Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-03-28
sAvAoEs WHO ARE clvlLIzeo.
African Natives who Have y Notion Of the
Arts and Sciences.

SAVAGES ; WHO ARE CIVILIZED.
African Natives who Have notion Of the
Arts and Sciences.
Most people think OF the natives Of
tropical Africa as naked savages. ysith-
out any Of the resources OF civilization,
said an ex-missionary. hut 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
smelters of iron and workers in gold
and silver. They are also tanners of
leather and weavers OF cloth. and they
make an infinite variety of domestic
articles. The Makolos are excellent
wood carvers, the Djours are skillful
iron workers, and the Bechuanns are
good metal workers, fur drcsscrs 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
unenviable reputation, are accorded a
very respectable position in Industrial
artisanship. Glass making is not known
among them. They make cloths of
cotton and many other textiles, and
their dyes of blue red and yellow owe
their peculiar richness to native color
ing substances. Tanning they also un-
derstand. and they obtain salt from
sea water by evaporation.
Among the tributaries of the White
Nile at Sahara aud Benghieh the tribes
of natives, as white as Europeans, have
oval faces and silky hair. In Dahomey
public prostitutes were licensed and
the proceeds OF the tax paid ipto the
public treasury long before the prac-
tice was adopted by modern legisla-
lures and considered as radical de-
partnre in modern civilization. Lord
Beaconsficld said of the Zulus: "They
have outwitted our diplomats, outma-
neuvercd our generals, and converted
our missionaries, and yet we call them
savages."
The Mandegnas have attained a con-
siderable degree of cultivation and
knowledge of the common arts Their
musical instruments are the flute.
harp, bell and drum. The Veis of
Liberia having obtained an acquaint-
ance with letters from contact with
Arabs have invented an alphabet
primer of their own language, orig
inal and Independent both of the Ara
bic and English characters This is
the greatest effort ever made by an
African tribe toward the advancement
of culture. The Veis make pens of
reeds and use indigo for ink.
Africa is destined before long to
become the great gold producing con-
tinent of the world. In 1889 il yielded
$500, 900 worth of that metal Last
year il produced about $4,000, 900
worth Of gold. During 1894 the out
put of its gold mines is likely TO equal
the s3G, 900. 600 produced by the United
States
The total expectation Of diamonds
from the Cape of Good Hope, from the
date of their discovery to the present,
has probably exceeded $3.50, 600, 600
The annual expenditure in the digging
for the gems is now 5000, 900, and the
export is limited to 4,5OO,0Oo OF carats
annually, to prevent a depreciation in
price. The Orange Free State has re-
Gently given to the world the largest
known diamond weighing in the rough
go carats, and likely to weigh when
cut 500 carats.
The rum Of the white man is curse
to the natives of Africa. II is esti-
mated that 10000, 900 gallons of spirits
are annually imported into the dark
continent. boston Herald.