Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-03-30

MA, MARCH so, 1890. Il 22.sI 81
|LAB|0RSi AMONG AFRICANS.
REV. PHILLIPS WERNER ON. A. VISIT TO
HIS HOME IN COLUMBIA. !. .5 II
His Field Lies In the Congo Free State-He
Has some Trying Experiences.
..... .,-,... s------- ~ ..,s-st IS -. =
COLUMBIA, March 2O.-Rev. Phil
lips Werner, q son Of ex-Comptroller
General j. s. Werner, who has just
returned from Africa, was seen yes
terday and talked interestingly about
his labors in tho Congo Free State
and the peculiarities of the various
peoples. His work as missionary
brings him in contact with the vari-
Gus tribes, and he stated that it was
almost impossible to find any two
who spoke the same dialect. There
is confusion of tongues, oaoh hav-
ing language peculiar to itself.
The Presbyterian mission where
MIR. Werner is located is at Wiss-
mann Falls, ON the Kasai river. This
is tho only Protestant church in that
section OF the continent. The Cath
olic church has mission about 100
miles away.
The principal tribe in the district
where Mr.. Werner is located il the
Bantu race. The people are of a
moro superior type than their neigh
bors, and are even in higher state
of civilization than is usually accred-
tied to them. There is diversity
of industries and arts, which mani
fest itsclf in the production of the
various Instruments of war and in
works of the smelters of various ores.
A very peculiar industry of this par
ticular tribe is the weaving of the
fibcrs of the palm into cloth. The
principal industry, however, Of the
Bantus is agriculture, which chiefly
comprises the cultivation of fruits.
However,, commerce has recently re-
ceived a great impetus and is rapidly
coming to the front. This consists
principally in the gathering and ship
ping of ivory and rubber, the making
of rubber being tho chief commercial
occupation.
The importation of cotton goods,
especially tho coarser grades, is an
nually increasing. During the past
year the sales amounted to s2,OOO,-
600 to $3,000,000, and there is every
prospect of a brighter future. One
of the peculiarities, vas the custom
of interring their dead with quanti-
ties of cotton cloth, and in this ,"ray,
perhaps, one man would consume
more cloth on the day of his burial
than he would during his entire life.
incidentally speaking, Mr.. Werner
said that, after a careful study of the
question, he believed that the cotton
mills of Columbia could sell their
product at good profit to the trade
of the Congo Free State.
During his labors in Africa, Mr..
Werner has availed himself of the op-
portunity of studying the African
question in oil its phases. lie has
devoted much time to the ethnologi.
cal studies and feels that he has been
greatly benefited by his researches
and observation.
There is also another question
which he has given close attention,
and that pretains to the Pigmies, q
primitive trife with which Mr.. Vcr-
ner has come in contact. There are
about 200 people of this tribe, and
he thinks that this sect is the lowest
type of mankind. They lead gre
garious life and have language of
their own. He has contributed seve-
raj articles to The Spectator on the
mode Of life and the various ocoen-
tricities and peculiarities of this
tribe, and, judging from the COM
monts of American journals, he
feared that these periodicals were
laboring under misapprehension in
regard to his position on tho ques-
tion. lie thought that tho matter
had been scientifically settled beyond
pispute that the Tigmiee were the
most primitive and lowest type OF
mankind extant.
When asked If he had any thrill.
ing personr, experiences to relate
Mr.. Werner replied that he had passed
through some narrow escapes on sew.
erai occasions, referring to his ontrap.
mont in a game pit, the shooting oi
arrows at him and the driving o.
elephants upon him; but he did not
care to 60 in TO minor details just now