Dawn in darkest Africa

Front matter

a

Frontispiece.

MUSHAMALENGI, ‘‘ A ROYAL PRINCE " OF THE BAKUBA KINGDOM IN THE UPPER KASAI.

Part I

I. The African “ Porter ” 3

II. The Paddler and his Canoe lo

III. The African Forest 17

IV. A Medley of Customs 23

(a) Cicatrization 26

{b) Personal Adornment 31

(c) The Angel of Death 36

(d) Peace and Arbitration 40

V. The Native as a Money Maker 45

VI. The African Woman 52

Part II Civilization And The African

I. The White Man’s Burden 75

II. Lightening the White Man’s Burden. .... 81

III. Governments and Commerce 87

IV. The Liquor Traffic 98

V. The Educated Native 106

VI. Justice and the African 116

VH. Race Prejudice 123

XXX

Index

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Mushamalengi, “A Royal Prince” of the Bakuba Kingdom

IN THE Upper Kasai Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

A Light-hearted Carrier 4

The Canoe Singer 4

The Vines of the Tropical Forest 8

Mrs. Harris Canoeing on the Aruwimi, Upper Congo . . 12

A Rickety Dug-Out 12

Wild Forest Fruit 18

The “Elephant Ear” in the Wet Season 20

Wild Forest Fruit 20

The “ Healing” Fetish 24

The Baketi Memorial Ground. Trees uprooted and planted

branches downwards in Memory of the Dead ... 24

The Swastika Cicatrice 26

The Oyster Shell Cicatrice 26

Cicatriced Women of Equatorville 28

The Bangalla “Rasp” Cicatrice 28

Bangalla Chief with Head tightly bound from birth . . 32

Bangalla Babe with Head tightly bound 32

A Five-Foot Beard 34

Styles of Aruwimi Head-Dress 34

The Witch 38

Slave Graveyard on the Island of San Thome .... 38

The Witch Doctor with his Charms for Every III ... 40

A Native Planter in his Funtumia Plantation, Southern

Nigeria 50

Rubber Collectors, Kasai River, Upper Congo .... 50

Women pounding Oil Palm Nuts 54

Grinding Corn on the Kasai, Upper Congo 56

A Christian Couple returning from the Gardens towards

Sunset 58

Weaving Cloth in the Kasai, Upper Congo 58

“Twin Pots” hoisted on Forked Sticks either side of Pathway IN HONOUR OF NEWLY BORN TWINS, BANGALLA, CONGO . 70

XXXll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Wild Flowers growing on Trunk of Forest Tree ... 78

‘The Story the Graveyards Tell” 78

Cataract Region below Stanley Pool, Belgian Congo . . 94

Dr. Sapara of Lagos, a Medical Man in the Service of the

British Government no

Cocoa Farm, Belgian Congo 134

A Congo Chief with some of his Wives and “Basamba”

Concubines 144

A Hunter’s “Lucky” Fetish 146

Prince Eleko and Council, Southern Nigeria . . . .168

Land Formation, Loanda, Portuguese Angola .... 170 Chancel and North Wall of disused Dutch Church, Loanda

Cocoa Carrying, Belgian Congo 174

Entrance to Cocoa Roca, Principe Island (Portuguese) . . 174

Slaves on San Thome 180

Disused Slave Compound in rear of House, Catumbella . . 180

Slaves on Cocoa Roca, Principe Island 184

The End of the Slave. Two Slaves carrying Dead Comrade

IN Sack to Burial 184

Gum Copal for Sale, Upper Congo 214

Government Ivory and Rubber, Upper Congo .... 214 An Avenue of Oil Palms: Ten Years’ Growth .... 226 “Walking” up to gather Fruit. Weaver Birds’ Nests on the

Palm Fronds 230

Heads of Oil Palm Fruit 230

The Oil Palm in the Grip of its Parasitic Enemy : —

The Creeper at an Early Stage 232

Root and Branch in Deadly Grip 232

Fine Heads of Oil Palm Fruit 234

Carrying Rubber Vines to Village 240

Extracting Rubber, Kasai River, Upper Congo .... 240 Cocoa on San Thome. Termite Track visible on the Trunk

OF Tree 246

Cocoa Drying in Sun 256

The Crucifix in African Fetish Hut on the Island of San

Thome 272

Ruin of once imposing Church on the Isl.and of Principe . 272 Interior of Missionaries’ House. Basel Industrial Mission.

Furniture made by Gold Coast Industrial Scholars . . 284

Map of Central and South African Colonies with “Mother

Countries ” drawn to same Scale . ... at end of text

Foreword

WESTfAFRICA

West Africa, as some of us have known her, is rapidly changing. Within the memory of most men, there were deserts uncrossed, forests unexplored, tribes of people unknown. To-day every desert has been traversed ; to-day we know not only the forests, but nearly every species of tree they contain ; we know, and can locate, almost every African tribe, and almost every foot of territory has passed under the control, for the time being at least, of some alien Power.

At the present moment political boundaries are more or less fixed, but for how long ? In Europe certain Powers are, for one reason or another, seeking opportunities somewhere for colonial expansion, and the moment seems opportune for a reshuffle of colonial possessions, but where, and how ?

Looking into the Far East, the statesman sees nothing but trouble ahead in the Celestial Empire, to say nothing of Japan standing sentinel over the Orient. South America, with its vast resources and possibilities, might fall an easy prey to an energetic Power, but over every Republic, Monroe casts his protective declaration which, with the march of time, fastens itself ever more firmly upon the vitals of the body politic of the Republican States of South America.

XXXIV

FOREWORD

Back to Africa, the searching eye of the statesman returns and rests to-day. There in the Dark Continent are great territories awaiting development, there weak administrations are “ muddling along ” doing themselves no good, and their neighbours irreparable harm. For those Powers the hand-writing is on the wall ; they must either “ get on, or get out,” otherwise “ like a whirlwind ” some other Power will come and without ceremony bundle them out of the path of progress.

In fifty years the map of Africa will bear little resemblance to that of to-day, but what of the natives ? Are they to have no voice in their destiny ? One listens with impatience to the cool and calculating discussions for a re-arrangement of the map of Africa, which are being carried on without any reference to the native tribes, without any reference to treaty obligations, and with little respect for the fundamental obligations of Christianity, the teaching of which the European Powers claim as their special monopoly.

Commerce, too, is changing ; the kind-hearted merchant of West Africa going forth at his own charges, trudging from village to village founding branches, paddling up and down the rivers and planting factories, is disappearing, and the soulless corporation with directors who are mere machines for registering dividends, are taking his place. Commerce in West Africa is rapidly losing all the humanity which was once its driving force.

The natives are abandoning the old forms of warfare. Denied the weapons which would give them equal chances in mortal gage, they are astute enough to refuse to accept mere butchery. They are learning that there are powers

FOREWORD

XXXV mightier than the sword ; education is advancing by leaps and bounds, and the more virile colonies are producing strong men who will make themselves felt before many years have passed over our heads. The African is shaking himself free from the shackles he has worn for so long and is at last beginning to realize his strength. At present Britain, with all her shortcomings, leads the way in giving the native the fullest scope for his abilities. In British and Portuguese Colonies alone in West Africa has the free native the chance of attaining the full stature of a man. In German and French tropical territories, the native is there, not as a citizen, but merely as a necessary adjunct to the production of wealth for the white man. How long he will be content with this position is a question, and evidences of a coming change are everywhere apparent.

Soon the Africa we have known — yea, and loved — will have been hustled away. Its forests, rivers and tribes will possess no more secrets ; gone will be the simple old chief ; gone the primitive village untouched by European ; gone the old witch doctor, and gone too, perhaps, that beautiful faith and trust in the goodness and honesty of the white man — the pity of it all !

Before these changes come, it behoves us to examine closely the great problems before us — the problems of future political divisions, problems of labour, and of education in the largest and fullest sense — and so to readjust our conceptions and laws with an understanding of the natives as save ourselves from repeating the blunders of the past ; blunders which have cost Africa

XXXVl

FOREWORD millions of useful lives ; blunders which have indelibly stained for time and eternity the escutcheon of Christian Europe ; blunders for which recompense can never be adequately made, but which at least should serve as a warning for the future.

PART I I. — The African " Porter.”

II. — The Paddler and his Canoe.

III. — The African Forest.

IV. — A Medley of Customs : —

(а) Cicatrization.

(б) Personal Adornment.

(c) “ The Angel of Death.”

(d) Peace and Arbitration.

V. — The Native as a Money Maker.

VI. — The African Woman.

I

THE AFRICAN “PORTER”

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the part which the African “ porter ” or carrier, plays in the history of the Dark Continent. The hinterland of the vast tropical regions — a death-trap to every beast of burden — has been opened up by the carrier together with his brother trans- /port worker — the paddler. The heavier burden has, beyond question, been borne by the former, by the countless thousands of hard woolly heads which have sweated under the weight of innumerable bales and cases too often receiving as a reward of their labour an endless stream of abuse. It seemed justifiable to murmur when crossing those swamps and fighting one’s way through impenetrable forest, but at a distance, and with time for calm reflection, there can surely be no other thought in the mind of any African traveller than that of admiration, as he pictures those sons of Africa with heavy and cumbersome loads upon their heads, floundering through swamps, or toiling up steep hills and along stony paths, cutting and blistering the feet, while the fierce rays of the tropical sun scorch every living thing. Yet on that carrier goes, footsore, often foodless, yet ever ready to renew the march of to-morrow.

Railways and bridges, steamboats and bungalows,

B 2 engines of war, machinery for drilling into the bowels of the earth, lofty windmills, telegraph wires and poles — these and other European conquerors of African air, land and water have by the thousands of tons found themselves hundreds of miles in the interior of Africa owing to the infinite endurance of the African carrier. Abuse him who will, but be sure of one thing, history will yet give him his due.

The railways, bridges and steamboats, would, so we were told, lessen the need for carriers. That they have shortened distances we grant, but so far from the need of the carrier being lessened, economic expansion has increased the demand. The opening up of the country has brought an insatiable civilization into close touch with vast uncultivated tracts of land, with the result that a great impetus has everywhere been given to agricultural development, which in turns calls for an unceasing stream of carriers to feed the railways and steam craft.

Thirty years ago the British colony of the Gold Coast possessed no railways, nor was there any export of cocoa. To-day she exports annually over a million pounds’ worth of cocoa-beans, requiring in the season over 100,000 carriers to convey the cocoa harvests to the railways. True statesmanship must always aim at releasing labour from the unproductive task of transport, in order that it may till the soil, but it is doubtful whether the African carrier will ever completely disappear.

Their long procession is never without interest ; every man has some distinguishing mark upon which the white traveller may meditate as he trudges along, now in front.

THE CANOE SINGER.

THE CARRIER ON THE MARCH now in the centre, now again in the rear of a caravan. What a medley yonder man carries upon his head ! There is the traveller’s “ chop ” box or his bundle of bedding, to which perhaps is lashed by means of a piece of forest vine, the sundry goods and chattels of that simple-hearted carrier — an old salmon tin filled with odd little packages of salt, chili peppers, bits of string, possibly a piece of soap, an old knife and the end of a native candle. There is also the “ Sunday best,” whose owner, while looking happy enough in that strip of loin cloth held in place by a cheap European strap, yet strides the firmer and prouder because of that old cotton shirt and the patched white trousers so carefully protected by a bundle of forest leaves. Provisions, too, are there, carefully pounded, cooked and flavoured by the good wife at home. Those unsavoury manioca puddings for “ her man ” are generously accompanied by her catches of fish, smoked and set aside that he might each day have an appetizing morsel for his meal.

Other carriers are distinguished by the wounds and bruises of their calling — one limps along with a sore foot, but on he goes until the journey’s end ; others there are with sore skin or nasty wounds, caused by forest thorns or rough stones, others whose chafed shoulders of yesterday now gape and become a resting-place for the torment of flies ; yet, with it all, the impatient traveller too frequently falls to scolding and even cursing them for their “ laziness ” !

No white man should be allowed to travel beyond a day’s journey with a caravan unless he has a few medical aids for such bruised and wounded helpers, and it will repay him if human gratitude can be called a reward. Cuts and wounds are both the inevitable price of African travel, and it is a necessity and a duty to carry a few spare bandages and healing ointments. There is satisfaction too in gathering the sick men round in the evening and giving them a soothing plaster, ointment or a bandage. A little human kindness of this nature helps to make the journey a happier one for all, but alas too often what the Germans call tropenkoller has no conception of a remedy for complaints beyond the whip or the boot.

The carrier is no more an angel than other human beings, no matter whether pink or black ; he has all the imperfections and the love of self-preservation of the brother who calls himself white. I remember once having all the loads laid out ready for the start and then giving the order for each man to choose his load. It was evident the carriers had mentally marked the load each would like to seize, for a dash was made for a small box only about 1 8 inches square and having the appearance of a 20 lb. load — but it was a case of cartridges weighing 8o lbs ! How promptly they all discarded that box and dashed away for the larger but lighter loads !

Strangely enough the carrier seldom “ pilfers ” on a journey. The white man’s goods may suffer depredations on the steamer or on the train, but on the march there seems to be a sacred community of interest which safeguards the goods of most white men as effectively as if protected by the spirit-haunted herbs and parrot feathers of the witch doctor, but when civilization, in the shape of steamers and railway trains, enters barbarous regions away goes the eighth commandment.

THE CARRIER AND NATURE

There is one respect in which every African traveller invariably suffers — hungry at the midday hour, he calls for “ chop ” ; thirsty, he asks for filtered water ; or at night, dead tired, he looks for his folding bed ; he may call in vain, for either from set purpose with some definite object in view, or from stupidity, these essentials to the white man are generally “ miles behind.”

Probably the carrier is at his best when travelling through the vast forests, where, shielded from the sun by the interlacing trees overhead, it is delightfully cool and the layers of dried leaves render the path as soft and springy as the richest carpet. Carriers and traveller are in high mood and as conversation flows freely the traveller realizes what great students of nature these sons of Africa are. As they walk along, they will name every tree and almost every plant ; they will tell how many moons elapse before the trees begin to bear ; they will give descriptions of edible fruits, the birds and animals which each kind of fruit attracts, varying these running comments by periodic dashes through the undergrowth in search of fruits to illustrate the conversation.

How closely, too, they watch the path for the footprints of animal life, never at a fault to identify the prints with their owners, or accurately gauge the time when the creature passed by, begging, if the traces are recent, to be allowed to track the “ meat.” As time does not concern the hunter, it is generally wise, if there is any reasonable chance of obtaining food for the caravan, to camp for the night. This knowledge of forest life stands the natives in good stead, for not infrequently provisions run out on the long marches and in the absence of human habitations, the question of feeding the caravan becomes a serious matter.

At one time we had marched for days without any opportunity of obtaining a supply of food and the carriers were all suffering from hunger ; in a whole day we seldom found more than a small handful of edible fruit. At last it became almost impossible to push on with the caravan so tired and hungry : I called together a few of the men and asked what we should do, whereupon one made the novel suggestion of “ calling the meat.” The proposal was readily taken up and three of us pushed on ahead with guns. Arriving at a quiet spot, one of the men — a very son of the forest — fell on his knees, and, placing the tips of two fingers in his nostrils, emitted a series of calls which made that forest glen echo with, as it were, the joyous cries of a troop of monkeys ! How anxiously the tops of trees were watched ! After repeating these tactics in several places in the immediate vicinity for about half-an-hour, a man close to me whispered excitedly “ here they come ” ! In the distance we could see the tree tops moving, and in a short time a score of monkeys could be seen skipping from tree to tree towards the inimitable monkey cries of our carrier. New life was infused into the whole caravan when they saw the gun bring down four monkeys for the evening meal ; lowering countenances were wreathed with smiles, grumblings and cursings gave place to joyous songs in which even the sick and lame gladly joined. At dinner that night the men were so famished that they could not stop to cook the meat, but contented themselves with merely singeing off the skin and eating the uncooked flesh.

THE CARRIER’S FRIENDS

To emerge from the forest is generally to enter once more into habitable country, and there the carriers, no matter how far from home, generally discover a relative — a brother or a sister, a father or a mother. Their relationships are strangely elastic, many an African laying claim to as many mothers as wives, in point of fact the father’s brothers and the mother’s sisters all rank as the fathers and mothers of the children. The roving British tar may have a wife in every port, but he is surpassed by the African carrier who may have not only a wife but a mother and sometimes a father too in every village !

II The Paddler And His Canoe

Central Africa, the unexplored land of our childhood, is vested with a charm that never ceases to allure, and reveals her deepest secrets only to those who dig deep and risk much to discover them. The rivers with their shifting sandbanks, their treacherous rapids and whirlpools, entice again and again those whom the miasma has threatened to slay, as the rushing current threatens the unwary navigator. The native alone is in any degree immune to the former, and it is he who, with his simple knowledge of the shoals and currents, may venture with his inimitable dug-out where scientific navigation is baffled. Inseparable from the African river is the dug-out, unthinkable are the thousands of miles of navigable waterway without this primitive, though astonishingly effective, craft.

Canoeing in Central Africa may be not unpleasant, providing both canoe and paddlers are amiably inclined. The number of canoes available is so restricted that there is little choice, and comfort aside it is wise always to sacrifice size to reputation, for a canoe with a bad name will dispirit the paddlers. The trimmest and most seasoned craft, capable of holding twenty to twenty-five paddlers, is the traveller’s ideal, but the equipment

THE PADDLER AND MUSIC

II is incomplete without a small pilot boat for surplus baggage, manned with four or five paddlers, who will keep ahead, but always in sight, forewarning of rocks, snags, or sandbanks, and generally discharging the functions of a scout. No less important is the selection of the crew, and these to complete a harmonious group should be volunteers — the best plan being that of getting three or four cheery spirits to select the remainder from amongst their friends.

The African paddler readily responds to an appeal for a co-operative canoe journey, but he dislikes any such undertaking as a mere hired paddler. Make him part and parcel of the journey and a host of potential difficulties vanish. Erect in the bows of the canoe a tiny rush shelter with a bamboo bed for the white man, and only the two final though most important elements remain — music and provisions — the absence of either being equally fatal. For the latter, an ample supply of dried fish and cassava can be stored in the canoe, while a currency in the shape of beads, salt, cloth, pins and needles will do the rest. Without music the African can neither live nor die, nor yet be buried ; walking, riding, eating, digging, paddling or dancing, he must have the rhythm of his music, devoid of charm it may be to the European, but vital to the good spirits of the African. To the accompaniment of an old biscuit tin or a couple of sticks, the gunwale of the canoe, or the leaves of the forest, any or all of which can be made to give forth a sufficiency of barbaric sounds to set in rhythmic motion the voices and bodies of all within range.

With canoe packed, paddlers in position with their long spear-shaped paddles and musicians with their instruments, provisions piled high and carefully covered, the start is made. Farewells are shouted, and blessings pronounced which if measured by their volume should preserve the traveller for all time from hippos and snags, storms and mosquitos, sickness, accident and even death.

One sees in the African canoe characteristics as distinct as those of the paddlers, for with a limited companionship comes a close acquaintance with nature and things inanimate. There is the leviathan among native craft shaped by the chief and his followers from a forest giant and bearing herself with the proud consciousness of regal ownership. In such a craft the passengers need have no fear for she rides majestically with her bows reared high, breasting the waves of the tornado-lashed river or lake, unmoved by the raging of the elements. She is seen at her best as she glides down stream under the combined influence of the current and the swinging impetus of her thirty stout paddlers. There is the rickety old canoe with broken stern and crippled sides, and her leaking bottom stuffed with clay, but there is life in her yet. She ships water fore and aft, and amidships too, soaking the traveller’s blankets and provisions, but her long experience gives her an ease in travel which her younger though stouter relatives cannot rival. Then there is the lumbering ungainly dug-out, with crooked nose and knotty sides, unreliable and ill-balanced, possessing an affinity for every submerged snag. “ Hard on ” she frequently goes and every effort to free her threatens to drown the occupants. Sandbanks she seeks

.y

f.i

- i i- i

CANOE CHARACTERISTICS out too and obstinately refuses to “ jump ” them. The paddlers will haul her off and curse her roundly for her crooked ways, — but as she was hewn so she will remain. At the other end of the scale is the tiny fishing dug-out of the Niger and the Congo, and their still smaller sister of Batanga in Spanish Guinea, the latter so small that the owner may with ease carry on his shoulder both canoe and fishing tackle, and whilst baiting hooks and catching fish he skilfully sits astride her and paddles with his feet.

Inseparable again from the dug-out is the paddler. Who that travelled with him can forget him ? Humorous as the London Jehu of the twentieth century, dexterous as his civilized confreres of the ocean, as adaptable to his surroundings as the clay to the potter’s art ; at home everywhere and in all conditions in his native land, swimming or standing, sitting or lying, squatting or reclining, sleeping as soundly on the nose of the canoe or the river bank as we in our downiest of feather beds. He is ready and alert with the earliest peep of dawn, as the mists rise from the surface of the river, presenting the appearance of a huge boiling cauldron. Peeping from beneath your mosquito net you see his figure outlined against the dawning light as he keeps a sharp look-out for the hidden snag, and shivers with the clinging chilly mist. His powers of endurance are unequalled, as the rising sun dispels the mists and mounting higher in the heavens becomes increasingly fierce. He still swings his paddle with steady persistence till his body steams with the effort ; then after a little halt and refreshment in the friendly shade of the riverside forest, he will go on until the sun is sinking, and if need be, still on in the moonlight, singing his monotonous boat song, occasionallyvaried by a running commentary from the leader on the incidents of the journey, the peculiarities of a certain paddler, or the ways of the white occupants of the canoe.

During the whole day long the paddler will pursue his task, I see him now almost unconsciously bending his body with each dip of the paddle, till a sudden slowing down followed by a profound stillness arrests the attention. I can again hear those whispered voices as the gentle lapping of the water against the canoe side ceases, and the boat is still. A monkey has perhaps been seen overhead springing from bough to bough, or sitting nibbling the fruit of some forest tree, or it may be an edible bird with flesh as tough as its plumage is gorgeous, that watches us till the gun booms out and the creature is brought down. For a moment it struggles in the river, then with a sudden splash, a man is swimming with powerful strokes towards the prey which he a moment later lands in the canoe, while the rest look approvingly on at their prospective meal. With spirits heartened, on they go, singing of their capture and the feast which is to follow, till turning a bend in the river the destination is at last in sight.

And how they love a race ! Let them but see a competitor ahead bound for the same goal, and despite their long day’s paddle they will redouble their strokes. Caution is thrown to the winds and the canoe springs in a mad gallop, rocking to and fro, pitching and tossing against the current until the rival ahead, scenting a race, enters the competition with keen zest. At such times I

A CANOE RACE have found all warnings are in vain. With a rapid girding up of the loin cloths as the boats proceed, a rearranging of the cargo, children, dogs, fowls, baggage and all — ^the race begins in real earnest. With much shouting and good-natured banter the one or the other will take advantage of every prospect of an up-current ; now out again in midstream to avoid a snag ; a paddle breaks in the effort, but is quickly discarded and another seized without lessening the speed — and on they go, each determined to win or sink their rival. The boats ship water, but are made to right themselves with marvellous ingenuity and then both stop to bale out, while the paddlers exchange good-humoured threats, gibes, curses and defiance.

On again they go with little advantage to either side, and the word is passed for the “ master stroke.” Madder than ever is the race ; the white man may shout but they pay no heed, for young manhood has lost all sense of danger. At last the opportunity occurs for the final advantage for the river must be crossed at yonder point. Often have I tried to avoid this danger, proceeding first to command, then to plead, but in vain. I might as effectively have tried to control a hurricane with a feather ! To clear the point with its snags, one canoe must fall behind or cross the rival’s bows — to give up and fall back is impossible. The attempt is generally made by the smaller boat to cross the bows of her more powerful rival and though occasionally successful she is more often struck amidships and disappears completely — canoe, paddlers and all !