Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-07-20

IN DARKEST AFRICA
The Native Races Of the French Congo
country-Thelr Character, PeoullarItles
..a C,,.Aa...


The eight or nine million natives in
habiting the French Congo are split up |
into about 25 tribes, Isolated one from |
another, and each one OF them quite dis |
tinct in spite of that mingling Of blood |
which is an inevitable resultant Of slavery. |
These tribes differ in their physical
characteristics as widely as they do in
their moral traits. Even in language they
differ so radically from one another that
any one tribe finds great difficulty in un-
derstanding the speech OF its neignbors.
The blacks Of the Congo belong to the
most primitive races in the world. The
influences OF environment and heredity
abundantly account for the extremely
rudimentary character OF their mental and
emotional life Living in small groups in
the midst of exuberant and fertile natural
surroundings the inhabitants of equatorial
Africa find food ready to hand, and have
no fear Of hunger. Fruit abounds, as
do roots, game and fish. The warmth Of
the climate allows them to dispense al
most entirely with clothing, and to find
sufficient shelter within their extremely
simple huts. Satisfying their needs al
most without effort, they have slight in
centives toward work, and besides, the
exhausting heat inclines them toward
| idleness.
For an incalculable number OF centuries
the same forces have been acting upon
these races to render them lazy and al
/
served to strengthen the influence OF en-
! vironment upon the individual. So II
| comes about that the negro may be COM
pared to a little child or even to an
animal. so restricted is his mental life.
| The thing that especially engages his at
| tention is the satisfaction Of his immediate
bodily needs. Physical sensation occupies
| almost the entire field of his narrow con-
| seriousness, leaving no room for reflection
upon the past or for the forward look.
Having no writing, they nave no written
literature, and they are even without claim
to an oral literature. The father never
| imparts to his children any tradition re-
! garding the past history OF their race.
Here and there, though very rarely, GER
tain tribes relate a few very simple
fables The only manifestations Of a de-
light in artistic order are found In their
dances, which are accompanied by vocal
! and instrumental music of an extremely
primitive and monotonous character.
knowledge in the right sense of the word
is as foreign to them as art is.
His naive anthropomorpnism explains
the incidents of life-Such for instance,
as Illness and death-by the malevolence
of human beings. dead or alive. Powerful
sorcerers drive thriving trade In other
folks misfortunes In many tribes the
individual suspected of having caused the
illness or death of a fellow-mortal is re-
quired to drink test poison" which ac-
cording to the effect 1t has upon the sus-
pected individual, reveals his guilt or in
nocence. There are fakirs who make
business of preparing these test poisons
and who also prescribe remedies against
such calamities as illness or accident.
They even go so far as to show by their
magic rites how a good harvest or a fine
catch of fish may be had, how robbers
may be avoided and how an enemy may
, be vanquished.
The blacks have no religion and It is
: y.~ff a hot and fraa
Of certain primitive supersutlons connect
ed with the idea that the spirits OF the
dead continue to live among them.
These primitive races, totally without
past. belong to the prehistoric period.
! They are, so to speak, anterior TO our
civilization. From the psychological point
of view. it is ESPECIALLY the lack Of tradi-
ton that profoundly Intermediates the
black race from the yellow race Among
the yellow race the primitive worship of
ancestors has developed deeply philo-
sophie religion and served as an inspira-
ton for art, social institutions and
e morality. As Lafcadio Hearn put It, the
hearts Of the people Of the Far East are
S clad in the raiment Of courtesy, delicacy,
4 patience and disinterestedness. The
hearts Of the blacks, on the contrary, are
@ as naked as their bodies.
And the thing that especially distn-
gushes the blacks from all the whites OF
whatever degree of culture, is this: Among
! all white peoples the mental life is clearly
oriented toward the future. What are the
forces that goad the white races 10 action,
e Ambition, which desires future enjoy
- ments or demands future triumphs; re-
e ligious faith, which hopes for a future life
and humanitarian enthusiasm which
dreams Of an infidenite progress for the
r human race. All these sentimental force.
lead white Europe and white America to,
ward an ever-intenser activity. Where
as the negro, cramped and fatalistic, Il
n satisfied with the passing hour and ask
t, nothing Of the future. To sum up in
word the psychology of the three grea
r races of mankind. we may avail ourselves
of the following formula: The yellow rae
?, lives in the past, the black race in thu
present, the white race in the future.
From the social point Of view, the rela
tions of natives with one another ar
n obviously and confessedly relations o
force. The strongest man has no hesita
ton in bullying the weak. His tyrann,
- develops no hypocrisy and seeks no pre-
- text. You have only to watch the dali
80 life of the natives to realize this. Yol
ie observe a man and a woman walking To
l. gether from one village to another. Tn
~ weaker, namely the woman, carries tn
re heavier load You meet two children
~ the younger is carrying everything, IN
IS older and stronger carries nothing. NJ
H. Loango boy" whom I never strike
lie nevertheless strikes my Banda an
N MdudlL puIlelb Without QudlluS OF con
e. science, and it is all l can do TO proven
le his using my horsewhip on the back @
ss his black brothers. Sociology and histor
g confirm this impression of the negro
daily life. 1t is by force that the villag
IN chieftans, great or small impose thei
IN nomination upon their subjects. 1t wa
We by force that powerful black tyrant Xix
IN Rabah once succeeded in founding a vas
m empire. From force also, spring the thre
re characteristics phenomena of polygam.
ls slavery and cannibalism.
~ Negroes rich enough to possess sever'
- wives are sure to have them. The wifi
{" besides her conjugal and maternal dutie
fulfils also those of a servant, cooking tn
food and tilling the soil. The husban
t. gives his wife's family a dot" consistin
70 of cloth, cattle, pearls, weapons gunpoV
of der, etc. Naturally he pays much hign'
n for a free girl than for a slave. If tn
st. marriage is dissolved by death or divorc
o. the wife's family is expected to refund IL
us dot" As the wife is regarded as mere
lis ~ rented to her husband the childre
he belong to her, and become members
he her family.
m A free man generally owns slaves, who
a he has made. prisoners in war. Thei
ne slaves, along with the women, do VIII;
IT. little work is necessary for the mainteI
D. ance of life such as hunting, fishin
Dr. spinning and weaving. And yet It wou