The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-12-08
AMONG THE iPlGMIES.

AMONG THE 1PleMIEs. -.
Lecture orP. B.. ,ChaiHa, at Cas-
Hall, The LiIlipations Of Central ~
rrea- Wonders of -Ashnago Land--Zahb
IHsdts A',ts and the GOrillas. .is4
| p. B. DuChaillu, the great French
traveller .lectured at Cass Hall, Cleye!.
land, on Tuesday evening Nov. 30th.
on the subject Of his adventures in
Central Africa. The following is the
report of the Lecture as printed in tne
Herald of the next day: 'is5i,zt L
The speaker commenced by saying
that when he left the hotel. he had
hoped there would be no one at the
Hall, that the lecture might be post
poned to more auspicious occasions
the evening being very stormy. He
gave brief sketch of the general plan
of his expidition, which was to pene-
trate the interior OF Ashango-land, and
the equatorial regions, and make his'
| Hay TO the sources of the Nile. This
plan was thwarted, however, as will
be afterwards narrated, by the acci.
dental discharge of gun, killing o
sister of the queen of one OF the tribes
The sayages made war upon him and
his party and they Were obliged to
fight their way out. DuChillu himself
being three times wounded. He pre-
pared for the. expedition by loading q
schooner wit: supplies of all kinds.
ammunition, mathematical and photo!
graphic instruments, and an immense
quantity of beads and trinkets for
"peace offerings" to the natives. ''
THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA pf
they found to be covered with im.
mense forests There are mountains
from eight to ten thousand feet high,
covered with trees of gigantic sizesS-
many of them from two to three hum
dred feet high. Nearly everywhere
beneath the trees, is one vast jungle,
often utterly impenelrable by man:
They were obliged to follow the paths
trodden by the elephants or the trails
from one village to another. 1t rains
almost constantly; from nine to twelve
months in the year, just as it has rain
ed here for the past two days. The
amount of rain which falls annually Is
from two hundred and twenty FIVE to
three hundred inches, while in this
country it is only from thirty to thirty
three inches. The heat is intense, of.
ten reaching one hundred and fifty
degrees, and in July and August, the
coldest months there, it is from sew
enty to eighty degrees. For three or
four weeks at time there was no sun
and they were obliged to direct their
course by the moon and stars.
NO WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
There are no horses, cattle, nor 9TH
er beasts of burden there and the sx.
plorers found great difficulty in, ,hay
ing their baggage, instruments, etc.
transported from place to place-A-
Such work is done by the. Womefi3-
They do not believe in women's rights.
there. laughter. The men are lazy
and make the women work and carry
burdens, fogging them when ever they
are refractory.
THE LEAD1Nu VICES. 90 9ht
of the people are, polygamy, slavery
and witchcratt. A chief, when he
has all the wives he wants, buys slaves
in large numbers. 1t is their ambition
to see who can get the most wives.
The speaker saw one chief who had
three hundred and to the inquiry how
many children he had he replied "six
or seven hundred" Very many have
twenty or thirty wives; others have
but one or two. The people are firm
believers in witchcrait. When "a per-
son dies it is attributed to that agency
and a sacrifice of life must be made.
For the death of ''big man" twenty,
thirty, or fifty persons are slaughtered;
for others less number; according to
their rank; but when a woman dies
they kill nobody. Laughter.
TRIBES AND FAMILIES.
The people are divided into tribes
the tribes into clans and the clans into.
families. There are no great ruling
kings, the head of each family being
its. chief. In many of. the countries
no intermarrying of the clans is allow
ed, man being required to get his
wives from another clan. The villa
yes are generally small some having
.hree or, four Thousand Inhabitants
and others not more than fifty or q
hundred. The tribes speak different
languages, each having a dialect ofiits
,wn and the travellers were obliged to
Keep up a constant study, They al
ways found it necessary to make
friends with the kings When their
steamer landed, at the mouth of an
river, the natives
anne to them in large numbers anx-
Gus to trade. They had a small cam
ION on board which they fred to the
,reat terror of the barbarians. The
ting came out OF the river with seven