Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-01-26
FROM AFRICA.
IMPRESSIONS ALONG THE WEST COAST

By Il. McCants Stewart, late Mis-.
sionary from the A. n. e. church,
Us
OF Course, continued on ship
board for seventeen days, and out of
sight OF land moro than three-fourths
OF the time, one is compelled to con-
fine himself largely to the little
world Chip board) in which he lives
and moves and has his being. 1t is
only occasionally that he can take
the reader upon tho great pla net
(the land) peopled with it's millions.
We have put. therefore, at the head
of this letter, Impressions along
the West Coast
AS soon as our steamer got fairly
started we began to study the char
acteristics and sentiments of our fell
low pas sengers. Among them were
the following: The Chief Justice
for the Gold Coast, the Judges for
Lagos, tho Captain of the Gold Coast
Constabulary, manager of gold
mine, Lagos merchant and a rep
resentative of firm doing business
at Sierra Leone-all Englishmen,
There were also two negro mer-
chants of Lagos, one having his
wife, two children, and a nurse and
man-servant with him.
l Was not on board long before dis
covering that there existed as much
| prejudice rs one would find in At
lanta, Georgia. overheard con
veraatiOn in which the inferiority of
1.-The blacks" was loudly proclaimed
-one man asserting, the other ap-
proving, that certainly no would not
marry black woman nor would
he associate with "tho blacks" of
| Sierra Leone it there were white
society thore.
! Right here let me record the fact
! that the Coast is infested with an
/ inferior class of white men, the scum
I of England, etc. There are here
and there honorable exceptions: but
they are like angels visits-tew and
/ far between. These white mon re-
gard ''the blacks as beasts of bur-
den, put herc by the Creator to do
their bidding. The representative
of the Sierra leone business firm
said he never pulls off his boots on
the Coast. His black boy does.
And his black boy fans him to sleep
anG thcn keeps bin cool during his
nap. Aud he "lickS" his black boy
occasionally, and knocks down II
black fellow when necessary. 1T may
be due TO my extreme sensItivenes-
on the color question i mean when
black and white are involved but !
have seen and heard enough to make
me feel that slavery, in - mild form
aud under CO. er, exists on the w est
Coast You may call it vassalage,
you may call it sertdom; you may
cal i:uppreni ifceship; but, it is to my
mind tho meanest kind of slavery
! 1t is under cover, masked, hypocrit-
ical! These white men have boldly
announced their belief in the doc
( trinc, "mlght is right"
! One day at dinner, the Captain of
the Gold Coast ConstabuIary boast
ed that il did not cost him much to
take black boy to England. His
passage (steerage Of course) was not
much. "And by God, I give him
one OF my worn out suit; and ut
home he sleeps on II mat III the hall
and is happy. lie sticks to mo like
Il brick; cleans INV boots and plays
man Friday to pcrlec ion," ctc., etc.
Il could not stand it. tnrtly sug-
gcsted that it is easy and cheap to
take II black boy To England when
ho is treated like a Newfoundland
Il bot =
came on. Lightning flashed and the
thunder roared AS we with hot
blows discussed ethnology and NOR
ale. Irony sarcasm and wit ran
not.
My sonl was stirred. l had lis
tened to and overheard too many
contemptuous references to my race.
Most of; these white mon are frC IN
tho lower classes. Enticed TO tho
coast wholly tor the love of gain,
they carry about them the airs OF
buliys and upstairs aud brutally
tyranizs over these black people,
clicking" them 60 use their express
sion) and "giving them a good kick
ing occasionally to keep then
straight" ! have heard such IN ex-
preston az this, "Thc ID buygers
are great co wards. They ont light.
One white man can frigAten q han
dred ofthem." give the language
rough rs it is, SO that tho reader can
see things as they are.
The wife of the wealthy negro
merchant gave me several Instances
of the brutal insol"nce and opprcs-
sion OF the whites VINO infest this
coast. For example, two negro lads
entered a church in Lagos and oc-
cup;ed Il certain pow. SIX persons
can be comfortably seated in it. I he
owrc- came in al)nc. Ho literally
took the young negroes by the bat k
If their nccks Gin tho cOllaD and
pitched them cut! The preacher
was reading Gods word. My in
formers husband was in church, saw
the affair and had u controversy
with the white man tho next day;
No wonder that Christianity docs
not take hold of the native African.
No wonder that after four centuries
Of effort, there is no native tribe, or
any number of negroes confessing
that Christ is tho Lord. These
white men come with the Bible in
one hand, and the sword or the lash
in the other. White men will never
evangelize Africa! In India, in
China, in Africa--wherever the
Caucasian comes in contact with