The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-20

seems to have no bad effect on these
wild negroes, however The very fact
| that the race has thrlved and Increased
| in the two hundred years since 1t was
established, so to speak, proves that the
| negroes are naturally fitted for it. 1t
| should be noted at the same time that
| town negroes, when taken from George
| town or Paramaribo, and put in the
| jungle to work, are subject to malarial
fever, although not nearly to the ex-
| tent to which the malady affects white
men.
The bush niggers fashion canoes out
of tree trunks with great facility, and
these dugouts, when made, are both
serviceable and graceful. AS the only
woods available in the country are
those whose specific gravity Is greater
than that Of water, both canoes and
paddles are very heavy, and the boats
If allowed to fill partially with water
will sink like SO much iron. The most
careful manipulation Is therefore neces-
sary in order to keep the canoes afloat.
The negroes frequently make speed of
from eight to ten miles an hour. 1t Is
difficult to say whether the bush niger
considers his home on the land Or on the
water, for he may be seen at any hour
of the day or night, either padding list
lessly up and down the lagoons, singing
fragments of a weird song, or engaged
in the more serious occupation of
freighting a stick of letter-wood down
to the coast. The letter-wood, one of
the most valuable of the rare woods,
grows abundantly In Suriham, and the
bush niggers, although having little use
for money, are not averse to earning
few gulden by getting out lags of this
and other heavy woods for which there
Is a market and transporting them,
one log at a time, down to the coast,
sometimes O distance of two hundred
miles, in their canoes.
The bush niggers are governed by
chief or governor, as he Is called, who
moves his camp during the course of
the year from one part of the area to
another, and once year pays visit to
the Dutch governor of Surinam, at his
executive mansion at Paramaribo. The
relations of the negro to the Dutch who
govern the colony are very unusual
Once year a large fiat boat or bateau
with a capacity of about four tons Is
brought from the chiefs camp down to
the coast and tied up at one of the piers
near the executive grounds. The chief,
accompanied by all his sub-chiefs, of
whom there are about thirty, receives
from the government officials with great
ceremony donation consisting Of leli-
cacies in the way of provisions, an I'M
n1ense number and variety of print
cloths of loud and brilliant patterns,
fammocks, blankets and other articles,
which though necessities to white men
In the bush, may be considered as lux
uries to these simple savages Ordina-
rily, the bush niggers wear no clothes
except breech cloth, but on the occa-
sion of this state visit to town, all the |
chiefs are resplendent with silk hats !
ana an approximation to white mems |
1ress in other particulars. Their fol- |
overs make a concession to the uses or |
only SO far as to don |!
1ort blanket or shawl In which to pa
-ade the streets of the town. This is
the most startling hue or
combination of colors, and set Off
against the smooth black muscular
arms and legs of the wearers, the cos
ume is one that attracts universal ad-
niration from the town negroes.
The custom of making a yearly dona-
ion to half-wild race Of negroes living
n the interior of its own territory,
seems to resemble very much the pay
ng Of tribute. 1t is likely, however,
hat as the money value Of the gift is