The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-01-30
THE AFRICAN INTERIOR.
LECTURE BY p. b. DU CHAILLU.

Du Chaillu, the celebrated African eXplOr-
er. Prof. Du Chaillu related the story of
his explorations in the interior of Africa to
the large audience in attendance in a very
easy and entertaining manner, and held
the closest attention of his hearers through
out the entire lecture. His adventures
with the natives and gorillas were told with
a dry humor, which frequently created a
hearty laugh, and the slight foreign accent
of the speaker, though it made some of the
proper names unintelligible, added not a
little to the pleasure of those who listened
to his words.
Until within a few years, he said, there
was an immense tract of country in Africa,
extending from the west coast far into the
interior, which had never been explored
Livingstone and other travellers had made
extensive explorations i'll the eastern por-
ton of that country, but of the western
portion little was known. For the purpose
of learning something of it and its inhabi-
tants, while he was yet only nineteen years
old, he started from New York in a
schooner with that aim i'll view, and
remained in Africa four and a half years.
His explorations demonstrated the fact that
the interior of Africa is an immense forest,
which, it is estimated, is 800 miles i'll
length and about 700 miles in BREADTH
Some of the trees are of gigantic size,
being from two to three hundred feet high,
and from twenty to twenty-five feet Ill di-
ameter. Under these tall trees other trees
grow and beneath these again there is an
immense jungle, which, in many places, it
is almost impossible for man to penetrate.
In many places he and his followers were
obliged to follow in the paths made by the
elephants in going from one village to
another. 1t rains very much in the inte-
rior, and it is estimated that 800 inches of
rain fall in a years time. The heat dur
ing the months Of March and April, which
are the hottest months, was tremendous,
the thermometer indicating 1892 degrees;
and in July and August, when the coolest
weather was experienced, the mercury fell
to 70 degrees. The nights are warm, av-
eraging from IS to 90 degrees during the
and ends in May. In the far interior there
is no dry season whatever. AS he advanced
into the country the land grew higher and
higher, and some of the mountains seen
were from ten to ~, 200 feet in hight. The
inhabitants are scattered, and divided into
great number of tribes, and miles and
miles were often travelled without meeting
single human being, hearing the chatter
of "A monkey, or the singing Of a bird; moth
ing broke the silence of the grandest soil
tude. In his travels he had hunger and
starvation always before him, and he did
not exaggerate, he said, in stating that dur
ing 65 of out 365 days in year he was with
out food. The climate was very unhealthy;
the decay of vegetation in the forest caused
him to have fever after fever. but he had
stout heart, and kept on as best he could.
There are no beasts of burden found in the
interior, the work is all done by the women,
while the men sit around at their case and
smoke. Neither are the wild beasts of the
north and south of Africa to be found here;
everything he discovered was new-beasts,
birds, and insects were unlike any that had
been seen before. He discovered thirty
three new tribes of men; north of the
equator there were gorillas, and south of
the equator dwarfs from feet inches to
feet inches in hight.
After speaking thus in a general way of
the country, the lecturer related his per-
sonal adventures among the different tribes
with which he was brought in contact, be-
ginning with his arrival on the west coast.
Polygamy, slavery, and witchcraft he
found were the three great institutions of
the country; the more wives man has the
better off he is, and the older a man be-
comes the more wives he wants, and the
younger he wants them to be. The tribes
are divided into clans, the clans into fami-
lies, and each head of a family is chief of a
village. The first king he met gave him
three of his sons to accompany him on his
travels: they went with him to the next
tribe, about eighty miles in the interior,
the king of which wanted him to remain
with his tribe permanently. AS an induce
ment to stay he brought out over eight
hundred of his prettiest women and girls
for the visitor to choose wife from. Pro-
feSsor Du Chaillu gave as an excuse to es-
cape from this that if he took one the 9TH
ers would be jealous. The elders of the
tribe consulted about his answer, finally
agreed he was right, and told him to take
the whole of them. This frightened him,
and he had to make tremendous speech
to get out of it. The king also gave him
three sons, and large number of follow
ers, men and women, and he continued his
travels into the interior. Alter going up a
river about two hundred miles he took to
the land and his difficulties increased i'll
number and extent. In the next village
he entered he found every man in it drunk.
They have four or five kinds of intoxicat-
ing liquors; they get tipsy on palm wine,
on a drink made of wild honey and water,
also drink made of bananas and water;
and the juice of the sugar cane fermented.
The inhabitants of the village had never
seen white man before and there was
great excitement when lie arrived. 1t was
near the village that he first saw gorilla;
two were seen together, but they were fe-
males, and fled at his approach.
After travelling as far as the third range
of mountains he encountered a very war
like tribe called the Fans. The men dress
in the skins of wild animals, and are very
powerful; they are cannibals, and have
their teeth sharpened to point. They al
SO were much surprised at seeing white
man; they thought his boots were his feet
and did not know how to account Tor feet
being black and his face white. All about
the village poles were stuck up, on the tops
of which were the skulls of those who had
been captured i'll battle, and whose bodies
had been eaten. The village was laid out
with one great street only; that, and the
houses, which were made of the barks of
trees were kept quite clean. In three
days after his arrival he was allowed to see
the king, to whom he made numerous pres
ents, among which was Il looking glass,
which caused great excitement when first
seen by the natives. He came very near
getting into trouble with this people by
refusing to eat some food prepared by the
kings wife; he was afraid to eat it, he
said, for he didn't know that a mans head
had not been boiled III that very pot, and
he thought he would not relish the gravy
at all. By giving the woman some beads,
however, he succeeded Ill ayertlng the dam
ger which threatened. The Fans were the
most intelligent negroes he met; they were
very good iron workers, and their war
weapons were very formidable. But he
found among them the worst form of can
nibalism They are not allowed to eat the
members of their own families, but they
give the corpse to another family, which
assures them that it will return the COM
pliment when any of its members die. His
encounter with the first male gorilla he
saw, was well described by the speaker,
and also several subsequent encounters.
The professor exhibited several pictures
of the gorilla to the audience, and gave
full description of the animal, pointing out
the resemblance between it and man, and
also the qualities in which they differ On
returning to America he brought with him,
he said, more than one thousand stuffed
quadrupeds, twenty-one gorillas, and no
end of birds and insects.
IMPORTANT TO ALL.-The public are be-
coming more and more thoroughly convin-
| cel of tbp s,1nerior w, Sbinr nuolitiaS of tho