The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-03-21

utilize the power of the stone So I
! left the old man with his good-luck
/ spell upon me, and in my left pocket a
! snake skin and frog head. that he
/ forced in my hand as I babe him good
/ by.
But my talk with King Kamo only
! filled me with desire to see more oe
his semi barbarous subjects. Accord
Ingly passed his hut, and continuing
my journey across the sWamps by
/ what was once a fine enough road, but
mad now become a mere bride path,
overgrown and INSTRUCTED by creepers
and trailing vines. Some 500 yards
further on 1 came across a clearing.
around which were gathered a number
OF rude huts. Here in old times had
been the slave quarters belonging to
Governor Aiken, but the governors
slave huts had given way to fimsy
structures OF baked mud and Wattles-
ike nothing in the world so much as
the rude dwellings of Ashanti or Da-
money Children were sprawling in the
open, and there was barely enough
clothing among these dusky babes. as
private Mulvaney has it, to dust a
fife" Some of them, indeed. were all
solutely naked, and when one looked
at the mud huts, the lush growth of
forest around, and these woolly-headed
sprawlers in the foreground it did not
need much imagination to carry ones
fancies back to Africa.
There was smell of cooking in the
village; and noticed that the smoke
escaped from the hutS, not by means of
the modern chimney, but by e. primitive
aperture in each leaf matched roof.
Occasionally, was told, this mode of
egreSS caused the huts to take fire: but
the negroes took the loss of their home
steads quietly, since all that it entailed
was the collecting of mud live wood
and leaves for the construction of new
mansions. Every hut had some sort of
voudoo charm, or fetch, hung before
the slit which served for door; and
sc me villagers, more superstitious than
others, had placed a regular bunch of
these talismans before their homes.
Such of the women as were not busy
cooking, came out for a peep at te
white man., and in its femininity l
saw Jehossa islands real savagery. |
They were all but nude, but the care. !
avoided in the matter of habiliments, |
had been lavished upon the training |
and adjoining of the hair. The average |
height Of these DANES coiffures ex- !
ceeded II inches; and 1 saw one tower
ing specimen which must have almost |
reached to two feet. Here was certainly /
a distinct trace of the return to African |
The women had creased their
lofty hlrsute growth until they shone
and smelt, like Eden Moreover, long
pieces of wood and even thin seashells
were stuck into the coarse, shining
piles of hair after the fashion, now or
recently in existence, of a modern
bellies combs and pins. When / ad-
dressed these poor creatures, they
laughed broadly and answered me
readily enough, but in a dialect which
would have been impossible of under
to northerner or an En-
slisman. In fact, only my long South
Sarolinian experience could have en-
abled me to penetrate the meaning of
he singular patois, only partly En-
5lish, in which the women of the Je-
1ossa swamps held converse with me.
Riding on through the woods. 1 en-
,ountered some of the male villagers.
lttired simply in loose cotton trousers. i
20 ragged that in some cases they
night as well have been dispensed
With altogether, and the merest apol-
'gy for shirts. But, ragged as they
we're, almost every one of them seemed ;
o own q gun and a dog. cad 80 far as
could see, their sole occupation
eemed to be the sharing or Staying of
'ame in the island wilderness. The
zen spoke a slightly better English
han their spouses, presumably because I
most o. them had been to the main
and and conversed more frequently {
With whites and civilized negroes. But !
neir superstition was appalling, as
7as their ignorance.
/ am told, but could not prove the as
ertion, that polygamy exists. or did. ,
ntil quite recently, exist in the swamp
illages OF Jehossa. As regards the ,