The Press. — London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

incantations and charms, and hold original notions upon the origin of white men. The Angola tribes have a taste for giving expensive funerals to their friends. A man in this way will encumber himself for years with the ex pense of a funeral. Often when a man is asked to sell a pig he replies, " T am keeping " it in case of the death of any of my friends ;" and if you see one of the natives unusually drunk, and tax him with his crimes, he excuses himself with a " Well, but my mother is dead." The peculiarity of other tribes consists in their mode of saluting. They throw them selves on the ground, and as they roll from side to side slap their thighs, and shout " Kina Bomba—Kina Bomba." The sight of huge woolly men in puris naturalibus wallowing in the dust was especially distasteful to Dr. Livingstone, but the more he shouted to stop, the more furiously did these curious creatures roll about and the more vigorously smack their thighs. This general outline of the customs of the Bechuana tribe will serve equally for any other tribe Dr. Livingstone encountered. The African in general is a well•disposed, harmless creature, barbarous without being savage, and capable of considerable improvement by means of trade. Religious influences—at least the Christian religious influences—have very little effect upon them. Among a people so situated it is easy to imagine that the Christian faith would take root rapidly, but unfortunately Christianity touches these people in a tender point. It limits them to one wife, and polygamy is their custom. Sekeletu, the chief of the Ma kololo, refused to hear the Bibla for fear it might " change his heart" and " make him " content with one wife ": It was of little use to urge that the change of heart implied a contentment with one wife equal to his present complacency in polygamy. Such a preference af.er the change of mind could not now be untie/stood by him any more than the real, unmistakeable pleasure of religions services can, by those who have not experienced what is known by the term the " new heart." I assured him that nothing was expected but by his own voluntary decision. " No, no ; he wanted always to have five wives at least." I liked the frankness of Sekeletu, for nothing is so weary ing to the spirit as talking to those who agree with every thing advanced. Sechele, the chief of the Bechuanas, has em braced Christianity, and put away his wives, to their unutterable disgust and the indigna tion of their relatives. Sechele was much hurt at this. "In former times," said he to Dr. Livingstone, " when a chief was fond of " hunting, all his people got dogs and became " fond of hunting too. If he was fond of " dancing or music, all showed a liking to " these amusements too. If the chief loved " beer, they all rejoiced in strong drink. But " in this case it is different. I love the Word of " God, and not one of my brethren will join me." Dr. Livingstone then adds that one reason was, that at this particular time the country was suffering from drought, which they attri buted to the conversion of Sechele, and that hypocrisy is not prone to profess a creed which seems to insure an empty stomach. "We like you," said the under-chiefs to him, " as well as if you had been born among us ; " you are the only white man we can become " familiar with (thoaela); but we wish you to " give up that everlasting preaching and pray " ing ; we cannot become familiar with that at " all. You see we never get rain, while those " tribes who never pray as we do obtain abun " dance." It was in vain that Dr. Livingstone tried to convince them on this occasion that God would give them rain. "He made black " men first," said one native with exquisite pathos, " and did not love us, as he did the " white men. Ho made you beautiful, and " gave you clothing, and guns, and gunpowder, " and horses, and waggons, and many other " things about which we know nothing. But " toward us he had no heart. He gave us " nothing, except the assegai, and cattle, and " rain-making; and he did not give us hearts " like yours. We never love each other." In their attendance at religious service they were usually attentive. If the young men would not listen, the chief would occasionally hurl his staff at their heads, by way of fixing their attention for the future ; but the women and children were not to be relied on at the conclusion of prayer : THE PRE SS, DECEMBER 19, 1857. When all knelt down, manj of those who had children, in following the example of the rest, bent over their little ones ; the children, in terror of being crushed to death, set up a simultaneous yell, which so tickled the whole assembly there was often a subdued titter, to be turned into a hearty laugh as soon as they heard Amen. This was not so diffi cult to overcome in them as similar peccadilloes were in the case of the women farther south. Long after we had settled at Mabotsa, when preaching o►► the most solemn subjects, a woman might be observed to look round, and, seeing a neighbour seated on her dress, give her a hunch with the elbow to make her move off; the other would return it with interest, and perhaps the remark, " Take the nasty thing away, will you T"lhen three or four would begin to hustle the first offenders, and the men to swear at them all, by way of enforcing silence. This bad habit of bursting out into uncon trollable laughter (luring prayers appears to be a common trick of these savages They possess a keen sense of the ridiculous, and the notion of kneeling to an unseen Being tickles their fancy especially. " I was once present," says Dr. Livingstone, "when a mis " sionary attempted to sing among a wild " heathen tribe of Bechuanas, who had no " music in their composition ; the effect on the " risible faculties of the audience was such that " the tears actually ran down their cheeks." They get over this tendency in course of time, but it does not seem from Dr. Livingstone's account that generally speaking the prospects of religious advancement are great, and for this reason,—the thoughts, such as they are, of these poor savages are mainly directed to the supply of their bodily wants. It is hard to convert a hungry man, and Dr. Livingstone takes the right view when ho says that in esti mating the results of missionary efforts we should take this element into deep considera tion. Be that as it may, there can be no doubt that by itself Christianity will make its way but slowly, if it make it at all, in Africa ; and the advantage to it of commerce is estimated at its right value by Dr. Livingstone when he frankly admits that without com merce Christianity has but a poor chance in Africa. Let us once introduce trade and its advantages among the people, and we shall see how they will appreciate the benefit of Christianity when they no longer live a life of independent poverty. There never was better material to work upon. Of all races extant not one surpasses the African in his passion for trade and his keen perception of the " main chance." Give them the oppor tunity and they will be as industrious as the Chinese, for they are quite as imitative, if they are as deficient in originality. On one occa sion, Dr. Livingstone relates that a theft was committed during his stay with a particular tribe ; the thief was caught and sentenced to death by the chief. Dr. Livingstone inter posed, and suggested that it would be more advantageous to the community if the thief should be compelled to work out an equivalent with his hoe in a garden. The idea, he tells us, was instantly caught at, and thieves are now sentenced to raise an amount of corn pro portioned to their offences. With regard to the future Dr. Livingstone offers us much practical advice. With respect to the best locality for missionary effort, he believes that the central interior is far better, because healthier, than either coast But I am not to be understood as intimating that any of the numerous tribes are anxious for instruction : they are not the inquiring spirits we read of in other countries; they do not desire the Gospel, because they know nothing about either it or its benefits ; but there is no impediment in the way of instruction. Every head-man would be proud of a European visitor or resident in his territory, and there is perfect security for life and property all over the interior country. The great barriers which have kept Africa shut are the unhealthiness of the coast, and the exclusive, illiberal disposition of the border tribes. It has not within the historic period been cut into by deep arms of the sea, and only a small fringe of its population have come into contact with the rest of mankind. Race has much to do in the present circumstances of nations; yet it is probable that the unhealthy coast-climate has reacted on the people, and aided both in perpetuating their own degradation, and preventing those more inland from having interconree with the rest of the world. It is to be hoped that these obstacles will be or( rcome by the more rapid means of locomotion possessed in the present Age, if a good highway can become available from the coast into the interior. Great art, of course, is required in the man agement of the people. Success is only to be gained by persuasion. Nothing must be done to hurt their sense of independence, and there must not be the slightest assumption of superiority. They are apt to resent this, and 1235 sulk. " Much greater influence," writes Dr. " Livingstone, " will be gained by studying how " you may induce them to act rightly with the "impression that they are doing it of their own "free will." Then, again, purity of life and intention is a grand assistance. Nobody will detect you sooner in the practice of any little pet sin than an untutored savage. The acts of a stranger, Dr. Livingstone tells us, as one result of his experience, "are keenly sera " tinised by both young and old, and seldom " is the judgment pronounced, even by the " heathen, unfair or uncharitable. I have " heard women speaking in admiration of a " white man, because he was pure, and never " was guilty of any secret immorality. Had " he been, they would have known it, and, un " tutored heathen though they he, would have " despised him in consequence. Secret vice " becomes known throughout the tribe; and " while one unacquainted with the language " may imagine a peccadillo to be hidden, it "is as patent to all as it would be in " London had he a placard on his hack." The great difficulty with respect to the con version of these people lies, we suspect, in making the subject of Christianity plain to their minds without alarming their super stitions. If you frighten them with terri ble pictures of the punishments in store for depravity and guilt, they dream of it at night, wake in a fright full of the Destroying Angel, and never come to prayers or religious service again. The religious influence on such people requires the nicest tact in its application. A great aid is medical knowledge. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to attribute much of Dr. Livingstone's influence to this acquirement. He delivered the women, cut off tumours from the men, and looked after the general health of his friends with such success that his fame spread throughout the country, and anxious patients came to him from afar. Then, when he had relieved the untutored savage from excruciating pain, or saved the life of his wife or child, or effected a cure, the mind of the patient was more impressible, and more readily believed the words of one who possessed such knowledge and unrivalled skill. In all matters of trade as well as of religion Dr. Livingstone recommends a judicious liberality. The natives know the value of buttons and beads, and estimate at its right worth such a gift from a man who has ex perienced kindness and food and shelter at their hands. " How some men," says Dr. Livingstone, " can offer three buttons is to me " incomprehensible." One European having presented an old gun to a chief, furnished the standing joke among the tribe, " The white " man who made a present of a gnu that was " new when his grandfather was sucking his " great-grandmother." We have left ourselves scarcely room to allude to the many anecdotes of - wild animals, or of the discoveries of Dr. Livingstone in the flora ana fauna of Africa, or of his admirable deductions from natural phenomena of the physical constructure of Africa. As we pointed out in our previous notice, he agrees with Sir R. Murchison in believing Central Africa to form a vast lacustrine level. When he reached Lake Dilolo he found, upon native testimony, that its waters flowed both to the east and west, thus giving a portion of its waters to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and forming the actual watershed between the river systems that flow east and west : I state the fact exacqy as it opened to my own mind ; for it was only now that I apprehended the true form of thu river systems and continent. I had seen the various rivers of this country on the western side flowing from the sub tending ridges into the centre, and had received informa tion from natives and Arabs that most of the rivers on the eastern side of the same great region took a somewhat similar course from an elevated ridge there, and that all united in two main drains, the one flowing to the N. and the other to the 5.., and that the northern drain found its way out by the Congo to the W., and the southern by the Zambesi to the E. I was thus on the watershed, or highest point, of these two great systems, hot still not more than 4,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,000 feet lower than the top of the western ridge we had already crossed ; yet, instead of lofty snow-clad mountains ap pearing to verify the conjectures of the speculative, we had extensive plains, over which one may travel a month without seeing anything higher than an ant-hill or a tree. Of the flora we can only say that with the assist ance of Sir W. Hooker the trees and plants arc classified with care, and among the latter