The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-15
PEASANT LIFE IN AFRICA
BY HENRY M. STANLEY.

To behold the full perfection of Afri- can manhood and beauty, one must visit the regions of Equatorial Africa, where one can view the people under the cool shade of plantains, and amid the luxu- riant plenty which those lands produce. The European traveller, after noting tine great length and wondrous greenness of the banana fronds. the vastness of their stalks and the bulk and number of the fruit. the fatness of the soil and it's in- exhaustible fertility, the perpetual spring-like verdure of the vegetation, and the dazzling sunshine, comes to mo- tice that the inhabitants are in fit &C., cord with these scenes, and as perfect of their kind as the bursting ripe mellow bananas hanging above their heads.
 Their very features seem to proclaim, ''we live in land of butter and wine and funesss, milk and honey, fat meads and valleys" The vigor of the soil, which knows no Sabbath, appears to be infused into their veins Their beaming, lustrous eyes-restless and quick glanc- ing-seem to have caught the rays of the sun. The bronze colored bodies, vel- vety smooth and unctuous with butter, their swelling sinews, reveal the hot, lus- ty life which animates them. Let me try to sketch one of these robust people, Kopi. or peasant, of Uganda, at home.
 Were 1t not for one tning Iu might be said that the peasant of Uganda realizes the ideal happiness all men aspire after and would be glad to enjoy. He may be indolent if you please, but not so indo- lent as to be unmindful of his own in- terests. For his gardens are thriving, h lie r,Ia uta h covered with grain. Ills house has just been built and needs no repairs. and the fenced courts round 1t are all in good condition Roll the curtain up and regard him in his surroundings
 He steps forth from his hut, a dark brown colored man, in the prime and vigor of manhood, a cleanly. decent crea- ture, dressed after the custom of his country, in a clay colored robe of bark cloth, knotted at the shoulder and de- pending to his feet-apparently con- tented. nay. an extremely happy man. for a streak of sunshine having caught his face we have a better view of 1t, and are assured 1t reflects a delicious contentment. He saunters to his usual seat near the gate of the outer court, above which a mighty banana towers, shading it with its far reaching fronds.
 In the foreground. stretched before him. is his garden which he views with
 
 eral plats, with curving paths between. In 1t grow large sweet potatoes, yams, green peas, kidney beans, some crawling over the ground, others clingtng to sup porters, field beans, vetches and toma- toes The garden Is bordered by castor oil, manioc coffee and tobacco plants On eithr side are small patches of mill lets, sesamum and sugar cane. Behind the house and courts and unfolding them, are the more extensive banana and plan tain plantations and grain crops, which furnish his principal food. and from one of which he manufactures his wine and from the other his potent pombe Inter spered among the bananas are the um- brageous fig trees, from the bark of which he manufactures his cloth. Be- yond the plantation Is an extensive tract left for grazing for the common use of his own and his neighbors' cattle and goats.
 It is apparent that this man loves privacy and retirement, for he has sur rounded his own dwelling and the huts of his family--the cones of which are just visible above-with courts inclosed by tall fences of tough cane. While we leave the owner contemplating his gar den, let us step within and judge for ourselves of his mode of life.
 Within the outer court we come to a small square hut sacred to the genius of the family, the household Muzimu This genius. by the dues paid to him, seems to be no very exacting or ava ricious spirit, for the simplest things, such as snail shells molded balls of clay, certain compounds of herbs, small bits of juniper wood and hartbeest horn, pointed with iron and stuck Into the earth, suffice to propitiate him.
 Proceeding from the outer court we enter the inner one by a side entrance, and the tall. conical hut, neatly con structed, with it's broad caves over shadowing the curving doorway. which has a torus, consisting of fagots of cane, running up and round It, stands revealed.
 It Is of ample circumference. and cozy. On first entering we find 1t Is rather tral management is friendly arrange ment with tho Rookefellers and that he