Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-01-07
MISCELLANEOUS.

ny l.. MARIA CHILD.

The origin of the CATERS is lost in the dark
ness of remote antiquity; but their persons,
manners, and customs, indicate p higher source
of civilization than the other tribes of Africa.
Before they were harried and hunted by the
white men that infest their shores, they were
a pastoral people, brave and manly, but rare
ly roaded to deeds of violence. Their fea-
lures are European, their color a clear, dark
brown; their forms athletic and graceful, and
their manners frank and cheerful.
Christianity has been a form of sectarian-
ism, not differing from its minor subdivisions
essentially in spirit, though necessarily some
what more enlarged in its boundaries. Hence
all nations who do not know the Divine Prin-
ciple of the Universe by the name of God,
have been branded as heathens and infidels.
Mahometans have manifested the same spirit
of Limitation; and because the tribes Of East
ern Africa worshipped the Creator under the
name of Udali, instead Of Allah, the Moors
called them kafirs, which is the Arabic word
for infdels. Hence their country came to be
known to the civilized world by the name Of
Caffer-land, or Caffraria. But doubtless the
angels Judge quite differently of these mat
tiers. They are attracted toward the religious
sentiment, without caring for its name. The
sigh, and the tear, and the simple reverential
thought, often rise up to them as prayer from
the moon-lighted desert, while the heavy at
mosphere of earth presses down, out of their
hearing, pulpit orations, and many an %unwing-
| ed response from gilded prayer-books. In
every form of society, Nature has her priests,
her prophets, and her poets too, though they
pass away by thousands unrecorded, for want
of utterance through literature and the Arts.
Among the poetic temperaments of CATER
land, was MaIossi, a doclle, contemplative
child, an earnest observer of the earth and
the heavens. Mother, who made the stars?'
was one Of his earnest questions; and when
told that Udali created them, he imagined the
winds were his voice, and the sunshine his
clothing. The deep, quiet, little soul, was
OVERLOOKING with affection. 1t seemed an alb.
solute necessity Of his existence, TO be neal
something he could love. He must nestle
with his pet antelope under the shade of the
mimosa tree, or fall asleep with his little hand
within that of his mother. He was the young
est Of her children, the most beautiful il
: form, the gentlest in spirit; and something
of reverence mingled with her love for him
= while she listened to his thoughtful ques
tons.
G When he was about eight years old, a Mo
ravian missionary, who happened TO be ira
Yelling that way, visited their cabin, and talk
: ed to them of the Christians God, under tn,
name of Utiko, which is an African word sig
nifying The Beautiful. His discourse, i'm
perfectly expressed in CATER dialect, was still
u more imperfectly understood by the untutor
ed boy but still it made a deep impression
Il on him. The missionary told them that Uti
ko was all Love; that his love descended il
dew to refresh the flowers, and in SUNSHINE
to warm the earth, and into the soul of man
filling it with peace and goodwill. Maross
never forgot this description of the Christian
God. In the radiant beauty of sunset, in tn,
mild glory of moonlight, in his mother
q smile, in the lambert eyes of his antelope, h,
felt the presence of Utiko. 1t seemed strang,
to him that his father hated the Christians
n and spoke scornfully of their sacred book
When he told of whole tribes killed by them
G or carried of into slavery, the boy asked hi
mother, with sad astonishment, whether thes,
If people also believed in Utiko, who filled tn,
souls of men with peace and goodwill; an,
when she told him yes, his little brain wa
bewildered.
The secluded hamlet in which he was Dor
was in a deep valley, girdled round by almos
impossible mountains, which the foot of tn
white man had never trod, within his reco'
lection. But a few weeks after the visit {
the good missionary, the family were walker
ed at midnight by fearful shrieks and howlt
For an instant, they supposed that lions
hyenas were among their focks; but the cras
OF firearms soon announced a human foe.
vain the poor CATERS strove to defend the
wives and children. Their humble cabil
were all ablaze, their fields of maize and m
let trampled down, and all who were n
slaughtered, were bound hand and foot a
dragged off toward the sea-coast. Terrih
u" was the impression this scene made on /
sensitive spirit of Marossi. To his dyi
hour, he never could forget those dusky forI
struggling and bleeding in the fierce glare
!, the fre-light. When they were hurried avn
y driven like a herd of cattle across the CO,
, try, he asked where was his father; but
weeping mother could not tell. Silently a
sadly, he trudged along by her side, hold
ne fast by her hand. But the march was lo
and wearisome, and many of the paths W
rough and stony. Their feet began to BILE
and they Jagged a little; whereupon
Christian drivers cursed them, and cut IN
with their whips. They swore they wo
shoot all the small brdts, for they were
worth the time they cost to keep up with
q. drove. The CATER children did not unt
stand their brutal words, but they were frio
ened by their looks, and clung closer to Ii
suffering mothers. On their route, they p;