The Portland daily press., 1896-04-04

portions of the surrounding country those
not of Dahomey came. One of them
Zuma, stated that she was from Moandi.
and was captured first by L'Acosta (prob.
ably the name of raiding chief) and
sold twice before shipment. Others call
themselves Teoki, and say they came from
the mountains north of Dahomey, and
were captured In raid by the chiefs of
that country. Another, Maun Polee who
says she was nineteen at the time she was
brought to this country. and who differs
from all the others, says she was Attarco
(query, 'Tauriek ')and ca1ne 'long way
from Dahomey,' probably from the vioin-
ity of Lake Tchad.
In former years most of them looked
up to one woman, said to have been the
wife of chief, as kind of queen or head
woman, and now one old Dahoman
named Peter Gooltah is regarded as head
man, together with Cudjoe, both of whom
are shrewd but oomioal Individuals who
must have been men in middle life when
brought tver. Peter still
HAS A WARN SPOT
in his heart for his native land. In reply
to question as to which country he pre-
| ferred he replied 'Dahomah,' repeating
his answer three or four times This was
echoed by one of the women, who added
:" In Dahomah lam all free, no payee
any tax, go wu'k any lam you want; no
body else wu'lz'
"When reminded of slave raids, she said,
| oh, no catchee ALL seeming to entertain
the feeling sit was by bad luck
| 'When / informed Peter of the Dahom-
ey village at the Chicago Exposition he
expressed surprise, exclaiming, Who
catcheep He fatty refused to credit the
stories of French victories over the forces
of the king.
:" No. no, no man whip Dahomah.
Got 'em too much men, got 'em too
much fight women. No man whip
Dahomah, said he.
'sPeter wears belt of tattooing around
his waist elaborately put on. Some of the
others have hits of tattooing on their
| faces and arms. Yuma wears huge
| crescent on her face across the nose from
cheek to cheek, made by the knife of her
father in early girlhood. One mans
cheeks are SCARED by horizontal lines
parallel about two inches in length, and
a woman has bracelet on each wrist
done by herself before capture. Others
of the original band are more or less
marked, but none to any great extent.
'While not indulging in much of the
| extravaganza
IN COLORS IN DRESS
so characteristic OF the colored sisterhood
in general, most of those l saw at church
| were fully as well dressed as are the ma
jority of laboring people, white or black,
in their locality, and most of them had
in their appearance and surrounding an
air of substantial physical we'll being
none TO common among the laboring
class of that country.
LAS drove up to the gates of the en-
closure surrounding their church on the
Sabbath afternoon appointed for the
meeting with them the sonorous voice of
| the preacher in the midst of his sermon
| fell upon my ear. He was not weak
lunged nor troubled with any bronchial
affection. For nearly an hour we waited
while he in thunder tones dwelt upon the
Nervousness of disrespect to the Holy
| Spirit, or, as he expressed it, 'foolin' wild
de Holy Ghost Now he pleaded with
| the hearers, anon he held up before them
tho terrors of the punishment of broken
laws and unkept promises of better life.
There was less of boisterous response than
is usually heard under similar exhorta-
tions in congregations of the race, and
the chanting OF the Lords Prayer by the
congregation at the close of the service
was really fine and touching in its soft
melody, though somewhat marred by
one woman who insisted on striking one
noto at the end of the line an octave
higher than did any one else. In con-
yersation with the preacher, held after
the services, he stated that there were be-
tween
THIRTY AND FORTY OF THE ORIG
INAL ONES
left who were mem bers, and that the Sab
bath school numbered about sixty child
rem
80 heavy rain falling till near sunset
prevented personal inspection of much
of the village, though by detaining the
people at the church it gave opportunity
for observing good views of groups and
for conversations with individuals. They
tUld us, as had heard from othev SOURCES.
the story of the ocean passage, with it's
ffty-fiy days of wonder, doubt, and fear.
of the enforced hidings in the canebrakes,
the first assignments to labor in the
woods, fields, &C., all of which was COR
federated by information from white
sources They spoke of their importer as
being kind, but others hint that even
the overseer was not free in furnishing for
any dereliction Of duty after he had seen
one demonstration of their fear of the
lash.
Nothing could be learned regarding
the practice or non-practice of any etich
or voudou rites Ii done at all they are
done with the utmost secrecy. When first
imported they are said to have buried