Year: 1875

A Custom that has Long Prevailed and


Resists all Efforts To Abolish 1t.


A correspondent of the London Times


gives the following vivid description OF


the scenes which attend the death of a


"Caboceer," or man of rank, in Asian.


tee:


Well, Immediately after demise, the


body of a Caboceer is washed, anointec


with sweet oils and grease, and sprinkleC


with gold dust. The oils and grease


cause the gold dust to stick to the


corpse, which, being black, throws of


the bright color of the gold to perfec


ton. The beard is trimmed into knots


and upon each knot are tied small beads


of glass and thin particles of gold. The


Ashantees, you perceive, are as dainty


in the decoration of the boards of their


dead as the Assyrian dandies were of


their own when living. In cloth of


costly silk-embroidered danask, or in


velvet or in other rich garments, the


body is dressed and ornamented with


armlets and necklaces of gold and silver.


Very often pure humps or unwrought


nuggets of gold, bored through and


through, are strung upon a piece of
| hempen string and twisted around the
|
| gaylv bedizened and perfumed and
cleansed, the body is placed upon a chair
| in a sitting attitude or is shown recum-
| bent upon a bed trimmed with gaudy
| drapery. When this combined rite of
| purifcatiOn and garniture has been com
| pleted the relations and friends assemble
and begin to dance and sing. While
the relations and friends are making
l,Il Il,
| into the midest- of the festive thrOng,
and the female slaves of the dead Cabo-
| ceer are brought before him. After the
| utterance Of various incantatiOns he pre-
| tends that the fetish has denoted, by
means of his mediation, certain slave
| for election to follow her master to the
| next world; but | need not be at much
to suggest to YOU that the merabers of
the family always decide beforehand
among themselves which unfortunate
wretch shall accompany the deceased
chief


Being chosen, and by the choice con-
demned to die. the slave is stripped
naked. Around her neck a wisp of hay
is wound, and her arms are rudely pin
iOned with a rope of straw. She Is now
roughly dragged a second time to the
presence of the fetishman, who recon-
mends her, in a speech full of blasp-
hemous rhOdOmOntades and rhetorical
parade, to serve her master dutifully
through the mazes of the unknown
sphere to which he has been summoned
on a journey. During the delivery of
the pOrtentOus exhortation he is busily
employed in daubing a white-cOlOred
earth over the face of the weeping slave
and, when the admOnitory harangue has
been exhausted, he strikes her severely
with his open palm upon either cheek.
In benighted zeal the company snatch
up the sacerdotal cue They strive to
rival one another in repeating the as
sault with the harshest violence, and in
dealing the keenest pain on her nude
and trembling person.


Having been removed by dint of cuffs
or manual force from the sight of the
fetishman the slave is hurried to a wood
en- box, into which the carcase of the
Caboceer will eventually be squeezed.
Along the lid of the box the slave is
stretched upon her stomach, and her
feet and her head are grasped by two
exceutiOners, so that her struggles may
be subject tC control. A friend of the
| dead Caboceer approaches the PROSTATE
creature and slashes her with sword
just below the right shoulder blade
Catching the blood which flows from the
! wound, he smears the box. When
sufficiency of blood has been drawn for
the purpose, she is lifted from the lid
and is reviled, struck and covered with
spittle by the bystanders, All the while
she utters the lOudest and most grievOus
lamentations and the louder and more
grievOus they are, the more acceptable
do the tOrturers deem the sacrificed
gratuity to the dead CabOceer. She is
then driven to the spot where she is to
be slain When the head has been cut
off the heart is plucked out through, an
| opening in the back. An executiOner
receives the head with yelIs and frantic
| signs of joy, and runs with it through
the town. Savagely and furiously he
tOsses it to the ground and kicks it like
| a ball before him, snatChes it up in his
| flight, spits on it, filings it into the air,
catches it in its descent, or, permitting it
to drop heavily, kicks it again and
again. The body is never buried, but it
is spurned aside to be eaten by wild
beasts or vuitures.


RATHER Too MUCH INsTINCT.-The
| instinct of Newfoundland dogs to save
| drowning person has been somewhat
painfully tested by an unlucky French
man. He was walking in the country
with friend. who possessed a magniti-
cent newfoundland, and incautiously
| questioned the truth of the animals
sagacity The dogs master, veXed at
the sIur cast on his favoritc, gave his
friend a push and knocked him into
shallow river. "Turk" Immediately
sprang in, and Selling one of the tails of
the immersed mans coat, commenced to
swim for land. Unfortunately another
Newfoundland, trOtting along the other
side of the river, saw the affair, and also
came to the rescue. Dog number two
seized the other tail of the coat and
wished to swim back to his master,
Turk" held fast and struggled for his
side, and the owner of the coat cried in
vain for help. At last the coat gave
way, and each Newfoundland SWAN
proudly home with a piece of cloth in his
mouth, so that "Turk's" master was
obliged to plunge in himself to save the
friend


A TERRIBLE RECoRD-The annua
report of the New York board of health
for 1874 reveals some very startling facts,
not the least Of which is the statement
made concerning the deaths from alcohol
ism. The average number OF deaths
from this cause was about seven a week
during the winter months, but out of 824
deaths for the week ending July Is, al
cOholism carried off more than One-third
of the whole number, viz: 367. The