Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1890-01-09
THE AFRICAN IN AFRICA.
He Is Not Always Barbarian, But Il Often
Semi-Civilixed.
St. Louis Republie.l

st Louis Republic.
"Many people," said DR.. r. II. Edd,
last night to reporter, "think tn,
African in Africa is a barbarian, but
while some OF them are, the majority
OF them are far from being so. Stan
ley in his travels visited he very worst
CLASSES on the Congo. They are nc
criterians of the Mahometan negroes
but quite the contrary. Africa con
tains l3O, 900 negro inhabitants, out.
side OF the Moors and people OF Arabic
descent. When say negroes I mean
natives with woolly hair. WoolIy hair
is characteristic OF the negro, but the
Hat nose and thick lips are only pc
culiar to them. One OF the finest ma
tions OF Africa is the Foulah, which
number about 10000, 900 souls and
live buck ofcsenegnmbia, occupying a
country 1000 miles north to south
and 1,5OO miles east to west. These
people are all Mahometans and write
their own language in Arabic char
acters, also speaking, reading and
writing Arabic. They are black, with
woolly hair, but have thin, prominent
noses and very thin lips. No Traveller
has ever been in their country since
1850, and what ] know OF them have
learned from Foulahs whom | have
met on the coast. They make their
own guns and gunpOwder, and as fine
leather work as ] ever saw. | have
known English officers to pay as high
as $50 Tor IL pair OF boots made by
them, and they were very beautiful,
being buttOned to above the knee with
silver buttons. In their cities they
build houses two and three stories
high OF adobe and frame. They are
governed by II sultan, and each man is
entitled to four wives. Their cos
TUNES are similar to the Turks. With
Iii their nation they have very large
cities, but as they will not allow
strangers within the borders all that
can be learned Of them is from such
members OF the country as make visits
to the coast and elsewhere. On one
occasion II French army of 700 French
and 1000 mixed soldiers with officers
to invade the Foulah coun.
try and got l41 miles. Only Z sue
cee'ied in getting back.
These people make pilgrimages to
Mecca. "a distance OF $500 miles, to
pay their respects to the great shrine
OF the Mahometans.
"The most beaut iful race of negroes
are the Jaloff. from which the beauti-
iul negroes of Louisiana were brought.
"In Africa polygamy is the rule, and
the proportion of females born Is two
and one-half to one of males. | knew
one African-Ben Mamma. king of the
Eastern Neys-who had OBS wives,
5s4 children and $50 slaves, and
every one of his children resembled
HIM to such an extent that you could
not fail to recognize them after once
seeing the ather.
The white man cannot exist in
Africa. lie will not multiply, and de-
generates under the climate. Again,
t he country is so densely populated
mat there Is no room Tor orlmmigratIon,
yet the soil is so fert lie that it can ac-
rommodate far more people than
America. The natives are too power
W. w w 'oii'Ih'it'tg tt:li SNtIl VI tIllS
were done the result would not he
worth the effort.
The Congo country is not, com
IaratiNely, new country, nor is there
much trade there. The Niger valley,
however. which Is the best in Africa, is
: 600 miles long. very rich, and has
trade amounting to SiO,OOO,OOO IA
year.
Liberia Is Il terrbecountry. Sierra
Leone Is known as the White Mans
Iirave, and Cape Palmas as the coun-
try where white women weep. No
beasts OF burden can live there, not
even "A mule. All die of malaria. The
English army lost | 800 men there in
three months. And while natives
thrive AMI multiply, while everything
produces two crops II year and hens
lay two eggs a day, foreigners die and
are never born To them"