The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-01
A STRANGE AFRICAN PEOPLE
INTERESTING CHfRICTERIS-
 TICS
Of the Inhabitants of Mendiand in West Africa-TheIr Unique fys:em oi Exchange.

Exchange.
 Strange and interesting are the poly
 gamous people of Mcndland which, as
 more persons ought to know than do' IS in West Africa. Some are Pagan, some
 are Mohammedan. and all are coming
 under Christian influence. They re-
 garded the hut-tax as an unpleasant absurdity. To them it seemed like an obligation to pay rent for your own freehold. Moreover, the chiefs were very sore because, in abolishing siaF- cry. We did not compensate them TOT their slaves, which were worth &z head. Those two causes Of dlsconteht led to the bloody outbreak of 1898. The | people are now slowly adapting them | selves to our rule.
 These and other facts (writes one or 1 our representatives) were imparted to | me by the Rev. James Proudfoot. who organizes missions in the country, and | has taken pains to understand the peo- pIe. He says they rouse themselves | from sleep at the dawn, which takes place suddenly. But they do not al- | ways retire to rest at the equally ab- rupt ending of the day, when nightjars and crickets begin to sing. If the | weather be fair, and the moon show | ing, the chief and his family will | finger awhile around the fires in his | great open shed. Maybe they will chew some snuff. but they can be compan- | ionable without drinking. As for eat 1 ing, they don't turn that necessity into
 a social function Chief and servants, | all will dip into one bowl of rice, which
 may or may not be favored with water l in which little river fish have been boil l ed Yet, of course, strong drink is ac- | cessible to them. They are possessed of evil spirits-gin in particular-provided | by the commercial white man. Yet it l seems we have it not upon our con- sciences to have taught these people the deceptive delights of getting drunk, | They have their own palm wine, which, when you drink it in the morning, fresh l from the tree, is an innocent beverage l enough; but any left in a vessel will so
 rapidly ferment that by the evening it
 will have acquired the power to rob man of his wits.
 I A IlhGtpCLllE piCGC lS ttlG lSNtSk NOlAi | of the country. Tobacco leaves stand | for a bronze currency. One leaf is of 1 the value of halfpenny, and halves | and quarters of these leaves are vehi-
 cles of exchange. The country is policed | by constables and superstitions, the latter being the more effective | guarantors of law and order. The own
 CT of rice, trees, goats, poultry, etc, | decks them with charms which, it is | generally believed, will insure the iden- | tification or death of him or her who
 steals those properties. To provide | against the contingency of an enemy coming to sow weeds where rice has been sown. mysterious talisman is | buried in the ground, and covered with sand. that the rains shall not wash it
 away. With all these occult forces arr
 rayed against them, persons of evil dis | position deem it prudent to assume the
 honesty they lack.
 MT. Proudfoot gave a good illustra-
 ton of the practical utility of such su | perstitions. You must know" said | he, that the ownership of land is for
 the most part vested in the chiefs who
 hold it on behalf of their families. But | the palm trees-which yield the palm | kernels, or kola nuts-are common
 property. of which the plundering was
 regulated by the principle of first come | first served. But 1t was found that. in
 their eagerness to secure an advantage
 over their neighbors, people would of ! ten gather the kernels before they were | ripe. which involved a great loss of
 wealth. So the Porroh Society met, and 1 decided that a stick covered with moss
 should be placed upon or beneath every
 tree until a given date and they let it
 be known that dread penalties would
 overtake any one who gathered kernels from tree so protected These moss
 covered sticks have proved complete
 protection"
 | MT Proudfoot is impressed by the de- l sira ability of respecting a certain of the native beliefs. This point also he illus
 trated by a narrative. "The revolution 1 of 1S9S," he remarked, "broke out in the ] adjoining country of Timanneh, and I was in Mendi at the time. There was
 no doubt in my mind that the trouble l would spread to our people, They were 1 sulky, and would not supply our mis- | sion with fowls, goats or other provs- ions. So, in order to obtain food, went out with gun to shoot birds, One | morning I hied me to a pool, where pigeons were wont to congregate. But four widows were bathing in the pool.
 and they had scared away the birds. I
 ought to mention that when a man dies l his wives cover their bodies with mud i as sign of widOWhood, and at the end
 of three months they wash off the mud,
 and are divided among the family of
 their late husband. Well, failing to find | any pigeons, l ate some fruit of the
 rubber vine to appease my hunger, and
 then wandered through the bush in
 search of something to shoot for break
 fast Presently I heard a waterfall and
 thinking that would be a good place for
 pigeons, I was about to enter a path
 leading in the direction of the sound,
 when was restrained by the native
 boy who accompanied me. He pointed
 to a charm that hung on a tree, and
 said it's meaning was that any man who
 went down that path would die, as the
 waterfall was used as a bathing place
 by women. The ordinary English trad
 or would have laughed at the supersti-
 tion, and passed down the path-at
 least, if he had been as eager as was
 to shoot pigeons. Had I done so, my
 native boy would have had ocular 7emOnstratio that death did not result