The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-02-19
DGwAY, ELK COUNTY, PA. THURSDAY FEBRUARY 49, 1874
The White Races of Africa.

, The White Races Of Africa.
An ancient white kingdom in Africa
of which we have many hints in Gre.
clan history, is that known at Ethiopia.
These Ethiopians, who may be said tC
have perished before history was born,
and who are described in the vague, ex.
aggerated language of tradition, seem
to have been powerful and enterpris.
ing race.
They are spoken of in the Hebrew
Scriptures under the name of Cush,
though it is probable that these Scrip.
tural Cushites inhabited southern
Arabia. The Sanscrit writers refer to
them as existing in southwestern Asia,
and as subsequently inhabiting eastern
Africa. The first country is described
in the Puranas under the name of Cusha
Duripa; the latter is called Cusha Duri-
pa wi hout.
In Greek literature we have several
references to them, both as to their
power and to their aggressive spirit.
1t is not impossible that the ancient
Egyptians may have descended from
this primitive stock, who may have
crossed the Stats of Bah el-Mandeb,
and descended the Nile valley. AS to
the origin of races so utterly attendant
ing history, however, there is but little
value in any conjecture.
There is an existing race to the south
of Abyssinia, which it is possible may
be descended from the same Ethiopian
kingdom of the far past This people,
known as Gallas, number now from six
to eight millions, and have extended
their rule over large portion of East
ern Africa.
They all ride on horseback, and
armed with spears, swords and shields
They practice agriculture, and possess
herds of grazing animals. Their religi-
GUS ideas are far in advance of the dis
tinctive African races. They have
priests, and definite ideas of heaven
and hell. The serpent is one of their
main objects of worship, and they re-
gard this animal as the mother of the
human race. Serpent was q
prominent feature in the old Ethiopian
creed, which seems to closely connect
the religious conceptions of the Gallas
with those of Ethiopia. In other fea-
lures their customs resemble those of
the early Asiatics, seeming plainly to
point to their origin in some ancient
colony of the whites.
1t is, indeed, probable that Africa
was widely traversed in ancient times
by Asiatics, most likely the people of
Arabia, who have never lost their in
! flnence on that continent. They alone,
of white races, penetrate the country
with impunity, and have long possessed
a monopoly of the African trade. The
difficulty which Europeans experience
in traversing Africa is, in fact, largely
owing to the hostile influence of the
Arabs. who fear loss of their privi-
| 1eges.
DR.. Barth states that not less than
$50, 900 Arabians were permanently set
tied in Bornou when he visited that
kingdom, and this population seemed
to have come from the east at very
early period.
/ Arabian traditions claim that ancient
kings of Arabia marched armies through
Africa to the ocean, and waged wars
with Magrib or Mauretania. We have
in the first book of Strabo statement
sustaining this tradition.
In support of these historical Gimp
ses of an ancient civilized possession
of Africa, are remains of arts and Gus
toms in races apparently too savage to
have ever originated them. The abili-
| W W oIuolI duu WOTh lTOH udS Deeu
considered an evidence of considerable
civilization, and was not possessed by
many nations of antiquity who other
wise ranked high. Yet this art is in
common use in many parts of Africa.
DR.. Livingstone describes the smelt-
ing furnaces of the Africans, in the
region near Lake Nyassa, as being clay
structures about six feet high and three
feet in diameter. Their mode of oper-
ationg is primitive, yet they produce
excellent iron, so good that the natives
pronounce English iron rotten in COM
parsion.
DIR. Barth found this art to prevail in
Central Africa, and the travellers who
have explored the sources of the Nile
speak of the skill of the natives in
blacksmithing and other civilized arts.
DIR. Livingstone found that the natives
manufactured hammers, tongs, hoses,
adzes, fsh-hooks, needles, etc. He
describes them as very skillful in spin
ming, weaving and in the manufacture
of pottery. They employed admirable
fishing-nets, blacksmiths' bellows, fish
weirs and baskets, and many other ap-
pliances of civilized nations. To Dag.