Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-11-27
AN EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.
Commander Cameron's account of the Most
Civilized Race I'm Central Africa.
rE.povo tho Tondnn Tinnes

From the London Times.]
At the meeting of the British Asso-
citation at Sheffield, the well-known At
rican explorer, Commander Cameron,
who was received with applause, apollo
gized for not having his paper pre-
pared, but he did not believe, In detail
ing the manners and customs of the
people of Urua, in Central Africa, this
would be drawback. Urua was one of
the largest native states ia Africa. 1t
was bounded on the east by Tanganyi-
ka, on the north by independent tribes
in MangEema, on the west by Ulunda,
and on the south by mountains south
of Gho lake of BangueoIo. The great
chief was Kasongo, and the race was
perhaps thu most civilized in Central
Africa. The chief claimed divine hon.
ors. On his death all his wives save
one were slaughtered at the grave, and
the one whose life was not taken was
handed over to the chiefs successor.
The spirit of the deceased Prince was
supposed to pass Into the body of the
successor. The center Of the religion
OF the people was an idol, which was
held LII great reverence.
The idol was placed in the midst Of
a dense jungle, and it had for wife one
of the sisters Of the reigning sovereign.
Under the principal chief were smaller
chiefs, who collected and paid over to
the sovereign tribute. He had seen
this tribute come in, and some of it
must have come from distant parts of
the country. There was a numerous
class of wizards in the country who did
q large trade in idols and charms.
Many of the wizards were ventrilo-
0uists, and in this way the idols were
made to give answers to tho questions
put to them. Caste was very clearly
defined in the race. No one dare sit
down in the presence of the chief with
out permission, which was very seldom
granted. In one case where, In the
travellers presence native had neglect
ed etiquette, severe punishment was
about to be inflicted, bat the traveller
saved the offender.
Authority was maintained by mutila-
ton. Hands, feet, ears, noses, were
mutilated, and the natives did not seem
to mind it much. One woman had cut
of Kasongo's wives; he had about 1,000
Of them. She asked permission to mu-
tilate herself, and she did it at once.
The body-guard Of the chief was COM
posed, to a great extent, of mutilated
people, whose affection for the chief
seemed in no way decreased; indeed, it
would appear that mutilRtion strength
ened their regard for their chief. The
name of the idol was Kung-e Banza,
and profound reverence was shown to
it. Fire was obtained by friction from
q fire block, and in one case the chief
used the shin bone OF one of the other
chiefs who had been conquered. The
dress of the people was very simple,
consisting of an apron. Members OF
the royal family wore three large skins,
and junior members of the family wore
aprons of green monkey skins.
The hair-dressing Of this people was
curious, varying more with districts
than with rank. In some cases it was
worked up into four ring plaits crossed
at the top of the head like crown, and
surrounded at the bottom with band
of coWries or other shells. Skewers
we're inserted in the hair, one end OF
which could be used in tattooing. The
people were not hairy rrce, but they
managed to grow their boards long, and
plated them like Chinaman's pigtail,
usually putting at the end of each
lump OF mud to weigh it. Some of the
boards reached to the waists. The
women, not having boards to amuse
themselves with, were tattooed extern
stvely. Tattooing usually commenced
at the age of Z, and might be completed
about the age Of IL or IA, which was
the time for marriage. Beautiful pat
terms were used, and the tattooing was
done in raised cuts. Sometimes hus-
band, when he was displeased with his
wife, cut off all these raised pieces, and
the woman conld not appear in public
again; she was not received into society
until she was retattooed.
He saw ono of their weddings, which
was very curious. The festivities lasted
several days. A ring was formed of the
natives, two men with big drums being
in the middle. The drums we're played
and the people round danced. The
bride was brought out, dressed in feath-
ers and other tinery, on the shoulders
of two or three women; she was taken
into the middle of the ring, and was
jumped up and down on the shoulders
of the women. The bride threw shells
and beads about, for which there was O
scramble, as the possession of them was
supposed to confer luck. Ultimately
the husband came into the ring, and
putting the bride under his arm carried
her off. The means of communication
was by drum signals. They had call
on the drum for everybody's name, and
they could ask questions and convey
intelligence over hundreds of miles, and
receive answers almost Immediately. In
war, messages were constantly sent en-
ormous distances to bring up reinforce
ments or to stop their coming. The
mass of the people lived in huts on dry
land, but there were one or two excep-
tons to this. lie saw two lakes on
which people were living i'll huts. In
one case the people had covered oven
the long grass growing in the water
with earth, and on that had built their
huts; in the other the huts were built
on piles. The language of the country
belonged to the same broad family
which stretched across the large belt of
Africa traversed by him, and the gram
mar was on the same principles IS the
grammar of the Swaeli.