The Portland daily press., 1894-03-16
sAvAGEs WHO ARE CIVILIZED.
African Natives Who Have a Notion o
the Arts and Sciences.

"Most people think of the natives of
tropical Africa as naked savages with
out any of the resources of civilization"
said an ex-missionary to Star reporter.
& But the fact is that many of the tribes
are acquainted with not few of the
mechanical arts.
"You are probably aware that the
mining and working of iron have been
understood by the natives of that part of
the world ever since prehistoric times
In Liberia the Mande are smeIJers of
iron and workers in gold and silver.
They are also tanners of leather and
weavers of cloth, and they make an in
finite variety of domestic articles. The
Makolos are excellent wood carvers, the
Djours are skillful iron workers and the
Bechuanas are good metal workers, fur
dressers and architects.
"The Baganidas of Victoria Nyanza do
beautiful work in brass, copper and
ivory On the slave coast the people of
Dahomey, who otherwise possess an I'M
enviable reputation, are accorded very
respectable position in industrial arti-
sanship. Glass making is not unknown
among them. They make cloths of cot
ton and many other textiles, and their
dyes of blue, red and yellow owe their
peculiar richness to native coloring sub
stances. Tanning they also understand,
and they obtain salt from sea water by
evaporation.
"Among the tributaries of the White
Nile, at Sahara and Benghieh, are tribes
of natives as white as Europeans, hav-
c.I Loir Tn
Dahomey public prostitutes were
licensed, and the proceeds of the tax
paid into the public treasury long he
fore the practice was adopted by modern
legislators and considered as radical
departure in modern civilization. LORD
Beaconsfield said of the Zulus: They
have outwitted our diplomats, out
Unanswered our generals, and converted
our missionaries, and yet we call them
savages.'
The Mandegnas have attained con-
siderable degree of cultivation and
knowledge of the common ats. Their
musical instruments are the flute, either
harp, bell and drum. The Veis of
Liberia, having obtained an acqualn-
lance with Arabs, have invented an
alpha betical primer of their own Ian.
guage original and independent noth OF
the Arabic and English characters.
This is the greatest effort ever made by
an African tribe toward the advance
ment of culture. The Veis make pens OF
reeds and use indigo for ink.
"A frica is destined before long to be-
come the great gold produeing Continent dda aat
of.the world. I'm 1889 it yielded IS, 900, 900
worth of that metal. Last year it pro
duced about $25, 0G0, 600 worth of gold.
During 1894 the output OF it's gold mines
is likely to equal the $36, 900, 600 produced
nv the United States.
"The total expectation of diamonds
from the Cape of Good Hope, from the
date of their discovery to t the nd present
annual expenditure in digging for the
gems is now SIS, GOO, 900. and the export
is limited to four and half millions of
carats annually, to prevent a deprecia-
ton in price The Orange Ora Free ,s State Stat,
est known diamond, weighing in the
rough 90 carats, and likely to weigh
when cut 500 carats.
"The rum of the white man is a curse
to the natives of Africa. 1t is estimated
that 10, 900. 900 gallons of spirits are an
nually imported into the dark conti-
nent. "-Washington Star.