The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-06-28
NEGRO TRIBAL DESCENT.
nru or JUDGE sPEER's STATE
;" MENrRECOGNIZED.

..m. of Them sprA"g fr"" the Degraded
'O~ rr,bes. and Others from the
a Gentle and Kindly Races.
oI of the metropolitan newspa-
oO ra"., recognized the truth OF Judge
pes pa, statement IN his Mercer address
SpeV, .Sare are great differences among
tea 'nu due doubtless 70 differences
Os n I descent, some of them spring.
10 "' from the degraded African tribes
lnE others from the more gentle and
emu, .ha ccu,se of an editorial discus
IL oorirmatory of this view, the New
S,op VV Snn quotes from Captain Canot
lo " other slave traders to show that the
anu Want Given to their human cargoes
lanended upon the nature OF the iFeight.
us sF'nors Loading on the Angola coast,
,o 'a,S would not think of putting
w iVans an the slaves, who were of a mild
ll pa a n nature, and revolt among
alu was almost unknown. But slaves
. .n',a north of the Cola Coast were
snardpd with great vigilance, for they
uarA 'tTeaCh6rOuS uoN'los "n" ''O
moro known where they 0VerpoWered
and killed the crew and ran the ship
,sbore before 1t had got out OF African
~a,or, ~ Those taken from the neigh
& Sorbood of the present republic of Libe-
5 w we're probably of this latter variety,
tnr an old native of that country told
Hsbon Turner (colored) that his people
we're superior to the American negroes,
inasmucn as the latter had been sold to
I tbo whites in order that the necessity of
Atcnttng their throats' might be avoids
+. ID for this "would have Eeen done if
tbey had not been sold
anyone who has read the accounts of
y African travellers, such as MungO Park,
livingston. Stanley, and Others, knows
+ that great differences were found among
+ the various African tribes, and it fol-
#lOvs necessarily that there would be
8similar differences in the exported slaves,
these being gathered from wide range
4 of territory. Some tribes are desert bed
as cruel, bereft of all moral sense and
Y exultipg in beastlalities that cannot be-
named. The Bechuanas, IOr Instance,
according to Campbell, have less regard
for the aged than for cattle and leave
them to die in helpless misery. The
y CoranraS expose their old people to wild
beasts they being, as their sons and
daughters say, no longer of any account,
sOnly serving to use up the provisions.
The BISbmen appear to regard fratri>
/ eide as perfectly innocent, the sexes
cOnSOrt together like cattle, and gluttony
4 is looked upon as the acme of earthly
Felicity.
On the other hand we have been
touched by the descriptions OF the kind
y hospitality and amlable characteris'
tiCS of some of the more worthy tribes.
Ftll others com bine good and bad quail
lies in an extraordinary way. Some of
be braveSt and most energetic, and who,
& The way, live true to one wife, are
aDnbas, regularly converting their
aD enemies into jerked meat.
ltmay be added that, although some
the negroes brought to America were
naoh superior to others, the popular
da of the old-time abolitionists that
heY were freemen torn from happy
ZONES is far from the truth. 1t is
oaOttul if this was so in more than a
onparatively few cases. According to
lung Park, who about hundred years
3 travelled a thousand miles inland
ON the coast of Africa, in various
Gnntrics he visited quite two-thirds OF
people we're slaves. The majority
ere slaves born, but new additions to
est OK were from time to time taken
war, and even these for the most
aH had known servitude For the slaves
~ went into battle, and being less we'll
ued and loaded with baggage were
y !. more easily captured. In all these
lvtS The institution of slavery dated
oH remote antiquity, and in almost
Wv case it was these descendants of a
" VASaved for centuries who were
ieu down in coff1es to the coast and
aph