Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-10-03
AFRICA IN A new LlLn |
DR.. SilaS Johnson Describes the
Southern Interior.
STRANGE. UNIQUE PEOPLE FOUND
ical Missionary the German
Possessions In the Heart of the
African Forests Curious Customs
of a Little known Race.


of a Little known Race.
Sea ed about the banquet board al
Levys n Los Angeles. Cal, the mem
beers of he University club a few nights
ago heard strange unique things about
a land ana people with which the world
is very little acquainted. says the St
Louis Post-Dispatch.
DR.. Silas :. Johnson, 9 member Of the
club who spent seven years as a med
ical missionary in the interior of South
Africa. related some of his interesting
observations on the German posses
sions in the heart of African forests
They are not a people like the ne
gro with whom you are acquainted
here he said. Near the coast | have
seen a few resembling the negro you
know. but not many. The people of
South Africa's interior are tall. brown
and muscular. with features sharp ard
intelligent often bespeaking large capa-
bility and astute cunning.
/ 1--WE found them without a written
/ language. They had never seen writ
/ ten character. Indeed necessity for the
written message never manifested it
| self since tribal and intertribal wars
made prolonged absence or distant jour
neying impossible. Few of the people
I of the clans we knew had ever been
I twenty miles away from their native
\ towns. A town would be composed OF
{ half a dozen villages and a village of
/ as many huts containing fifteen or
twenty brown people. They had for the
most part never seen a white man be-
/ fore our coming. They had never heard
of the great outside world that lay be
yond the ocean, which they considered
TO be merely large river. They were
as ignorant of any conception of the
world as were the chimpanzees which
they shot i'll the treetops with their
slender poisoned arrows.
I'VE gave them a written language
of their own as soon as we could de-
wise one. We found them to possess
marvellous memories. This is not to be
wondered at. for they trusted all con-
tracts and all knowledge exclusively
to memory.
Their language is beautiful in its
simplicity and rarely full when you
consider their limited environments.
They employ many fine shades of
meaning where we employ only one.
Especially is this true in expressions
of their sly. cruel tactics of war. Their
words and sentences are short. abrupt
and as clear cut as terse. They have
no law. no government. Dim cen
turtles ago they had kings but as they
moved eastward it came to pass that
the strongest. richest and most astute
ruled by means of material strength
by will and acumen. They have a
traditional respect for the law of
primogeniture and for precedent but
a kings son or a headman's son can
not rule except he possesses that mark
ed ability which makes him natural
leader. They possess keen sense of
justice. as is manifested in their
palavers in the palaver or public meet
ing house which each village possesses.
The men hunt fight and trade. They
trade in rubber. ivory. mahogany and
spices.
ION the shoulders of the women fall
the chief responsibility of livelihood.
They clear little new ground patch.
grow their gardens and prepare the
food which is served to the men in
the palaver houses. All the luxuriant
growth of a tropic forest is theirs. Ba
nanas. pineapples and sweet potatoes
sweet potatoes grow from the banks of
the cliffs and over the houses when not
cut down.
Because the women do all the work
the men who are able to afford them
have many wives. One wife. doctor"
exclaimed a man of my town in sur
prise. No, no: say five at least. Five
might do, but one wife, She could
Oh
could not. for | have known him to
have fifteen and twenty guests for
two months in succession Headmen
have from forty to ninety wives Ev-
cry wife is bought Quaint dogs OF
fox terrier type that they have always
had. sheep with hair as fine as that of
q horse. beautiful goats that are never
MIXED and ali manner Of articles of
trade go into the bargain Quantity
is nothing. variety everything Once
you buy wife she is insured to you
If she elopes. she is returned or re-
placed. If she dies. she is replaced or
your money is refunded Nor do you
take the first girl offered in her stead
unless she pleases you. Satisfaction is
guaranteed. Marriage is abject sIav-
cry. but man must have the goods
with which to buy his wife The girls
are sold at five years Of age Rich old
men buy them up in large numbers.
cornering the market and depriving
young men of wives. This frequently
means trouble. Almost all of their
wars come OF a woman's eiopement or
abduction. They are scrupulous about
marrying any one in the remotest way I.
related TO their clan.
"A male child is made brave by
throwing red pepper in its eyes On
the same principle young men about to
go 10 war are made brave by swallow !
ing live hornets. Only those who are /
NOT hewitched 20 10 Mar These Near !