The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-11-20
AN EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE.


Commander Cameron's Account Of the Most
Civilized Race In central Africa.
From the London Times.1
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 a drawback. Urua was one OF
the largest native states in Africa. It
was bounded on the east by Tanganyi-
ka, on the north by independent tribes
in Manguema, on the west by Ulunda,
and on the south by mountains south
of the lake of Bangueolo. The great
chief was Kasongo, and the race was
perhaps the 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 in great reverence.
The idol wat placed in the midst OF
a dense Jungle, and it had for wife nj
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
a large trade in idols and charms.
Many of the wizards were ventrilo-
quists, 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 with
out permission, which was very seldom
granted. In one case where, in the
travellers presence, a native had neglect
ed etiquette, severe punishment was
about to be inflicted, but the traveller
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
off her own ears. This woman wa one
of Kasongo's wives; he had about 1000
of them. She asked permission to mu-
tilate herself, and she did it at once.
The b~ody-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 mutilation strength
ened their regard for their chief. The
name of the idol was Kungwe a 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 a crown, and
surrounded at the bottom with a band
of cowries or other shells. Skewers
were inserted in the hair, one end of
which could be used in tattooing. The
people were not a hairy rice, but they
managed to grow their boards long, and
plated them like a Chinaman's pigtail,
usually putting at the end of each a
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
sively. Tattooing usually commenced
at the age of Z, and might be completed
about the age of 10 or IA. which was
the time for marriage. Beautiful pat
terms were used, and the tattooing was
done in raised cuts. Sometimes q hus-
band, when he was displeased with his
wife, cut of all these raised pieces, and
the woman could not appear in public
again; she was not received into society
until she was retattooed.
He saw one 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 were played
and the people round danced. The
bride was brought out, dressed in feath.
ers and other fnery, on the shoulders
of two or three women; she wa 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 q
scramble, as the possession of them wa
supposed to confer luck. Ultimately
the husband came into the ring, anc
putting the bride under his arm carried
her off. The means of communication
was by drum signals. They had a cal
on the drum for everybody's name, an6
they could ask questions and conve.
intelligence over hundreds of miles, ant
receive answers almost Immediately. Il
war, messages were constantly sent en-
ormous distances to bring up reinforce
ments or to stop their coming. Th,
mass of the people lived in huts on DIR.
land, but there were one or two excep
tions to this. He saw two lakes Of
which people were living in huts. i
one case the people had covered owe
the long grass growing in the waite
with earth, and on that had built thei
huts; in the other the huts were bull
on piles. The language of the countr.
belonged to the same broad famil
which stretched across the large belt G
Africa traversed by him, and the gram
mar was on the same principles as tn
grammar of the Swaeli.
Feeling in Oratory.
Some one asked Sheridan, the vi