The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-06-05
IN MOSQUITO.
COVER TENT AFFAIRS AND
CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
a HiueticIds FesncrnI With No Chief
NOurners and Curious Religious
ltiteS-A Dutch Privateer Used t,sa
PrOvvI Around the COasts--A ssssssss
oceniTy Monarch. azSRszTe.as "a

Monarch or VI -SQultia II his own estimation
declared the religion Of this coast to be that
OF the established cnurch G! England. it must
be confessed TO this day religion OF any sort
Is At the lowest ebb. The established church
does not appear TO have made any spscia! eff
fort toward bringing the natives into Its
arjstCcrat!c .fold-prcbab.y because too busy
with things Temporal, in the line Of securing
the rubber and mahoganysof this fertile strip,
t. have time for spiritual concerns From
time to time in the past dissenting ministers
have attempted TO diss animate their doctrines
In Mosquito: but as they meyer faund favor
with the British Ulcers and agents who ruled
the coast they were soon frozen out" in
spite of the climate. 1t Is related that not
many years ego good Methodist brother
from the United States succeeded in establish
Ing sort OF Church in B.uefields; at any "a te
ne nlred room and secured the attendance
o! two resident American fsmi!ies-not so
much for the sake Of their critic dox souls as
10 puck the natives as brands from the
burning. But not a native came near enough
10 be pucked; until finally the minister in =
dGced few Of the leading Sambos to attend
divine worship by giving to each stiff glass
OF grog beforehand and promising another
after the benedicton. So successful was
this arrangement that they came with chez r.
ing regularity Sunday after Sunday and the
MINISTER'S hopes were high. A, length one
Saboatn afternoon a considerable number OF
natives locked il-at the instigat ton, as after
"afH deVe.oped, OF some jocuar English man.
"ho assured them thai spiritual consolation
Sout or bottie) would be administered before
ana AFTER But il happened, unfortunately.
Shat the worthy isscIarys demiiohn wa s
exhausted, and NO miracle was wrought like
unto mat OF the widows cruise of or, Ha
sousht 10 compensate for the deficiency by
pf
fat:ered himself that he was nroGuciny a
fasting impression. His discourse howe var
was suddenly inte rrup:eG by one CT the chie:s
VINO arose and indignantly exclaimed "AN
FAX! NO grog-no good!' and stalked awav
1o.-CWed by the entire native audience With
''SPonsNe erun.s. NO sTUg-no good"
BIueGelds Funeral.
slrce that day the increased American clio:
Hent has made some little Improvement in
means or grace for the community; but as
c!as' the SaMbos are yet strongly attached
10 'nelf Cld-tlme heathenish r:tes-half Afri-
caa'half lndian-in which Jamaisa rum feurcs
conSbicuously. countryMan of ours, who
C,, h.uene!os few years ago, tells OF
lun' raj which took place at small settle
mem not lar up the river. He was the guest
OF ti'e EngllshMan who at that time was The
power behind the throne" the real ruler
OF Mosqultla. with black K ing for figure
hean 70 the ship of state. They rowed up the
- ri
With men and women bound for the funera,
all dressed in their brightest, laughing, shout
ing, ana eXerting themselves TO the utmost
IN the race to arrive first at the scene Of
woe Inc village was little group of huts
Set close to shore shaded by palm and hrood
fruit trees. A crowd Of Sambos were co1-
lected on The bank, and the monotonous heat
filed the air relieved by an occasional deep
blast on an enormous hollow pipe,
which sounded like the distant bel
loving OF an OK. At regular intervals this
alleged music ceased for a moment, and the
brief pause was filed by distant wailings,
10" end indescribably mournful-probably
like those which murdered Sleep for us
throughout our first night in Bluehelds-to be
quickly drowned by the mOnotOnGus drum and
pipe. Pushing their way to the center of the
group on shore, they saw small pitpan, cut
in half, in one part Of which lay corpse,
wrapped in cotton cloth. 1t was that of
midd.e-aged man, and was terribly dsf1gured
by the lOathsome disease here known as bulpis
"a species of ,eprosy which Is very prevalent
along this coast and with the aid Of rum is
rapidly thinning out the native population.
No Chief Mourncrs.
Around the pitpan stoOGa number Of women
with palm bra ches in their hands, which they
waved in fruitless efforts to keep off the flies
tina; swarmed over the dead man. Their fritz
zledI hair stood out from their heads like the
snakes on the brow Of the tabled Gorgon, and
they waved their bodies to and fro, keeping
q kind Of treadmlll step to the measure of the
do!eful ium-tum.
With the exception, OF these women and
the men who beat the drum and blew
tho pipe, nobody appeared to take
the slightest interest In the corpse,
the rest gayly chattering with one another,
or playing their usual gambling game, which
is something like our quots, while few
were actually asleep under the trees. Sud-
denly four men, entirely naked except for a
loin cloth and daubed all over with variously
colored clays, rushed for one OF the huts,
hastily tied bit Of rope to the piece Of pitpan
containing the cadaver, and dashed away
toward the woods dragging it after them
like sledge, humping and bounding over
roots and other distractions and occasionally
almost snatched from its moor'ngs by some
lnslstent vine. But on they rushed, pell
NELL as If the demons of darkness we're In
hot pursuit, closely followed by the Gorgon-
headed women and the men with the drum
and foghorn, each keeping time as best he
could while the spectators hurried after one
Of them carving the emDtv half of the nit
pan on his head. like helmet. Into the thick
est of The jungle they penetrated til a
comparatively Gear place was reached, COW
cred with low, dark underbrush. Here shall
low trench was waiting into which the hall
boat containing the corpse was placed and
the other half inverted over it. Then the
women threw in their PAIN branches. and the
painted negroes rapidly filled in the earth
While this was going on other men were
collecting sticks and palm branches, with
which little hut was quickly built over
the rew-made grave. In the hut was placed
an earthen vessel full Of water; the dea(
mans turtle spear was stuck deep into the
ground near his head. and a fantastic fel,oN
with an Cd musket discharged three or foul
rounds over the spot to scare away an!
evil spirits that might be proving near.
Curious Religious Rite.
Then the crowd surged back to the village
as hastily as they came, where the painted
patlbearers seized some heavy machete:
and, without an instant's loss of time, cul
down all the palm trees that surrounded tn
hut their dead comrade had occupied. Th
WAS done as silently and quickly as possible
and when finished the men ran down to tn,
river and plunged out Of sight IN the water
kind OF lustration, or purifying process
deemed of the utmost Importance afte
such service had been rendered. Why tn
teriss of religion The natives do no
know why it must be done, except that it wa
practiced by their ancestors in Africa, VIII,
also planted q cocOanut tree upon the brit
tf every child, but the rest of the ceremon,
is easily explained. The Sambos believe tina
death results from the influence of demo
called Wulasha, who, ogre.ike, feeds upo,
corpses. To secure their dead friends from
this horrible fate it is necessary to lull tn
demon to sleep ard then steal away the bod
and bury it, after which 1t will be safe
That accounts for the drowsy drum and tn
drcptng pipe and the SLOW, soothing dance Q
the -Women-for .@..W9lasha". is-very fond o