The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-09-25
An Extraordinasy Recple.

i-H tts.'t .t
At the meeting Of the British Assoeia.
ton at Sheffield on Aug, %, the we'll.
known, African. explorer, Commander
Cameron, who was received with an
plause, apologized for not having his
paper prepared, but he did not Believe.
In detailing the nannefS and customs OF
the people of Urua, in Central Africa.
this would be o drawback. Urua was
enc OF the largest native States in AT frica.
at was bounded on The east by Tanga-
ny;ka, on the north by independents
snoes In Manguema, on the west by,
uiundas and on the south by, mountains
south OF the lake Bangpeola. The great
hapa the most civilized In Central kfica
The chief claimed Di7ine shonors.f On
his death all his wives save ona we've
slaughtered &C the grave, and The one
whose life was not taken was handed over
| TO the chiefs successor. The rpirit Of
the deceased Prince was supposed 70 pass
| into the body of the successor. Tha
center OF the religion OF the. people was
an idol, which was held in great rev.
erence.
The idol was placed in the midst of a
dense jungle, and It hea for wife one Of
the sisters of the rgigning sovereign.
Under the principal chief were smaller
chiefs, who collected s.nd paid over 10
the sovereign tribute. He had seen this
tribute come in, and some of it must
have come from distant parts Of the coun.
Try, There was numerous class Of wiz
ards in the country who did a large trade
In idols and Charms: Many OF the wiz
ards were yentriloquists, and in this way
the idols were made to give answers TO
the questions put to them. Caste was
very clearly defined in the race No one
dare sit down in the presence of the chief
without permission, which was very sell
dom granted. In one case where, In the
travellers presence, . native had neglect
ed etiquette, severe punishment was
about to bo inflicted, but the traveller
saved the offender.
Authority was maintained by mutila
ton. Hands, feet, ears, noses, were mu-
tilated, and the natives did not seem to
mind 1t much. One woman had cut Off
her own ears This woman was one Of
kasongo's wives /; he had about ! 900 of
.hem; she asked permission 10 mutilate
herseif, and did it Of once. The body
guard OF the chief was composed to q
great extent OF mutilated people, whose
affection for the chief seemed in no wav,
decreased; indeed, it would appear tLat
mutiiation strengthened their regard for
their chief. A laugh The name az
the idol was kungwe Banza, and pro.
found reverence was shown to 1t. Fire
wae obtained by friction from fire block. +
and IN one case 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
skins.
The haiE dressing OF this people was
curious, varying more with districts than
with rank. In some cases it was worked
up into four ring platte crossing at the
top of the head like a crown, and sur :;
rounded at the bottom by band of cow
ries .or other shells. Showers were in
inserted in the hair, one end of which
could be used in tattooing. The people
were not O. hairy race, but they managed
to grow their boards long, and plated
them like Chinaman's pigtail, usually
putting. at the end of each O lump of mud
to weight 1t. Some of the boards reached 4
TO the waists. The women, not having
boards to amuse themselves with, were
tattooed extensively. Tattoo;ng gen.
orally commenced at the age o. seven. 7.
and might be completed about the age of a.
twelve or fourteen, which was the age for
marriage. Beautiful patterns wcro used,
and the tattooiEg was done in raised cuts.
sometimes husband, when he was dis
pleased with his wife, cut off all these
raised pieces, and the woman could not 4
appear In public again she was not re-
eeived into society until she was retat-
toned fJ,qJinhtar - fss sdsist =
he saw Que of their weddings, which
was very curious. Tine festivities lasted
several days. A ring was formed of the
natives, two men with big drums being
IN the middle. The drums were t,layed
and the people round danced. The
bride was brought out, dressed in feathers
and other fnery, on the shoulders of the
women. The bride threw shells and
beads about, for which there was q
scramble, as the possession Of them was
supposed to cenfer, luck. Ultimately the
husband came into the, ring, and putting
the bride under his arm, carried fer off. s
Laughter. The meana of communica-
tion 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 enor-
nous distances to bring up ,re-enforce-
ments or to stop their coming. The mass
of the people lived in huts on dry LAND, b
but there wero one or two exceptions 10
this. He saw two lakes on which people
were living in hnts.. In one casa The
people had covered over the long grass
growing in the wstes with earth, and on
that had built their hnts; in the other
the huts were built on piles. The LAM
guage Of the country belonged 20 the
same broad family which stretched across
the large belt of Africa trayetsed By hirn,
and the grammar was on the. sanisr,, ..yirl.
ciples as the grammar of the SWaeii.
[Cheers. l-7-London ISniee. M ssS