The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-09-05
Trading-Life on the African Coast.

- risky TO set with girl, shellIn' peas;
Ia may tease me now, Tom, as much as you
Trading Life on the African Coast.
1 shall now attempt to convey some
idea of tradlng-life in the Gaboon.
Nv friend factory is house all ground
floor, built of palm vulgarly called
bamboo. Behind the veranda is
the parlor, and beyond that again the
store, which is deliciously cool and
dark, and fragrant with native spices,
placed therein to keepaway the moth. In
this deep cave-like recess may dimly be
deserted strings of beads hanging down
from the rafters in festOons, huge piles
of cotton cloth, chiefly roma and sa-
tin-stripe, crates of earthen-ware, bun
dies of American t baccO In the leaf, as
smokers bought it in the Elizabethan
age, boxes of pipes, casks of Coast-O'-
Guinea rum, barrels of coarse powder,
bags of hints, and Birmingham trade
guns, long as the ancient matchlOcks,
with shining barrels, and stocks painted
. a bright red. At six o'clock the store
keeper opens the wide folding-doors,
and the natives thrOng in to make
small purchases, and imbibe their
morning dram. The clerk sits down to
his accounts. The factor examines his
books. or writes letters to his employ
ers, or bargains with the native traders,
or superintends the sturdy Krumen as
they row to and fro from the ship to the
shore. Canoes come sailing down the
river with the land-breeZe of the early
morn, bringing their petty cargoes of
produce from the bush, while others
are being filed with European goods
ready to start for the interior. Com
merce here is carried on by means of mid
dlemen. The Europeans purchase, the
bush tribes, produce, and the MpOngwe,
or coast-people, mOnOpolize the trade be-
tween the two. If the natives of the
interior come down to the seaside, they
are not allowed to go on board ship, to
visit the factory, or in any way to traf-
fc directly with the white man. As q
rule, they remain quietly at home, and
are visited by some MpOngwe trader,
who, having obtained goods on credit
from a factory, sails mp the river to a
bush-village, where he is boarded and
lodged at the public expense. He
shows the villagers his goods; not till
they have seen them will they begin to
work. They then go into the forest
they cut ebony and camwOOd into bill
let's they pluck the golden nuts of the
palm-tree, boil them, crush them, and
~Queeze ont the oil; collect beeswax
they bleed a creeping plant, the creamy
sap of which dries into cakes OF an IN
feriOr India-rubber, or caOutchOuc /; the
inhabitants of other villages are some
times allowed to bring their cOntribu-
tions while elephants tusks, which de-
~cend from the interior, bought and re-
h ught from tribe, Mt length arrive in
to the hands of the Mpongwe. As
soon as his goods are bartered away,
he fills up his canoes, sails back to the
factory, and receives a large commission
in cloth, rum and tObacco-the money
of the GabOOn. Followed by slaves
CARRYING his barrels and his bales, he
returns to his own house, and is at once
~rlrrounded by relatives and hostile
friends. He is treated to his face as if
he were a rich man suddenly become de-
funct Women dance in his honor, and
sing verses complimentary as epitaphs;
a council of the next of kin is held for
the division of his goods, over which
they quarrel bitterly. and full display
is made of those emotions which with
us are felt, but concealed, at the read
ing of will. Yet such is the charac-
ter of the negro that he would rather
give up all that he has earned than to
run the risk of being called " stingy
fellow That epithet among people
such as the Mpongwe is the most opprO-
briOus of all 4; coward, liar, and thief,
being comparatively terms of endear-
ment and esteem. However, the unfor-
tunate rich man is allowed to keep
something for himself, that he may be
encouraged to go and trade again; this
hn lc clio
builds a house with a deck" or
planked floor, in imitation of the fac
tories makes a collection of crOckery-
ware, as we do of old china, and occa-
sionally gives a champagne breakfast
to the traders.
There are many people in England
who suppose that the treacherous ma
tives are always in a state of latent
hostility, regarding white men as lntru-
ders, and yearning to shake off the TO-
reign yoke. 1t would, however, be just
as reasonable to imagine a conspiracy
of landlords to drive away the English
from Paris and the Rhine. Whether
we are beloved on either continent is
ardently desired. The negroes are de-
pendent upon us for the clothes which
they wear, the rum which they drink,
the tobacco which they smoke, the
weapons and powder which they use in
war. hunting, and festivities our beads
are their jewelry; we import iron for
their spear-heads even the idols which
they worship are often manufactured at
Birmingham. In out-of-the-way parts,
where trade is intermittent and uncer-
tain, the natives have recourse to the
black-art to draw vessels to their river,
and sometimes human sacrifices ARE
made upon the bar, that the ship may
pass over it in safety. When this has
been accomplished, the whole tswn
breaks out into dance and song. Now,
thew crv. eve shall have beads Now
we shall have tobacco Now we shall
have rum -
The old voyagers speak of the
Mpongwe as a rude and savage people,
but several generations of intercourse
with Europeans have rendered them re-
fined in their appearance, courteous and
persuasive in their manners. Even
their language has been changed 1T Is
soft and melodious, differing much from
the harsh cultural dialects of the bush
people, who are nevertheless their kins-
men. The MpOngwe have slaves to do
their wood-eutting and garden-work,