The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1907-11-01
JASPER INDIANA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER l, 1907.
No.. T..

Chastity for its sake and as a virtue in itself has
no place in their code of morals girl expected to be
chaste because she is not she will not sell for much.
If man seduces virgin he is expected to marry her and
pay for her the amount OF head money which she will
bring the market This head money consists in Sierra
Leone of three cows sheep and equivalents and man
usually have many wives as he pay for This
ranges from two or three up to ten fifteen and
times with important personages up to several thousand
The punishment for adultery Sitting the nose, whip
ping or sometimes expulsion or death paramour eX-
ipcctcd to pay belongs to a dstin
guished chief he may be put to death sold slave
1t said that many husbands encourage fraily that
they may reap profit from their wives nfdelty. Ord
nary the husband compensated for liberties taken
with his wife the father for the rates of his daughter
this ends the matter and everybody is happy There is
said to be little affection between parent and child and
exception to the rule being the mutual love of mother and
son.
When person becomes too old or decrp to be of any
use to his family he is gotten out of the way usually
by tap on the head. His body is then carefully, pre-
pared smoked and then puverzed mixed with water and
con and put away to form part of the amiys stock of
provisions for the future This practice while may oc
cur at any tme certain to occdr in times of mill
ary stress or famine Theving is regarded by them
virtue rather than crime, and said that of
them have hundred ways in which to stea and travel
IN this section record how they have been their wits
end to prevent the disappearance of everything they had
Leing is great accomplishment There is little regard
for the life or freedom of those in of the vii
Lagos Traders and strangers in constant danger of
4 being robbed.
GOVERNMENT With the exception of Ashanti and Da-
hom there government of any force in the former
saveprOducng sections of Africa except that of petty
htrbes These tribes are usually governed by king Or
Schlef The government IN many respects being patarca
and seminomadc. The authority of the chief depends
,argely upon personal force and wealth. 1t is only to
certain extent hereditary If the chief possesses moral
force strength of mind and shrewd he rule about
Jas he peases especially if he the help of the
prleSts and medicine Some of the tribes have almost
republican form of government but these small The
eGovernment of Ashanti consists of king who rules
the entire country and the provinces ruled by Chiefs
It and under these subchies all of whom allegiance
to the king. The king is assisted by council which has
absolute power. The government in reality being
garchy. The land is supposed to all belong to king who
parcels ont among the chief and these among their de-
spendents.
In Dahomey theory is that the property belongs abso-
utely to the king, who dispose of any of it he
chooses. The king is himself regarded as demgod
He eats in public and supposed to neither
sleep In approaching him, everyone, his chief Off
GERS must crawl the ground and continually kiss the
ground as they approach He must have human sacr-
flee every day of the year. Taxes gathered direct and
e through mposts All prisoners of are his personal
slaves and he condemn death any of them he wants
to- He maintains small standing army part of which
consists of female soldiers known as amazons which num-
bers nearly three thousand. The male army is about
: five thousand The said to make about as
good soldiers the they accustomed
heavy work. In the usual method of attack is at
night Staying instantly all who resist and taking all the
rest captive All the DID, sick and nrm killed as not
being worth capturing.