Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-02-28
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.

PecuIiarities of the Inhabitants of Gem
trail Africa-Thofr Manners and Gus
toms.
The following extract is from work
on Central Africa, just published by
Harper q Bros. 1t was written by Col.
] G. Chaille Long, of the Egyptian staff:
The negro, although possessing a
country inhabited by the elephant,
giraffe, and buffalo, and owning the
COW, the goat, and the sheep, as domes-
tic animals, has never attempted to
use any of them as beast of burden.
The COW is kept by most tribes solely
for its milk,-its flesh forming no part
of their diet. The animal is regarded
by the savages as in some sense sacred
being, and its life is never taken.
While Col. Long was detained by fever
at Fatiko, native brought him one
day gourd Of milk. Burning with
fever" he writes, 81 drained with one
draught g. goblet full of the foaming
liquid, ere the sense Of taste could de-
tect the naus eous mixture; my stomach,
however, quickly rebelled, and rejected
with violent wretching the unsavory
potion, seven eig hts of which was SIM
ply urine Of the COW! A practice, by
the-by, common to all Central Africans,
who never drink milk unless thus
mixed. This fetish and superstition
thereby insures protection for the COW,
here, as on the Bahr-el-Abiad white
Nile), nysteriously connected with the
unknown: a shadow possibly of the
old Egyptian worship"
To supply the need of animal food,
the tribes along the Nile feed upon
ants which infest the country. Col.
Long once observed the manner of
catching these insects, which was as
follows:
"Seated around an ant hole were two
very pretty maidens, who with sticks
beat upon an inverted gourd "bour-
man. IN cadenced time to g. not I'M
musical song, that seduced from it's
hole the unwary ant, who, approach
ing the orifce, was quickly seized, and
pushed into mass of mud to prevent
it's escape-there to await q sufficient
number with which to form g. repast."
The eggs of the crocodile are regarded
as q great delicacy, and in the dry sea-
son, tribes in the vicinity of the Nile
resort to the river, and subsist for the
time entirely upon this article of food,
together with fish.
The inhabitants of Urunda wear a
simple garment of cloth manufactured
from the bark Of a species CT wild fig.
The strips are sewed together nearly
into large piece, which is WON like
the Roman toga-the two ends being
tied together over the left shoulder.
The Riongi and Unyori tribes, in many
cases, wear the same garment: yet a
great portion go entirely naked. The
men Of the Bari tribe make no at
tempts at covering the person; but the
women wear a girdle with strips of
tinely-cut leather hanging in front, and
a long busby tail reaching to the ankle
behind. Both sexes cover the skin
with coating Of grease and oxide of
iron, after removing all the hair from
the head and body. The Fatako men
wear small skin of a leopard, wild
cat or deer, across the shoulder, leav-
ing the rest Of the person exposed.
An elaborate head dress constitutes an
entire wardrobe Of the women.
The inhabitants of the Niam-Nia
country incase the legs, arms, and
neck with steel, brass, or copper rings,
and plait the hair in numerour braids.
The women wear, in addition, an apron
of fg-leaves. The teeth of both sexes
are sharpened to point, and, by fire.
quent rubbing with q stick, are kept
beautifully white. The broad necklace
of rings encirling the throat compels
stiff carriage of the head, while rings
Of brass or iron are worn In the nose,
ears, and mouth. The Mittoos insert
IN hole in the upper lip piece of
ivory about the size of q Mexican dol
lar, which causes the lip TO project over
the mouth in q repulsive fashion. The
Goorah- GOOrahs are so called "by rea-
son of their pierced ears, the interior of
that membrane being cut out with q
knife when young; whilst O. large hole
traverses the exterior part to admit an
iron bar two inches in length and one
inch in diameter.
The Riongi tribe manufacture pot
terry, and their milk jars and pots are
said by Col. Long to be really beautiful.
The only race in Africa known to
poison their lances and arrows are the
Yanbaris. These people dip the points
of these implements Of war in hejuice
| VI ~ tlSS OOlOuSIIS w G1S IdIulIy VI
Euphorbias (Euphor6es m6orescens).
The tree grows to the height of forty
feet, with trunk having a diameter Of
three feet. It is cactuslike in aspect,
and it is covered with thorns which
render a hedge or thicket of it impen-
etrable. It is planted as defense
around the village of the Yanbari-the
young growth, constantly renewed,
forming an effectual guard against the
enemy. The milky juice Of the Eu.
phorbias is deadly poison. The food
of the Yanbaris consists of the
"dourah" "a species of Sorghum re-
sembling broom elephant
meat. One of their weapons is a four
pronged wooden arrow, with which
they shoot birds. So great is their dex-
terity in the use Of this implement that
the bird at which they aim is inextr;c-
ably embraced by its four points, and
falls helpiessly to the ground.
Col. Long found the natives of Cen
trail Africa generally destitute of an
idea of the Supreme Being. DESTROYS
| Of ascertsininp if the Ahides cherish