The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1854-12-27

l. AFRICANS IN THEIR NATIVE IAND.-Re,
John Beechman, Of the London Wesleyan mis-
. sion, has made a lengthy and elaborate repol
Of the condition of the negroes inhabiting tn
e cold coast of Africa, from which we make th
G following extract:
e s.Scarcely has one of their barbarous ant
. bloody customs been abandoned, from the ear
liest period of which anything is known c
Il them They still pave their court yards, pala
: ces, and even the streets or market places G
o their villages or towns with the skulls of thos
II butchered in wars, at feasts, funerals, or a
slaves are buried alive with the deceased hus
Il band or master When Adahanzen died, tw'
/ hundred and eighty of bis wives were butch
0 cred before the arrival of his successor, which
# put stop to it only toincrease the flow of boot
. and the number of deaths in other ways. Thu
remaining living wives were buried alive
II amidst dancing, singing, and bewailing. thu
Q noise of horns drums, muskets, yells, groans
and screenings, the women, marching by head
6 less trunks, bedaubed themselves with earth anc
blood. Their victims were marched along with
large knives passed through, their cheeks. The
executioners struggle for the bloody office, while
; the victims look on and endure with apathy
They are too familiar with the horrid sacrifice
to show terror, to imagine that all was not as
it should be. Their hands were first chopped
off and then their heads sawed off, to prolong
the amusement. Even some who assisted to
fill the grave were hustled in alive, in order to
add to the sport or so]emnity of the scene.
Upon the death Of kings brother, four thou
sand victims were thus sacrificed. These cere-
monies are often repeated land hundreds slaugh-
tered at every rehearsal. Upon the death of a
king of Ashantee, a general massacre takes
place, in which there can be no computation of
the victims.
"At their yam customs Mr. Bowditch wit
messed spectacles of the most appalling kind.
'Eyery carboceer, or NOBLE sacrificed slave as
he entered the gate. Heads and skulls formed
the ornaments of their professions. Hundreds
were slain, and the streaming and steaming
blood Of the victims was mingled in a vast brass
pan, with various compost vegetable and animal
matter, fresh as well as purid, to a powerful fe
| tiche. At these customs the same scenes of
butchery and slaughter occur. The king s exc
cutioners traverse the city, killing all they meet.
The next day, desolation reigns over the land.
The king, during the bloody saturnaia looked on
eagerly, and danced in his chair with delight.
The king of Damomey paves the approaches
to his residence and ornaments the battlements
of his palace with the skulls of his victims, and
the great tetiche tree at Badagry has its wide
spread limbs laden with human carcasscs and
limbs. This would be fine field for Mrs
Stowe to display her love and philanthropy for
the negro race.
At the beginning Of the present month the
inhabitants of Vera Cruz were much aston
ished and alarmed by dead fish being cast on
the beach from the sea. In such quantities
were they thrown up that the authorities ad-
judged 1t necessary to take active measures to
provide against an i'll effect on the public health
among others, having them buried, and prohibi /
ting the sale of any fish in the markets or about
the city. Orders had been transmitted to all
adjacent districts to have similar precautions /
adopted. An examination of the fish having
been ordered TO be made, the military medical .
corps reported that the fish were found although
quite fresh, with such an extraordinary extent
of tumetacuon that their eyes were started from
their orbits, while their intcstnes were SWOLLEN
to the utmost extent By gases. The presence
OF no poisonous agent, either mineral or vcge
table, could be detected by the tests applied
On lmmersng them and the fish in lime water
an enormous quantity Of carbonic acid gas was
evolved, and this agent is therefore concluded
TO have been the immediate cause of the cx-
traordlnary mortality. A sub marine volcanic
eruption is con jecured to have been source
from which it was furnished The opinion is {
offered on the authority of statements made by
baron Humboldt, in his .'Cosmos.' In 1921 L
It IS said, similar phenomenon occurred in the
when the shores of Corfu, ]
Cephalonia, and Albania were infected by it.
There and in adjacent provinces it caused |
very destructive typhoid epidemic At latest {
accounts, the quantity being thrown ashore at {
Vera Cruz had not diminished +
The Washington Union, in an effort to ex- E
plain its recent course, says: eve have no :
hesitation in repeating emphaticaIy that the true E
democratic position is one of uncompromisinr .
'ntagonlsm to the secret order of know. nothing g
sm. But this does not imply that our party is u
lot ready to accede to such reasonable amend -
nents OF the naturalization laws as time and cx- y
)eEence have pointed out as necessary and y
proper. Neither does it commit us to the an y
'rovai or defence of naturazed citizens when -
heir demeanoris such as to subject them to f.
ensure. 1t
''Ihc spirit of the naturalization laws expects =.
hose who enjoy It's benefits to become Amer- oS
anlzed IN sentiment, IN feeling, in demeanor, .
nd in a hearty and exclusive allegiance to our r
Wn government. The democracy of the Union Il
I'll never hesitate SO to amend the laws as to
ecure these ends. But they cannot and will "
OF seek to secure these objects by crusade of Al
tolerance against foreigners, as liberal as it is IN
III
"A fugitive from justice named Alonzo S. CT
e"ls, was arrested in Liberty city, Mississippi m
ear the state line, a few days since, and BROUGHT I'll
ack to New Orleans. Lewis is accused of the 81
urder OF man named James Mcbride, in the g
arlsh of Union, Louisiana, on the 9TH of o. ca
'ber, 1853, by stabbing him to the heart, it is tn
nd, IN most cruel and cold -blooded manner al
e was indicted, says the Delta, and brought tn
7tore the twelfth Judicial district court for trial: &C
ut owing to the inability Of the court to Get ca
ny, because of the full expression of opinion d
the part of the people regarding the muir pr
er, ne was remanded. On the night of the IN
|, r. Trf