The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1907-10-18

And llllnghast adds This movement Is gong on TO-
day, several tribes themselves driven onward have ar
rived the West coast within recent times, dlsplacng
slowly the existing occupants. For example, the Daho-
mey people were an inland tribe at the time OF the earlier
visits of Europeans West Africa but by the conquest
and wpng of the Whydahs the first quarter of the
century, they reached tne sea- So too the
Fans the interior when visited by Du Challlu IN
1856 whereas Miss Kingsley found them in 1898, wedg
ing the mseves rapidly down to the seaports She OBJ
serves: 'In this part of the world, Ogowe Ryer this
great tribe is ousting the older inhabitants of the land
AS this process has been going for centuries, it OBJ
vous that the negroes living along the western verge OF
the continent at any given have not been the pest
specimens of their race. This fact of the first mpor
tance u.s. because the slaves brought to our country
were taken from these people
Ethnologists generally divide the population into two
slightly different types-the Bantu and the Sudanese
The chief difference between the two is that the Bants
all speak Slightly different dialects of common language
while the Sudase speak many different languages when
are very little akin The Bantus keep their villages t-
tie cleaner than & the Sudanese and prefer to have their
slaves live in dennt quarters for themselves while the
is true of the Sudanese With the Sudanese male
gods pre- dominate, and the female with the Bantus
few of Il le tribes of this section the Woofs Feups
lTimni, K rus. Ewes Tshs.
OCCUP ATONsIt can hardly be said that the negroes
along the coast of the Gulf Of Guinea of three hundred
years ago had any occupation They hunted little and
shed son ne more mainly however, they depended for
men slaves and movable property belonged to them but
they had private property and real estate Iney mac
no education whatever.
OTHER CHARACTERS EICS Cannibalism prevailed every
where Wtclcraft was current belief and more people
were said to be executed for wltchcaft than died IRON
natural causes The natl were little bt above TN
average humans in both sta tre and size and were usually
erect and good physique The color varies from almost
black to dark chocolate The hair is always black AM
invariably kiny and woody.
inhabitants of this country to work. Inc evronment
such deprive them of any motive Tor continuous IA
bor The weather is cold enough TO require clon
ing very much shelter They require less food than
they were in cold climate FooL' at their door and re
qures scarcely effort to pluck it. line forests aDoun
in wild fruits and nuts, of wh en- are eaten ror IN
stance the pineapple grows wild in all parts OF this rego
and is delicious fruit. u ).
Tallnghast says of this region: T he waters TEEN wit
edble fish and the forests with game Sucf materials
are needed for small hus and eagre tutnre are every
where in profuson Lit is common for rna2e W pe rs
moved and reconstructed in four or iv = days.
The soil is extremely fertile and the Innate is such
to yield large returns for small labor There s preoaol
country in the world where abunda mt returns Tor Tn
amount of labor expended can be secured The ccate
such as to discourage prolonged labor ,
Tnghast makes this observation: ''lVhert' high ten
peraures and low humidity prevail the apld eapdfa!o
from the body coos it. and permits consd erabe e&ertor
low temperature in the British lsles ha bad etec!
But West Africa enjoys neither of these advantages
swelters under toid heat combined with, excessive NJ
midty. Such conditions deaden industrial effort in
white man. whose capacity for energetic and froenge
labor in most circumstances is great whose wants ar
numerous and nsatia5le, finds himself IRE Ssby over
come Rich rewards await those who out forth a Ill
tie effort yet Ellis says so intense is the distehnat3
to work. that the strongest wills combat IT. Y
fact the very Will Itself seems TO become IN Nesi
all the labor is done by the females, even to the gfhe1
,of rubber. /.
i Able Proyart in his History of Loango, published
1776 says: We have spoken elsewhere of agriculture
lit the women who carry it on The men, besides uni
versa prejudice founded no doubt on their Incidence
would think that they degraded themselves if they te
the ground.'-
There is small artisan class such as blacksmith po
ers weavers and satmaker and these the anstecrs
cy of the negroes but in these manual arts, wene
are compelled to do all the drugery of collecting the ra
r mat tpral
male population escapes dstasteful TOLL
e Mcdonald gives a striking illustration of the negree
obtuseness and dsincnation to work: "A road, wmc