The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-09-05
IN THE DARK CONTINENT.
An Interesting Letter from an Indian
apolis Physician Located in Africa.
A Wild but Richly Productive Countrywide
Strange Customs of the NatiVeS-AKing
Son Employed as Servant.

y lrlouO mere, writes from Oap0 hount' uhuOA
date of June 20, about his experiences in the
dark continent: 'Monrovia is built upon bed
of iron ore, part of which assays 80 per cent
pure iron. The town contains 5000 people, five
of whom are white It has no drug-stores. no
library, no public halls, no barber shop. no sa-
looms no streets, and very few fences. They
have no need for Streets as they have no horses
or vehicles. The population is divided into
three classes-the natives or aborigines, the Lii
berans or children born here of foreign parents,
and the emigrants or foreigners. The latter are
on par with those shipped to the United States
of America from Europe-poor, ignorant and
lazy.
'The Kroos native tribe, were formerly the
slave dealers of this coast. Every Kroo man has
blue tattoo mark down the middle of his fore
head, extending on down the nose They cut
their hair with bits of broken bottles. and cut it
in all sorts of styles Instead of tattooing, the
women paint themselves from head to foot; it is
no uncommon thing to see girl with the Libe-
rian flag painted on her forehead. Some of the
women, whose husbands or fathers work for
Americans, wear the United States flag but
nothing can induce them to wear the British flag,
as they all hate Englishmen, and will have moth
ing to do with them. We use five nations
money here-United States, English, Dutch,
French aud Liberian, and occasionally Spanish
gold coin.
''The country here is very broken and wild.
The mountain above US is rocky, and only in
habited by goats, deer and other wild animals.
Monkeys are abundant, and play havoc with the
gardens below at night. Our hill is planted
with coffee trees and our coffee is excellent. 1t
is picked, cleaned roasted, cooked and drunk in
side Of twenty-four hours We have fresh veni-
son, chicken and fish every day, with rice, cas-
sava plaintans and green's. The caasava is a tuber
like the sweet potato in shape, and looks and
tastes like mixture Of beeswax and plaster Of
paris. Pepper is put into everything eatable,
and very pentifully, too. Our native boy, who
tends to roasting and pounding up the coffee,
was not satisfied until he had put big handful
Of pepper into it, which was not discovered until
we tried to drink it, We have a new coffee boy
now. A small watermelon foot long sells here
for shilling. but two pineapples as big as your
head sell for l cent; bananas and plantains sell
for 10 cents bunch mango plums which sell in
New York for 20 cents EACH can be had here for
! cent dozen. All these fruits grow wild, and
the only charge is for the trouble of getting
them to you. Flowers are most abundant-mag-
nolia every where, and heliotrope is used for
hedges, while lilies and passion flowers are trod
under foot, thick they. From my Office
window can ferns twenty feet high orange
trees in all stages of production. from blossom
to fruit The boys use oranges to play cricket
with Birds, insects, fish and snakes are
plentiful. | had young boa constructor three
feet long offered me for so cents Ivory is
brought here occasionally to sell. Our natives
are not hunters, so there is not much done in
that line.
1.-THE bank of our lake eso-is dotted all
along with native towns, called bush-towns
Two houses make town, each town of 100
houses has king governor. Sometimes a
king has several small towns. All the people
are called the kings children, and dare not do
anything without his consent One man who
wanted to come to see me about tumor had to
send twenty miles to get permission from his
king The king sent me message giving me
authority to do anything wished to the man,
aud he would be responsible for all costs. When
at Monrovia | engaged a kroo boy at a salary of
$25 year to attend the Office and do such work
as [ required, but he was so lazy had to give
him the grand bounce He was too lazy to eat
and rather than see him starve, sent him
home, where somebody could feed him. Ny new
boy Is about twenty years old, named Mono
Vey name for Mohammed-and he is
heir to one Of the Vey thrones, his father being
an up-country king. Mono wanted to learn
English, so he ran away from home and came to
the mission, and took him in and adopted him
His people came down with cloth and sheep.
and tried to coax him back-no go. His elder
brother ran away also, and has just left on the
ship Liberia for the United States. By the way,
have the only United States flag in Liberia,
the United States consul having none. The
medical school has opened with fair attend
ance. We have plant here called 'boola and
honda by the natives and vegetable mercury
by the whites. which is twenty times stronger
than castoro OIL one drop of per cent. tinct-
ure causing very brisk catharsis.
"The Vey language is very easy to learn, be-
ing nearly all vowel sounds. With 100 words
person can talk very we'll; all plants, trees, etc,
go by one name bush, trees are big BUSH flow
ers are small BUSH All animals birds and
fish are meat, Such A man is xii woman,
'musu' child, ding; boy. kiding;' girl. 'mu-
suding;' bread is 'buffu;' water is 'jee' medicine
is 'booley.' Everyone who has any dealings
with the natives has native name. Mine is
Body ki-qua-a-ma.' meaning the white medi-
cine man. Their own doctors are called Body
ki-greegree. Everything secret is called gree
cree.S
''The girls as soon as they are able to walk and
talk, are put in the 'gree-gree bush, sort of
convent, where they are instructed in their
duties as women and wives. They are usually
sold by their parents In marriage as soon as they
are born. If not sold, they must remain in the
'gree-gree bush until some one buys them. The
old girls In the bush instruct the new ones A
wife costs about $l5. When the wedding takes
place the bride comes with presents to the
groom and he must give, in return, double as
much as she brings. "A man may have as many
wives as he can pay form fact, they are the
African branch Of the Mormon Church. The
boys are Kept In the 'gree-gree bush until of
age, generally fourteen years. Should one of
either sex disclose the secrets of their bush or
one be caught in the others bush he or she is
put to death publicly.
'Their houses are made of bamboo and clay,
with matched roofs. Their canoes are very
sklllfully. made and evenly balanced; when
cracked they sewed with bamboo fibre and
the crack caulked with cotton from the native
cotton tree. have one about fifteen feet long
which holds six persons, and cost me So. l
bought it from an old man, native canoe
maker, who is the grandfather of two little Vey
boys. who are my godchildren. Their names
are John F. Guyana and Ralph P. Guyana.
My nearest competitor is fifty miles east, at Mon
rovia; next nearest, three hundred miles west,
at Sierra Leone none south at ALL and the near
est north is on the Mediterranean coast"
The Doctor has sent over box of cnrios, con-
- lrraixaa L..