The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-02-21
Afrlsa,s Superstitions.

L MT. taul -. Uu Cnalllu lecLuIeu lludy
night ct Association Hall, New York, on
the aWitchcraft and Supersitions of Af
,rica.n / am goingto'take you again, said
be, into the jungle of Equatorial Africa
Stanley met that jungle at the head wa.
tens of the Congo hesmet there the can,
nibals I cav and the dwarfs / discovered
And what q jungle it is! At the end Of
each,day's journey j made no negro could
tell me- where that vast forest ended
There are great dangers there, and some
cimes one has to fight the people. Itis
mot very pleasant to fight; it was notyery
pleasant for Stanley but he had 10 fight
sor besliHed.
The people are scattered in great tribes,
divided into clans, and the clans into fam
lilies, the chiefs, and the old men making
the laHs. Three institutions are every
where preyaleilt-polygamy slavery and
witchcraft. It is. wonderful how these
people love to get married. They marry
allsthe time and never get tired of it.
Some of them marry as old as eighty-five
on ninety years, Just as some of US do at
home, You know Laughter.] The lafg.
est.number of wives l have seen belong.
ing to one mau was about hreehundred,
and when I asked him how many chill
dren he had, he said between six and
eight hundred. Two hundred, more or
less, didn't seem TO trouble him at all.
The wives are not slaves, but their hus.
bands buy them when they areethree OF
-four years old from their fathers; that is
sort of dowry. Polygamy is also po-
litical institution, The, tribes are always
at war, and ahenee-a man tries to get as
many wives as he can from the surround
ing sribes SO asSt6 have friends among
them. They have great adherence OF
blood relationship, and no man is allowed
to take wife of his own clan.
The great curse of that country is its
ssuperstitions, and it is very hard to get
at the bottom facts about their religious
belief. They have two names which rep
resent our. ideas Of God and Of the devil.
The devil is the source, OF, all evil and
.yitchcraft. When person is sick he is
lbewitched by some one, and the, sorcerer
or sorceress has to be killed. The doc.
tors point them out, and they have to
swallow poison to prove their innocence,
This poison is the root of tree called
"bundo," belonging to the stychnine
order, but these doctors take it and do
not die. Here, if a man sees the new
moon over his right shoulder, or bis left
itsis lucky or annlucky; but there it i
uhlucky if he: sees the new moon at all
and on the day of the new moon nobody
dare 90 out of his hut. The queen OIL
witchcraft lives in the moon, and the
people of the world are the insects on
which witehcraft feeds, and when witch.
craft ia very hungry she sends the plague
and kills more people. Those who have
any connection with the spirit in the
moon are women and must bein trance
The people are honest in their beliefs
but of course there is jugglery among
them. Among many tribes cannibalisn
exists, but think it is sort of religion:
feast, as they do not kill people purposely
except prisoners of war. AS among the
Indians, they have no mercy on those
taken in war. made inquiries about
this cannibalism;rI wanted to know
which were the best eating, women Of
men. They ali agree that the womer
were best. They didn't tell me anything
new, for I knew that before. Laughter
Their war dance is perfectly terrible
They cover themselves all over with wal
paint ahdwith clay: that has been satura
ted with the decayed flesh and brain!
from the heads Of their dead warriors
which they always kept in particular
house in every village. Then they have
dance, and when morning comes eact
man cuts his hand in several places anc
lets the blood flow into a large wooder
dish, and they rub themselves with tha
blood and then go to war.
The most difficult thing the missiona
'ries have to do is to bring themselves tt
q level of thinking with these people
Some Of the negroes are very fierce
They would not be go bad if the trader!
did not bring them such an amount O
spirits. 1t is laughable sometimes to SCI
the missionaries on the deck of shiE
and the barrels of rum under. the deck
both going to the same place. They are
kind 10 the missionaries, but you know
when one gets little civilized he get.
selfish, and they know that where tn,
missionary comes the trader will follow
and they like trade. Stanley has made
great, grand journey. If you will lool
at the labors of that man you will see i
is perfectly marvellous. And how quickl!
he did It'll He explored the lakes dis
covered by Speke, Burton, Baker ant
Livingstone, followed the Congo rive
past any amount of rapids, and Tough
his way through to the coast. Living
stone was a great man, but his labor
were in South Africa. Stanley just wen
right through under the equator and il
that deadly climate where the native
had been spoiled and made, fierce by tn
slave trade. I think the journeys o