The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-03-22
the ages that have blndly staggered into

over the dark bosom OF Africa, which pull
safes silently and forever in the flow of
den heart:
Domestic slavery has existed, no doubt,
since EsaU sold his birthrght to Jacob,
and on to Congo today we have the strange
sight of one brother selling another
The elder brother is the nfunni or chief
of the younger brethren, and must be con-
suited by them and treated with Difference
until they reach years Of discrehon-a
term synonymous with taking unto them
selves of wives.
Fathers and mothers don't count I have
known q case where strong minded mem
Der of certain family sold off all the rela-
tives he could lay his hands on, until at
scattering survivors of the clan gathered
together from the outlying districts and
put the head of the family Che had OBJ
tanned that height by success in sales of
senior claimants) up, to public auction
He was knocked down for quite a small
sum, and so he went to join the great ma
jority-of his relatives.
Petty theft, when detected, renders the
culprit liable to be sold as a slave by the
person robbed.
If the theft be peculiarly revolving one,
such as by breaking into hut, to rob the
absent owner of the slowly accommodating
pile of cloth that was to have been the
means of purchasing unto himself a wife,
then justice. may not deem herself righted
until the offender has been done to death
Burying alive after the limbs have been
all broken, leaving the head only above
ground is favOrite punishment for q
crime Of such magnitude.
nossl9y because SO common for the
may be the bondsman of tomorrow. Afri-
can domestic slavery entails on its victims,
few of the horrors usually associated with
it in the public mind at home
The Congo slave, owned by the most ex-
acting OF masters, would open his eyes in
horror and amazement at the lot of the So
called free. toilers in the east end of Lon
don, Or elsewhere through the worlds
great centers of civilization Should he
work for his master he must be paid, even
forced to perform mental duties at his
owners will His servitude consists in
the fact that where his master lives, there
must be dwell also, and if fighting is to he
done or public .nalavcrs TO be attended in
state, he must by swelling his lords trian,
add to its strength or Importance.
Ills wife IS his-his children his-though
always slaves-pOssibly his wives, for he
may be clever and active and by keen trad
ing have arnssed more wealth than his
spectacle il q lower Congo village TO find
the chief q mere cipher, and the real
openly exhibited authority, entirely in the
hands of one Of his slaves.
By far the e. most important native, per
sonage from Stanley Pool to the Atlantic
ocean is Mokito of Ngombe, not only in
actual wealth of ivory and of European
goods amassed by its sale to traders, but
in men, gu2s and personal influence.
His village is large and well built, his
own house of substantial European
planks, the only one of its kind possessed
by q Congo native, save that of the king Of
San Salyador--and Nglere Nallito sallics
forth to fight ncighboriug potontates treln-
BILE in their shoes-or would do if they
Two miles from NTakito's town residos--if
he is not yet dead-the fraiI, half-blnd old
chief of the Ng0mbc district, Lutcte-com-
paratiyely unknown, exercising but little in
fluence outside his immediate family cir
learn how the world joys along without
him, or to gather among the newsm0ng6rs
the latest exploit Of the mighty MakitO
Wonder trembling old man, who crawls
out of his hut to sit in the dust at Lutete's
door--and claps his hands in token of ale
glance as the chief energies from the hut
to seat himself on the leopard mat III the
shade of the oyerhanging eavcs-yondor old
man, the bowed scrvitor Of Lutete is the
father Of Makit0 who thus by all Congo law
owes homage and service to his master,
Lutcte.
And so in the sunshine and still calm of
the burning African noon the hereditary
chief of Ngonbe surrounded by the strag-
Cling nuts OF MS wives ana dependents.
sits on his door mat and judges the
we9llty question of whether his plantans
arc sufficiently boiled or if his fattest wife
cook has put enough pepper pods into his
moomba broth of fish and beans
and the fowls hover round on
agile legs to await their turn at the frag-
mentary remnants Of the mcal--Whilc
lean paIiah or two shifts and snarls round
the corners Of the hut-and over all bro0ds
the sleepy silence Of an unutterable la2j
ness and impoteutiality to move the world
of men who surround this incarnate con-
ccption of Il roi faineant.
As the heavy evclidS close over tho
sleepy eyes and Luteto sinks into his daily
after dinner nap, q column Of smoke rises
up over that distant hilltop across the
vallcy-its crown Of palm trees is botted
out by the rolling cloud that grows
through Though at this distance the
eye so stepped i'll sweltoring sunshine can
scarce decide if those red, shifting patches
be flames indeed.
Soon the palm trees show out against
The clearing horizon, and the flames may
now be seen racing and pouring through
the long grass across tie nciglboring
plateau; and by evening a blackenod patch
on which the smOuIGeYing trees stand mp
bare and shriyoled. alone marks wherein
the morning had nestled mid It's palms
Tie pretty village Of Nknondo burnt as
Nuuda and half score Of others had
bccr to appcase the wrath Of the slave
NJ; Iito! ROGER EASEMENT,
TRANSPORT Agent Congo Free State