New-York tribune., 1896-01-19
THE AFRICAN.
WHAT a RECENT OBSERVER THINKS ABOUT HIM.
Mary Kingsley in The London Observer.


Mary Kingsley. in The London Observer.
No one is more convinced than that the
African inferior 10 the English. French.
German and Latin races but as the accounts OF
accounts, do not like TO tA.nk nave done any
''iiS do not place him below the other coiored races
possibly because ! have never ived among nor at
sibly because have lived among and attempted TO
understand the Africans Certainly the so-cailei
Hamit.c races have never produced an even four
teenth-rate sculpture picture. chine tool. pece
of Goth pottery: neither have they ever risen
sS 1se and perHonay to the
point of evaporation. with their cryptic. eompli,
Gated ways of communicating Ideas with strings OF
cowries and pieces OF leaf and stick Only the other
day had to steer sonfse win dh cnht maas 0r
the size of the villages was to pass through and
placed at intervals that denoted the distance be-
DO not say d.d well with that char, bu; hive
t tbese nsenons m devices s do not equa the ro
writing Of the South Americans, the pictures the red
Indian paints on raw e.khide and are Infinitely
be.ow those spirited sporting sketches OF mammoth
hunts. etc. left us by the cave men,
means so srikingy inferior as he Is in handicraits;
he has both a sense OF justice AMI honor not much
course Of Christian teaching bl, it there and II
you know the way, you can rous. II. and make II
ana patience he compares favorably with any set
Of human beings. The worst of his personal sins
anything u do in defnito up-to-tme way. for he
IS happy and industrious when under good white
fai. TO have noticed the Kro) boys singing and
dancing and laughing over their often heavy work.
The cooper and the carpenter. and their fellow
countryman from Accra. the cook. are far happier
than the Africans the bush-yea. even the cook.
whose consc ence should be burden 10 him ac-
count OF the manslAughters he has committed with
hs abiding greasiness.
OF course you Will point out their customs; but
must say in spite OF what have heard and seen.
that do not consider the West African cruel. one
must remember that In their culture there are no
prisons. or hospitals. warehouses;. no regular
police force etc In the matter OF their sicr!nca.
rites think should try and understand the
underlying IDEAS before one thinks harshly. The
feeling. for example. regarding the Importance of
burla rites IL quite Greek in its intensity. Given a
duly educated native of the Niger Delta sure
would grasp the true inwardncss OF his Alcestis
far and away better than any living Eurorein can.
To provide proper burial for dead relative means
to them providing for that relative happy after
life and TO do Is the surviving negro's greatest
duty. Its only rival in mis- mind Is the desire 10
avoid having funera. for himself: and even this
PASSION goes under IN the mind of good negro and
he wi risk his own lfe to carry out what he con-
siiers "a his duo - the dead even when ne Is We'll
aware that the Killing Of slaves VIII mean hang ing
for him when them big Consul knows Of II.
The greatest horrors the cOas, arise out OF the
belief IN wtchcraft. federation mears Indifference
with all men. | believe: and the negro and Hantli
not Indifferent about their subjects