Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1875-01-16
SOME CURIOUS AFRICAN q CUSTOMS.

There are other curious things about
these people besides their dress. Their
houses have walls of clay or reeds and
sharp-pointed roofs Of straw. The fur
niture consists mainly of wooden plat
ters and stools, which are colored black
by long burial in the mud, and their only
light is burning pine knot.
Before the house is usually post, on
which are hung the trophies of the hunt,
such as horns of antelopes, skulls OF
animals and men, and, horrible to cay,
dried hands and feet. These proclaim
to the world how great warrior is tho
owner, and, in part, answer the pur-
poses that fine houses aud clothes do
with us.
When Niam-Niam pays q visit to
his neighbor he carries his own stool to
sit on, and when he goes into mourning
for friend he shaves his head, and
scatters his precious braids, twists and
puffs to the wind, which certainly shows
sincere grief on his part.
When two friends meet they do not
shake hands, but they join their middle
fingers in such way that the joints
crack, while they nod at each other,
more as il in disgust-as it looks to a
white man-then in friendly greeting.
If they find o hollow tree in which
wild bees have laid up honey, they at
once smoke the bees stupid, and eat
honey, wax, bees and all. Indeed they
eat several things that We would not
like. The children in some parts of
Africa eat rats and field-mice, which
they catch by means of baskets woven
in the form of long tubes. They are
laid fiat on the ground, near the mouse
holes, and then the little savages begin
a great noise Of stamping, shouting and
slapping of hands. The poor little
animals are frightened, and run into
the traps for safety, and are easily taken.
They are then tied by the taiIsin bunches
of q dozen or so, as you have seen
children tie cherries, and bartered with
each other as choice morsels. Some
times they use them as bats to catch
cats-roast-cat being favorite dish.
They build small huts of twisted reeds,
put the mice in, the cats are attracted
to the trap of course.
The grown people feast on still
stranger diet, such as the bodies of
their enemies killed in battle, elephant
meat, dried till it looks like log of
wood, dogs and the termites, or white
ants, of which you may have read, and
whose immense cone-shaped houses are
so common in Africa.
No important thing is begun without
consulting certain signs to see if it will
be successful. Some of these are very
curious. One is to put few drops of
water on a smooth-topped stool, then
take a smooth block and rub it across
the stool as though to plane it off. If
the block moves easily the sign is good;
if hard, the sign is bad. 's0'
Another trial is to dose some unfor-
tunate hen with certain greasy liquid.
If she dies the sign is bad; if she gets
well it is good.
But the hens are not the only suffer-
ers. Another way to try ones luck is
to seize a wretched cock, duck him un-
der water many times till he is stiff and
senseless, and then leave him alone.
The fate is decided by his recovering
or dying. The guilt of any one ac-
cused or suspicioned of crime is tried
in the same way, and no one dreams of
suspecting one whose signs have shown
favorably.
To protect themselves from the dan
ger and loss Of fires, they provide no
fire engines and insurance companies,
as we do, but hang an amulet made-for
those who are Mohammedans- few
verses of the Khoran, or Mohammedan
bible, wrapped in skin, over the door,
which must be admitted ia a much SIM
pier and cheaper way than ours.
If horse or donkey is i'll, heis dosed
with raw pork but human being has
for medicine few verses of the kho-
ran, made soft in water. r.--lS. Nicholas