The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-11-02
Black, but COmely.

Black, but COmely.
The Nubians are the finest race in
Egypt, and are in every respect a pecu
liar people. They are black, but it is q
lustrous sable not unpleasant to the eye
They have handsome, expressive counte-
nances, bright eyes, well-shaped heads
and high foreheads The hair naturally
curls in ringlets. They are the best look
ing specimens of the negro branch of the
human family | have ever met. They
are naturally intelligent, are gcOd-hu-
mored and very agreeable in their man
ners. They have the appearance of people
relapsed from a state of civilization to
their present semi-barbarOus condition.
Their favorite dress is nudity; in the
female sex string of bead-embroidered-
cloth about the loins. They live on or
waters they draw their chief subsistence.
Tn, y swim-men, women and children
like ducks; have no fear of crOcodiles
and often seek fight with them, being
very dexterous in the use of the knife,
and rarely fail to plunge it into the threat
of the monster. In this part Of the
Nile the crocodile yet abOunds. Steam
boats and the rude treatRent they have
received from the hands of strangers
have driven them from below the first
cataract into the less frequented waters
of Nubia The Nubians have and in
geniOus way of catching the crocodile on
land. It is custom of the animal to
crawl out of the water on to the sand
banks in the middle of the river, there
with their family to take their siesta.
The Nubians in these places digs pit,
covers it with bushes and a sprinkling OF
sand, as if the wind had drifted it there.
The crocodiles are no sooner gathered
on this fragile covering than it gives way
and they fall into the pit beneath. As
they cannot extricate themselves they
are easily killed. Their skin is used for
shields, and sometimes are stuffed in
order to be sold to travellers. The Nu-
bian's favOrite arms are a javelin and
shield of hippOpotamus or crocodile hide.
Further south, in Kordofan, Senaar
and Darfour, appears the full-blooded
African, with his coal-black skin, woolly
hair, thiNE lips and gross features. He
has but little taste for civilization. He
is naturally barbarian with savage in
stincts, with few wants to supply, and
living off of whatever nature places |
within his reach. His gods are the works |
of his own hands, rude idols OF wood and |
stone, to whom he offers in sacrifice the !
he has taken in battle. He is |
perpetually in war, for he loves the smell |
OF blood, and he has little sense of hu-
He haunts his fellow black men |
in their jungles, or he overpowers them /
in theT stockaded, mud-built villages at /
night, lfpks them together il droves, sad /
sells them to the slave traders. Col Ba- /
ker, whom the khediye has appointed /
governor of Soudan, has full power TO |
break up the cruel traffic. Not long /
since he wrote to him 20 use all the /
means at his disposal, in any way he /
chose, to put an end to it. This viii be
difficult to do; for beyond the confines
of Darfour are the great slave hunting /
fields, where internicine war eteraally /
reigns, and where, notwithstanding wars,
and disease, the human race /
seems tqsmultiply, as it were, from the
of the earth with its own |
blood.
Unhealthy as the climat, is in the
1enser parts of Africa, where land and I.
water contend for the mastery, where the |
people live an amphibious existcnceY
among the morasses or in the forest wilds, |
it is strange that epidemics are rare. The
maladies that sweep off whole
elsewhere are comparatively |
unknown where it might be reasonably |
they would most prevail. |
Egypt may now be considered TO extend |
to the equator. The whole country has |
not been explored or opened to inter
course to that point but it acknowledges |
the supremacy of the khedive, and in :
course of time we shall be made ac-
luainted with all of its productions.
Darfour, which is said to have popu-
alton of 100000, has been in a state of
Colonel Gordon, by the
ldeption of polite measures, put down
he movement, and peace now reigns.-
Press.