Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-08-07
LATEST AFRICAN FASHIONS.
How the People Of all Glasses Dress
and Don't Dress In Sierra Leone.


Monrovis Cor Charleston Courier.
The dress of the fishermen generally
consists of a rag about the loins. The
ordinary laborers, porters and along.
shoremen usually wear loose, thin shirts
and trousers, although the, frequently
have only the latter, and in other in.
stances what resembles long bag cut
open at the ends, with two holes cut
above for the arms. Al, are barefooted,
and most are barelegged below the knee.
The almost invariable head covering is a
skull cap of gaudy color. Clerks, mes
sengers, store and shop keepers, and
those belonging to that class, usually
wear clothes of European cut and make,
of different colors and fashionings, with
shoes and hats like anybody else. Then
come the .Mussulmans, dressed in long,
pure white flowing robes, not unlike an
Episcopal minister's surplice, with san
dals secured across the instep with huge
buttons, and tall brimless linen or cloth
caps. These are the fellows who come in
from the country, and are "not at work
to-day" Humber bretherD, who are at
work Ga condition of life in which q
Mussulman never is if he can possibly
help himself) wore gowns of course blue
cotton, generally dirty, but Of the same
shape. Not only these followers of the
Prophet, but many others of the colored
citizens of Sierra Leene have suspended
around their necks leather pouches, bits
of stone, etc, containing charms. The
dress Of the women is as diverse as the
mems. Sometimes they wear single
long, loose garment of thin cotton,
gathered in at the waist. Others have
robe wrapped around
their waists and falling below their an
kles, with spare piece hanging in front
which they pull over their bosoms when
a strange man is approaching. Very fre-
quently an infant is bound up in the
folds of the garment, resting quietly
behind and forming hustle. The
mother always looks profoundly uncon-
scious of this burden, which is invaria-
bly, quiet. Everybody, unless engaged
in commercial pursuits, manages to get
some bright color introduced in his or
her dress, except the aristocratic Mussul- !
man in his spotless white, and even his
cap is often bright red or scarlet.
The laboring people Of both sexes are |
very erect and walk with what
in a white man would be swagger, but
in them, with their free limbs, is merely
a graceful independence. The business
men have the business mans usual stoOp,
methodical walk and steady look, and
generally carry an umbrella and wear q
broad hat. l think these natives are
usually very strorg, and some of them |
are magnifcently shaped, especially the |
women. The most beautiful and massive |
pair of female shoulders l have ever
seen l saw here. Their owner had a
heavy load on her head, but walked un-
der it as straight as an arrow, and the
shoulders just spoken of were studies for
an artist, being straight, square, clean
cut and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS per-
feet. Almost all the overland transpor-
tation is done on human heads, there
being only three horses in the !
entire colony. A woman will
walk into town at good pace
from miles in the country, with child
swinging at her back and from thirty to |
seventy pounds of produce on her head,
carrying herself as well and showing as
little fatigue as an average American
stroll What the men
can carry ] am afraid to say. | saw
one start home with two huge iron pots
on his head, weighing probably
100 pounds, and he looked rs If he hard
Iy felt them. The laborers whom he met |
At the wharf bore two two-gallon demi-
Johns of rum in each hand and another
on their heads. saw no woman whose
dress would foFbid her appearance on
the streets of an American city. The
children to about eight years old wear
very little-very often nothing at all
Now you have the people as they appear
on the streets.