
Thomas Hart Benton.
the evil.'"
of Virginia balked at
it
then.
It
" Of the utility of a total separation of the two incongruous portions of our population (supposing it to be practicable) none have
ever doubted. The mode of accomplishing that desirable object
has alone divided public opinion. Colonization in Hayti for a
time had its partisans. Without throwing any impediments in
the way of executing that scheme, the American Colonization
Society has steadily adhered to its own. The Haytien project has
passed away. Colonization beyond the Stony Mountains has
sometimes been proposed but it would be attended with an expense and difficulties far surpassing the African project, whilst
it would not imite the same animating motives."
Henry Clay.
Speec/i in the House of Bepresentatives, 1827.
;
How natural has
been to assume that the motive of those

who have protested against the extension of slavery was an unnatural sympathy with the negro, instead of what it always has
really been
concern for the welfare of the white man."-^ Wil'
Ham H. Seward. Speech at Detroit, September 4, I860,
'*
it
ISO
" The great fact
is
now
fully realized that the African race here
a foreign and feeble element, like the Indians, incapable of asand that it is a pitiful exotic unwisely and
similation,
is
unnecessarily transplanted into our fields, and which it is unprofitable to cultivate at the cost of the desolation of the native
vineyard."
William
E. Seward.
Speech at Detroit
September
4, 1860.
**
I have said that I do not understand the Declaration of Independence to mean that all men are created equal in all respects.
perhaps not in
Certainly the negro is not our equal in color,
I did not at any time say I was in
many other respects.
once substantially, and once
favor of negro sulfrage. Twice,
...
expressly,
I declared against
it.
negro citizenship." Abraham Lincoln.
am
Debates
not in favor of
loith
Douglas, in
Illinois, 1858.
"
am
and never have been, in favor of making voters or

jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold ofllce, nor to
intermarry with whites and I will say further, in addition to this,
that there is a physical difference between the black and white
races, which I believe will forever forbid the two races living toAbraham Lingether on terms of social and political equality."
Debates with Douglas in Illinois, 1858.
coln.
I
not,
**
by the law of the State which

Abraham
marrying of white people with negroes."
I will, to the very last, stand
forbids the
Lincoln.
Speech
at Columbus, Ohio, September, 1859.
should not the people of your race be colonized ? Why

should they not leave this country ? This is, perhaps, the first
question for consideration. You and we are a different race.
"
Why
We
have between us a broader difference than exists between

almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong,
I need not discuss but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffers greatly, man^
;
AMERICAN WlilTEBS ON THE NEGRO.
181
of them by living with us, while ours suffer from your presence.
In a word, we suffer on each side. If

a reason why we should be separated.
this is
admitted,
shows
it
I supiDose.
You, here, are freemen,

Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives.
Your race
are
suffering, in
my
opinion, the greatest
wrong
on any people.
But even when you cease to be
slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an
equality with the white race. You are still cut off from many
of the advantages which are enjoyed by the other race. The
inflicted
man
aspiration of
is
to enjoy equality with the best
but on this broad continent not a single

the equal of ours.
ban
is still
present
if I
it
Go
upon you.
as a fact with
would.
It is
a fact
men growing
of your race
is
free
made
Avhere you are treated the best, and the

I do not propose to discuss this, but to
which we have to deal. I cannot alter it
about which we all think and feel alike.
We look to our conditions owing to the

this continent.
man
when
need not recount
to
existence of the races on
you the
effects
out of the institution of slavery.
upon white
I believe in its
general evil effects u^Don the white race. See our present condition.
The country is engaged in war. Our white men are cutting each other's throats, none knowing how far their frenzy may
extend and then consider what we know to be the truth. But

for your race among us, there could not be a war, although many
men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the
other.
Nevertheless, I repeat, without the institution of slavery,
and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have had an
existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I
know that there are free men among you who, even if they could
;
much inclined to go out of the

country as those w^ho, being slaves, could obtain their freedom on
this condition.
I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the
better their condition, are not as
way
of colonization
is,
that the free colored
man
cannot see that
would be advanced by it. You may believe you can

live in Washington, or elsewiiere in the United States, the remainder of your lives, perhaps more comfortably than you could
in any foreign country.
Hence you may come to the conclusion
that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign
country. This (I speak in no unkind sense) is an extremely selfish view of the case.
But you ought to do something to help
those who are not so fortunate as yourselves.
For the
his comfort
16
182
siike of 3'our
race you should sacrifice something of your present
comfort, for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the

It is a cheering thought throughout life, that somecan be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have
been subject to the hard usages of the world. It is difficult to
make a man miserable while he feels that he is worthy of himself,
In the
and claims kindred with the great God who made him
white people.
thin f
American revolutionary war, sacrifices were made by men engaged in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had
remained a British subject; yet he was a happy man, because he
was eno-aired in benefitino: his race, and in doing something for
Abraham
the children of his neighbors, having none of his own."
Lincoln.
Address
to
a Deputation of Negroes JunCy 1862.

y
government was made by white men, for the

and I am in
benefit of white men and their posterity forever
men of European
favor of confining citizenship to white men,
birth and descent, instead of conferring it upon negroes, Indians,
Stephen A. Douglas. Debates with
and other inferior races."
*
I believe this
Lincoln in
**
Illinois, 1858.
Washington, Jeflerson,
and others were the advo-
All the early patriots of the South
Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Clay,

cates of emancipation and colonization. The patriots of the North
concurred in the design. Is the faction now ojoposing it patriotic
or philanthropic ? Are they not rather, like Calhoun, working
the negro question to accomplish schemes of selfish ambition, and,
after his method, making a balance of power party of a phalanx
of deluded fanatics, keeping the Union and the public peace perpetually in danger, and seeking power in the government through
The author of the Declaration of Independence
its distractions ?
and
his associates declared equal rights impracticable in society
constituted of masses of diflerent races.
De
Tocqueville, the
most profound writer of the Old World on American

predicts the extermination of the blacks,
if it is
institutions,
attempted to conIt is obvious that
on them in the United States.

an election would be a mockery in a community wherein there
fer such riglits
AMERICAN JVniTEnS ON THE NEGRO,
183
could be no other than hlach and icliite parties. In su jh communities, reason and experience show that one or the other race
must be the dominant race, and

This
is
democracy
tliat
not less obvious to the Phillips school than
is
it is
impossible.
to the Cal-
houn school, who concur in opposing the jiolicy of Mr. Jefferson,

adopted by the president, intended to effectuate the design of our
They concur in pressfathers to establish popular government.
ing here the antagonism of races, and only differ in looking to
The result of this antagonism,
different races to give them power.
so far as popular government is concerned, would be the same if
either could succeed in their schemes
and you would scarcely
have much preference between being governed hy Jeff. Davis, as
the leader of the Slave Power, and Wendell Phillips, as the
leader of the enfranchised blacks. But neither can succeed. Even
the Calhoun scheme, matured through so many years of intrigue
by men versed in public affairs, and attended with a temporary
success, is a failure as a governing contrivance, though potent
still
to spread ruin widely through the land, and especially
to desolate the homes of his deluded followers.
The Phillips
scheme is the dream of visionaries wholly unskilled in government, and will be a failure from the start. He may, in turn,
make victims of the negroes, as Calhoun has of their masters.
But I think not. They are not ambitious of ruling white men,
and will, I believe, be contented to set up for themselves, in some
neighboring and congenial clime, on the plan of Jefferson and
Lincoln."
Montgomery Blair. Speech at Concord^ N. H., June 17,
;
1863.
"The problem before

relations of masses of
The
calamities
us
two
now upon
is
the practical one of dealing with the
different races in the
same communit}'.
us have been brought about, as I have
already said, not by the grievances of the class claiming i)ropert3^

in slaves, but by the jealousy of caste awakened by the secessionists
in the non-slaveholders.
In considerinof the means of securino'
the peace of the country hereafter,
of race which
it
is,
therefore, this jealousy
be considered. Emancipation alone

would not remove it. It was by proclaiming to the laboring
whites, who fill the armies of rebellion, that the election of Mr.
Lincoln involved emancipation, equality of the negroes with them
is
chiefly to
184
and consequently amalgamation, that
jealousy was stimujealousy the fruit of mere

ignorance and bad passion, as some suppose, or confined to the
Nor
lated to the fighting point.
white people of the South.

races, and, like all popular
wisdom.
It is, in fact,
revolts at hybridism.
natural law, that all
On
the contrary,
instincts,
belongs to all
proceeds from the highest
it
the instinct of self-preservation which
Nor does
men
nature, equally obvious,
'their
is this
is
this instinct militate against the
are created equal,
obeyed.
We
if
another law of
have but
to restore the
subject race to the same, or to a region similar to that from which

it
was brought by violence, to make it operative and such a sepwas the condition which the immortal author of
;
aration of races
the Declaration himself declared to be indispensable to give
practical effect.
theorist, not living in a
it
community where
may stifle the voice

and, from a determination to live up
diverse races are brought in contact in masses,

of nature in his
to a mistaken
own bosom,
view of the doctrine, go so
far as to extend social
intercourse to individuals of the subject race.
But few even of
such persons would pursue their theories so far as amalgamation

and other legitimate consequences of their logic."
Montgomery
Blair.
Letter read at the Cooper Institute,
N.
T.,
March
G,
1863.
"White men have for centuries been accustomed to vote.

They have borne all the responsibilities and discharged all the
among freemen and it is a very different thing

away from a freeman a privilege long exercised by him
duties of freemen
to take
his ancestors, from what it is to confer one never before

enjoyed upon ignorant, half-civilized Africans just released from
slavery.
Three generations back many of them wer*? cannibals
The only
and savages of the lowest type of human kind
civilization they have is that which they have received during
To confer this great privilege ujjon the
their slavery in America.
more enlightened negroes might tend to elevate the mass in the
end. But to confer it now upon their ignorant hordes can only
and by
degrade the ballot and the republican institutions which rest upon
No answer to this view has ever been given, no answer can
be given, by the friends of universal negro suffrage, except this
'
The ignorant foreigner is allowed to vote, why not let the ignorant negro vote ? Thus to compare the civilized European, accusit.
AMERICAN WRITERS OX THE NEGRO.
185
and self-governrnent, to all

the duties and resiônsibilities of a freedman, and who withal,
before he is allowed to vote in most of the States, must appear
in open court, and, after five years' residence, prove by the testimony of two citizens a good moral character and that he is well
disposed towards the government and institutions of the United
States,
to compare him with the poor degraded mass of Africans, plantation slaves just set free, is an atrocious libel upon ourselves, U23on our ancestors, upon the results of Christian civilization, and upon that Caucasian race which for thousands of years
has ruled the world.
Why press this negro domination
over the whites of the South ? What reason can you give ? The
answer is, because the negroes were loyal and the whites disloyal.
Let us examine this bold assertion. Is it true ? Were the
tomed
to free labor, to self-support,
negroes loyal during the rebellion?

not
remember
those States during the whole

the rebel cause
Recall the facts.
Who
does
that at least three-fourths of all the negroes in
They fed
war
power to sustain
they dug their trenches
they fed their women and children.
did all in their
their armies
they built their fortifications
There were no insurrections, no uprisings, no effort of any kind

anywhere outside the lines of our armies on the part of the negroes to aid the Union cause. In whole districts, in whole States
even, where all the able-bodied white men were conscripted into
the rebel army, the great mass of negroes, of whose loyalty you
boast, under the control of women, decrepit old men and boys,
did all they were capable of to aid the rebellion."
James B. DooUtile.
Speech in the Senate, January 23, 1868.
"In
name of constitutional liberty; in the name of our

who laid the foundations of this government to seliberty for themselves and for us in the name of all who
the
great ancestors
cure the
love that liberty,

rather than allow
who
it
are ready to struggle and
to be
to the
world
all its civilization,
need be
to die
in the name of the comins:

we belong and which has given
overthrown
generations and that race to which
if
I do arraign and impeach the rad-
present Congress of high crimes and misdemeanAt the bar of the American people, in the presence of high
ical policy of the

ors.
Heaven and before
the civilized world, I impeach
against the laws of nature which

10*
God
it, first,
as a crime
the Almighty has stamped
186
upon the races of mankind, because it attempts to force a politiand social and unnatural equality betweeen the African and
between an alien, inferior, and exotic race from
the Caucasian,
cal
the tropics, with the highest type of the
human
race in the
home
of the latter in the temperate zone. Second I impeach it as a

crime against civilization, because it would by force wrench the
government out of the hands of the civilized white race in ten
States of this Union, to place it in the hands of the half-civilized
African. Third I impeach it as a crime against the constitution,
because it tramples down the rights of the States to fix for themselves the qualifications of their own voters,
a right without
which a State ceases to be republican at all. Fourth I impeach
:
as a crime against the constitution and against national faith,

because it annuls the pardons constitutionally granted to hundreds
of thousands of the most intelligent white men of the South, and
it
in ojDen, palpable violation of the constitution, disfranchises
Fifth
impeach
it
them.
as a crime against the existence of ten States
of the Union and the liberties of eight millions of people, because

in express
terms
those liberties
it
annuls
may be
military desf)Otism.
government, by which alone

them under an absolute
I impeach it as a crime against hu-
all civil
secured, and places
Sixth
manity, tending to produce a

of one or both,
war
of races, to the utter destruction
a result which cannot be prevented except by a
large standing army, which neither resources will bear nor our
liabilities long survive.
Seventh I impeach it as an utter abandonment of the puri:)ose for which the war was prosecuted, of the
idea upon which we fought and mastered a rebellion."
James
a. DooUttle. Speech at Hartford, Cojin., March 11, 1868.
:
" I know
it is
said that the objection
which
is felt
on the
jDart
of
by side in social
and civil equality with the negro race is all a mere prejudice of
caste.
But its foundations are laid deeper than mere prejudice.
Men may theorize on the condiIt is an instinct of our nature.
tion of the two races living together, but the thing is impossible
the white population of this country to living side
the instincts of lioth parties are against
of Wisconsin.
it."
Senator BooUtiley
187
the delusions I have ever known, the idea of political

between the black and white races seems to me the greatFor more than four thousand years the history of this world
est.
has been written, and in all that time there is not one recorded
annal of a civilized negro government; there is not one instance
of political equality between the two races that has not proved
injurious to both and yet it is proposed to confer upon an inferior
race the dominion over one-third of the republic, and to make it
a balance of power that, nine times out of ten, would, for that
reason, control the whole country. There can be but one end to
It is impossible
this scheme, if it be much longer prosecuted.
that the race to which we belong can submit to negro domination
it is impossible that so inferior a race as the negro can compete
**0f
fill
equality
with the white

country.
man
in the business,
The extermination
much
less the politics, of the
of the negro, or his expulsion from
must be the inevitable result of the Radical policy,

But before that happens, what untold evils may
await us, what anarchy, what confusion, what impoverishment,
Worse than Mexico, worse than the South Ameriwhat distress
this country,
if
persisted in.
can Republics, will be the" condition of a large portion of this

country, if that policy prevails. And here let me caution you,
my friends, that the question of negro suffrage was not settled by
your votes
last October.
It is true that
you voted
it
down
in
Ohio, but it is equally true that what you refuse to permit here
you are asked to impose upon others. It is equally true that what
you have solemnly condemned, a Radical Congress may impose
impose upon you by
ujôn you in spite of your condemnation,
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, ratified
by other States, though rejected by Ohio. If you would guard
against negro suffrage, if jo\x would guard against political
equality with tlie negro, you must not be satisfied with sending its
opponents to the Legislature of your own State, but you must
Seîator Thurkeep its advocates out of the halls of Congress."
man, of Oldo.
'*
Speech at Mansfield, Jan. 21, 18G8.
Whatever may have been the sympathies of the North on the
question of freedom from slavery, you need not think they will be
now imminent; for when

mother and children escaping from the
with the negro in this horrible contest

the northern
man
sees the

188
burning home that has sheltered and protected them when he

hears the screams of beauty and innocence in the flight from
pursuing lust, if ever he venerated a mother, or loved a sister or
wife, his heart and hand will be for the pale-faced woman and
child of his own race. Whatever may have been the sympathies
of the N'orth for the negro in the claim made on his behalf for
civil rights, just and generous men will turn with horror from the
congressional policy that places the white race under the power
and government of the negroes, and seeks to establish negro
;
States in the Union.
You have
taken the robes of
polit-
shoulders of white men, and you have put

Gentlemen may moralize
the shoulders of negroes.
in solemn tones, as if they came from the tomb, about the gallantry and distinguished services of the negroes in the war. I
power
them upon
ical
off the
and party ambition you

have, with all the party ^Dower you have, you have not power to
take the garlands from the brows of the white soldiers and put
them on the heads of the negroes. You cannot do it. What is
right will stand. And I can tell you that all over this land, in
every neighborhood, there are the soldiers that have returned
home, who will vindicate and defend their own honor against this
can
tell
you that with
effort to appropriate the
all
the political
glory of the white
war
boys
'
to the negroes.
was won by
the negroes.
There was
]\Iy colThere is not a point that was carried by them.
the column of congressional
league has spoken of a column,
and has said that 'it is not hewn of a single
reconstruction,
Its
stone, but is composed of many blocks.' I think he is right.
the
foundation is the hard flint-stone of military rule, brought from
quarries of Austria, and upon that foundation rests the block from
Africa, and it is thence carried to its topmost point with fragments
of our broken institutions. That column will not stand. It will
In its
fall, and its architects will be crushed beneath its ruins.
stead the people will uphold thirty-seven stately and beautiful
columns, pure and white as Parian marble, upon which shall rest
Thomas
forever the grand structure of the American Union."
not a battle in the
that
A. Hendricks.
I lay
down
Speech in the Senate, February, 1868.
the propositions that the white and black races
thrive best apart
that a
commingling of these races
is
a detri-
AMERICAN WEITERS ON THE NEGRO.

ment
to both
that
presses the white
it
189
does not elevate the black, and
it
onl} de-
that the history of this continent, especially in
Hispano-America, shows that stable, civil order and government

Equality is a conare imf)ossible with such a population.
dition which is self-jDrotective, wanting nothing, asking nothing,
able to take care of itself. It is an absurdity to say that two races,
.
so dissimilar as black and white, of different origin, of unequal

capacity, can succeed in the
same
society
when
placed in competi-
no such example in history of the success of two

separate races under such circumstances. Less than sixty years
ago, Ohio had thousands of an Indian population. She has now
tion.
There
is
but thirty red
men
The negro, with
in her borders.
a difference
of color indelible, has been freed under every variety of
cir-
cumstances but his freedom has, in most cases, as a matter of

course, been only nominal. Prejudice stronger than all principles, though not always stronger than lust, has imperatively
;
separated the whites from the blacks.
In the school-house, the

church, or the hospital, the black man must not seat himself beside
the white
is
drawn."
even in death and at the cemetery the
S.
S. Cox.
"Judge Douglass
commonwealths were
policy, there is
its
citizenship
w\as right
was
when he maintained
that these
men.
Aside from the question of

an admitted right in each State to make or unmake
for white
to declare
That will not be denied.

sion, that
line of distinction
Eight Years in Congress, pages 249, 250.
settled.
who
is
and who
is
not entitled thereto.
When Minnesota came here for admisBut my colleague seems to admit that
may be fixed by State

Court have decided that the State
has the exclusive right so to do. If so, by what reason can a State
deprive the black race of the right of suffrage, on which depend
all laws, all protection, all assessment of taxes, all punishments,
even the matter of life and death, and yet not have power to forbid such black race, as a dangerous element, from mingling with
its population
The Constitution of Illinois, just submitted to the
people, denies to the negro the right of emigrating to or having
citizenship in that State.
Hitherto the same prohibition has existed in Illinois and Indiana, and othern western States.
.
The right and power to exclude Africans from the States north
lôlitical privileges, like
laws.
that of suffrage,
Indeed, the Supreme
190
being compatible with our system of State sovereignty and federal

supremacy, I assert that it is impolitic, dangerous, degrading,
and unjust to the white men of Ohio and of the North to allow
such immigration."
S. S. Cox. EigU Years in Congress, pages
243, 244.
" The Caucasian, or white man is five feet and between nine
and ten inches high the Esquimaux four feet and seven inches
high; the Mongolian type, to which the Chinese belong, five
feet and between four and five inches high.
The Caucasian
type weighs one hundred and fifty-six pounds the Esquimaux
ninety-seven pounds; the Mongol one hundred and thirty-two
pounds. The Caucasian lives to be sixty-six years and four months
old the Mongol to be fifty-three years old and the Esquimaux
to be forty-one years old.
The life-insurance companies of Europe and America all predicate their policies upon the fact that
white men and women live to be sixty-six j-ears and four months
old on an average. This average is based upon observations on
;
the duration of
more than
six million lives.
The
statistics
of the
and French armies are full of evidence ononis: to show and

to prove tliat in height and weight no two races of men have yet
been found alike. The feet and hands, the arms and legs, are unlike in measurement. The hand of the negro is one-twelfth longer
and one-tenth broader than the hand of the white man; his foot
is one-eighth longer and one-ninth broader than the white man's
his forearm is one-tenth shorter; and the same is true of the bones
from the knee to the ankle. These last-stated measurements are
given upon the authority of Sir Charles Lyell. There has not yet
been found, as far as I can learn, one bone in the skeleton of the
white man which does not differ both in wei":ht and measurement
from its fellow-bone which may belong to any other type of man.
The skeleton is unlike in the whole in weight and measurement,
and unlike in every bone of it. These average differences ought
to be conclusive that they cannot and do not belong to the same
type and these unvarying dissimilarities must be produced by
causes which are not accidental."
William Mangen. Speech in
the House of Representatives July 10, 1867
British
Some
of our people
who pretend
to see in the Indian, the
AMERICA!^ WRITERS ON THE NEGRO.
191
Chinaman, the Esquimaux, and especially the African, a man and

a brother,' claim that all the wide and impassable differences which
are found between the races or tj^pes of men have been produced by accidental causes, by climate, and by amalgamations.
I have already, for the jDresent at least, sufficiently answered the
climatic part of this proposition, and have only to say that if it be
true, as held by my Radical friends, that the negro is a man and
'
that there was, in

a brother,'
that he is the offspring of Adam,
how there could have been
other words, but one race at first,
*
amalgamations I cannot imagine. Amalgamation, in the sense
just what ethnolin which they use it, implies a plurality of races,
ogists claim but in fact it upsets the Radical theory of the unity
of races,' upon which must depend their whole argument in favor
'
'
equality and fraternity.' For as soon as they admit that the

races are of different origins they can no longer claim that all
races are equal, any more than they can claim that the horse
of
'
on which the arguMiscegenation is a subject of

identical.
vast importance to society, to posterity, and especially at the present time to the statesmen of our country. For it is true in history and true in science that nations which allow their national
stock to be adulterated, which tolerate amalgamation with other
national types, will perish certainly, and perish forever. I have
said that this is a question of the utmost importance to the statesmen of America, of that portion of it especially which once bore
deservedly the name of The United States of America; and I
and the ass

ment rests is
The
are equal.
principle
'
say now,
wîth
all
those gentlemen
'
the candor possible, that
who
if
those statesmen,
and
be guided by
are moulding and shaping the policy
laws and regulations for our government, fail to

exijerience and science and history in shaping a policy to prevent amalgamation, miscegenation, social and
political equality
of the different races, white, black, red, yellow, and brown, our
nation will be suffocated, as it were, by these foolish and suicidal
William
projects, these Utopian schemes of equality of races."
Mungen.
'*
Speech in the House
of Representatives, July 10, 1867.
There are two other subjects or sciences which bear impor-
tant testimony relative to the origin of types of the human races

I allude to embryology and cranioscopy. I do not profess to un-
192
derstand either of these subjects or sciences thoroughly

professors of embryology assert, and they are
but tho
unanimous
in the
law of life which operates to organize man in

his earliest moment, that the spermatozoa and the cell formation
are entirely different in each type of the human race and that in
this department of her work, as in every other, nature displaj's
assertion, that the
infinite variety.
I repeat, then, the declaration of these learned
gentlemen, that under a powerful microscope the fact that the
different types
men
of
are absolutely different creations
longer an open question.
The law which
is
no
operates to organize
and the being organized are different from the first and different
But quite the most curious, and perhaps the most important discovery which cranioscopy has made relates to the position
which each type holds in the scale of civilization. It is found that
the races of men whose brain measures sixty-four cubic inches or
less are always barbarous and heathen people
that they have not
intellectual power sufficient to frame a government nor to enact
laws in other words, to make for themselves an}' form of government better than heathenism makes. The races of men whose
brain measures from seventy-four to eighty-four cubic inches are
totally.
the unprogressive people.
ous
They
are half-civilized or half-barbar-
the governments they found are alwaj-s despotic
the laws
they enact are always peculiar, and are different from the laws
enacted by any other type of people. The peoj^le of China,
Japan, India,
short the greater portion of the types of man,
are embraced and included between sixty-eight and eighty-four
in
The nationalities whose brain measures

upward are the only nationalities who
are progressive and enlightened, who are cajâble of cultivating the
cubic inches of brain.
ninety-four cubic inches or
physical sciences to practical results, and
made
whose governments are
Cranioscopy declares that the

different types have each a different organization,
in other words,
a different creation and it further declares that there are as plainly
different kinds of men, having different kinds of humanities in the
world as there are different kinds of beasts; that the horse and the
for the benefit of the jieople.
ox are not more
certainly different creations than the white
man and
the Indian, the Indian and the African, the African and the Chinese,
the
Chinaman and
tion of races,
the Esquimaux. ... I have discussed this ques-
because
ical structure.
it
lies at the
foundation of our social and polit-
All history shows that a free government, adminis-
193
tered according to law, is impossible, unless the people who create

the laws and accept them for their government are endowed with
those qualities of mind and character which have never been exby the negro race. The attempt to blend the races by
hibited
the coercion of statutory enactments and military violence will be

and if this
instinctively repelled by the white dominant race
coercion should succeed, it would have no other result than a com;
mon
in
degradation and a
tlie
*'
common ruin."
House of Representatives, July
The
difference
is
William Mungen.
Speech
10, 1867.
not only in the hair, but
it
is
in the
whole
anatomical structure of the head, inside and outside. The negro's

face projects like a muzzle, and the teeth are obliquely inserted,
meet as at projecting angles. The developjaw (x3rognathism) is in direct relation or proportion
so that their edges
ment of
the
to the intellectual capacity of a people,
the prognathous being con-
men, among them the negro. Their

The volume of an American or
different.
fined to the lowest races of

cranial capacity
is
English head
in cubic centimetres 1572
is
42,
95,
while that of a
and the place occupied

in relation to cranial capacity and cerebral weight corresponds
with the degree of intellectual capacity and civilization. The
negro, born in Africa, is only 1371
weight of the white man^s brain
The
is
greater than that of the negro.
convolutions of the brain are different.
The
anterior
and
man show
a far better mental development. All these assertions are maintainable by high German,
French, and English, as well as American authority but this is
not the place nor the hour for metaphysical or psychological disfrontal lobes of the white
Every feature of the white man and negro differs. The

The nostrils of a Caucasian form two nearly
rectangular triangles, the hypothenuses of which are turned outwards, whilst the septum of the nose forms a perpendicular line
common to the two triangles. On taking a similar view of the
cussion.
nose
is different.
negro, the nostrils present only a transverse aperture, or the

figure of a horizontal eight united in the middle by the nasal sep-
tum. The form and size of the mouth, the shape of the lips and
cheeks are very different. The apish chin of the negro differs
very essentially from that of the white man. The facial angle of
the distinguished writer, Camper, amounts in the negro to 70.75
17
194
degrees,
below
skull
may
sink to 65,
whilst in the Caucasian
and frequently a few degrees higher.
80,
is
it
thicker than the white man's, the cervical
ram
rarely
negro cames his burden on his head,
j)owerful, and, hence, the
and, like a
it is
The nefro's
muscles more
The negro's shoulder
in a fight, uses his skull.
from the white man's. The negro's hand is larger, his fingers long and thin, palms flat, thumb-balls scarcely prominent.
All the characters of his hand (says Carl Yoght) decidedly approach that of the Simian hand.' The leg, the calves of the leg,
The femoral bones, as well as
all differ from the white man's.
the fibula, seem curved outwards, so that the knees are more
The pelvis is organiapart from each other than in the white.'
differs
'
cally different.
'
everything ugly,
The
foot of the negro,' says Burmeister,
flat,
of a projecting heel,
dle part of the foot does not touch the ground.'

physiologist, calls
the posterior hand.'
it
'
is
in
a thick, flabby
cushion in the inner cavity, with wide-spreading toes.
man
The mid-
Yoght, the Gerif you i^lease,
the foot of the gorilla, or,
I cite these facts to
show
that
it is
not the
from the negro race, not the dermis, or epidermis, or pigment therein."
James Brooks. Speech
in the House of Representatives December 18, 1867.
skin alone that parts the white
"Where,
me
oh, tell
where,
sir,
has the pure-blooded negro
unassisted by the white man, exhibited any of the triumphs of
genius ?
Where have we found
that race producing a
Homer, a
Phidias, a Praxiteles, a Socrates, a Demosthenes, a Yirgil, or a
Where has it i^roduced any great

Angelo ? Where any great poet, where any
heroic soldier like Alexander, Cassar, or Napoleon ? Where any
wonderful mechanic ? What negro of pure blood ever started a
Milton, or a Shakespeare?
architect like iMichael
steam-engine, or a spinning-jenny, a screw, a lever, the wheel,

or the pulley? What negro has invented a telegraph, or dis-
covered a star, a satellite, or an asteroid ? What negro ever constructed a palatial edifice like this in which we are assembled,
these frescoed walls? Xegro histhese Corinthian columns,
tory
is all
makes no mark
in the great world's progress.
a blank, blank, blank,
sir.
a certain range of intelligence.

ten or fifteen years of age,
may
That history
The negro can never rise above

The children of the negro, up to
be as bright and as intelligent as

white children.
They
195
acquire knowledge as rapidly; but after
that early age the negro youth does not advance as does the
white youth. While the white man is increasing in knowledge till
the day of his death, the negro reaches before the age of maturity
a point beyond which he cannot well advance in anything save in
the arts of
of
mere
imitation."
James Brooks.
Speech in the House
Representatives, December 18, 1867.
not cross the Atlantic to show the fatal step you are
taking by this Reconstruction Bill in going into this copartnership
with negroes. Our continent has been settled by two classes of
Anglo-Saxon, Celt, and Teuton in the North, and the
men,
"I need
Spanish-Latin race in the South. God never made a nobler race

of men than the old Hidalgos of Spain, who, under Columbus, in a
little caraval of forty tons, started on the trackless Atlantic in search
of the then
unknown America.
God never made a nobler
repeat, than these Hidalgos of Spain.
ran
all
What
did they do
race, I
They
along the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida on the north to
Cape Horn on the southern verge of South America. They settled

Mexico and Venezuela, Xew Grenada and Chili, and Peru, and,
coasting all the Xorthern Pacific, imprinted the holy, classic names
of old Spain upon the now golden mountains and vine-covered
valleys of the State of California. They climbed the snow-clad
Cordilleras, and planted their banner on every hill and every valley of Mexico, Peru, and Chili. They drove Montezuma from
the halls of his Aztec ancestors and, under Cortez and Pizarro,
;
Peruvian, Mexican, and semi-barbarian civilization fell before the

Their heroic deeds, their lofty
mighty prowess of their arms.
now
read more like the romances
loyalty,
Christian
chivalry, their
of a Froissart than, as they are, the true records of history.
*'
Our Anglo-Saxon fathers started later from the shores of Eng-
and landed upon the rock of Plymouth or upon the flats of

Jamestown. The Puritan himself, trembling over his rock for a
while, in terror of the tomahawk, ventured at last on what was then
deemed gigantic heroism. He crossed the Connecticut and the
Hudson, and slowly crept up the Mohawk, and halted for years and
The cavaliers of
years upon Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Huron.
Jamestown threaded their way up the River James, stealthily
wound over the passes of the Alleghanies, and looked down at last
land,
196
with astonishment and affright upon la belle riviere of Ohio. But all
this time these heroic Hidalgos of Spain were spreading the name
and fame of Castile and Arragon throughout the whole American

Cape Horn on the south, and
while
our
California,
Anglo-Saxon race stood
Horn
to
from Cape
shivering upon the Ohio and Lake Erie without the courage to advance further. What, sir, happened then ? What has produced
Why are they
this difference between us and the lofty Hidalgo ?
the nations
Armada,
so
exalted
among
all
the
men
of
fallen, these
continent, from Florida on the north to
of the earth,
who made
our ancestors, in the days of Queen Eliza-
beth, tremble on the throne
Why was it that in the Mexican war
one regiment of our Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Teutonic blood, again and

again put whole regiments of these once noble Hidalgos of Spain
to flight at Chapultepec, the Garita, and elsewhere ? I will tell
you why, sir. The Latin, the Spanish race, freed from that instinct of ours which abhors all hybrid amalgamation, revelled in a
indulged in social and
fatally tempting admixture of blood,
governmental copartnership with Aztecs, Indians, Negroes, one
and all. The pure blood, the azure blood, of the old Hidalgos of
Spain, lost and drained, dishonored and degraded, has dwindled
into nothing, while the pure blood of the Anglo-Saxons, the Celts,
the Teutons, abhorring all such association and amalgamation
with the negro or the Indian, has leaped over Lake Erie, crossed
la belle riviere, the great Father of Waters, the Mississippi, crowded
the mountain passes of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Montana,
rolled over the Rocky Mountains, and spread for hundreds of
miles on the Pacific Ocean,
carrying not only there, but every-
where, triumphant, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, the glorious

and ever conthat emblem of a pure race,
flag of our country,
trasting the glory and honor, the prowess of that race with the
degradation of the race of these once noble Hidalgos of Spain."
James
BrooJcs,
Speech in the House of Eepresentatives, Dec. 18,
1867.
*'
Our four
millions of negro slaves absorb the public mind,
and the thoughts and the time of government, by the dangers

They have produced sectional animosity and strife
where peace and good-will should reign. They have thrown the
administration of the law throughout the South into lynch-law
they evoke.

committees, and have forbidden any northern
man
197
to
go
there,
unless he leaves his independence, and freedom of thought and
speech behind him. They have destroyed all industry but their
own, and made the South dependent upon foreign suj^plies for
every article which human ingenuity has invented for the comfort and accommodation of man.
The}'' must be sentinelled and
watched, to protect society from horrors worse than war. They
inspire terror daring peace, and, in case of invasion, would be
more fearful than the enemy. By means of their weakness they
control our jDolitics they conquer us by abject submission they
overwhelm us by mere prolific growth they have manacled our
hands and feet with fetters of gold, and, nominally slaves, they
;
are really the masters of our destiny."
page
Fisher^
Laics of Bace,
30.
"White men alone possess the intellectual and moral energy

which creates that development of free government, industry, science, literature, and the arts, which we call civilization. Black
men can neither originate, maintain, nor comprehend civilization."
Fislier''s Laws of Bace, page 10.
*' Surely
no argument is necessary to prove that a nation must
be happier, wiser, richer, more powerful, and more glorious, where
the whole people are of the strongest, most intellectual, and most
moral race of mankind, than where any portion of the people are
degraded by nature, and incapable of progress or civilization.
Barbarism is barbarism, whether in Africa or America and a
country inhabited by barbarians cannot be civilized. Just in pro;
number of its barbarians is it wanting in the elements of civilization, and just in that proportion, too, is it weak
and liable to overthrow from dangers within and without."
Fisher's Laws of RacCj page 33.
portion to the
" Though the negro in the North is not a slave, he is made an

outcast and a pariah. There is no j^lace for him in northern society no aspiration nor hopes to stimulate him
none of the
prizes of life, wealth, power, respectability, are held out to him,
;
17*
198
and elevate his desires. He is governed and

wholly by the white race, without his
from office, from the hustings,
excluded
participation.
He is
from the court-house, from the exchange, from every intellectual
calling or pursuit, not by legal enactment, but by his own incapacthat is to
ity, and by opinion
by the feeling of caste and race,
stronger
than
any
the
legislature
which
are
say, by divine laws,
can make. He has no civil or political power whatever, by which
to protect himself, and he may not lay a finger on one of those
three wonderful boxes, the ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box, which contain the instruments and weapons by which
freemen defend their rights. They are for the white race only.
A negro governor, legislator, judge, magistrate, or juryman does
not exist, could not by possibility exist, in the whole North. This
race is not only excluded from all political and civil place and
power, but the avenues to social rank and respectability are
closed against him or rather they are too steep and difficult for him
to nerve his efforts
protected in
all liis rights
to climb.
He
is
not a land-owner, a manufacturer, a merchant.
There is no legal obstacle but land, machinery, and shif)S are things
he cannot manage. There are no black attorneys-at-law, ph3'SiThe law opens to the
cians, authors, or capitalists in the North.
negro these spheres of activity as widely as to the white man, but
they are far beyond the negro's wildest dreams, because beyond
his talents.
He is thus pushed down by a superior moral and intellectual force, which he can neither comprehend nor resist, into
those pursuits which the Saxon, and even the Celt, avoids if
into labors which require the least strength of mind or
he can,
body, which 3'ield the least profit, and are menial and degrading.
The spirit of caste drives the negro out of churches, theatres,
hotels, rail-cars, and steamboats, or assigns to him, in them, a
place apart. It drives him into the cellars, dens, and alleys of
towns, into hovels in the country and it does all this without
laws, without concert or design, without unkindness or cruelty,
but unconsciously, simply because it cannot help doing it, obeying this instinctive impulse, and the immutable, eternal laws by
which the races of men are kept apart, and are preserved through
countless ages without change. These laws are divine. They
;
execute themselves in spite of party combinations or fanatical

legislatures, or philanthropic enthusiasts, or visionary
dreamers

about
human
perfectibility
Laws of Bacc, jâgcs
and the rights of man."
199
Z'Vs/igr'^
21-23.
" Strikingly apparent
is it
that the negro
is
a fellow of
many
natural defects and deformities. The wretched race to which he

belongs exhibits, among its several members, more cases of lusus
any other. Seldom, indeed, is he to be seen except

as a preordained embodiment of uncouth grotesqueness, malformation, or ailments. Not only is he cursed with a black complexion, an apish aspect, and a woolly head; he is also rendered
odious by an intolerable stench, a thick skull, and a booby brain.
naturce than
An
accurate description of
him
calls into requisition
a larger num-
ber of uncomplimentary terms than are necessary to be used in

describing any other creature out of Tophet and it is truly astonishing how many of the terms so peculiarly appropriate to him
;
^vorks of obloquy and detraction.

night-born ogre stands before us we observe his low,
his stammering,
receding forehead, his broad, depressed nose
monkeyevidencing
actions,
stuttering speech and his general
are
compound
"The
like littleness
and imbecility of mind.
By
close attention
and ex-
also discover in the sable individual before us,

of his race,
if, indeed, he be not an exception to the generality
Admit that
deficiencies.
numerous other prominent defects and
amination,
we may
he be not warp-jawed, maffle-tongued, nor tongued-tied, is he

not skue-sighted, blear-eyed, or blobber-lipped? If he be not
wry-necked, wen-marked, nor shoulder-shotten, is he not stiffIf he be not slabjointed, hump-backed, or hollow-bellied?
sided, knock-kneed, nor bow-legged, is he not (to say the least)
If he be not
spindle-shanked, cock-heeled, or flat-footed?
he not feverish with inflammations,

If he be not afflicted with itch, blains,
festerings, or fungosities ?
nor blisters, does he not squirm under the pains of boils, burns, or
bruises? If he be not the child of contusions, sprains, nor disloIf he be not
cations, is he not the man of scalds, sores, or scabs ?
rheumatism,
nor
an endurer of the aches of pneumonia, pleurisy,
does he not feel the fatal exacerbations of rankling wounds, tumors, or ulcers? If he be no complainer over the cramps of
coughs, colics, nor constipation, doth he not decline and droop
under the discomforts of dizziness, dropsy, or diarrhoea ? If he be
maimed,
halt,
nor blind,
is
AMERICAN WniTERS ON THE NEGRO,
200
no sufferer from hemorrhoids, erysipelas, nor
exfoliation, is
he
not a victim of goitre, intumescence, or paralysis ? If he experience no inconvenience from gum-rasli, cholera-morbus, nor
moon-madness, doth he not wince under the pangs of the hipgout, the tape-worm, or the mulli-grubs? If he be free from
idiocy, insanity, or syncope, is he not subject to fits, spasms, or
Helper'^s Nojoqiie, pages 68-69.
convulsions ? "
"Weak in
mind, frail in morals, torpid and apathetic in phywherever he goes, or wherever he is seen, carries upon himself, in inseparable connection with abjectness and
disgrace, such glaring marks of inferiority as are no less indelible
and conspicuous than the base blackness of his skin. Upon this
point, all the records of the past, all the evidences of the present,
In
all the prognostications of the future, are plain and positive.
names
the long catalogue of the great names of the world
which, whether they have caused nations to tremble with fear
and suspense, to quiver with awe and admiration, to laugh with
satisfaction and delight, or to weep with innocent sadness and
there does not appear the cognomen of a single negro
love
To overlook the ponderous significance of this fact, to gainsay it,
In
to wink it or to l)link it, let no unworthy attempt be made.
sique, the negro,
nothing that ennobles mankind has any negro ever distinguished

For none of the higher walks of life has he ever dishimself.
played an aptitude. To deeds of true valor and patriotism he
has always proved recreant. Over none of the wide domains of

agriculture, commerce, nor manufactures, has any one of his race
ever won honorable mention. Within the classic precincts of art,
literature, and science, he is, and forever will be, utterly un-
known."
Helper's Nojoqiie, page
300.
Shabbiness and drollery of dress, and awkwardness of gait

are also notable characteristics of the negro. Faultless garments,
and well-shaped hats and shoes are things that are never found
upon his person. Once or twice a year he buys (or begs) a suit
*'
but seldom does he wear any article of

apparel more than two or three weeks before the outer edges of
the same become ragged then unsightly holes and shreds and
of second-hand clothing
201
and yet the slovenly and

patches follow in quick succession,
slipshod tatterdemalion is as contented and mirthful as a merr]
making monkey."
Eeljjer's Nojoqiie, jâge 70.
I to a sulDJect of somewhat novel importance,

occupied my attention for a great while, and
has
subject which
one for the discussion of which, it is believed, the present is a
I allude to the presence of so many negroes in our
suitable time.
places where not one of them should ever be
cities and towns,
**Xow come
permitted to reside at all
and
if
I shall succeed, as I
hope and be-
lieve I shall, in presenting such a combination of facts and arguments as will demonstrate the propriety of removing them all into
the country (if far and forever beyond the limits of the United States,
so much the better), I shall regard it as evidence complete that
these lines have been judiciously penned. It may, I think, be
safely assumed that, as a general rule, no person ought to be
admitted as a resident of any city, unless he can readily command

one of two things, namely, capital or talent. Of these two indispensable requisites, the negro can command neither the one
nor the other he should, therefore, never be allowed to live in
any situation, or under any circumstances, within the corporate
;
any city or town.

With few exceptions,
limits of
sane white persons have sufficient

tact to render themselves useful in some manner or other, to gain
an honorable livelihood, and to add something to the general
stock of human .achievements. If their minds can accomplish
nothing in the domains of science, their hands may be rewarded
If they cannot invent labor-saving machines,
in the fields of art.
*'
all
duplicates of such as have already been invented.

If they cannot enrich and embellish their country, by building
they can
make
warehouses, hotels, and banks, they can always

to themselves
fill situations in such establishments with profit
none of these
do
can
negro
The
and with advantage to others.
inferior, dull,
very
On the contrary, he is, indeed, a
things.
Past experience proves
stupid, good-for-nothing sort of man.
positively that he is not, and never has been, susceptible of a high
factories, stores,
His capacities have been fully and

frequently tested, and have always been found sadly deficient.
To the neo-lect of a large and meritorious class of our own race,
standard of improvement.
AMERICAN WRITERS ON THE NEGLO.
202
we have made numerous
experiments in favor of the Avorthless

"We have earnestly endeavored, time and again, to infuse
into the brain of the benighted bUick a ray of intellectual light, to
teach him trades and professions, and to prepare him for the discharge of higher duties than the common drudgeries of every-day
life.
Thus far, however, all our efforts in his behalf have proved
abortive and so will they continue to prove, so long as he remains what he always has been, and still is,
a negro. Further
attempts, on our part, to elevate him to a rank equal to that held
by the white man, would certainly betray in us an extraordinary
and unpardonable degree of folly and obtuseness.
Negroes are, in truth, so far inferior to white people, that, for many
reasons consequent on that inferiority, the two races should never
inhabit the same community, city, nor state. The good which
accrues to the black from the privileges of social contact with the
white is more than counterpoised by the evils which invariably
overtake the latter when brought into any manner of regular
negro.
fellowship with the former.
"Whatever determination may be come

final settlement or disjDosition of the
cided to colonize
them
in Africa, in
to with regard to a
whether it be deMexico, in Central America,

negroes,
South America, or in one or more of the West India Islands, or

elsewhere beyond our present limits or whether they be permitted to remain (a while longer) in the United States,
it is to be
sincerely hoped that there may be no important division of opinion
as to the expediency of soon removing them all from the cities
and towns. A city is not, by any means, a suitable place for
them. They are jôsitively unfit for the performance of in-door
duties.
Sunshine is botli congenial and essential to their natures
and they ought not to be emjDloyed or retained in situations that
could be so much more advantageously filled by white jDcople.
One good white person will, as a general rule, do from two to five
times as much as a negro, and will, in addition, always do it with
a great deal more care, cleanliness, and thoroughness. A negro
or a negress, in or about a white man's house, no matter where,
or in what capacity, is a thing monstrously improper and indein
cent.
removing all the negroes into the country, our agricultural

districts would receive a large addition of laborers, and conse'
B}^
quently, the quantity of our staple products
cotton, corn, wheat,
AMERICAN WniTERS OX THE NEGRO.
203
would
be greatly increased. Crowds

of enterjDrisiug white people would flock to our cities and towns,
fill the vacancies occasioned by the egress of the negroes, and
sugar, rice, and tobacco
give ai-esh and powerful impetus to commerce and manufactures.

The tides of both domestic and foreign immigration, which have
been moving westward for so long a period, would also soon be-
gin to flow southward, and everywhere throughout the whole

and breadth of our land new avenues to various branches
leno-th
of profitable industry would be opened.

" Let it not be forgotten, however, that this proposition does
not contemplate anj pemianent settlement of the negroes, even in

Only a temporary acthe agricultural districts of our country.
in
Perhaps the best
here
held
view.
case
is
the
of
commodation
we
could do just now, would be to take immediate and

complete possession of Mexico (we shall acquire the whole of North
America, from Behring's Strait to the Isthmus of Darien, by and
thing that
every one of them

once push the negroes
on no
to say the least,
south of the Eio Grande. On no part,
part of the territory of the United States, as at present organized,
should any but the pure white races ever find a permanent
by), and
at
domicile.
"
Xow comes
why
I advocate the
and towns.
I believe that
the last, not the least, reason
removal of the negroes from the

the yellow fever (which
is
cities
only another
name
for the African
those terrible scourges

and other epidemic diseases,
which have so signally retarded the growth of Southern seaports,
have, to a very great degree, been induced by the peculiarly
obnoxious filth engendered by the black population. Who has
ever heard of the yellow fever prevailing to an alarming extent
in any city or state inhabited almost exclusively by white people?
fever),
How
fearfulh^
negro-cursed
how frequently, does it rage in such despicable,

communities, as Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah,
New Orleans
" Only from the base colored races is it, as a rule, that we are
overwhelmed and prostrated by wide-spread contagions and epidemics. Even the cattle-plague, the murrain among the sheep,
and other fatal distempers to which our domestic animals are
Mobile, and
have almost invariably had their origin in the countries

which are inhabited by the blacks and the browns, who are themselves ]mt the rjckety-franied and leprous remnants of thoso
subject,
AMERICAN WRITERS OX THE NEGRO.
204
have been uTevocably doonaed to

It is, indeed, fully and firmly believed that
destruction.
the only way to get rid of yellow fever is to get rid of the negroes
and the best way to get rid of the negroes is now the particular
question which, of all other questions, should most earnestly enHelper's
gage the undivided attention of the American people."
unworthy races of men,
v/lio
...
Nojoque, pages 62-68.
"
When
anew
the negro in Africa, in the year 1620, fastening
upon both himself and
his posterity the condition of perpetual
bondage, allowed himself, as a guaranty of his passive and prodigious dastardy, to be brought in chains all the way across the
Atlantic,
it was then that, for the first time, was reached the
uttermost depth of human degradation. That the negro had,
and has, always been a slave, in his own country or elsewhere,
according to the habitat or journeyings of his master, is well
was only when, as the cringing tool of the meaner

sort of white men, he came to America, that his obsequiousness
and pusillanimity began to assume monstrous proportions. Of all
known
but
it
the miscreants and outcasts
who have
ever brought irreparable
is at once the most despicable

a slave of the white man, yet, if
possible, to be a slave exempt from the necessity of labor, has
not less so now
always been the ruling ambition of the negro,
disgrace upon mankind, the slave
and the most infamous.
To be
than
it is
it
was four thousand years ago, and not
now."
less so
then than
Helper's Nojoque, page 193.
" The negroes, like the poodles and the pointers, will always
be the dependents and the parasites of white men, just so long
as white men, unnaturally submitting to a wrongful relation, are
disposed to tolerate the black men's infamously base and beggarly
presence.
we ought
to
Certain
it is
that
we owe
it
to ourselves
to get rid of the negroes soon
and
they
(which
may
States
in
the
United
longer
much
be
retained
are to
immedibuild
God, in his great mercy, forbid !) we may as well
ately,' for their relief and correction, in alternate adaptation, a
row
be able
but
if
all the way from the Atlantic to the

upon the sarne plan, a range or series of alms-
of hospitals and prisons,
Pacific; and,
205
houses and penitentiaries the entire distance from Lake Superior

to the Gulf of IMexico
"All the devil-begotten imps of darkness, whether black or
!
brown, w^hether negroes or Indians, whether Mongols or mulattoes, should at once be dismissed, and that forever, from the
care, from the sight, and even from the thoughts, of the heavenborn w^hites. Wherever seen, or wherever existing, the black and
bi-colored races are the very personifications of bastardy and beggary. In America, these races are the most unwieldy occasioners
they are the ill-favored and unwelcome
they are the ghastly types of effeteness
Helper's Nojoque, pages 209-211.
of dishonor and weakness
instruments of disservice
and retrogression."
**
When, under
the auspices of monarchical institutions
when,
pander to the cupidity of crowned heads when, to supply the

vicious necessities of courtiers and sycophants, a pack of shirtless
and shiftless negroes were brought from the coast of Africa and
a pack of black and beggarly barbarians,
planted in America,
to
they, like all

so bestial and so base as to prefer life to liberty,
been rehave
once
at
should
outlaws,
and
felons
other foreign
turned to the places whence they came or, to say the least, they
should have been compelled to depart, with the greatest possible
despatch, from the land which they had so foully desecrated by
their odious and infamous presence.
In the political organizations of mankind, it ought to be an
axiom of peculiar and universal acceptation, that he who values life
;
above liberty is unworthy to have his existence prolonged beyond

the hour w^hen to-morrow's sun shall set. This right and truthful
proposition, practically established, would leave the whole earth
absolutely negi-oless ere the lapse of
two supper-times."
êZper's
Nojoque, page 214.
Under the euphemism of Removal,' the American government

has already expelled, and rightly expelled, from time to time, more
'
than one hundred thousand Indians from the States of the Atlantic
these expulsions
slope, to the wild lands west of the Mississippi,
by the government having been independently of the less systematic but (in the aggregate) much larger expulsions by unorganized
18
206
communities of the white people themselves.

ollected, that all the Indians
It
people of indigenous origin, autochthones, by
America had, from time immemorial, prior

bus, been held in fee-simple.
should also be rec-
thus expelled or
removed,' were
whom
the whole of
to the days of
Colum-
Now, if we may rightfully expel the
America from the old homes and possessions

which they have enjoyed from a period of time so distant in the far
past that it is absolutely untraceable, what may we not do with
the alien and accursed negroes, who, base-minded and barbarous,
and bound hand and foot with the fetters of slavery, were brought
IIelper''s Nojoque, page 220.
hither from the coast of Africa ? "
aboriginal owners of
'*
The negro should
be permitted to reside
never, under any circumstances whatever,

in greater
the distance which separates
proximity to white people than
Cuba from
the United States
if
the
distance could be lengthened to the extent of one thousand miles,

so
much
the better
if,
in point of duration, rather
of space, the distance could be
of time (supposing such an end possible), better

*'
On
than
lengthened from now
in
point
to the
end
still.
the premises of no respectable white person
in the
man-
no lawfully convened
society in no
religious
moral
or
public assembly in no rationally
decently kept hotel in no restaurant worthy of the patronage of
in no
white peoj^le in no reputably established store nor shop,
place whatever, where any occupant or visitor is of Caucasian
should the loathsome presence of any negro or negress
blood,
Helper's Nojoqiie, page 219.
ever be tolerated."
sion of no honorable private citizen
in
"
To
with the negro, or to tolerate his presence even in the vicinity of white men, is, to say the least, a
a proceeding which,
most shameful and disgraceful proceeding,
live in juxtaposition
down upon all those

of Heaven.
vengeance
who are guilty of it, the overwhelming
By cringing and fawning like a cudgel-deserving dog, by passively yielding and submitting like a dumb brute, by mimicking
and begging like a poll-parrot, the negro has but too generally
if persisted in, will, sooner or later, bring
succeeding in foisting himself, as a parasitical slave or servant,

upon white men and has thus, upon all occasions, afforded incon;

testable proofs of the fact that he
207
and ever has been, equally
is,
with his master, a sheer accomplice in the crime of slavery."

Kojoqne, ^;ê
Helper'' s
"
It
28-4.
own, but rather by

master, that the negro was
was by no merit nor suggestion of
the demerits of both himself
and
his
his
America. Not by any spirit of commendable enterHe came under comprise was he induced to immigrate hither.
pulsion and under compulsion he must (in the event of the failure of gentler adominitions on our part) be prevailed upon to
emigrate back to Africa, to Mexico, to Central America, to South
America, or to the islands of the ocean.
"Ilis coming to the New World was neither voluntary nor
honorable. It was not for the purpose of bettering his condition
He sought not an asylum from the oppressions of rank
in life.
and arbitrary power. In unresistingly allowing himself to be
forced from his family and from his country, without even the
promise or the prospect of ever being permitted to return, and in
passively submitting to be taken in chains he knew not whitiier,
he f)usillanimously yielded to the most abject and disgraceful vas-
brought
to
salage.
"For
his passage across the Atlantic he paid no money, no

no wine, no oil, nor any other thing whatever. He brought
with himself no household property, no article of virtu (nor
principle of virtue), no silver, no gold, nor precious stones.
" He was hatless, and coatless, and trouserless, and shoeless, and
in brief, he was utterly resourceless, naked and filthy.
shirtless
corn,
He came
as the basest of criminals,
submission to slavery
of murder
is
he
came
as a slave
a crime even more heinous than
more odious than
the guilt of incest
tiie
for
crime
more abomi-
nable than the sin of devil-worship.

'*
With himself he brought no knowledge of
agriculture,
com-
merce, nor manufactures no ability for the salutary management

of civil affairs no tact for the successful manoeuvring of armies
;
no aptitude
for the right direction of navies
no acquaintanceship
with science, literature, nor art no skill in the analysis of theories; no sentiment stimulative of noble actions; no soul for the
;
encouragement of morality. Brin2:ino: with himself nothinir but

his own black and bastard body, denuded and begrimed, he came
208
he was a brute then he had always been a brute

he is a brute now and there is no more reason for believing that
he will ever cease to be a brute, than there is for supposing
only that the
that the hound will ever cease to be a dog,
like a brute
biped, the baser of the two, will be the sooner exter-
black
ruinated.
Yet this is the fatuous and filthy fellow whom, by certain degraded and very contemptible white persons, we are advised to
recognize as an equal and as a brother! This is the incorrigible
and grovelling ignoramus upon whom it is proposed to confer at
the right of universal suffrage
once the privilege of voting,
This is the loathsome and most execrable wretch (rank-smelling
and hideous arch-criminal that he is), who has been mentioned as
one fit to have a voice in the enactment of laws for the govern*'
ment
*'
of the
Shall
we
American people.
confer the elective franchise on this base-born and
bred blackamoor,
No
this
heathenish and
skunk-scented
ill-
idiot?
Because he does not know, and cannot know,

how to vote intelligently. It would therefore, to say the least, be
an act of gross folly on our part, to extend to the negro the privilege of doing what the omnipotent God of nature has obviouslj',
Wliy not
and for all time, denied him the power to do.

" Those of our half-witted and demagogical legislators who waste
time in attempting to prove the equality of the negro, and in the
drafting Of absurd laws for his recognition in good faith as a citizen of the United States, might, with equal propriety, busy themselves in the ridiculous irrationality of framing codes for allowing
the gorilla and the chimpanzee to attend common schools, and
for the baboon and the orang-outang to testify in courts of
equity
should ever be recognized as a citizen of the United

nor be allowed to participate in any of the rights or privileges of citizenship, who did not come hither honorably and of
who did not immigrate to these shores, he or
his own accord,
It
his ancestors, free, free from the gyves and chains of slavery.
**
No man
States,
was not of his own choosing,
it
was not
at his
own
option,
it
was
a sort
only in a state of the most abject and criminal servitude,
the
that
master,
his
of compound felony between himself and
Therefore, for these and other
neo-ro came hither from Africa.
sudacient reasons, the negro should have no voice, no part, nor lot,

209
any of the public affairs or private concerns of America."

Helper'^s Nojoque, imges 215-217.
in
" I maintain, without reservation, the following among other

that the human race has not sprung from one pair, but
opinions,
from a plurality of centres, that these were created ah initio in

those parts of the world best adapted to their physical nature that
the epoch of creation was that undefined period of time spoken of
in the first chapter of Genesis, wherein it is related that God
formed man, male and female created he them that the deluge
was a merely local phenomenon that it affected but a small part
;
'
'
of the then existing inhabitants of the earth
and, finally, that
these views are consistent with the facts of the case, as well as
with analogical evidence."
Samuel George Morton.
Letter to
Mr. GUddon, May, 1846.
*'
After twenty years of observation and reflection, during which
period I have always approached this subject with diflSdence and

caution
myself the remarkable diversities

rise, and after weighing the diffion every side, I can find no satisfactory ex-
after investigating for
of opinion to which
culties that beset
it
it
has given
planation of the diverse
man, excepting
its
For
that characterize physical
an original plurality of races."

Types of Mankind, page 305.
'*
phenomena
in the doctrine of
my own
part, if I could believe that the
origin in incest, I should think that I
to all ungodliness.
than
put
all
it
Two
lines of
had
human
race had
at once got the clue
catechism would explain more
the theological discussions since the Christian era.
into
rhyme
Whence came that curse we primeval

From Adam's children breeding in and
" Question.
Answer.

18*
call
sin?
in."
have

210
* I shall conclude these remarks on this part of the inquiry, by

olDserving, that no mean has been taken by the Caucasian races
collectively, because of the very great preponderance of Hindoo,
Egyptian, and Fellah skulls, over those of the Germanic, Pelasgic,
and Celtic families. Nor could any just collective comparison be
instituted between the Caucasian and negro groups in such a
table as
we have
presented, unless the small-brained people of
number
the latter division were proportionate in
to the Hindoos.
Egyptians, and Fellahs of the other group. Such a comparison,

it practicable, would probably reduce the Caucasian average
to about eighty-seven cubic inches, and the negro to seventy-
were
eight at most,
perhaps even to sevent^^-five
atively establish the difference of at least
the
mean
of the
Samuel
two races."
and thus confirmnine cubic inches between

George Morton. Types of
;
mankind, page 321.
"There
"1st.
all
two alternatives before us at present

Either mankind originated from a common stock, and
are only
the different races with their peculiarities, in their present dis-
an assumpno evidence whatever, and which leads at

once to the admission that the diversity among animals is not an
original one, nor their distribution determined by a general plan,
tribution, are to be ascribed to subsequent changes,
tion for
which there
is
established in the beginning of the creation,
" 2d.
We must acknowledge that
or,
among animals
and
their geograpliCreator,
will
the
determined
by
the
of
is a fact
ical distribution part of the general plan which unites all organized beings into one great organic conception whence it foUovvs
the diversity
that
what are
called
human
races,
down
to their sj)ecialization as
nations, are distinct primordial forms of the type of
" The consequences of the
first
alternative, wiiich
man.
is
contrary to
run inevitably into the Lamarkian development theor}^ so well known in this country through
the work entitled Vestiges of Creation ;' though its premises are
generally adopted by those who would shrink from the conclusions
Types of Man^
to which they necessarily lead."
Prof. Agassiz.
all the
modern
results of science,
kind, page 75.
211
Do not the instincts of our nature, the social laws of man, all
over the civilized world, and the laws of God, from Genesis to
Kevelation, cry aloud against incest? Does not the father shrink
**
with horror from the idea of marrying his own child, or from
seeing the bed of his daughter polluted by her brother ? Do not
children themselves shudder at the thought? And can it be credited that a God of infinite power, wisdom, and foresight, should
have been driven to the necessity of propagating the human family

from a single pair, and then have stultified his act by stamping
incest as a crime ? I do not believe that true religion ever intended
to teach a common origin for the human race.
Cain knew his
wife,' whom he found in a foreign land, when he had no sister to
marry; and although corruption and sin were not wanting
among the patriarchs, yet nowhere in Scripture do we see, after
Adam's sons and daughters, a brother marrying his sister."
Ti/jês of Mankind^ page ^08.
Josidh Clark Nott.
'
"
Much
as the success of the infant colony at Liberia
desired by every true philanthropist,

wishins: well to the nen:roes,
we
is
to
be
with regret that, while

cannot divest our minds of melit is
ancholy forebodings. Dr. Morton, quoted in another chapter, has

proved that the negro races possess about nine cubic inches less of
brain than the Teuton
and, unless there were really some facts in
something beyond bare hypothesis, to teach us how these

deficient inches could be artificially added, it would seem that the
negroes in Africa must remain substantially in that same benighted state wiierein Nature has placed them, and in which
they have stood, according to Egyptian monuments, for at least
five thousand years."
Josiali Clark Nott.
Types of Mankind,
history,
page
189.
"The negro has never taken one step towards mental development, as we understand it. He has never invented an alphabet,
that primal starting-point in mental cultivation,
he has never
comprehended even the simplest numerals,
in short, has had no
instruction except that which is verbal and imitated, which the
child copies from the parents, which is limited to the existing generation and therefore the present generation are in the same con-
212
dition that their progenitors occupied thousands of years ago."
Van Evrie's Negroes and Negro Slavery, page 218.
**
The negro mind,
child,
the
in essential respects,
intelligence, as observed,
in the negro child,
is
is
always that of a
more rapidly developed
those faculties more immediately connected
with sensation, perception, and perhaps
memory,
are
more ener-
when they reach twelve and fifteen, they diverge the

now called into action, the real
Caucasian character now ojêns, the mental forces fairly evolved,
a perpetual child. The
while the negro remains stationary,
getic; but
reflective faculties in the white are
negro of forty or
fifty
haps, as the white
man
has more experience or knowledge, perof that age has a more extended knowl-
the
edge than the man of twenty-five, but the intellectual calibre
is
no
greater
than
it
in
former
case
capacity
the
actual mental
Van Evrie's
was at fifteen, when its utmost limits were reached."
Negroes and Negro Slavery, page 219.
"White husbands and wives, Miien one dies in early

remain unmarried, faithful to a memory forever and
;
frequently, perhaps, the affections that
life,
often
still
more
bound them together
in
their youth remain bright and untarnished in age and to the borders of the grave. Such a thing never happened with a negro.
Not one of the countless millions that have lived upon the earth
was ever kept from marrying a second time by a sentiment or a
memory. With their limited moral endowment such a thing is an
absolute moral impossibility. They live with each other to extreme old age, because they imitate the superior race, and because it has become a habit, perhaps but the grand purposes of
nature accomplished, there is little or nothing more, or of those
blessed memories of joy and suffering, of early hopes and chastened sorrow, which so bind and blend together the white husband
;
and often render them quite as necessary to each other's

Van Evrie's Nehappiness as in the flush and vigor of youth."
groes and Negro Slavery, page 242.
and
wife,
"It may be confidently asserted that no community can be
AMERICAN' WRITERS ON THE NEGRO.
213
found, who, as an original proposition, are prepared to commit

their industrial and economical relations into the hands of Africans.
The acknowledged
inferiority of the
guaranty against the suicidal step.
negro
is
a sufficient
Why is
it
that the
negro should be preferred to the white man in the occuiâtion of

our territory ? There is no place, state, condition, or relation affecting the good of society in which the negro is not inferior to
the white man. In labor, in battle, in knowledge, in council, in
citizenship, in statesmanship, the white man prevails over the AfIf you introduce these people into a new community, as it
rican.
appears to me, for every man whose place is filled by a negro,
you injure the community in that degree. If these people mingle
their blood with the white race, the progeny is debased and fallen
ful to the
status if you hold them in slavery, they are hurtprogress and prosperity of the community if you set
them
they are not desirable for citizens.
from the white

free,
There
is
no disguising the fact, that if you

and employment which would otherwise belong to
you invidiously stigmawhite men, you depreciate white men,
Louis, July 26, 1860.
Glover.
St.
T.
Samuel
race."
tize their
legislate to giye the Africans
place, position,
''"We have noticed, with
some
surprise,
what we regard
as a
strange confusion of thought in England, in regard to the feeling

here about slavery and about the negro. It seems to be taken for
granted by most European, and even most British, writers upon

the subject, that opposition to slavery and a liking of the negro,
or at least a special good-will to him, must go together, and vice
versa ; and that consequently a war which was accepted rather
than that the point of the exclusion of slavery from free territory
should be yielded, and which was prosecuted in a great measure
where
had been already established,

must have as its result the elevation of the negro to the political
and social level of the dominant race, or else that its professed
anti-slaveiy motive was a mere pretence. No supposition could
be more erroneous. I tell you frankly that the mass of the people
here were glad to fight against slavery, but had no intention of fight-
for the extinction of slavery
ing for the negro.
human
They
it
felt that
slavery
They wished
was a great crime, a
purge the republic of

with, though
sympathy
no
particular
that wickedness, but they had
sin against
nature.
to
214
most of them much compassion for, the race against whom the
wrong was committed. You in Europe seemed to be thinking
about the individual negroes we, in the mass, thought little or
nothing of the individual negroes, but much of the barbarous inRichard Grant Wliite. Letter to the Lonstitution of slavery."
;
don Spectator, 1865.
clergyman who had been a proand who is one of those genmen,

with large souls, and wide sympathies, who
tle, firm, wuse
can control men, and particularly young men, by mere personal
influence, so that when the under-graduates were unruly or had a
for pure love,
grievance, they would give up at once to Dr.
terrors
of college
when his colleagues could do nothing, and all the
this man went to the South on
discipline were laughed to scorn,
a tour of observation, and was placed in authority, as far as slavery
was concerned, over a considerable reclaimed district by one of our
most eminent generals. For years before the w\ar he had been
one of our strongest anti-slavery men, and had by his writings
done as much as any one person in the country, who was not a
professed journalist or politician, to bring about the state of public feeling that provoked secession. I met him on his return home,
and had not talked with him three minutes before he said to me,
**In the last year of the war, a
fessor in the college
where
I studied,
I come back hating slavery more than ever, but loathing the
negro with an unutterable loathing. What a curse to have that
people on our hands
And not long ago, one of the editors of
one of the leading anti-slavery papers in the countr}^ and one
which advocates giving suffrage to the freed slaves, said to me,
These negroes are doubtless here by a disjoensation of Providence, but,' with an earnestness which a whimsical smile could
oh, that the Lord had been pleased to dispense his
not conceal
Richard Grant White. Letter to the
negroes somewhere else "
London Spectator I860.
*
'
'
'
" There has never been the slightest danger of an insurrection

of the slaves. The real victim of slavery is the white man.
Whatever little good there is in the system, the black man has had
while most of the evil has fallen to the white man's share."
Farton^s Gen. Butler in Neio Orleans, 2^<^0^ ^9-
AMEEICAy WRITERS OX THE NEGRO.
215
United States are young, fresh, and vigorous, abounding

They come
in wealth, exulting in strength, and eager for action.
of a race, the Anglo-Saxon, seemingly endowed with a deathless
a race which crushed old Rome, when Rome
spring and vitality,
which reared the stupendous structure of
oi^pressed the world,
which impelled the armies of the ReformaBritish enterprise,
"The
which planted the New World the hardiest of colo and which now, commanding the citadel as well as the
the tribes."
wields the destinies of
outposts of
its
in
tion,
nists,
all
civilization,
Farke Godwin.
Political Essays,
America of European extraction has grown

and the accessions to it by immigration are so vast, that
The population
**
so large,
page 115.
in
we
can begin to see that the mission of the negro here is nearly
completed, and that the limits of his possible expansion may be
computed. In fifty years, the white races now in the United

States, and their descendants, will number more than one hundred millions. While it is impossible to predict exactly the march
of this great multitude, or to define precisely the regions it will
occupy, it is easy to see that the negro in North America must be
pressed into narrow bounds.

that he is formidable, because
increasins:
And
it is
it
is
in
North America only
here only that his numbers are
the African race in South America and in the
West
Indies being either stationary or declining, except so far as it is

kept up by the slave-trade, which is reduced now to a single island, restrained even there within close limits, and menaced constantly by that complete extinction which it cannot long escape."
Westoii's Progress of Slavery, page 158.
The experiment of Africanizing America has had a long trial,

of more than three centuries, and has failed at all jôints and in
every particular. Of course, it was not expected to bring civili*
zation and the arts to the
populate
up
it.
The
New World,
and
it
has failed even to
policy of Africanization ought
but whether given up or not,
better order of events."
Weston^
now
to be
given
and
it
must soon yield
Progress of Slavery y page 161.
to a nev%^

216
MULATTOES ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES.
" Anatomy, physiology, and microscopy concur in proving that

the negro is of a distinct and inferior sjêcies to the Caucasian;
and history confirms the evidence furnished by the investigation
of the natural philosopher. The unvarying color of the hair,
as
animals incapable of civilization,
the distinctive mark of
well as the peculiarity of its structure the volume, shape, and
all
weight of the brain, inferior to that of the dominant species, and

the half-brute-like character of the physiognomy, and general
formation are evidences not to be disregarded by the careful and
conscientious philosopher. Neither in ancient nor modern times
has the negro, even when placed under the most favorable circumstances, achieved anything of moment. The steady advance
of the white species meets with no parallel in the black. The
"latter has proved itself, when left to itself, to be incapable of progEven when taught by a superior sjêcies, it soon retroress.
No man who values himgrades to hopeless barbarism.
morality,
or who feels any
self, who has any regard for sound
desire to see intellectual progress made certain, can join in the
absurd attempt to raise the negro to his own level. A movement
for such ends is necessarily impotent, and can only result, at the
.
best for the nesfro, in the degiradation of the white."
Dunn
Englisli.
Letter to
Thomas
John Campbell, Philadelphia^ 1851.
CHAPTER XXXI.
MULATTOES; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES AGAINST NATURE.
*
In 1842, 1 published a short essay on Hybridity, the object of
which was, to show that the white man and the negro were
distinct species, illustrating my position by numerous facts from
the natural history of man and that of the lower animals. The
question, at that time, had not attracted the attention of Dr. Morton. Many of my facts and arguments were new, even to him
MULATTOES ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES,

and drew from the great anatomist a private
letter,
217
leading to the
of a friendly correspondence, to me, at least, most

agreeable and instructive, and which endured to the close of his
commencement
useful career.
the essay alluded to, and in several which followed it at

short intervals, I maintained these propositions
*'
1. That mulattoes are the shortest-lived of any class of the
"In
human
*
race.
That mulattoes are intermediate in intelligence between the

blacks and the whites.
*'
3. That they are less capable of undergoing fatigue and hard2.
ship than either the blacks or whites.

*'
4. That the mulatto women are peculiarly delicate, and subject
to a variety of chronic diseases.
That they are bad breeders, bad
nurses, liable to abortions, and that their childi-en generally die
young.
" 5. That when mulattoes intermarry, they are less prolific than
when crossed on the parent stocks.
*'
6. That when a negro man married a white woman, the offspring partook more largely of the negro type than when the reverse connection had effect.
**
7. That mulattoes like negroes, although unacclimated, enjoy
extraordinary exemption from yellow-fever, when brought to
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, or
New
Orleans.
Almost fifty years of residence among the white and black races
spread in nearly equal proportions through South Carolina and
*'
Alabama, and twenty-five years' incessant professional intercourse

with both, have satisfied me of the absolute truth of the preceding
deductions."
Dr, Josiali Clark Nott, Types of Mankind, page
373.
was not until the discovery of a new world that races of

of strikingly contrasted qualities came to intermix. In the
Western world, the intermixture of nations which followed the
**
It
man
Romans, and afterwards of the northern nawas a union of races of equal quality and hence it
tions
cannot be predicated that either improvement or deterioration was
the result. Very different was the case in the Eastern world.
There Greeks, Romans, and Goths intermingled with races
conquests
first
of the
19
MULATTOS S ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES.
218
gi'eatly inferior to themselves, such as

and hence the deterioration to wliich,
Egyptians and Syrians,

in a great measure, must
which ended in the down-
be ascribed that decline in civilization

of the Roman power. Nature has endowed the various races
of man with widely different qualities, bodily and mental, much
in the same way as it has done with several closely allied species
of the lower animals. When the qualities of different races of
fall
man
are equal, no detriment results from their union.
grel French and English are equal to the pure breeds of
and Scandinavia.
When, on
the other hand, they are unequal,
deterioration of the higher race
Crawfurd.
The monGermany
is
the inevitable result."
Anthropological Bevieio^ Vol.
I.,
page
John
4,0b.
Nature appears to have guarded against the alterations of

by influencing the various species of animals with mutual aversion from each
other.
Hence all the cunning and all the force that man is able
to exert is necessary to accomplish such unions, even between
species that have the nearest resemblances. And when the mulebreeds, that are thus j^roduced by these forced conjunctions, happen to be fruitful, which is seldom the case, this fecundity never
continues beyond a few generations, and would not probably proceed so far, without a continuance of the same cares which excited it at first.
Thus we never see in a wild state intermediate
productions between the hare and the rabbit, between the stag
and the doe, or between the martin and the weasel. But the
power of man changes this established order, and contrives to
produce all these intermixtures of which the various species are
susceptible, but which they would never produce if left to themselves."
Theory of the Earthy page 118.
Cuvier.
*'
species which might proceed from mixture of breeds,
" In regard to the sterility of hybrids in successive generations

though Gartner was enabled to rear some hybrids, carefully guiding them from a cross with either pure parent, for six or seven,
and in one case for ten generations, yet he asserts positively that
their fertility never increased, but generally greatly decreased.
I do not doubt that it is usually the case, and that the fertility often
MULATTOS S ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES,

suddenly decreases in the
of
Species,
**
first
few generations."
Danoui's Origin
page 220.
I doubt
whether any ease of a perfectly
fertile
hybrid animal
can be considered as thoroughly well authenticated."

Origin of Species, page 223.
Some
219
one,
who
Darwiii's
signs himself " Ariel," has recently pub-
lished, in Cincinnati, a pamphlet, in which, with wonderful
and argument, he endeavors to prove,

even from the Bible itself, that the negro is a mere beast, a
ingenuit}^ of citation
creature without a soul.
If " Ariel's " positions be admitted
as true, what terrible penalties have been incurred by the
many very
vile
and very disreputable individuals who have
violated the following law
"
*'
Thou
a man lie with a beast he shall surely be put to death and

ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast,
and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman and the beast
they shall surely be j)ut to death."
Leviticus XX. 15.
;
shalt not
gender with a diverse kind thou

with mingled seed."
Leviticus XIX. 19.
shalt not let thy cattle
sow thy
field
Thou
shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds, lest the
thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled; thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass
'
fruit of
together."
Deuteronomrj
XXII.
9.
" The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, sayWhosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath
any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish he shall not ai>
proach a blind man or a lame, or he that hath aflat nose, or anything superfluous, or a man that is broken-footed, or brokening,
handed, or crook-backed, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his
MULATTOS S ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES.
220
eye, or be scurvy or scabbed, or hath his stones broken

.
he hath a blemish he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of
;
his God.' "
Leviticus XXL 16.
You asked me, in conversation, what constituted a mulatto

by our law ? and I believe I told you four crossings with the
whites. I looked afterwards into our law and found it to be in
these words
Every person, other than a negro, of whose grandfathers or grandmothers, any one shall have been a negro, shall
be deemed a mulatto, and so every such person who shall have
one-fourth part or more of negro blood shall, in like manner, be
deemed a mulatto.'
The case put in the first member of
The latter contains
this paragraph of the law is exempli gratia.
the true canon, which is, that one-fourth of negro blood, mixed
with any portion of white, constitutes the mulatto. As the issue
has one-half of the blood of each parent, and the blood of each of
these may be made up of a variety of fractional mixtures, the estimate of their compound, in some cases, may be intricate it becomes a mathematical problem of the same class with those on
**
the mixtures of different liquors or different metals

therefore, the algebraical notation
is
as in these,
the most convenient and in-
Let us express the pure blood of the white in the capipure blood of the negro in
the small letters of the printed alphabet, and any given mixture
of either, by way of abridgement, in MS. letters.
** Let the first crossing
be of a, pure negro, and A, pure white.
The unit of blood of the issue being composed of the half of that
A
a
[Call it, for abbreviation, h (half
of each parent, will be
telligible.
tal letters of the printed alphabet, the
blood).
Let the second crossing be of h and B the blood of the issue will
a
h
^
B
be 4- or substituting? for its equivalent, it will be -H
4
2
2
2
*
'
-j- -
call it
q (quarteroon) being i negro blood.

,
" Let the third crossing be of q and
h-48842
22 = -4-
-H
-;
their offspring will
call this e (eighth),
be
who, having
221
MULATTOES; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES,
is no
to wit, \ only,
than J of a pure negro blood,
longer a mulatto, so that a third cross clears the blood.
*
From these elements, let us examine their compounds. For
a
h
q
- -fexample, let Ji and q cohabit their issue will be - -|- ^
^
Z
less
__i___i
--[- +-, wherem we
-|-_:=z
negro blood.
* Let
7i
ande cohabit:
their issue will be
he =r--^-A
a
-]
16
still
-1
16
wherem
16
16
'
.5 a makes
-f-
a mulatto.
"Let
q and
3"r>
cohabit; the half of the blood of each will be
8^8^4^16^16^8'4
2^2
_
16
5^5A,B,c
h
A
B.c
A
a
__LJ
4-_iz=
^
^
find of a, or
-J
16'
16
f^
wherein
of a
is
no longer a mulatto
and thus may
16
every compound be noted and summed, the sum of the fractions

composing the blood of the issue being always equal to unit. It
is understood in natural history that a fourth cross of one race of
animals with another gives an issue equivalent for all sensible
purposes to the original blood. Thus a Merino ram being crossed,
first with a country ewe, second with his daughter, third with his
grand-daughter, and fourth with his great-grand-daughter, the last
^
1 of the
^
issue
is
deemed pure Merino, having in
fact but
country
Our canon considers two crosses with the pure white, and
a third with any degree of mixture, however small, as clearing
blood.
the issue of the negro blood."

436.
'*
Letter to Francis C. Gray,
Amalgamation
Jefferson's
March
WorJcs, Vol.
VL, page
4, 1815.
in governin the
change
make a fundamental
in races is
more than a revolution
ment. It is an attempt to
laws of nature, and, by blending different species of the human
race, create a hybrid nation. This will prove to be an impossiThe red, white, and black races have mingled very freely
bility.
19*
MULATTOES ; THE OFFSPRING OF CRIMES.
222
but the hybrids gradually wear out, while the

old stock preserves its original type. The French, from the infancy of discovery on this continent, intermarried with the Indian
on
this continent,
But where is the French tribe of Indians to be found ?

They made the same experiment with the blacks in St. Domingo,
and a mongrel race appeared, for a time, of various tints, but it
So the old Spanish blood that mixed with
is gradually vanishing.
that of the Indians in Spanish America has almost run out, and
Indians and Spaniards are as incongruous with each other as in
the beginning, and the fatal result of this attempted amalgamation is shown in the degradation of both races, and in the instaIf the history of the world, and the
bility of their governments.
tribes.
present aspect of both hemispheres, did not
make manifest
the
absurdity of the proposed system of mixing the black and white
management of a common government, and blending

to make a third, or, rather, a piebald people of
the repugnance of caste which has grown up in this
races in the
the
two colors
all colors,
country on the part of the white freeman to the black man,

trasted by his servile condition, from his first appearance
conamong
ebony skin and curled hair,

certainly
shows that nothing short of insanity could hope to reconcile the
dominant, and, I might say, the domineering race, to such a conjunction."
Montgomery Blair. Speech at Concord^ N. H., June
us, as strongly as
by
his
17, 1863.
The
following item, recently published in the newspapers,
showing a determination on the part of the people of California to prevent, by law, the amalgamation of the white and
black races, is, it is believed, suggestive of what ought to
be done immediately by the people of that and every other
State in the Union
A bill introduced
into the lower House of the California Legon the 30th of January, to prevent the amalgamation of
different races of men, provides that any white person who shall
be convicted of marrying or otherwise cohabiting with a negro,
mulatto, Chinese, or Indian, shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, or both and that the fact that a person beds, boards.
**
islature
223
ALBIXOS^ ETC.
intermames with an individual of any of said races,

shall be prima facit evidence that such a person is not a white
citizen, and shall subject him to all constitutional disabilities imposed on persons of color."
cohabits, or
It is said that there is not a life-insurance
company in all
of any mulatto.
the world that will take a risk on the life

Why ? Because common sense and common experience alike
teach that the mulatto is the offspring of a crime against

nature that he is always, even from his earliest infancy^,
;
predisposed to disease
that he seldom recovers
when once
overtaken by severe sickness that he usually falls an easy

victim to epidemics and that he is (speaking briefly and
to the point) a nature-abhorred and short-lived monstrosity
;
and yet mulattoes and negroes are the sort of creatures with
whom Radical politicians would populate American States
CHAPTER XXXII.
and other creatures of supernatural WHITENESS.
albinos; white negroes
*'
I WILL now add a short account of an anomaly of nature, taking place sometimes in the race of negroes brought from Africa,
who, though black themselves, have, in rare instances, white
children, called albinos.
have known four of these myself, and
have faithful accounts of three others. The circumstances in

They are of a pallid
which all the individuals agree are these
any colored spots or
without
cadaverous white, untinged with red,
seams their hair of the same kind of white, short, coarse, and
:
all of them well formed, strong,

is that of the negro
healthy, perfect in then* senses, except that of sight, and born of
curled as
ALBINOS, ETC,
224
who had no mixture
parents
of white blood.
Three of these alwho were black.
binos were sisters, having two other full sisters,
The youngest of the

of age. The eldest
three
was
killed
child-bed, with her second child.
health,
and has
by
liglitning, at
twelve years
died at about twenty-seven years of age, in
The middle one
is
now alive,
in
by a black man, which
issue, as the eldest had,
They
are uncommonly shrewd, quick in their

apprehensions and in reply. Their eyes are in a perpetual tremulous vibration, very weak, and much affected by the sun but they
issue
was
black.
see
much
better in the night than
erty of Colonel Skipwith, of
woman, whose
children,
parents
who were
eyesight so
weak
we
do.
Cumberland.
They are the propThe fourth is a negro
came from Guinea, and had
of their
that she
is
own
color.
She
is
three other
freckled,
and her
obliged to wear a bonnet in the sum-
mer; but it is better in the night than day. She had an albino
child, by a black man.
It died at the age of a few weeks. These
were the property of Colonel Carter, of Albermarle. A sixth instance is a woman, the property of a Mr. Butler, near Petersburg.
She is stout and robust, has issue a daughter, jet-black, by a black
man. I am not informed as to her eyesight. The seventh instance is of a male belonging to a Mr. Lee, of Cumberland. His
eyes are tremulous and weak. lie is tall of stature, and now advanced in years. Ho is the only male of the albinos which have
come within my information. Whatever be the cause of the disease in the skin, or in the coloring matter, which produces this
seems more incident to the female than male sex. To

these I
the mention of a negro man within my own
knowledge, born black, and of black parents on whose chin,
change,
it
may add
when a
boy, a Mîite spot appeared.
This continued to increase
he became a man, by which time it had extended over his

under jaw, and neck on that side. It is
of the albino white, without any mixture of red, and has for several years been stationary.
He is robust and healthy, and the
change of color was not accompanied with any sensible disease
till
chin, lips, one cheek, the
either general or topical."
Jeffersoii's
Works, Vol.
VIII. ,
page
318.
*'
The name
albino
was originally applied by the Portuguese to

met with on the coast of Africa. With
the white negroes they
225
ALBINOS, ETC.
the features of the negro and the peculiar woolly form of the hair,
the color of the skin was white like pearl, and the hair resembled
The
that of the whitest horse.
which seems given
eye, instead of the jet-black hue,
to the inhabitants of the tropics to enable
was
to bear the intense glare of the sun,
them
like that of the white
rabbit and ferret, and like this better suited for use in the
moon-
from the light of day. From this

inability to bear the light, which, however, is said to be much exThey
aggerated, LinnEeus called the albinos nocturnal men.
generally lack the strength of other men and a peculiar harshness of the skin, such as is noticed in cases of leprosy, would seem
to indicate that the phenomenon might result from a diseased organization. Yet the albinos suffer from no different complaints
from other persons. As in their physical development, they are
correspondingly deficient in their mental capacity. In the same
family several children are sometimes born albinos. They are
It is not understood to
most generally of the male sex.
what ultimate cause the phenomenon is to be attributed. It is
observed in all climates, and among all races of men. Indeed, it
and
light,
in places sheltered
man for
found among
same pecua great variety of the warm-blooded

liarities are
animals, and, according to Geoffrey St. Hilaire, in fishes and some
species of molluscous animals as well. Examples are not very
is
not limited to
rare
among
individuals possessing the
the feathered tribe, the effect being seen in the color
of the plumage, as in other animals in that of the hair.
white crow and the white blackbird are albinos.

not very uncommon.
Blumenbach
The
Albino mice are
notices the feebleness of their
and their disposition to avoid the light, by their closing their

The white elephants of India are
eyelids even in the twilight.
venerated by the natives, who believe them to be animated with
eyes,
the souls of their ancient kings.
albinos are to be found
among
human race, perhaps, more

negroes than among any other
In the
the
people; but this may be owing to the peculiarities being with

them more prominent, and attracting more attention. One of the
kings of the Ashantees is said to have had particular regard for
him about one hundred of

Humboldt, albinos are more common among
these people, and collected around
them.
According
to
nations of dark skin, and inhabiting hot climates.
colored races they are

whites."
more
rare,
and
still
Neio American Cydopcedia, Vol.
J.,
more
In the copperso
among
^âr/e 284.
the

ALBINOS^ ETC,
226
" Albinos
community in Southern
somewhat sacred, and
as
regarded
Guinea. Everywhere they are
On no condition whattheir persons are considered inviolable.
ever would a man strike one of them. Generally they are very
mild and I have never heard of their taking advantage of their
acknowledged inviolability. In features they are not unlike the
rest of their race, but their complexion is very nearly a pure
may be found
in almost every
white, their hair of the ordinary texture, but of a cream color,

Wilson^ s Africa,
and their eyes are gray, and always in motion."
page
311.
mouth of the Brass River, when an albino girl is sacriceremony is an old man named Onteroo.
He has an enormous tuberosity on the back of his head but wheth-
"At
the
ficed, the officiator at this
my
er his divinity is believed to exist in this or not,
informant
cannot say. Several canoes accompany him and the victim, who,
it seems, is quite satisfied with her fate, as she is indocti-inated
with the idea that her future destiny is to be married to a white
man. As soon as they reach the bar, the canoes are all turned
with their heads homewards the word is given, and the girl is
thrown into the water, with a weight round her neck to prevent
Ten
her floating, thus obviating the possibility of an escape."
;
Years'' Wanderings among

F. B. a. s.
the Ethiopians, by
Thomas
J.
Hutchinson,
A curious superstition is connected with Parrot Island, and is

observed with religious punctuality by the natives of Old Kalabar,
on the occasion of need arising from its performance. Whenever
a scarcity of European trading ships exists, or is apprehended,
*'
the
Duketown
of their
to the
page
own
God
112.
authorities are
accustomed
to take
an albino child
up as a sacrifice, at Parrot Island,

Hutchinson'' s Western Africa,
of the white man."
race,
and
offer
it
PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE RACES,
227
CHAPTER XXXIII.
INCREASING PRE-EMINENCE AND PREDOMINANCE OF THE
WHITE RACES.
**
The
Caucasian race, to which
we
belong,
distinguished by
is
the beauty of the oval formed by his head, varying in complexion

and the color of the hair. To this variety, the most highly civilized nations, and those which have generally held all others in
The race from

subjection, are indebted for their origin.
which we are descended has been called Caucasian, because tradition and the filiation of nations seem to refer its origin to that
group of mountains situated between the Casjîan and Black Seas,
whence, as from a centre, it has been extended like the radii of a
Various nations in the vicinity of Caucasus, the Georgians
circle.
and Circassians, are still considered the handsomest on earth."
Cuvier''s Animal Kingdom, page 50.
.
*'
of
Let us raise ourselves higher still, and pass into the province
The white race is distinguished above
himself.
man
them
dowed
and
is
all
the most jDcrfect t3"pe of humanit}"
with the gifts of intelligence,
reliofious
sentiment that brino^s
the earthly image.
To
the race best en-
and with the profound moral
man
near to Him of whom he

without exception, all
this race belong,
the nations of high civilization, the truly historical nations

still
represents the highest degree of progress attained by
kind,"
**
Arnold
Guyot.
is
tkis
man-
Earth and Man, page 228.
Let us take the head of a Caucasian.
diately
What
strikes us
imme-
the regularity of the features, the grace of the lines, the
harmony of all the figure. The head is oval no part is

beyond the others nothing salient nor angular
disturbs the softness of the lines that round it. The face is di-
perfect
too prominent
vided into three equal parts by the line of the eyes and that of the
mouth. The eyes are large, well cut, not too near the nose nor
too far from
it
their axis
is
placed on a single straight
line, at
PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE RACES.
228
right angles with the line of the nose. The facial angle is ninety
degrees. The stature is tall, lithe, well proportioned the shoul;
ders neither too broad nor too narrow. The length of the extended arms is equal to the whole height of the body; in one
word, all the proportions reveal the perfect harmony which is the
the
essence of beauty. Such is the type of the white race,
Caucasian, as it has been agreed to call it, the most pure, the
Arnold Guyot. Earth and
most perfect type of humanity."
Man, page 255.
" Asia has yielded to Europe the sceptre of civilization for two
thousand years. At the present day, Europe is still unquestionably the
first
of the civilizing continents.
face of our planet has the
mind
of
man
nowhere has man known so well how
make her
Nowhere on
tlie
sur-
risen to a sublimer height

to
the instrument of intelligence.
subdue nature, and to
The
nations of Europe
represent not only the highest intellectual growth which the human
race has attained at any epoch, but they rule already over nearly
every part of the globe, and are preparing to push their conquests
further
still."
Arnold Guyot.
Earth and Man, page 31.
The establishment of European

which has more than doubled the
*
civilization in the
New World,
territorial extent of the culti-
vated nations, prepares an epoch of aggrandizement more rapid

The two Americas, situated between the other four contistill.
nents,
seem destined
to
become,
in
their turn, a
new
centre of
and
more rapid relations with all the nations of the world, and
the irresistible logic of facts passing under our eyes compels U3
to believe that, during the epoch which is preparing, the boundaries of the domain of the civilized world can only be those of
Arnold Guyot. Earth and Man, page 328.
the globe itself."
action, or a point of support for the establishment of easy
"We
belong to the Anglican race, which carries Anglican

and liberty over the globe, because, wherever it
moves, liberal institutions and a common law full of manly rights
and instinct with the principle of an expansive life, accompany it."
principles
PBE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE RACES.
229
belong to that race whoso obvious task it is, among other

proud and sacred tasks, to rear and spread civil liberty over vast
regions in every part of the earth, on continent and isle. We
belong to that tribe which alone has the word Self-Government."
We
Francis Lieber.
Civil Liberty
and
Self- Government,
page
21.
There are many nations and tribes which have already disappeared from the earth, because they did not resist the power of
move powerful nations, or were unable to become powerful themWe do not grieve over the fall of the Celts, because we
selves.
ourselves destroyed them. We look on with tranquillity as the
aboriginal people of America decay and pass away, while our own
*
race
is
the sole cause of their destruction."
Man, page
Burmeister's
Black
13.
or African, with his black skin, woolly hair, and

compressed, elongated skull the Mongolian of Eastern Asia and
America, with his olive complexion, broad and all but beardless
"The Negro
face, oblique eyes,
and square
skull
and the Caucasian of Westskin and face, full brow, and
em Asia and Europe, with his fair

rounded skull; such, as every school-boy knows, are the three
great types or varieties into which naturalists have divided the inhabitants of our planet. Accepting this rough initial conception
of a world peopled everywhere, more or less completely, with
human beings or their combinations, the
these three varieties of

historian
is
able, in virtue of
it,
to
announce one important
the very outset, to wit, that, up to

tinies of the species
exclusively by
its
fact at
the present moment, the des-
appear to have been carried forward almost

North British Review,
Caucasian variety."
August, 1819.
which embraces the greatest cerebral development in width and depth,

combined with the highest form of beauty, strength, and power of
endurance, coupled with a nervous system less swayed by impulse.
'We now
In
this
ful,
group
come
most perfect notions of the ideal beautiproportion in art and in literature, of logic and of
is
of relative
to the typical Caucasian family,
found
20
tlie
PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE RACES,
230
the mathematical sciences in general.

female beauty is possessed of the highest
...
It
here that
is
human loveliness, grace,
and delicacy and the manly character attains the most majestic
and venerable aspect."
Hamilton Smith's Natural History of the
Human Species, page 401.
;
**
The Caucasian form of man combines, above the rest, strength
of limb with activity of motion, enabling
it
to
est vicissitudes of temperature in all climates

nize,
and multiply
endure the greatto emigrate, colo-
in them, with the sole exception of the positive
His longevity is more generally protracted, even in

the midst of the enervating habits of high civilization his solid
fibre gives a reasoned self-possession and daring in vicissitudes,
arising from the passions, from accident or from the elements
and his reflective powers find expedients to brave danger with
The moral and intellectual characself-possession and impunity.
ter we find to be in unison with his structure the reasoning powextremes.
mere process of comparing sensations, and

showing, in volition, more elevated thought, more reasoning, jushe alone of all the races of mankind has protice, and humanity
duced examples of free and popular institutions, and his physical
By means of
characteristics have maintained them in social life.
ers outstripping the
he has arrived at ideas requisite for the acresorting to actual experiment, he

fixed bases whereon to build demonstrable inferences, when the
positive facts are not otherwise shown he invented simple arbitrary characters to represent words and musical sounds and a
his logical intellect,
quisition of abstract truths
few
all
signs, which, nevertheless, denote, in their relative positions,
numbers and quantity he has

making the sidereal bodies unerring
the possible combinations of
measured time and
distance,
guides to mark locality and give nautical direction he has ascended to the skies, descended into the deep, and mastered the powers
of lightning. By mechanical researches, the bearded man has as;
suaged human toil, multiplied the results of industry, and created

a velocity of locomotion superior to the flight of birds; by his
chemical discoveries, he has modified bodily pain, and produced
numberless discoveries useful in medicine, in arts, and manufactures.
He has founded a sound and connected system of the sciences in general, and acquired a
critical literature;
while, for
PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE EACES.
231
more than three thousand years, he has been the principal possessor of all human knowledge and the asserter of fixed laws.
He has instituted all the great religious systems in the world, and
to his stock has been vouchsafed the glory and the conditions of
The Caucasian type alone continues in rapid develrevelation.
opment, covering with nations every congenial latitude, and portending at no distant era to bear rule in every region, if not by
physical superiority, at least by that dominion, which religion,
Hamilton Smith's Natural Hisscience, and enterprise confer."
371.
Species,
page
tory of the Human
'*
The Saxon or Teutonic man
only race that does love

it.
He
it,
is
loves instinctively personal liberty,
freedom from the
will of another.
His is the
and keep
a lover of liberty.
and has been able
He
to acquire
power over
himself,
loves also political liberty
power, so that he may consent

and form himself a part
submit,
does
which
he
to any control to
of the government he obevs. To such a man slavery in the abthat
is
to say, a share of political
stract is revolting
but his love of liberty
is,
in part, love of
power. He sympathizes, therefore, with the oppressed, provided

he be not the oj^pressor, and would gladly break all chains of
bondage, except those which he imposes. The characteristics of
the Saxon, his practical ability and faculty for abstract thought;
his passion for conquest and power, and his love of liberty, truth,
and justice, whilst they make him a colonizer and a ruler, also
render his rule beneficent. Churches, charities, law, order, indusThe
try, wealth, arts, and letters, follow his footsteps.
Saxon loves power; his is the conquering, colonizing race.
to India, to China, to Australia, or America,
Wherever he goes,
Fishhe subdues and governs the 'weaker and lower races."
er'' s Laws of Race, page 16.
.
''No delusion has so little foundation as that assumed law of

would confine the white races to the latitude of the
this
Union. But when it is insisted upon in referfree States of
ence to our own country, where the facts which overthrow it are
familiar to everybody, it is not wonderful that it is kept uj) in
reference to countries of which we know less. When it is denied
climate which
232
by anybody l3ut negroes,

two-thirds of their inhabitants being actually whites, and the increase of the whites being greater than that of the blacks, what
that the Southern States can be occupied
absurdities
may
not be
maintained?"
Westoii's
Progress
of
Slavery, page 159.
**
Humboldt observes that the Caucasian races
are distinguished
and of
this we have a remarkable instance in the French, who have long
occujîed the lower Mississippi and the most northerly of the Canadas, and without any loss of their original vigor in either of those
by
their flexibility of organization in respect to climate
widely separated latitudes.
The descendants of
that race, ex-
pelled from Acadia, suffered a dispersion equally wide, being
found in the Carolinas, on the Gulf of Mexico, and on the ui)per

If there are malarious reSt. John in the latitude of Quebec.
gions at the South, on the coasts of the Atlantic and the Gulf of
Mexico, they are of limited extent, and, as a whole, the white race
exhibits as much physical vigor at the South as at the North, and,
Weston^s
in the opinion of many observers, decidedly more."
Progress of Slavery, page 160.
**
I believe that the greatness or abjectness of every people is
due primarily,
as
it
ities
if
not solely, to one cause,
race.
Indeed seeing,
appears to me, that the manifestation of the immutable qualof race is the one great fact of history that the annals of the
;
world teach us that the power of race is the one master and positive force, the operation of which can be calculated upon as a
certainty that it is the primal law of humanity that it is working as irresistibly and with action as positive and simple as it
worked thousands of years ago that at this very day it is breaking the bonds of treaties and destroying kingdoms to make nations,
to deny its force, or to rate it at less than paramount importance,
seems to me like calculating eclipses or building houses with like
Richard Grant
disrespect to the force and law of gravitation."
;
Willie.
Letter to the
'Most
distinctly
London Spectator, 1865.
do
deny that
this
country
is
great only be-
PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE HACES,

cause
it is
'
spacious in the possession of dirt
233
because, like Rus-
'
France, it is rich and warlike.

sia, it is vast, or even
Its real greatness, I believe, with a belief having the clearness of
conviction and the earnestness of fiiith, has its sole origin in the
qualities of the race by which the land was settled and reclaimed,
because, like
government and its society were framed."

Richard Grant White. Letter to the London Spectator, 1865.
and by which
its
white races that are bearing onward the flambeau of civilization, as displayed in the Germanic families alone."
Josiah Clark Kott.
**
It is the strictly
" History,
monuments, osteological remains, every

show that races have
from time improvinces
zones
or
same
occupied substantially the
memorial. Since the discovery of the mariner's compass, mankind
tradition,
literary record
and
scientific induction, all
have been more disturbed in their primitive seats and, with the
increasing facilities of communication by land and sea, it is impossible to predict what changes coming ages may bring forth.
The Caucasian races, which have always been the representatives
of civihzation, are those alone that have extended over and colo;
nized
all parts
of the globe
and much of this
is
the
work of the
The Creator has implanted in this

last three hundred years.
group of races an instinct that, in spite of themselves, drives them
carry out their great mission of civilizing
or philanthropy which urges them on,
reason
the earth. It is not
but it is destiny. AYhen we see great divisions of the human family increasing in numbers, spreading in all directions, encroaching
by degrees upon all other races wherever they can live and prosper, and gradually supplanting inferior types, is it not reasonable
through
all difficulties to
to conclude that they are fulfilling a
Nott.
'*
law of nature."
Josiah Clark
No two
distinctly
marked races can dwell together on equal
appear destined to live and prosper for a time, until the destroying race comes which is to exterminate and supplant them. Observe how the aborigines of Amer-
terms.
Some
races, moreover,
20*

PRE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE HACES.
234
away
Those
groups of races heretofore comprehended under the generic term
Caucasian, have in all ages been the rulers and it requires no
prophetic eye to see that they are destined eventually to conquer
and hold every foot of the globe where climate does not interpose
No philanthropy, no legislation, no
an impenetrable barrier.
missionary labors, can change this law it is written in man^s na-
ica are fading
before the exotic races of Europe.
hand of
ture by
Mankind, page 79.
the
*'When we
his Creator.*'
Josiah Clark Nott.
Types of
are free from this plague-spot of slavery,
the
curse to our industry, our education, our politics, and our religwe shall increase more rapidly in number, and still more
ion,
abundantly be
Tlie South will be as the North,
rich.
intelligent, Virginia
as Massachusetts.
may
rich as
New York,
active,
the Carolinas as active
Then by peaceful purchase,
the Anglo-Saxon
acquire the rest of this North American continent.
The
Nay, we may honorably go

and Pacific slopes of the
Atlantic
further south, and possess the
Northern continent, extending the area of freedom at every step.
We may carry thither the Anglo-Saxon vigor and enterprise, the
old love of liberty, the love also of law the best institutions of
Spaniards will
make nothing
of
it.
the present age, ecclesiastical,
political, social,
domestic.
Then
what a nation we shall one day become America, the mother of

a thousand Anglo-Saxon States, tropical and temperate, on both
sides of the equator, may behold the Mississippi and the Amazon
uniting their waters, the drainage of two vast continents, in the
Mediterranean of the Western World may count her children at
and among them all behold no
last by hundreds of millions,
"
Parker.
Speech at New York,
Theodore
slave
and
no
tyrant
!
May
12, 1854.
**The Caucasian differs from all other races; he is humane, he

He conquers with his head as well
is civilized, and progresses.
not
It is intellect, after all, that conquers,
as with his hand.
the streno;th of a man's arm. The Caucasian has been often masnever their slave. He has carried his
ter of the other races,
In history all rereligion to other races, but never taken theirs.
PBE-EMINENCE OF THE WHITE

ligions are of Caucasian origin.
It
ACES,
235
All the great limited forms of
monarchies are Caucasian. Republics are Caucasian. All the

great sciences are of Caucasian origin all inventions are Cauca;
and romance come of the same stock all the great

poets are of Caucasian origin Moses, Luther, Jesus Christ, Zoroaster, Buddha, Pythagoras, were Caucasian. No other race can
bring up to memory such celebrated names as the Caucasian race.
sian
literature
The Chinese philosopher, Confucius, is an exception to the rule.

To the Caucasian race belong the Arabian, Persian, Hebrew, Egyptian
and
all
casian race."
the
European nations are descendants of the Cau-
Theodore Parker.
Quoted in Types of Mankind,
page 462.
If the ancestors of the present three millions of slaves
had
if their descendants had never been

never been brought here,
value of their services, their
supposed
for
the
propagated here,
pla,ces would have been supplied by white laborers, by men of
by freemen. Instead of the three millions
the Caucasian race,
slaves, of all colors, we should doubtless now have at least three
million white, free-born citizens, adding to the real prosperity of
the country, and to the power of the republic. If the South had
not had slaves to do their work for them, they would have become
ingenious and inventive, like the North, and would have enlisted
wind and fire and
the vast forces of nature in their service,
water and steam and lightning, the mighty energies of gravitaHorace Mann. House
tion and the subtle forces of chemistry."
of Representatives, February
23, 1849.
has been said that whosoever would see the Eastern world
before it turns into a Western world must make his visit soon, because steamboats and omnibuses, commerce, and all the arts of
Europe, are extending themselves from Egypt to Suez, from Suez
to the Indian Seas, and from the Indian Seas all over the explored
*'
It
reo-ions of the
still
this continent all is to
...
I onlv can see that
on
be Anglo-American from Pymouth Rock
to
farther East.
from the North Pole to California. That is certain;

world, I only see that you can hardly place a
Eastern
and in the
finger on the map of the world and be an inch from an English
Pacific Sea,
236
settlement.
If there
experiment
now
be anything in the supremacy of races, the

develop it. If there be any
in progress will
who issued from the great Caucasian

and spread over Europe, are to react on India and on
Asia, and to act on the whole Western world, it may not be for us,
truth in the idea that those
fountain,
nor our children, nor our grandchildren to see

for our descendants of
some generation
it,
to see the
progress and dominion of the favored races.
but
it
will
be
extent of that
For myself,
I be-
lieve there is no limit fit to be assigned to it by the human mind,

because I find at work everywhere, on both sides of the Atlantic,
under various forms and degrees of restriction on the one hand,
and under various degrees of motive and stimulus on the other
hand, in these branches of a common race, the great principle of
the freedom of human thought, and the respectability of individual
character."
Webster'' s
Works, Vol. //.,âê214.
APPENDIX
I.
RADICALISM IN THE SOUTH:

ITS
BLACK AND BLIGHTING SWAY.

BY HINTON ROWAN HELPER,
Author of" The Impending
Crisis of the South."
AsHEViLLE, North
Carolina,
November
11, 1867.
the Editors of the National Intelligencer

In the accompanying communication, addressed *'To the Good
People of the Old Free States," it is not at all unlikely that I have
said some things to which both you and many of your readers may
take exception. It has not been any part of my purpose either to
please or to displease anybody, but simply to tell the truth, and to
say, so far as I have given expression to my views, precisely what
If, in your opinion, the publication of the article wôuld
I think.
promote, even in part only, the object at which I have aimed,
namely, the imparting to the pul)lic mind of the North a more
accurate and adequate knowledge of the actual and prospective
condition of things at the South, under the black and blio'hting
you may, if you please, publish it in the
sway of Radicalism,
""^
columns of the " Intelligencer. Deeply impressed with the importance, at all times, of earnest and honest appeals to men's reason,
rather than to their passions or their prejudices, I have purposely
delayed writing what I have here written until after the partial
sul)sidence of the general excitement and confusion which have
but so recently attended the great elections in many of the whiter
and (therefore) better parts of our common country.
To
H. R. H.
fJie Good People of the Old Free States
Mi^re than ten years ago, as many of you will recollect, I, a Carolinian, made a
special appeal to vour enlightened and patriotic judgments in behalf of a large
tlie non-slaveholdu g whites,
majority of the white people of the Southern States,
who.'wliether thev knew it or not, were greatly oppressed and impoverished by
the nnlortunate exi^tence among us of negroes and negro shivery. Tlie generous
hearing wliich vou then accorded to me inspires me with contidence that you are
again prepared'to listen to anv protest, or complaint, or other statement from me,
that lias for its basis truth and justice. Thus surmising, I respectfully request tliat
you will favor me with vour attention while I explain, or while I endeavor to
explain, that the great mass of the poor whites here, in whose behalf I have
especially and persistently written, are still enthralled; and that, within the last
few years, the condition of their thraldom has been so aggravated, that it is now
in constant process of becoming worse and worse, with the further and appalhug
danger, under Radical misrule, of being rendered unparalleled and perpetual.
Before entering directly into this subject, however, permit me to indulge in a
few general but pertinent reflections. Although chiefly for the sake of the whites,
To
237
APPENDIX.
238
for their sakes that I was, and am, and always will be, hostile
believed, many years since, as I believe now, that there is in slavery
itself, and more especially in negro slavery, a moral and social guilt of no less
revolting magnitude than the political blunders which are also a part of its base
oflspring. I believed then, and I believed rigiitly, I think, that the negroes ought
to be freed, and then speedily colonized somewhere beyond the present limits of
the United .states. I do not believe, and never did believe, that the two races
the white and the black
widely and irreconcilably different as they are in their
natures, ought ever to inhabit the same country. Living in close association,
living together beneath tlie same roof, living in juxtaposition within the acknowledged limits of any hamlet, village, town, or city, or even within the boundaries
of any farm or plantation, as they did live under the system of slavery, and as they
still live nnderthe condition of freedom, is, as I solemnly believe (particularly as
it affects the whites), a gross shame, a shocking indecency, and a glaring crime.
I believe that the whole negro race is a weak and worthless race, an eifete and
time-worn race, which, like the Indian race, is no longer fit, if ever tit foi' any
useful trust or tenantcy in this world; and I believe, fiirtlier, that it is the will oif
Heaven that all these people, and many others of similar color and character,
sliould at once be put in position to be let alone; and that, if duly colonized,
properly provided for, and then prudently and suitably let alone. Providence will
soon cut them off, root and branch, and thus happily rid tlie earth of at least the
bulk of the superannuated and inutile organisms Avhich so unpropitiously encumber
it in the current epoch.
While one of tlie inevitable effects of enduring any manner of association or
relation between the two races is the partial elevation of the blacks, the other is
only the too positive and irremediable degradation of the whites. The influence
of the white on the black is always for good to the black at the expense of the
white; the influence of the black on the white is always bad for the white; and
the wliite is again, and invariably, tlie victim. In anything and in everything
wherein the wliite people of tlie .South are worse than tlie people of the Nortli,and
in whatever mental, moral, or material interest we of tiie 8outh are less advanced
than you of the North, the delinquencies or thedeflciencies, as the case may be, are
alone attributable to theprolitless and pernicious presence of the negroes among us.
In quality of i)0})ulation, the great difference Ix^tween the Nortli and the .South
is simply this
while we here are cursed with the black imps of Africa, you there
are blessed with the white genii of Europe. Wliat I would do to bring the South
up to an honorable and ever-friendly equality with the North (and what must be
done sooner or later, or the object thus aimed at will never be accomplished), is to
prepare the wav, on the one hand, for the egress of all our imps of darkness and
of death, and, on the other hand, to open wide the way for the ingress of your
superabundant genii of life and of light. I contend, tlich, that, in order to insure
the true safety and success of the South, in order to maintain, in peri)etuity, the
integrity of our national Union, and in order to guarantee uninterrupted peace and
prospcritv thronirhout tlie greater and better jârt of this vast continent, we must,
with' as little delav as possible, colonize t'le negroes in Mexico, or elsewhere out
of our own country or, as a last but temixirary method of relief from their baneful
existence among us, we must remove them all, much the same as we have hitherto
removed certain tribes of Indians, into one or more of the South-bordering States
or Territories of the United States.
The necessity for the removal and colonization of the negroes was as plain to me
ten years ago as it is to-day; but I foresaw then, and I see now, that there could
be no general nor effectual demand raised for the displacement of the blacks on
the one hand, and for the tilling up of the South by white people from the North
and from Europe on the other, until after slavery, tlie great nursery and stronghold
of negroes, should flrst be abolished. Equally did I foresee then, and I perceive
now, that, in a state of freedom and self-dependence, one of two fatal dilemmas
would certainly befall the negro; but neither of which dilempias was ever likely
to befall him so long as he had the benelit of guides and protectors in the persons
of a few unfortunate white men, his masters, who, however, as is well known,
guided and protected him as an easy and questionable method of procuring their
own bread and butter; and this, too, thougii not always wilfully, to the serious, if
not irreparable, detriment of the great majority of their own while fellow-citizens.
To me it was plain then, and it is plain now, that if the negro, in a condition of
political equalitv, is left here, he will, from the fated and complicated causes of
neglect and hostility on the part of the whites, gradually die out and disappear;
but this not without entailing on the whites a multiplicity of long-lasting injuries
and calamities meanwhile. If colonized, whether within or without the United
Stares, and after a fair but final amount of advice and assistance, put entirely upon
Ms own resources, as, indeed, it is but right and proper that he should have been
yet
tc
it
was not alone
slavery.
APPENDIX,
239
his doom, it is also plain, would be equally inevitable it would only

be, as I conscientiously believe, anotlier use of the whites as instruments to
modify, or to seemingly modify, the indestructible plan of Providence for extermi-
put long ago,
naling the negro.

I admit, and, at the same time, insist upon it, that men, everywhere and at all
times, should be exceedingly careful how they attemi)t to interpret any will or
purpose of Heaven. Further, 1 will say that I do not believe that any mere man,
like any one of you, or like myself, ever did, or ever will, truly interpret or explain
the exact purpose of God in reference to anything whatsoever, except only and
possibly through conjecture. It is true, that in years gone by the " >i"ew York
Tribune " and several other gazettes of less ability and weight, seriously proclaimed
me a prophet; but I deny the soft impeachment, and respectfully protest against
that sort of infringement and libel on the preeminent prerogatives of the ancient
Hebrews. Tiie exercise of common sense is the only prophecy with which 1 have
ever yet been gifted and beyond that, in matters of seership, 1 never expect to be
gifted. In this respect, any and every other rational white man may be, and ought
to be, equally gifted if not so gifted, it is because he is a mere idler ; and if so, he
is, for that reason, highly reprehensible for not improving and disciplining the
mind of whatever bent or capacity which a mighty and merciful God has been
pleased to create within him. If, then, we may seek to comprehend and interpret
the will of God touching any one or more of the several races of mankind, I hesitate not to say that, in my humble judgment, the efforts which the Radical and
other blind and fanatical friends of the negro are now making for his retention
and equality among us are directly in conflict with the Divine purpo.ê, and are,
therefore, fragrantly wrong and impiously wicked. To what end, or for what purpose, was the great Columbus and his white-faced and Heaven-guided successors
in maritime discovery safely wafted to this western world but to redeem it from
the fruitless occupancy ancf from the wild and weird desecration of the savage
Indian ? AVhy was Moses and his compatriots and kinsman, in their bloody aggressions against the Canaanites, not only permitted, but encouraged, and commanded, to leave alive none that breatheth,"if it were not tliat Jehovah had
ceased to have a use for those who had already accomplisht d the ends for which
they liad been created ? If we see, or if we think we see, a purpose on the part ot
the Deity to cut olf all the Canaanites ot old, on the one hand, and all tlie Indian
tribes of the three great Americas and their adjacent islands of modern times, on
the other, it is, I contend, quite as easy for us to perceive His desire and purpose
to use us, whether we be willing or not, as his swift avengers against the negroes,
both in America and in Africa,
tirst here and then there ; for even before we get
America filled up with the white races, we shall need Africa as a new continent
for the enterprise and habitation of the redundant populations of Europe and of
other portions of tiie white world; and then the negroes, and all the other black
and bicolored weaklings, whether in Africa or elsewhere, must stand aside, or be
laid low, and give undisputed and permanent place to their white superiors. In
this way, and in this way only, can this great worlil of ours ever be made a world
given to the worship of the one only living and true God and in no other way
may we ever reasonably expect to lind the mountains and the valleys, the hill-tops
and the dales, the ghides and the glens, auspiciously dotted over with schools and
with colleges, with libraries and with churches, with galleries and with museums.
But from tliis cursory reference to the Avorld at large, both as to its realities
and its possibilities, let us come back for a little while to North Carolina, and to the
other .Southern States. And just here I want to show how, under a very criminal
public policy of the past, and under a most atrocious public policy of the present,
a large majority of tiie white people of the >outh have been, and are still, treated
with less consideration, with less favor, and with less justice, than if they were
negroes. In other words, astounding as the statement may appear, it is neverthe
less true
demonstrably true
that tiie negroes here, very many of them at least,
have hitherto been ailorded opportunities, for both an education and for an
easy and comfortable livelihood, far superior to the opportunities which were generally enjoyed by the poorer classes of white people
A full and just understanding of this crueland flagitious discrimination in favor of the blacks as against tlu
whites, in favor of the incompetent as against the competent, in favor of the vile
as against the virtuous, should make the blood of every decent and respectable
white man, between Maine and Texas, and between Florida and Oregon, literally
boil with indignation; and there sliould be no cessation of the quick and forcible
ebullition of his vital fluid, until, to say the least, the worthy whites of the South
are at last allowed a fair and equal chance with the unworthy blacks. But it ia
just this fair and equal chance which the slaveholders, in the time of slavery, always denied to the great majority of Southern whites and it is precisely thi9
fair and equal chance which is now meanly and treacherously, and with increased
;
APPEXDIX.
240
hardsliips, denied them now by tliose wanton and reckless dcmajifognos who constitute II usurpatory and tyiaiuiical nuijority of the present Conj^ress.
Let mo exphiin: As is well known, wliile slavery existed in the South tlu're
was no respectahility of la])or. Kvery sort of actual work with the hands, wlietiier
upon one's own account or in the way of hel]) or assistance to otlars, was always
looked upon as menial and degrading. Negroes, as slaves and as servants, were
employed everywhere, not only out t)f doors, but also within doors. Indecent,
disgraceful, and criminal as it was in reality, this universal ride or custom of
' having negroes around " was both fasiiiomible and aristo(;ratic. There were
never any vacancies or situations for poor white people; ar.d yet the nund)er of
these, in the South generally, was always much greater than the nund)er of tlie neTlie mass of the white ])opulation of tiie
groes. ,Tust look at iti dust think of it
Soutli ahsolutely debarred Irom tlie pecuniary profits and other advantages of emThebaseployment, and forced into the distant purlieus of povertv and ignorance
oorn and incajiahle blacks, by the force of a vulgar public oiiinion, placed above the
meritoiious AvhitesI Yet it was not at all because of any inherent power or good
quality in tin; negroes that tlie poor whites were tlius crowded away from the
manv desirable einplovinents and places to whicli t!iey alone should have been
heartily welcomed. Tlie fault of tlie tidng, up to the close of the war, is traceable
directly to the slaveholders themselves, who. in the short-sighted aiul vicious policy which they pursued, made every other interest in tlie country, both great and
small, subordinate and subservient to tlie negroes and negro slavery. Since the
war, the blame, in a grossly aggravated and unexpected form, rests e.xcluslvely
with tlie Kadical party. The slaveholders are now beginning to see and lament
the folly and bliiKlness and bigotry of their unseemly devotion to the worthless
negroes. For the sakeoft lie country, let us sinct'rely hope and jiray that the Itadicals
may soon give evidence of similar iierceptiou, and also of true sorrow for their very
numerous, very black, and very grievous ^lolitical sins. Never did Ibahmins, Malioinmedans, or Christians, sacrifice their country, their property, their friiiids, their
familv, or themselves, with more fidelity to their CJod, than the slaveholders here
have Vacriticed everything whicli they held dear on earth, in order to jireserve alive
the very blackest and basest wretcli that ever lived.
and unscathed the iH'gro,
Was .such black and abominable idolever so besottedly worshi|)ped before { Themselves, their sons, their near and distant relatives, theirneiglibors, and their countrymen, all of their own kith and kin and color, the slaveholders cheerfully gave
to the battle and to death; but the negro, the meanest and most degrjided of mankind, was keiitalive, and is still among us, a nuisance, a leper, and a jilague.
'June and sjiace both fail here of a suitable opportunity for entering into idl the
sad and sliockiiig niinutiie of the cruelly unjust luoscription of the Southern jioor
whites, who, by the common exigencies of their nature, and as tiic mere ontskirt
tenants of tlu^ ricli hiiidcd jiroprietors, were compelled to seek such an incidental
and nncertain liveliliood as they could jirocure by hunting and fishing, and by such
occasional jobs, here and tlu're, as they could beg, too often only as a sort of specKven
ial favor from one or more of their wealthier and better-hearted neiglibors.
n slight knowledge of tlie facts, however, and ujion these facts a little sagacious
reflection will enable you to jierceive at once the numerous opportunities, both for
education and for i)hysical comforts, which were, as a matter of course, given to
the negroes, but which, at the same time, and eipially as a matter of course, were
withheld from the whites. For netirly two hundred and fifty years, the negroes
here, as waiters in hotels, and in the families of the most learned and refined, as
barbers and as body-servants to ijrofessional men, pleasure-seekers and others,
have had the constant benefit of hearing the intelligent conversation of their masters and mistresses, ami also of listening to the interesting and instructive stories
of well-informed visitors and cosmopolitan strangers, lietained in great numbers
in the cities and towns (just where not one of tliem ought ever to have been, and
just where not one of them ought ever to be), they always had free and undisputed
admission to the. public Tueetings in the court-houses and in the town halls, and
also to tlie religious meetings held in the c!nir(;hesand elsewlu're. As a class, tliey
alone, of all the \wov people in the South, had access, at all times, in the families
of the ricli and refined, to books, magazines, and newspapers. On the other hand,
the i)oor whites, Ireati'd as outcasts, merely because tln-y did not own slaves, enj()\ed none of tlie opportunities which were llius so easily within tlie reach of tlie
nt'groes, whether for the enlargement and cultivation of the mind, or f(,r the
ay, what, indeed, is very
health and comfort of tlie body; and, what is worse,
much worse, the condition of things in this respect is still unchanged. Hordes
of hungry, sliiftless, and worthless blacks, who, relying, as of old, on their importunate tiiid resistless art of begging, to stijiply themselves, among other things,
with all the threadbiire and bad-fitting ganiients of their white superiors, are
everywhere ollering their services for the merest nominal wages and the old masI
APPENDIX,
21
and employers, accustomed only to such wretched and barharoua assistance

h(^ fôt. iVoin negro sla\('s and iicirro ser\aMts,are vet uiuler llic spell of
tâble witch and .-able wizard, and, with rare txccptions, hiive as yet learned little or nothin}? of either the advantage or the duty, tin; decency or the resiu'ciabilIn this way tiie
ity, of employing and having aboii^ them none but white persons.
negro, a ju'sterer of detestable character and color, continues to be bauel'ully interposed between the two great wiute elements in the .Si)uth, where, like a sluggish, yet meandering woodworm, he is all tlie while gnawing deeper and deeper
into the vitals of tirst one side and then the other. Of the two classes of wiutes
who are tlms iiu-essantly preyed upon and despoiled by the blacks, the j)ooriT
Avliites are invariably the greater victims; for against tliese are arrayed the. low
prejudice and the liostile influences of not oidy all the negroes, but (siuinu'f'ul and
shocking to relate) of many of the wealthier whites also. This is whatconu's of
that unnatural and execrai)le bond of sympathy and sellishness which has so long
existed, and which still exists, between the negro owni-rs, or those who were but
latelvso, and the negroes themselves; and now, to this double and distressing opposition, against which the poor whites of the South have for so long a time barely
{
leen able to offer even a feeble resistance, is added a third power, far nnire crafty,
and far nu)re potent for nuschief than either of the others. This third powiT-
whether it seems to be so or not, or wbetlier it was intended to be so or not, it is
this third power, in alliance with the negroes and the ex-slaveBO, nevertheless
holders, to utterly crush out and ruin forever the poor whites of the South, is the
whole Kadical l)arty, but more especially that very unscrupidous and de.-perate
embodiment of it now justly described anil detested as the rump Congress. Under the wrongfully discrindnating, negro-favt)ring enactments of this unconstitutional ami unprin"cii)led Congress, not only are white enugranis from liie North
and from Euroj)e now condng hither in less munbers tliau they came under the(>ld
condition of things, but nniny of the whites who are already iu're are every day becoming more and nu)re anxious to abandon their homes and eudgrat*' to distant
and foreign lamls, rather than renniin the victims of that terribh^ thraldom of
negro supremacy, which a most mean and malignant assemblage of heartless Radicals are now fa.>^teuing upon them.
ever since 1 last returned to the
Alnu)st every day, for several moidhs past,
have I seen whole fanulies, and sometinu's two or three together, leaving
State,
North Carolimi, some going in the direction of Illinois, some travelling toward
Indiana, and olliers, of the more able and venturesome sort, bound for llra/iland
elsewhere, far beyond the utmost linnts of their own native soil. While thus,
under the oppressive- and tyrannical operations of {{adical nulilary despotisms, our
own native white people are robbed of their natural freedom, and forced to flee to
foreign lands, European enngrants and emigrants from the North are restrained
And thus swiftly and infamously arc
almost entirely from coming to the South
the narrow-minded and revengeful Kadicals converting all the States of the South
into one vast Hayti, or Jamaica, or Mexico, driving from tlu; country the white
people, who are, whether her(> or elsewhere, the only worthy and saving elements
of i)oi)ula1ion, and .surrendering it completely to tiie pollution, devastation, and
ruin of stupid and beast-like honUvs (d" black barbarians.
Of the extreme i*overty and distress of numy of the poor whites who are now
emigrating from the State, and of a still larger nund)er who, rather tlian sidjnnt
to the further danger and disgrace of IJadical-negro and negro-Uadical donnnation,
are anxious to leave, but are destitute even of the scanty nuMus necessary to lake
them away, I have scarcely the heart to speak. To enter adecpiately into details
or particulars upon this subject in a mere newspaper article, is <|uite out of the
question, and so 1 will only remark here, in a general way, but with all theemjihasis
of earnestness and truth, that do not believe any people in any part of America
were ever subjected to such unjust and oppressive straits, such miserable and
wretched shifts, as the poorer classes of the white peojde of North (ârolina, and of
the South generally, are now having to struggle against and all this mainly in consequence of the blundering and unconsfilutional enactments, the uustatesmanlikc
and infamous legislation of that oligarchy of sectional demagogues known as the
ters
as can
rumi> Congress.
Within the last few weeks especially, many white families have T seen leaving
the State, all on foot, and barefooted at that api)arently possessed of no -lothing,
except the two or three soiled and tattered garnuuts which they were wearing at
the time, and carrying in a small bumlle on their backs <'very article of j)roi)('rty,
of whatever nature or kind, of which they could claim the ownership. One family of eight persons, whom I nu't on the road, particidarly attracted my attention;
and my heart, from an involuntary feeling of commiseration, almost bled when
i'liis family wa.s
I became a witness of their dire destitution and wretchedness,
composed of the father, mother, grandmother, and five children, the eldest child
,
21
APPENDIX.
242
being not more than twelve years of age. Except the youngest child, which was
in its mother's arms, all were travelling on foot, and all were barefooted, with the
single exception of the father, who had on very old and rudely patched brogans.
A single outer dress, of the commonest and cheapest stuff, and that much worn,
and bv no means clean, with a dingy-looking sun-bonnet, appeared to be the only
article of clothing of which any one of the females was possessed. The head of
the family had no coat; and as for the boys, uncombed, ragged, and ignorant, they
had, indeed, in a truly serious and melancholy sense, almost literally " nothing to
wear." Coarse straw hats, common shirts,' and very common pantaloons, all
badly worn, were the only things they had as shields from the weather; and these
shabby vestments seemed to constitute the sum total of their personal eflects. la
aFmail cotton-clotii wallet, which was swung across the shoulders of the father,
and which he evidently carried without its causing him any particular burden or
inconvenience, were deposited the only movables, the only goods and chattels
the only household gods of this poor, this uneducated, this politically oppressed
and unfortunate family. Xor is this an exaggerated picture. Were it but a solitary case, or but one of few, the condition of things would not be so bad but,
sad to reflect, it is only one of many, and the number is increasing. Whether
fleeing from oppression (this time not so much the oppression by ex-slaveholders,
as the oppression bv Radicals and negroes), or whether remaining at home under
the galling yoke of tyranny, the whole South is now full of just such victims as
the family just mentioned. And these victims, for the most part, as poor as poor
can be, and as ignorant and miserable as possible, are principally of the former
class of poor whites, for the utter crushing out and destruction of whom there is
now in force a most foul and formidable triple alliance of Radicals, ex-slaveholders, and negroes; but, as already intimated, the least harm tliat is felt from
this alliance comes from the ex-slaveholders, who, for the first time in their lives,
are only now beginning to accept in practice the correctness of their ancient and
all-the-while preaching, that wliite people are better than negroes. In behalf of
these lo.ng and sorely oppressed poor whites, and for the means not merely to
enable them to withstand, but eventually to overcome, th.e threefold and inicjuitous
opposition thus arrayed against them, I, here and now, with all due deference and
respect, appeal to Go'd and to the good people of the North,
Scarcely anywhere can one travel in the South, at the present time, without
meeting, on every hand, especially among the poor whites, and there are few
now who are not poor, numerous cases of actual want, sickness, sutfering, and
despair; and were it not that I fear to tax too severely your patience, I should
feel it my duty to give a somewhat full and minute account of several of them.
As it is, however, 1 will onlv advert to two or three cases in addition to the one
already mentioned. In JIarion, the county seat of McDowell county, in this State,
adjoining the county in which I am now writing, and where I now reside, it was
ascertained a short while since that unless the pressing necessities of a large
number of the poor white people could soon be relieved, there was great danger
that many of them, during the ensuing winter, would sutler intensely, if not die
outright, of cold and hunger. In their behalf, an appeal was made to a lew
wealthy gentlemen of Baltimore, who nobly responded in the form of a liberal
contribution of monev. There were and are in that county, as, indeed, in every
other countv, district/and parish throughout the South, a great many poor widows
and orphans, whose husbands and fathers were conscripted and killed during the
except here and there a
late war, and who now, without lands, without houses,
and without employment, are in a manner naked, redilapidated log-cabin,
sourceless, and starved. In view of the w'retchedly ill-clad condition of these
poor widows and orphans, it was thought best to spend the money, which, as
already explained, had been generously contributed in Baltimore, for cotton
thread, such as is used for the weaving of plain cloth, and to distribute a bunch of
that, so far as it would go, to each fatherless family. Mr. Alfred Krwin, a kindhearted and very estimable citizen of that county, a lawyer by profession, was appointed to make the distribution. As soon as it became known that Mr. Erwin
had received this thread, to be given awav at his discretion to the persons indicated, his office was literally besieged, until very soon there was not a single bunch
and
left, and then it was truly touching to witness the profound disappointment
grief, amounting almost to despair, of the numerous careworn and indigent
mothers who were still unprovided for, some of whom had come twelve or fifteen
miles over the rough mountain roads, on foot, barefooted, and with scarcely
clothes enough upon themselves to cover, in the usual way, their own persons.
The sight, I sav,the sight of these very poor widowed mothers having to return
home emptv-handed, but heavv-hearted, as I myself saw many of them returning,
to ricketv, cold, comfortless log cabins, in a manner destitute not only of furniture and' bedding, but also of almost every other thing, except a troop of half:
APPENDIX,
243
starved, half-clad,
and helpless children, was, indeed, a spectacle too sorrowful to
behold with any ordinary emotion.
During the earlv part of last month I was in Columbia, South Carolina. There
also did I see agaiu, as I had frequently seen before, hoAv poor white persons are
treated as the inferiors of negroes, and how to the latter are given places of in-door
ease and profit, which should In all cases, without exception, be given only totiio
former. At ditlerent times, while walking about the city (or rather the ruins of a
city, for, as is well known, it was almost entirely destroyed by lire during the
a piece of warfare about as brave and
brief occupation of Sherman's army,
defensible as that of Semmes, who burned unarmed merchant ships at sea),
several white women and girls, who were so emaciated by a long and distressful
period of hunger, little short of actual starvation, that some of them were reduced to mere skin and bone, meL me in the street, and, with tears and laments,
Of one of them, who was evidently
besought me for a little money to buy bread
but an indifferent sliadow of her former self, I asked a few questions. She was
but fifteen vears of age. Her father Avas forced into tlie war, and was killed. The
house in which she and her mother lived, and everything in it, v.as burned to
ashes during the great conflagration. Almost immediately afterward her mother,
yielding to excess of grief and despondency, became very sick, and soon died in a
paroxvsm of despair and delirium'; and slie, the daughter, an only child, was left
in the world without means, without friends, and witliout employment. My heart
sickened under the plaiutiveness, the childlike simplicitv, and tiie obvious truthfulness of her statement and, regrettingthat I Ivad not the ability to place in her
attenuated and leather-like hands dollars instead of dimes, I returned to tlie
Kickerson House, where I had stopped, and there I looked hither and thither
through hall, parlor, dining-room, side apartments, and elsewhere, to see wliether
it was possible for me to obtain a glimpse of even one white servant, old or young,
male or female; but I looked in vain. Again I passed into the street, and from
one street into another, examining and ascertaining, as far I could perceive,
whether white servants were employed in or about any of the private houses but,
alas not one could be seen. Yet, on the right hand and on the left, as stumblingblocks in front, and as drones and sluggards behind, I saw multitudes of sleek,
stupid, foul-smelling, filthy, greasy, and grinning negroes, who, as the curse-inflicting pets, alike of infatuated and folly-governed ex-slaveholders and Radicals,
were lazily occupying places which would have been inflnitely better occupied by
whites, and which, by the great laws that indicate the common justice and decency
of things, should have been occupied by wliites alone.
As is well known to many intelligent and worthy persons all over the country,
this is not the first time that I have made an appeal for justice for the poor and
oppressed whites of the South. Ten years ago, I made a similar appeal in my
anti-slavery and anti-negro book, entitled " The Impending Crisis of the South."
Four months ago I reiterated that appeal in my anti-negro and anti-slavery book,
entitled " Nojoque." And yet there are certain scribblers and babblers of nonwho
mere penny-a-liners, who criticise books without reading them,
sense,
feign obliviousness of these facts, and who aflect to find disagreements and antagonisms between the two publications here named. I complain of this charge
siniplv and solely because it is not true. In such perfect accord, upon all points,
are "The Impending Crisis of the South" and " Nojoque," that, but for the difference in time of writing and printing, the two books might have been fitly bound
together, in which case the contents of both would have lormed but a single Avork,
two volumes in one, the whole, as a whole, and in all its parts, constituting a
carefully constructed engine of literary warfare against negroes and negro slavery.
The prominent and important fact that " The impending Crisis of the ^ôuth " was
written in the interest of the white people of the Southern States, and was an
appeal to the whites alone, and not an appeal to the negroes, to the extent of any
page, paragraph, sentence, line, or word, was distinctly admitted, and elaborately
dwelt upon and denounced by many of the pro-slavery politicians who, though iu
the wrong, were noted for their sagacity and eloquence immediately before the
war; such politicians, for instance, as Pryor of Virginia, Hindman of Arkansas,
and Clark of Missouri. The fact Avas also freely admitted, and repeatedly inveighed against with great severity by such negro-loving abolitionists (but otherwise able and excellent men) as George B. Cheever, William Goodell, and Wendell Phillips. Some years ago it was the boast of certain distinguished and patriKepublicans who have since, Lucifer-like, fallen from the
otic Kepublicans,
that no
white heights of Republicanism into the black depths of Hadicalism,
honest-minded man could calmly and attentively peruse my " Impending Crisis of
the South " without learning to abhor slavery. "^Vere it not tiiat these same men,
having ceased to be Republicans, have taken upon themselves the despicable
character of Radicals, they, even they themselves, would readily perceive and
APPENDIX,
244
acknowledge that every sane person who familiarizes himself with the contents
of " Nojoque " must, by the irresistible force of the facts and logical inferences
therein recorded, learn to love white people as so infinitely the superiors of negroes
us to burn with a deep and unquenchable desire to save the former from any and
all manner of cjntamination by the latter; and, therefore, to demand, with unabating energy and lirmness, as affecting the two races, an absolute, total, and
eternal separation.
Because of its gross excesses, its shortcomings, and its corruptions, the first
and most important tiling necessary to be done, in order to remedy existing evils,
is to utterly break down and destroy the whole IJadical party,
a party whicli, in its
monstrous afiiliation with negroes, is bringing utter abjectness and ruin upon at
least ten .States of the Union, and disgracing and crippling all tlie others. Here,
in the Southern .States, tlie Kadical influence, wiiich is just as black and bad as it
can be, coupled, not in name, but in reality, with the old slavehokUng influence,
keeps the negro unnaturally and dissentiously interlarded between the two great
white elements of the .South, thus preventing here, among the eiglit millions of
people who alone are good for anything, that unity of sentiment and purpose, and
tluit liarrnony of plan and action, without which it is impossible for us ever to
attain anything like permanent peace, prosperity, or greatness. Indeed, under
the actual military despotisms whicli an unrepublican and malignant Radical
Congress have foisted upon us, and under the atrocious Radical threats of unlimited confiscation and perpetual disfranchisement, leading us to fear tliat a still
more oppressive and galling yoke is held in reserve for us, there is already an
almost total suspension of all public and private works; men have no heart to do
anything, their hopes and their energies have been crushed; their dwellings,
their out-houses, and their fences are, in most cases, in u state ot dilapidation;
their institutions of learning, their churclies, and their public buildings of all
kinds
such as were not actually burned to ashes during the war, having been
arc going to decay; and in many places, where at
greatly misused and abused
least ordinary instructors and schools are still to be found, the ciiiklren, if not of
necessity required to remain at home and work, are too frequently so destitute
of clotliing that their parents are ashamed to let them go beyond the narrow
limits of tlieir own mournfully foreboding and gloomy observation. Jlany of the
public roads and bridges, and not a few of tlie fords and ferry-boats, have been so
long out of repair tiiat they have become absolutely dangerous; and, unless, in the
good Providence of God, the desolating and destructive rule of Radicalism can
soon be checked and averted, tiiose who travel here extensively, wlietiier by
steam-power or by horse-power, will do so at the imminent peril of tlieir lives.
Especially among the negroes here crime and lawlessness of every sort are now
far more rife than ever before while, in many cases, under the vicious protection
aflbrded tliem by the Radical negro bureau, before whose Dogberry agents the
presence and the testimony of as good white men as ever lived are but too often
treated with contempt, they (the delinquent negroes) are never jiunished at all;
or, if punished, punished only in the mildest possible manner. I have known instances where white men, coming to a knowledge of crimes committed by negroes,
would endure the wrong, and
those very whites themselves being the victims,
pass the whole matter by in silence, and without action, rather than subject themselves to the insult, expense, and loss of time which they well knew they would
be but too likely to incur by making complaint, whether at the negro bureau, or
at anyone of those other bureaus of military despotism, which have been so unnecessarily and so wickedly inflicted upon us by the Radical Congress. Everywhere
throughout the .South, the increasing demoralization of the negroes is now,
indeed, sadly seen and sadly felt. Nor would it be an easy matter to make up a
full and complete indictment against them of all their high crimes and misdemeanors. In every district or community of a considerable size, on the right hand
and on the left, they are almost constantly committing brutal murder and highAvay robbery breaking into dwellings and warehouses ; depredating on orchards,
fields of grain, and granaries; appropriating to their own use other people's cattle,
pigs, and poultry stealing everything that they can lay their hands upon outraging pure and innocent white girls and not uuifrequently, in a spirit of the most
savage wantonness and revenge, setting on fire and utterly destroying the houses
and other property of their white neighbors. Terrorism reigns supreme among
the white females of every family, and sleep is banished.
Not far from here, I was, a few weeks ago, in a small town, where there were
just eight stores, every one of which had, at different times, been broken into and
robbed. Either at the actual time respectively of each robbery, or afterward, it
was fully ascertained and proven, that six of these stores had been forcibly and
feloniously entered by negroes, and the otTier two by persons unknown. All of
them had been entered since the establishment oi' the Radical negro bureau.
245
APPENDIX.
Prior to that time, no store in that town liarl ever teen entered by hurî^lars.
These fiicts, well considered, must lead to the most solemn and profound conviction, in the breast of every right-thinking man, tliat the negroes, strongly fortified
in tlie morbid and misplaced sympathy of the Radicals, are feeling themselves at
comparative liberty to commit, with impunity, every species of outrage and
'
crime.
Broken-hearted over the disastrous realities of the present, and dimly peering
into the dark and uncertain future, all the white people here, of whatever condition in life, are dejected and sorrowful to an extent tliat I never before witnessed.
Sometimes it has seemed to me that I could discern something holy, something
SDcred, in the deep and troubled sadness of those about me; as if, indeed, God, in
his great mercy, had come to dwell in their hearts, and to protect them from
further outrage'. I would that this were so. Among men whose hearts are not
entirely callous to every consideration of justice and humanity, there should
always' prevail a sentinient keenly alive to the suggestion, that there should be
both' a measure and a limitation of punishment. Yet, strange to sav, more
strange to say of white men, and still more strange to say of white men in this
nineteenth century, tlie Radicals, as represented in the Radical Congress, seem to
be actuated by no such sentiment as this. For the crimes which were committed
by only a few dozen actual traitors (the more prominent and guilty of whom
oiight, in my opinion, to have been hanged more than two years ago), they are
inflicting all manner of severe penalties and ptmishments "on eight millions of
people
They complain, and justly, of the cruel treatment and death of some
thousands of Union soldiers in Libby Prison, at Salisbury, and at Andersonville;
but, by laws more tyrannical and barbarous than were ever before enacted by any
civilized legislature, they are deliberately crushing out the spirit and the life of
millions of innocent men, women, and children
In the vain effort to exculpate
themselves, they vauntingly proclaim to the world that tlieir measures of military
reconstruction were enacted in great part, if not principally, for the protection
and for the beneflt of Union men in the South. I tell them' that the true Union
men of the South (the white Union men, and except these there were none, and
are none worthy of the name) detest, with a detestation unutterable, the entire
batch of their disgraceful and ruinous military measures of reconstruction. With
few exceptions, the white Union men of the South feel that they have been most
foully and shamefully betrayed and dishonored; and we reject, with immeasurable
scorn and indignation, the imputation that we have any sympathies or purposes
in common ^vith base-minded and degenerate partisans, who, like the Radicals,
were, and
are abandoned to every high principle of honor and right reason.
!
We
still. Republicans; not black Republicans, but white Republicans.

Radicals
we never were, nor can we be. It is, then, the Republican party, in the persons
of factious and fanatical multitudes of Radical demagogues, that has left us, and
not we who have left the Republican party. And I here tell these Radicals, and I
tell them with emphasis and distinctness, not as a threat, but as a warning, that,
in any future conflict of arms (which, however, may God and good men avert !) between the friends and enemies of the Constitution^ and of the Government of the
United States as constitutionally organized, the better class of Union white men
of the South would be precisely where they were before,
they would be with the
right, but not with the Radicals.
But why do I speak of a warlike contingency of this sort as being now evea
within th'e bounds of possibility ? I will tell you. That the whole country. North
and South, East and West, is not now in a state of general good order, peace and
prosperity, is alone due to the unwise and unjust legislation of the Radical Congress. A large majority of that Congress are now evincing, or have but recently
evinced, a disposition to prosecute, even to still greater lengths, if possible, their
former schemes of revenge, despotism, and ruin. As a mere party measure, rank
with wantonness and usurpation, they now threaten to impeach' and remove a
President who, though ;it times somewhat stubborn and imprudent, has always
been rigidly faithful in the performance of his constitutional duties, inflexibly
honest, thorouglily patriotic, and eminently solicitous to promote, in all proper
ways, the public good. An intelligent and distinguislied merchant of Boston,
with whom, on a certain occasion, I dined in New York, a i^w months ago,
remarked to me, that in his opinion the present or a future Bancroft, in detailing
to posterity the true history of the administration of Andrew Johnson, would
find in him the best president, Abraham Lincoln alone excepted, that we have
had in America, thus far, since the days of John Quincy Adams. That was the
honest opinion of a highly-educated, "high-minded, and most worthy merchant
of the city of Boston. Let the whole crowd of noisy radicals, who, not unlike a
pack of poodles snarling and snapping at the heels of an elephant, are incessantly
annoying and defaming one who is, in every good quality, vastly the superior of
are
21*
246
APPENDIX,
themselves, reflect whether the positive opinion thus expressed was not tolerably
well founded. Another gentleman (and tliis brings me to the very gist of what I
wish to say in reference to future tigljting, and to beg that the radicals will give no
occasion for it), a New Yorker, who occupies an important judicial position, declared
to me, in June last, that in case of the attempt of the Radical Congress to remove
the President in any manner, or for any cause not explicitly prescribed in the
Constitution,
mind you, he did not even mention the name of Andrew Johnson,
he only spoke of "the President,"
he, for one, would take up arms to resist
the usurpation, and he believed the people would generally do the same thing.
He further remarked that in such an event the war would be one merely for the
preservation of republican and democratic Institutions, and that it would prevail only at the North, unless the South, by her own volition, should come to
be a party to It. Now, it may be that there are certain men in the South
who would be more or less rejoiced at the outbreak of a war of that sort, but if
so, I most sincerely hope and trust that they may never be gratilied nor will they
be, unless it be through the folly and the crime of the Kadical party. The white
Union men of the South are not only Southerners, they are also Americans, and
they wish well to the whole country indeed, so extensive are their good will
and aspirations in this regard, tliat they hope the day will soon come, or come
some time, wlien the entire continent of North America, from tlie Atlantic to
the Pacitic, and from Behring's Straits to the Isthmus of Darien, shall be found
to be too small to represent in full on the maps the peaceful, prosperous, and
progressive superficies and boundaries of our national domain. We believe that
Andrew Johnson has made, and Is still making, in the person of himself, a truly
able and patriotic President of these United States and we believe further, without
advocating his election or re-election, that he would make, for the ensuing Presidential term, a better President than any one of the gentlemen whose names the
Radicals have yet mentioned in connection with that high office and this simply
because they have not mentioned the names of such clear-sighted and worthy
Republican statesmen as Seward, Adams, Fessenden, Sherman, McCulloch, Doolittle, Browning, Welles, Raymond, and Randall; *nor the names of any of those
tried and trusty Democratic statesmen to wiiom, in magnanimous and praiseworthy coalition with the Republicans, we may yet have to look for the safe piloting of the ship of State over the many rough shoals and breakers among which
the Radicals have so negligently and so culpably allowed her to drift.
We, the white Union men of the South, and all the white men here, two or
three dozen arch-traitors excepted, would soon become firm and faithful friends
of the Union, if they were only afforded a just and reasonable opportunity to become so, are very <lesirous that all the Southern States shall at once be prudently
and properly rehabilitated; we want them to resume, without delay, their rightful status in the nation; we want them acknowledged and treated, in all respects, as free and equal States, with enlightened and republican constitutions of
government, similar to those of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; we want
them to retain, in the amplest possible sense, both the semblance and the reality
of white States, and so avoid the utter disgrace and wortlilessness of becoming
black States; and we insist upon it, that the infamous dogmas and teachings ot
the Radicals, who are so pertinaciously striving to reduce the white races of our
country to the low level of negrohood, ought to be everywhere refused and rejected
with the utmost disdain. We insist upon it, that the abolition of slavery among
us ought to leave the negro occupying in the South precisely the same status that
insist
the abolition of slavery among you left him occupying in the North.
upon it, that, because of his natural inferiority, his despicable characteristics, his
gross stupidity, and his brutishness, he ought not to be allowed either to vote or
to hold oliice, "nor to fill or perform any other high function which appertains, and,
of right, should always appertain exclusively, to the worthy and well-qualified
white citizens of our country. [Speaking here only for myself, as an individual, I
may say, with absolute sincerity and truth, that however much others may itch for
office, there is no position of honor, trust, or profit, within the gift of any number
of the American people, or any number of any other people, that I would accept,
unless it came to me through white votes alone. And while this is strictly true. It
and
is very certain, also, that, however unregenerate I may be in other respects,
it would seem that, according to the opinion of some,' I am a rather sinful sort of
never
down
the
shall
go
to
man, yet I feel happy in the perfect assurance that I
grave nor elsewhere, with the black crime resting upon my soul of having, in any
contingency, or under any possible or conceivable circumstances, ever voted for a
negro.] We insist upon "it that the enfranchisement of the negroes, and the disfranchisement of the whites, whereby the supremacy of the negroes has already
been established, or is about to be established in almost every Southern State, is a
consummate outrage, au unmitigated despotism, an unparalleled ialamy, and an
We

247
APPENDIX.
We
insist upon it that our Federal government and o>ir State

are, as they ought to be, republican in form, and that the military
authorities ought, at all times, except only in cases of actual war, in tlie future as
further insist upon
iu tlie past, to be held subordinate to the civil authoritie';.
eighteen months and more,
it, that the whole drift of radical legislation, for the last
has been, and still is, unstatesmanlike, unropublican, vindictive, and despotic,
atrocious crime.
governments
We
perilous to all the principles of enlightened self-government, and alarmingly degrading and inimical to the white civilization aud progress of the entire iS'ew
World.
,,
for the Radicals, while tacitly admitting the black and

baneful excesses of their legislation, to tell us, in the pitiful attempt to excuse
their own gross ignorance and folly, that the numerical preponderance of the
whites in the South will save them from the corrupting and demoralizing influences of the negroes. As well might they tell us that a pound, or a less quantity,
of strychnine would do no harm in a barrel of flour; that an ounceof arsenic would
accomplish no mischief in a peck of meal; that a phial of prussic acid could eiJect
no injury in a pitcher of water; or that one idiot, feverish and frantic with contagion, might not communicate the effluvium of fatal iafection to a score or more of
insist upon it that it is pre-eminently our duty to be just and kind
sane men.
to our own race, aud that the poor and distressed of the white race are those who,
here, there, and evervwhere, have the highest claims upon us, whether for service, for food, for clothing, for education, or for wiuUevcr other thing; and also,
that if, in being but just to our own race, the negroes or others are the sufferers,
that, under the inscmtable purposes of Providence, is simply their misfortune, and
It is absurd
and useless
We
should alwavs be so considered. Further, and finally, we insist upon it, that the
results' which the loyal and intelligent masses of the country had a right to
expect would soon follow the abolition of slavery and the suppression of the rebellion, shall neither be defeated nor indefinitely delayed and we protest that the
disingenuousness and treachery of the Itadicals since the war, seriously tlireateu
to neutralize all the wise and patriotic labors which the Republicans so heroically
and so gloriously performed both before and during the war. We ask for the
immeditite repeal of all military laws which are antagonistic to the spirit and form
of republican government, and, especially, for the speedy repeal of all such political and mercenary monstrosities as the negro bureau bill. We also ask that the
expenses of the army and navy may be reduced at least one-half, and that the
burdens of taxation, which now weigh so heavily upon white people, may at once
good
be lightened.
With an eye and a purpose to these ends, we ask that every Radical Senator and
Representative in Congress, and every other Radical officer in the land, whether
national, State, county, or municipal, who is, or has been, an aider and abettor of
that nsurpatory and tvrannical oligarchy, euphemized as t!ie American Congress,
shall, one and all, at the very next elections in which their names may be brought
before the people, be wholly and summarily withdrawn from official life, and that
new and better men men posstssed of good common-sense men controlled
by sentiments of justice for white people, no less than by sentiments of justice for
men sufficiently free from sectional bias men of enlarged and

black people
shall be elected in their stead. Let this be done, and all
statesmanlike views
will be well. Let it be made manifest, and let it be proclaimed abroad, throughout
the entire length aud breadth of the land, that what the short-sighted and fanatical Radicals are aiming at as a mere possible good to four millions ot blacks, is
a positive disservice and evil to eight millions of whites. We want, and wê will
have, no re-establishment of slavery. It is safe to say that there are not to-day, in
the whole State of North Carolina, two hundred men, of good standing or infiuIndeed, 1 doubt
ence, who would, if they could, have slavery re-established.
whether there are live thousand white men, in all the South, who would now, or
at anv future time, be so unwise, so rash, and so reckless, as to undo tiie acts of
emancipation, even if they had the power. The only persons here who, in any
considerable number, would be willing to incur the odium and the infamy of voting
for a return to the svstem of slavery, are negroes themselves, whose instincts tell
them, that if really put upon their own resources in communities of white men,
and in no manner propped up or sustained at the expense and degradation of a
greater or less number of whites, whether by servitude, under an oligarchy of
slaveholders, on the one hand, or bv negro bureaus, under an oligarchy of Radicals,
on the other, thev will graduallv tall behind in the career of life, fail to multiply
the inferior race"to which thev' belong, die out, and become fossilized. While,
therefore, we are firm in the wish aud purpose not to have any more slavery in the
South, we are equally firm in the desire and determination to get rid of the negroes
not by hurting a single
if we can, not by taking from them one drop of blood,
fibre of liair (or wool) upon their heads, but by colonization, in or out of Mexico;
APPENDIX.
248
and in this effort, which will be in perfect harmony with that wisdom and patriotism, which, through the mighty energies and enterprises of white men, liave
brought imperishable greatness and glory to tlie North, we most earnestly and
trustingly solicit your fraternal co-operation. And then, having at last imitated tlie
good example which you have held prominently before us for more than half a century, but which, in our excessive folly and stubbornness, we have until now rejected;
having filled our States, as you have tilled your States, with white people, and not
with such intolerable human rubbish as negroes, Indians, and mulattoes, then we
mean to fight you again ; not with steam-rams, cannon, muskets, bayonets, swords,
nor sabres riot with any of the sanguinary and sorrowfuJ weapons of death,
but with all the pleasing and ennobling agencies of life. Then, for the first time
since you wisely abolished slavery and negroes, and we fooWshly retained them,
will it be possible for our States of the South to begin to be equal with your States
of the North. And then, as we all advance onward in the grand march ot improvement,
and we want tens and hundreds of thousands of you to come among us,
and be with us and of us, and, at the same time, to aid us, by sound counsel and
otherwise, in the varied and arduous duties and responsibilities which are now
devolving upon us,
we shall begin to challenge you in good earnest; not to the
battle-field, but to courteous emulation and rivalry in all of the noble arts and refinements, ay, and also occasionally in some of the more innocent and manly
games and sports, of peace and civilization.
;
APPENDIX
II.
rDENTICALXESS OF THE SENTIMENT AND SCOPE OF "THE

IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH," AND " NOJOQUE."
A LETTER FROM
MR. HELPER.
ASHEVILLE, North Carolina, January 22, 1868.

To the Editors of tM Xational IntelUgcncer:
Once more I beg leave to reiterate the fact, and, at the same time, by an appeal
to tlie record, to otfer evidences of the fact (in reply to sundry ill-founded accusations to the contrarv), that my views, of however little importance they may be,
touching the negro,"have never undergone any change whatever.
" Noioque.'"
It
has been said, by
many
have declared
persons of loose habits of utterance, both
untrue. And now for the proofs of my declaration. Turn to the dedication page of " The Impending Crisis" (and in order that you may be enabled to
do so conveniently, I herewith transmit a copy to your address), and you will there
to whom? Not to the negroes,
find that the book is conspicuously dedicated
mark you, nor to their masters, but " To the Non-Slaveholding Wiiitks of
THE South." Does not this dedication of itself show plainly to every candid
mind the Caucasian drift of the whole work?
the second
Nov,', turn to the preface and see what I have said there. From
.
paragraph, I quote as follows
.^
^
^
^
" In writing this book, it has been no part of my purpose to cast unmerited
opprobrium upon slaveholders, nor to display any special friendliness or sympathy
reference to
for the blacks. I have considered my subject more particularly with
except in a very
its economic aspects as regards the whites, not with reference,
slight degree, to its humanitarian or religious aspects."
^.
^ ,.
.,
Without going into the body of the book, these quotations from the dedication
it
you
\\m
but,
sufficient
quite
be
and the preface, ought, it seems to me, to
grant me the space, I will bring forward three or four additional extracts. On
page 145, I said:
. ,
t-.
t
''AH mankind may or may not be the descendants of Adam and Eve. In our
own humble way of thinking, we are frank to confess, we do not beheve the
unity of the races."
^
On page 85, I said
,
^
j
"Confined to the orginal States in which it existed, the system of enforced
is 'iimply
/.
and long
servitude would soon have been disposed of by
no interest
before the present dav, by a gradual process that could have shocked
and alarmed no prejudice, we would have rid ourselves not only ot Atrican slavthemselves,
erv, which is an abomination and a curse, but also of the negroes
who, in our judgment, whether viewed in relation to their actual characteristics
and coudition, or through the strong antipathies of the whites, are, to say the Jeast,
legislative enactments,
an undesirable population."
^
,
4.-..î
in a comparatively
On page 143, the country, at the time I wrote, having been large
sum
of a
raising
the
wealthy and uncrippled condition, I advocated
" One-half of which sum would be amply suflicieut to land every negro in this
country on the coast of Liberia, whither, if we had the power, we would ship
them all within the next six months."
.
249
250
APPENDIX.
Pursuing this idea of colonization, I said, on page 144

" Let us charter all the ocean steamers, packets, and clipper ships that can be
had on liberal terms, and keep them constantly plying between the ports of America and Africa, until all the slaves who are here held in bondage shall enjoy freedom in the land of their fathers. Under a well-devised and properly conducted
system of operations, only a few years would be required to redeem the United
States from the monstrous curse of negro slavery."
Dozens of similar extracts might be given but I will neither trespass on my
own time by transcribing them, nor on yours by asking you to publish them. It
was my intention that my " Impending Crisis" should be an earnest anti-slavery
appeal to the great majority of the white people of the South, and not, in any
sense, nor to any extent, an appeal to the negro and I challenge any one to
quote from the book a single page, paragraph, sentence, line, or word, that, when
critically examined and fairly interpreted, will justify the assumption that I ever
regarded the negro otherwise than as a very inferior and almost worthless sort of
man, not to be kept in slavery, increased, and retained among us, but to be freed,
colonized, justly and liberally provided for, and then put wholly upon his own
resources, and left to himself.
My opposition to slavery (and, if possible, I am more opposed to it now than I
was ten years ago) looked to the ultimate whitening up of all the Southern States,
and not to the spreading, nor to the continuance of that foul blackness and discoloration of them which then existed, which still exists, and which the radical party
are now viciously and criminally endeavoring to perpetuate. No worker in wood
ever grooved a plank with more set purpose to introduce therein the tongue or the
dovetail of another plank, than I wrote the " Impending Crisis " with the fixed
determination, if spared, to follow the same, in due time, with " yojoque^ The
abolition of slavery was only a necessary step, a sine qua non, toward the accomplishment of a still nobler work, which, despite the formidable opposition encountered through the baseness, the treason, and the tyranny of a usurpatory Congress,
A fiew years more, and the United
is now in rapid process of consummation.
States of America, if not the whole of America, will be found to be happily and
prosperously and permanently peopled by vigorous and alN triumphing oflshoots
of the white races only.
:
INDEX.
Adams, John,
Brooks, James,
177, 178.
Adams, John Quincy,
Bruce, James,
178.
193, 194, 195.
15, 64, 75, 166.
African Anecdotes, 130-133.
Burial Rites in Negroland, 118-122.
African Repository,
Burmeister, Dr. Hermann,
170.
Burton, Richard F.,
Albinos, 223-226.
Alexander, James Edward,
171,
32, 40, 51, 52, 63, 81,
82, 83, 89, 90, 99, 104, 114, 119, 120,
31, 76, 120.
American Writers on the Negro,
173-
128, 138, 141, 142, 154, 155, 163, 164,
165.
216.
Andersson, Charles John, 48, 49,
86, 95,
Butcheries and sacrifices (human) in
Negroland, 19-25.
133, 170.
*
122,
229.
Agassiz, Prof. Louis, 210.
Ariel," 219.
California Legislature, 222.
Baker, Samuel White,
16, 17, 33, 34, 42,
CaUIie, Rene, 43, 101, 146, 147, 156.
50, 75, 85, 93, 94, 115, 116, 118, 119,
Campbell, John,
123, 134, 146, 153, 162, 163.
Cannibalism in Negroland, 15-19.
Baldwin, William Charles,
101, 104.
Canot, Theodore,
Barbarity and Blood-thirstiness of the
Barth, Henry,
120, 159, 168.
Caucasian Races, increasing Pre-emi-
nence and Predominance of the,
40, 51, 78, 84, 91, 95, 129,
227-236.
141.
Begging, Extortion, and Kobbery in
Clapperton, Hugh, 38, 48,
Benton, Thomas Hart,
179.
Black (color) disliked by the Negroes,
Clay, Henry, 179.
Color (black) disliked by the Negroes,

102-105.
102-105.
Montgomery,
Blood-thirstiness
182, 183, 221.
Bowen, T.
Courtship, Marriage, and Concubinage

in Negroland, 105-117.
and Barbarity of the
Negroes, 29-37.
Boston Post,
80, 97, 103,
108, 109, 121, 127, 142, 143.
Negroland, 82-89.
Blair,
24, 25, 34-37, 44, 64,
76, 114, 123, 132, 169.
Carousals in Negroland, 80-82.
Negroes, 29-37.
Barrow, Sir John,
92, 111, 144, 156.
68.
J., 138.
Britton, Harriette G., 27, 49.
Cowardice of the Negroes, 125-130.

Cox,
S. S., 188, 189.
Crawfurd, John,
217.
Cruickshank, Brodie,
251
41,
58,
135,
145,
INDEX.
252
Cumming, Gordon,
Gluttony of the Negroes, 100-102.
71, 84, 153.

]
Customs, Habits, and Manners, in Ne-
Godwin, Parke,
Guyot, Arnold,
groland, 138-152.
215.
227, 228.
Cuvier, 218, 227.
Habits, Manners, and Customs in Ne-
Darwin, Charles,
groland, 138-152.
218, 219.
Decrease of the Negro Race, 158-161.
Harris, Cornwallis, 39, 84, 102.
Denham, Dixon,
Helper,
Denham and
95, 131.
Clapperton,
16, 38, 91, 108,
Hendricks,
Doctors in Negroland, 70-74.
Human
R., 184, 185, 186.
Douglas, Stephen A.,
Drayson, Alfred W.,
Thomas
See also
182.
A., 187.
Butcheries and
fices in
Chaillu, Raul B., 17-19, 26, 33, 44,

53-50, 59, 60, 72, 73, 77, 79, 93, 97,
Sacri-
J., 29, 94, 104, 126,
154, 226.
Huts, Hovels,
groland, 79, 80.
Human
Negroland, 19-25.
Hutchinson, Thomas
49, 114, 168.
Drunkenness and Debauchery in Ne-
Du
from
(Extracts
199-208.
dixes to the volume in hand.
Dishonesty of the Negroes, 94-97,
James
R.
"Nojoque"),
the Introduction and the Appen-
128, 143, 166.
Doolittle,
Hinton
and
Holes
(but
no
Houses) in Negroland, 152-158.

Huxley, Thomas H.,
17.
112, 113, 125, 126, 130, 138, 148, 149,
Idolatry in Negroland, 57-70.

156, 158, 159, 172.
Duncan, John,
Indolence and
Improvidence of the
23, 25, 28, 33, 39, 69, 77,
Negroes, 122-125.
96, 110, 122, 145, 146, 170.
Inhospitality to Strangers
English,
Thom&s Dunn,
Extinction (probable)
216.
of the
Negro
Extortion and Robbery in Negroland,

82-89.
Failure of Missionary Enterprises in
Negroland, 134-138.
Andrew
Thomas,
Kicherer, Mr.,
173-177, 220, 224.
92, 150.
87, 134, 160.
and Idolatry
Fisher, Sydney George, 196, 197, 231.
Freeman,
236.
Krapf, Louis,
Foote,
Increasing Pre-eminence and Predom-
Jefferson,
Priestcraft,
H., 28, 30, 65, 136.
J. J., 21-23, 31, 68, 71, 121, 159,
160.
Funeral Rites in Negroland, 118-122.
Lander, Richard,
24, 37, 62, 63, 75, 81, 91,
92, 97, 100, 105, 109, 126, 153, 107.
Lawlessness and Misery in Negroland

89-94.
Laziness of the Negroes, 122-125.

Lichtenstein, Dr. Henry, 91, 101, 111,
112, 148, 157, 158, 169.
Glover, Samuel T., 213.
Negro-
inance of the White Races, 227-
Race, 158-161.
Fetichism,
in
land, 82-89.
Lieber, Francis, 228.
253
INDEX.
Lincoln,
Abraham,
Ogilby, John, 15, 16, 78, 87, 96, 98, 128,
180, 181.
133, 149.
Livingstone, Cliarles, 26.
Livingstone, David, 21, 28, 30, 47,

70,
60, 61,
76, 80, 101, 102, 103, 110,
121,
122, 137, 138, 139, 140, 157, 171, 172.
London Dispatch,
Lopez, Eduardo,
Park, Mungo,
37, 87, 88, 94, 104, 127, 153,
167.
Parker, Theodore, 234.
135.
Parton James, 214.

Penury and Misery in Negroland, 89-
17.
Lyell, Sir Charles, 165.
Lying, an African Accomplishment, 97,
94.
Physical, Mental, and Moral Differences
98.
Wttites
between the
Blacks, 162,
Macbrair, R. M., 90.
Mann, Horace,
Polygamy
235.
Manners, Habits, and Customs in Ne-
and
the
172.
Priestcraft, Fetichism,
and Idolatry in
Negroland, 57-70.
groland, 138-152.
Marriage and Concubinage in Negro-
Probable
Extinction of
the Negro
Race, 158-161.
land, 105-117.
Mental, Physical, and Moral Differences between the Whites and
Prostitution
and Nakedness in Negro-
land, 75-78.
the Blacks, 162-172.
Missionary Enterprises, Failure of in
Raleigh Register,
Negroland, 134-138.
Moffat, Robert, 30,
48,
Rain-doctors in Negroland, 70-74.
132,
100,
150,
Reade, Winwood,
Moore, Francis, 51,
79, 98, 118, 132.
Morton, Samuel George, 209,

Offspring
210.
Mumbo Jumbo in Negroland,

Mungen, William,
Richardson, James,
Sacrifices,
human, in Negroland,
19-
25.
117, 118.
190, 191.
19, 20, 41, 49, 65, 86, 89,
110, 137, 142, 155, 167.
Anna M., 87, 114, 137, 146.

Seward, Wm. H., 179, 180.
Shamelessness and Nakedness in NeScott,
groland, 75-78.
Skulls,
Nakedness and Shamelessness in Ne-
human, as sacred Relics and
Ornaments in Negroland,
25-29.
Slavery and the Slave-trade in Negro-
groland, 75-78.
National Intelligencer,
New American
New York Tribune,
61, 125, 144, 167.
Robbing Strangers in Negroland, 82-89.
of Crimes
against Nature, 216-223.
Murray, Hugh,
32, 57, 77, 90, 95, 104,
116, 117, 125, 136, 150, 165, 166.
152.
Mulattoes, the
124.
129.
Cyclopaedia, 225.
136, 173.
Night Carousals in Negroland, 80-82,
North British Review,
229.
Nott, Josiah Clark, 211, 216, 233.
22
land, 37-44.
Smith, Charles Hamilton,
41, 170, 229,
230.
Speke, John Hanning,
42, 50, 98, 123,
130, 131, 160.
Steedman, Andrew,
45, 72, 144.
INDEX*
254
Strangers, Inhospitality to, in Negro-
Superstition and Witchcraft in Negro-
178, 179, 235.
Weston, George M.,

Wheelock, E. M.,
land, 45-57.
Theft as a Fine Art
Webster, Daniel,
Westminster Review, 85.
land, 82-89.
among
the Afri-
215, 231, 232.
161.
White (color), the Negro's Affection
for
the, 102-105.
cans, M-97.
Timidity and Cowardice of the Ne-
White Negroes
(Albinos), 223-226.
White Races, Pre-eminence and Pregroes, 125-130.
Thurman, A.
dominance of the,
White, Richard Grant,
Untruthfulness of the Negroes, 97, 98.
Valdez, Francisco Travassos,
17, 31, 43,
53, 77, 84, 112, 125, 147, 148.
Van
Evrie, J. H., 211, 212.
Venality of the Negroes, 98-100.

Voracity and Gluttony of the Negroes,
100-102.
227-236.
G., 187.
Wilson, J. Leighton,
213,
214, 232.
21, 39, 45, 65, 66,
72, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 118, 128,
151, 226.
Witchcraft in Negroland, 45-57.
Wrangling and Lawlessness in Negroland, 89-94.
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Negroes in Negro Land

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1

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

THE SEVERAL RACES OF WHITE MEN,

THE BLACK RACES.

HINTON ROWAN HELPER,

Author of" The Impending

not and caunot be useful or lovely,

degrading and futile."

"Our countrv might

well have shrunk from assuming the guardianship of the negro."

JosiAU Clark Nott.

the Germanic families alone."

LOW, SON, & CO.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S68, by

of the District Court for the Southern District of

(FORMERLY OF ASHEVILLE, NOW OF RALEIGH,)

A8 AN ABLE LAWYER, AS AX EMINENT CIVIL PATRIOT,

HOPED, AT NO DISTANT DAY

REWARDED SERVANT OF NORTH CAROLINA,

THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,

Skulls as Sacred Relics

and Ornaments in Negroland,

Slavery and the Slave-trade in Negroland,

Rain Doctors, and Other Doctors in Negroland,

Drunkenness and Debauchery in Negroland,

Inhospitality to Strangers, Begging, Extortion,

Duplicity and Venality of the Negroes in Negroland,

Revolting Voracity and Gluttony of the Negroes in Negroland,

own Color by the Negroes

Courtship, Marriage, and Concubinage in Negroland,

Funeral and Burial Rites in Negroland,

Indolence and Improvidence of the Negroes,

Timidity and Cowardice of the Negroes,

Huts, Hovels, and Holes (but no Houses) in Negroland,

the Offspring of Crimes against Nature,

Albinos, White Negroes, and Other Creatures of Preternatural Whiteness,

Increasing Preeminence and Predominance of the White Races,

compiler of this volume deems

here, at the very outset of his undertaking, against the un-

just and ill-boding practice of indiscriminately stigmatizing

man, whether in the North or in

Potomac to the Rio Grande. Why, then, why does a

antecedents, a plain, unpretentious citizen, who, until he*

became a Republican, was always a Whig of the school of

formance of his duty

why does a man of

this sort find it

impossible to yield his suffrage or commendation to the

ing, lays claim to the distinctive

of having saved the country from disruption ?

broad, plain, and even more than sufficient.

and unpardonably abandoned the old landmarks of just and sacred

(not the Republican) party, if carried out to

will inevitably result in the forced political, religious, civil,

social equality of the white

and black races

direful sequence of that result, so flagrantly unnatural

to, that this compilation is offered to an intelligent

the ties of a kindred origin,

They have no trait of character that is lovely