The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-03-31
An Old-TiInc Negro Dance.

From George w. Cables illustrate
paper, in the February Century, accom-.
panied by the music of the Creole
dances, we quote the following: at was
weird one. The negro OF colonial
Louisiana was Il most grotcsuuc figure.
He was nearly naked. Often his neck
and arms, thighs, shanks, and splay
feet were shrunkcn, though, sincwy like
q monkeys. Sometimes it was scant
diet and cruel labor that had made them
SO. Even the requirement of law was
only that@e should have not less than
barrel of corn-nothing clsc,-a
month, nor get more than thirty .lashcs
to the twcnty-fOur hours. The whole
world was cruclcr those times than now;
we must not Judge them by our own.
'Oftcn the slaves attire was only O
cotton shirt, or Il pair of pantaloons
hanging in indecent tattcrs to his naked
waist The bond-woman was well clad
who had on rs much as II coarse chemise
and pctticoat. To add Ggnom--a Mad
ras handkerchief twisted into Il turban
was high gcntility, and the number
of kcrchicfs beyond that one was the
measure of absolute wealth. Some were
rich in hgnonS; especially those who
served within the house, and pleased the
mlstrcss,or even the mastcr-therc were
llagars in those days However, Congo
Plains did not gather the housc-servants
SO much as the 'ficld-hands. :"
These came in troops. See them;
wilder than gypsics; wilder than the
Moors and Arabs whose strong blood
and features one sees ut u glance in so
many of them; gangs-as they arc called
gangs and gangs of them, from this
and that and yondcr direction; tall,
wcll.knit Scncgalcsc from Cape Verde,
black as ebony, with intelligent, kindly
eyes and long, straight, shapcly noses;
Mandingocs, from the Gambia River,
lighter of color, of crudcr form, and q
cunning that shows in the countcnancc;
whose cnslavcmcnt seems specially a
shame, their nation the merchants of
Africa, dwelling in towns, Industrious,
thrifty, skilled in commerce and hus-
bandry, and expert in the working of
metals, even TO silver and gold; and
Fouahs, playfully miscallcd 'Pouiards,'
fat chickens, of goodly stature, and
with pcrccptible rose tint in the
checks; and Sosos, famous warriors,
deXtcrous with the African large; and
in contrast to these, with small ears,
thick eyebrows, bright eyes. fiat, up
turned noses, shining skin, wide mouths
and white teeth, the negroes of Guinea,
true and unmiXcd, from tho Gold Coast,
the Slave Coast, and the Cape of Palms
not from the Grain Coast; the En-
glish had that trade. See them come!
Popocs, Cotocolics, Fidas, Socoes, Ao-
was, short, copper-colorcd Nlines-what
havoc the slavcrs did makc!-and from
interior Africa others equally proud and
warlikc; fierce Negroes and Fonds; taw-
ny AwasSas; lbocs, SO light-colorcd that
one could not tell them from mulattoes
but for their national tattooing; and the
half-civilzcd and quick-witted but fc-
rocious Amanda, the original Voudou
worshipcr. And how many more! For
here come, also, men and women from
all that great Congo ast,-Angola,
Malimbc, Ambricc, etc, small good
naturcd, sprightly boys and CAV gar
rulons gals, thicklippcd but not tat
TODD; chatterng, challrring, singing and
guilawing rs they come; these are they
for whom the dance and the place arc
named, the most numerous sort of ne
gro in the colonies, the Congocs and
anc.Congocs, and though serpent
worshipcrs, yet the gcntlcst and kind
licst natures that came from Africa.
Such was the company. Among these
doSSdiS that is, native Africans-thcrc
was, of course, an cvcrgrowing number
of negroes who proudly called them
selves Creole negroes, that is, born in
America; and IT the present time there
is only here and there an old native
African to be met with, vain of his sin
gularity and trembling on his s..,fl. g"