From the darkness of Africa to the light of America, the story of an African prince

Front matter

^J_Jarkness of Africa iGHT OF America

Z^c ^torg of an (African (prince

THOMAS E. BESOLOW

Introduction

In the spring term of 1887, when it was my good fortune to be enrolled as a student in " Old Weslejan," at Wilbraham, it was my privilege to meet for the first time, Mr. Besolow. Never before had I grasped the hand, or looked into the face, of a native of Africa. Since that time I have been thankful that the Divine Providence brought me into the presence of one who had lived in the darkness of Africa, as long as I had lived in the light of America.

My acquaintance with Mr. Besolow, which for more than three years has been very intimate, has been very pleasant and profitable.

Mr. Besolow, as a student, has indeed done honor to his race. If the moral and mental caliber of this son of Africa is a fair sample of his race, then the Negro is a man, in many respects, not inferior to the Anglo-Saxon. We, who know him, believe that in the future the world will hear from him, and that good "Old Wesleyan Academy" will yet be proud of having nourished within her walls this negro brother.

Considering that most of us have always lived amid the rush of our own hasty American life, and under the influence of our mighty. Christian civilization, have we not, in some measure, failed to behold the great and many needs of the millions who in Africa are enjoying the smallest volume of life, because the superstition and the heathenism of darker ages rule them with an iron sceptre, which bends them to the dust, and urges them to worship and to implore a cold, dead, barren moon to bless them, and to guide them.''

Away down through this brazen superstition, through the empty idolatry, and into the heart and mind of this humble African, there beamed a golden ray of the marvelous, life-giving light of the Saviour of the world. His whole soul became illuminated with the light of truth. Many have heard his humble testimony of how God redeemed him from the idolatry and human sacrifices of his people.

Mr. Besolow is indeed a living, marvelous example of God's miraculous power to enlighten the heart and mind of man ; to

IV INTRODUCTION.

enable him to see the utter absurdity in bowing down to wood and stone, and on the other hand to enable him to know the far-reaching felicity of worshiping Jehovah's Son.

Mr. Besolow is a prince. By legal right, it is his to occupy the throne which was once his father's. Behold, readers of this little book, what might then be accomplished toward the uplifting, the edifying, and the saving of these millions of souls for whom Christ died. In a few years Mr. Besolow will go out from beneath the domes of the institutions of learning in America, and he will possess an education such as few, if any, of his countrymen have hitherto acquired. Where will he go? It is his hope to drink, for a time, from the " Pierean stream" as it flows from the halls of learning in Europe. Where then will he go?

All hearts who may then know him will say, " God bless him," as he returns, a Christian prince, to the land that gave him birth. It is his hope to regain the power which belongs to him, and having regained it, to swing open wide the gates, through which the Christian missionary from every land may pass, and tell the wondrous story of the Son of God to all his race. It behooves us to remember that. Africa is still dark. And the darkness which is yet brooding over that benighted people is of such density, as never can be conceived by one who was born, and has always lived, in a Christian nation like our own.

Think of the long line of deluded women, who have given themselves as sacrifices, to be buried beside the body of a king or chieftain, deeming it a high honor to be thus entombed alive by the side of a dead ruler. Consider the thousands of human beings who have been sacrificed to the moon, as their fellow-citizens made their vows to that "pale Empress of the night." And remember, that, as you peruse the lines of this little book, the millions of that vast African world are struggling beneath the awful thraldom of this empty religion.

Christianity has taught Mr. Besolow the great heaven-born principle of the universal brotherhood of man. In his heart burns the quenchless fire of true patriotism, which nerves him to struggle against mighty odds, to uplift, enlighten and Christianize his countrymen.

He is aiding with funds, which he has accumulated by hard labor and self-sacrifice, and the kindness of influential men and women, several young men and young women, both white and

INTRODUCTION. V

black, to qualify themselves to go with him to Africa, and work among his people. He intends, if Providence gives him life and success, and if Christian men will sustain him, to be instrumental in building schools and colleges, especially in Soudan and Guinea, to give his countrymen a Christian education.

In the lecture field, for a young man, he has had a rich and helpful experience, which is ever broadening before him. He has lectured before the students of Wellesley and Harvard colleges, and at this present writing he has an engagement to lecture on Africa before the Divinity School at Yale College.

In all of the great work which he has planned regarding Africa, there can be no selfish motive, for it is by long days of incessant toil that he is laboring, amid all of his other duties, to complete his own education, while at the same time he is helping relatives and friends, with the hope that they will go with him and assist in carrying out his plans to help his very needy people. In all of his endeavors, the one grand purpose which fills his active mind, and upon which his eyes are irrevocably fixed, as upon a brilliant star in the midst of a blackened sky, is the enlightenment and the Christianization of his race.

Noble ambition ! Grander than Napoleon's ! As worthy as Paul's ! Upon a throne in the heart of Africa, with Christ reigning upon the throne of his heart, with the flameof Christian civilization burning in his mind, will not Mr. Besolow make that darkened world feel his existence for its advancement.^

I firmly believe that no one who has moved, or may move, to aid him in his noble plans in behalf of his countrymen, will ever know a moment to regret having thus moved.

Go on thy mission, little book, and may the instruction on thy pages borne, find lodgment in the heart of every reader. And may the touching scenes of empty idol worship, and human sacrifices, there recorded, turn hearts and eyes toward Africa, and inspire all to help, as best we can, that needy race.

Warren F. Low, A classmate, friend, and brother to Mr. Besolow.

Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Mass., Nov. 12, 189c.

Preface

It was in a mission school, Cape Mount, Africa, that for the first time the truth dawned upon me that there was a higher civilization, and that the God whom I had worshiped from mv childhood was not the true God. This star of my vision I have followed until I find myself in this great and highly favored land. Here I am struggling to secure an education for myself, cousin, and a few joung men of mj native Africa, that we may go back to our people and assure them that the glory of the Lord has risen indeed upon the Western Nation, — such as we hope may be true some day of our own land.

In this place I wish to mention my appreciation to the Congregational, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist Churches of the United States, and to thank the young men of Harvard, Yale, and Williams Colleges, and the young ladies of Wellesley College.

My sincere thanks are especially extended to the Shawmut Congregational Church, Boston, Mass., New Old South, Back Bay, Boston, Phillips Congregational Church, South Boston, Immanuel Congregational Church, Roxbury, M. E. Church, Lenox, Mass., Park Street Church, Springfield, Mass., Fourth Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn., South Congregational Church, Concord, N. H., M. E. Church, Gloversville, N. Y., and the Hyde Park Congregational Church, Jermain Memorial Church, West Troy, N. Y.

I take this opportunity, also, to thank Miss M. Annie Wythe, Preceptress of Wesleyan Academy, and all others who assisted me in my work, which thing I failed to do in my former edition. Also, the friends who have kindly criticised my pamphlet, and called my attention to the errors. The foregoing all have my deepest gratitude for the kindness they have shown me, and for the help afforded me.

Through lack of finances I was compelled to cut down the manuscript which I had prepared, from three hundred to one hundred and twenty-six pages. Being ill, and absent from my regular abode, I intrusted this work to a person whom I thought was competent, as she had done considerable copying for me. She afterward read the

Vlll PREFACE.

proof, as I was busy with studies and my lecture ; but as she did not understand the ins and outs of mj country, gross errors naturally found their way into my pamphlet. It is my purpose in this edition to correct these mistakes, and present to the American people, as true as it is possible for me to tell it. a vivid representation of the manners and customs of my people, and the story of my own life.

Some descriptions written herein may appear on the face as impossible, or at least exaggerated, but I assure you my dear reader they are facts. If I should tell you other scenes which I have witnessed you would wonder the more ; suffice it to say that Henry M, Stanley's work will bear me out in some of my assertions.

If this brief account of my people and the story of my own life shall awaken in any aninterest in my people, I shall be profoundly thankful, and one end of my writing will be accomplished. Whatever returns will be realized from the sale of this little book, will be spent in securing an education for the work awaiting me in the "Dark Continent," which is beckoning me on with an impatient cry. The remainder, if any, in swelling the fund for the building of an institution for my people which will be a centre of light to dispel the darkness of ignorance from their minds, and which will be a monument for what " the God of the righteous" has done for a son of Africa.

This book, therefore, is sent forth with prayer that God may use the thoughts within it to his own glory, for multiplying the so-muchneeded laborers in that part of his vineyard, and that the day may soon dawn when those heinous sacrifices will be obliterated forever from the continent of my dearest Africa, and that the land of my birth may no longer be termed the "Dark Continent," but the "Beacon Light" of the whole world.

In my former edition, it will be remembered by those who read it, I mentioned my intention to bring my only brother, a lad of fourteen years, to this country. To my disappointment, I received a letter from him which will be found in the last chapter of this pamphlet, stating that he would not come. I hope, however, that by continued inducements I may be able to change his mind. My prayer is that God will send him here. Let all my Christian friends pray to this end. If the kind people who sent me money for his passage will write to me, and so desire it, I shall remit their money; if not, it will be added to the building money, providing my brother decides not to come.

PREFACE. IX

In regard to my school, I thank God I am winning an interest for it from the influential men of my part of Africa. Some of their names maj be found in the chapter devoted to the institution.

I am grateful for this fact, that this pamphlet has found its way into the White House, to the Astors, and to the New England peasants. It has crossed the deep to Her Majesty the Queen of England, to Hon. William E. Gladstone, and other Lords of the British Empire. Further, it has entered other parts of Europe : it is in the hands of Emperor William and Prince Bismarck of Germany, kings of Denmark, Scandinavia, and Austria, and our special friend, who has opened Congo Free State, Leopold II., of Belgium, who loves dear Africa's soil. It has gone to other principal potentates of Europe, even to the Czar of Russia and the Khedive of Egypt.

Truly, then, I can say, —

"While eternal ages watch and wait, God's plans move on."

Yours for Christ and Africa,

Thomas E. Besolow,

Wilbrakam, Mass.

Address all orders for pamphlets, etc., to Thomas E. Basolow, 6i South Street, Boston, Mass.

Please inclose five cents in stamps for postage.

Chapter I. Physical And Ethnological Africa

In giving a general description of Africa, we must depend largely upon the accounts of men who have traveled over the country more or less. No one man has been able or ever will be able to travel over the whole continent, visiting its every part. The account of one traveler, be it ever so broad and comprehensive, conveys, after all, but a slight idea of the magnitude of this grand division of the land. To obtain an at all comprehensive idea of Equatorial, Western Central, Northern and Southern Africa, we must read with careful thought and study the writings of such authorities as Mungo Parke, Speke, Burton, Moifat, Livingstone, Stanley, and hosts of other and lesser lights whose works are authentic enough to be worthy the careful reading of a student on Africa and the African problem.

Now while this pamphlet pertains wholly to myself and my own tribe, I feel that I should like to repeat a few of the general statements that have been made upon Africa, especially upon Physical Africa, — and I would also like to occupy a brief space on the people of that continent. A few brief ideas, or as the Roman has it, "multum in parvo." The continent under consideration, as all students of geography know, is one of the five grand divisions of the globe and ranks second in size. An English writer says, "larger than North and South America." It is the largest peninsula in the world. It is about 6,000 miles long, and 5,000 miles in width at its widest part, and it contains about 11,000,000 square miles of surface. It has about r 7,000 miles of coast land ; but the coast is very regular, being broken but by few gulfs and bays ; perhaps this is one of the reasons why the interior is so little known to the white men. Its Temperate Zone occupies a space of about 1,000 miles. Its extreme southern part lies in the South Temperate Zone. It has a central belt of 40,000 square miles which Hes in the Torrid Zone.

The greater part of Africa is, of course, in the Torrid Zone ; and, as much of the country is desert-land, it is, in general, the hottest and driest of ^11 the continents. Africa may easily be divided into five divisions. Northern and Eastern, Southern and Western and Central Africa. Northern Africa includes the Barbary States, the countries of the Nile, and Sahara the great Sandy Desert. The principal food plant in the region of Barbary States is the date-palm. Indeed, this kind of tree is so prohfic that the southern part of the States is called " Beled-eljerid," meaning " Land of Dates." Other products of the States are grain, cotton, and Morocco leather. From the interior caravans bring ivory, ostrich feathers and gold-dust.

You have all heard, I have no doubt, of that remarkable portion of the surface, known as the Desert of Sahara. This vast table-land is about three fifths the size of the United States. Though the greater part of the desert is a sandy, scorchingly hot plain, it does have places of much beauty here and there on its bosom. Oases are scattered over its surface at irregular distances. From some of these oases rise low and swelhng hills and even mountain groups. Here also are found large and luxuriant groves of trees of the date and palm family, and amidst these, sheltered by green, cool vines, are fresh and bubbling springs, the Mecca of the desert traveler.

Prosperous little towns and villages are found on some of these oases, and on others good grain and fruit are raised. It seems hard to realize, and yet it is truth, that on some of these fertile spots in the very centre of the desert are cultivated groves of peaches, pomegranates, oranges, apples, bananas, barley, clover and tobacco. That such articles of commerce as peaches, barley and apples should grow in such a clime seems incredible, and yet you will find that Henry M. Stanley, Mungo Parke, and many German travelers, as well as missionaries to Africa will testify to the truth of my words. Artesian wells are easily obtained, and many hundreds of them are to be found by the weary, thirsty traveler, gushing fountain-like from the ground.

The Nile Countries are Egypt, Nubia, Kordofan and Abyssinia, the most important of these being Egypt. Yes, Egypt celebrated above, all lands ! Africa feels justly proud of you. Proud of your noble pyramids — your stately ruins of old and ancient and decayed temples and cities. Egypt occupies the northeastern part of Africa, and extends from the Mediterranean to the source of the Nile, and hes between the Red Sea and Sahara. "The Delta" is a fertile spot found in the Nile about forty miles inward, and this is a most remarkably rich, productive and pleasant spot, and is comparatively speaking under good cultivation. Rain is never known in the valley of the Nile ; but for two, or more, often three months of every year the waters of the great river rise slowly until they overflow its banks and make the valley from the mountains to the sea look more like a huge lake than anything else. When this water settles away from the land again, the people plant their fields. These soon become green and beautiful, and yield abundantly. Among the principal products of this region are cotton, rice and wheat.

Central Africa is about three thousand miles in width. It is heavily timbered. Here are found the densest of jungles, and some of the trees measure through from surface to surface anywhere from one to six feet. Vines of various families entwine about the trees from top to bottom. They knit the trees so closely together, that it is only an experienced African traveler or a native African, who can make any kind of headway through them. No one but one who has seen it, can imagine and realize what the real density of such a forest is like. When the sun is at its zenith, these forests, which never feel its warmth nor are brightened by its light, are filled with a dampness like that of death, and a gloom like that of night; the leaves of the trees are always covered with night-time dews. While passing through such a forest, much suffering is endured from the intense cold. Oftentimes, as I have taken a short journey through them, my hands have turned nearly white with the cold ; so benumbed have they become that I could scarcely move them, and with all my exertions, I could not get any hfe into them till I climbed upon high ground, where a few, faint rays of the sun would reach my chilled body and thaw it out somewhat. In this manner Stanley and his men suffered much, as I have no doubt my reader is very well aware.

The whole country is not covered with so thick a forest as the one described, but there are many of them, and where they are found the population is sparse and most degraded. If God's sunshine could get to the land ; if it could penetrate the thick leaves of the trees, and dry the foul moisture thereon, it would be a different country. If it could be cleared, the progress would be remarkable. The portion which has been cleared has been cultivated with much success.

The physical resources of Africa are adequate to sustain a large population. Indeed, the resources for sustenance and wealth are truly wonderful. The soil is rich and extremely productive. Crops can be grown at all times throughout the year, and from one year to another unceasingly. The soil seems to hold its richness in a remarkble manner that many cannot understand.

The people of Africa are various and heterogeneous. There is a great mixture of tribes and nationalities, especially in the more northern parts, and more especially in the Barbary States. However, the Moors predominate ; while there are many Jews and Turks. The prevailing religion as you might infer from the foregoing is the Mohammedan form ; but the Jewish and Roman Catholic creeds are also very strong. Protestant religion and missions are fighting against great odds, but they are doing good work and making headway in these States. I feel that I ought right here to mention some few things concerning the mission work. Information on this subject is needed coming from whatever source it may. Needed to awaken a greater interest and enthusiasm in the " Dark Continent " and also to awaken to more active work ; and also to give information to inquiring minds, — minds that are interested in the awakening country. If my attempt at doing so is humble, it still is something, and shows, at least, that one heart is loyal to the continent of possibilities — that one heart is beating with love for a benighted people, that one head and two hands are willing to labor night and day, and do their part in uprooting superstition and error from the African land, and from the hearts of the African people, whether it be the superstition of creeds or of heathenism. Yes, I firmly believe, and my belief is fixed by observation, that the Protestants are doing all in their power to spread the Gospel of the Lord among these benighted people ; but it is hard and difficult work. In the way of building churches and schools, they are doing good work — truly wonderful work — when you pause to consider all the difficulties they have to overcome, and all the impediments and obstacles thrown in their path by those whose sympathies are not with them.

These impediments are bravely cast aside, and the obstacles surmounted with patient persistency. Anything is possible to a man or woman who has the love of God in his or her heart, and who has a strong will for the right —

" The strength to dare — the nerve to meet Whatever threatens with defeat — Is all indomitable w^ill."

Success to these brave, Protestant people ! May the choicest rewards crown their noble efforts is the earnest prayer of one whom they have helped to civilization. It is not an easy thing to work among these mixed tribes. Some tribes in Northern Africa, not properly speaking the Soudan, are treacherous, war-like and full of barbarity.

Amalgamative people of Northern Africa are more desirous of plunder than some other tribes in Guinea, such as the Mandingoes and the Veys, and as these are my own people, I feel that I would like to speak in a general way concerning them. In the first place the Mandingoes and Vey tribes are one and the same. They inhabit a district which extends from 8° to t2° north latitude, and is situated between the head-waters of the Senegal and Niger Rivers, comprising a population of anywhere from 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 souls. As a people there is nothing lazy or shiftless about them. They have, if I may be allowed to say it, capabilities for a high degree of civilization and have very good ideas of organization.

They have fixed dwellings, and though they are in most cases merely mud huts, they are usually defended by stockades. They are possessed of some laws and customs which are most favorable to commerce. The land is cultivated to some extent, and gold and iron are manufactured into various articles with much nicety of execution and much ingenuity. Cloth is also woven and dyed. Altogether they have qualities which speak well for the uplifting of the standard of life in Africa. They are the most widely circulated and important peoples of West Africa, north of the Equator, and are, I think, the best representatives you would find of the Negro stock.

A great many people are under the impression that the native man of Central Africa, irrespective of the tribe to which he belongs, neither toils nor spins nor cultivates the land, nor provides and procures for himself those things which are requisite for sustaining his body. These impressions are erroneous as you will find, if you proceed with this little book.

It is mostly the native man who has hewn down the dark forests of which I have made mention, and thus permitted the light of heaven to warm the cold soil into life and vigor. A great many men have been misled about the negro or true black man. I do not mean to exhibit any prejudice, because I do not believe that a man can be a true Christian and yet be a prejudiced one at the same time. " He that holds malice with his neighbor not only causes his neighbor to be at variance with him but he destroys his own soul." Generally, one will find in this land of America, the poorest representatives of x\frican people, proper. They have been for centuries degraded by slavery and kept down by prejudice till they have become, some of them at least, but little higher than the lower animals. Whose fault is this? Ask yourself this question, my dear reader. Is it the American negro's fault, or is it rather his misfortune? Have there not come, even out of such poor material, men whom the world has marked as men of rare intellect, and fair representatives of what the entire race will finally become ?

Poor morals, groveling obedience to any command, benumbed intellect and shiftless habits are not the characteristics of an African who has been given opportunities for self-advancement. These failings and faults which you see in the American negro have been caused by cruelty and bondage, and the hard usage received while they were for so many years the slaves of white masters, and white masters are responsible. Our brothers will pay the penalty, just as Rome did. Their intellectual powers have been crushed by it — their morals crippled by it — their habits and customs and modes of living lowered and degraded by it ; in short, all that was highest, noblest, and worthiest of cultivation has been crushed out of their hearts and souls until nothing is left that was their own by prerogative, save their sunny, happy dispositions. You say the negro man is lazy. Granted. What is the cause of this fact? Until thirty years ago, more or less, what incentive did he have to become anything higher than the beast of burden, which, in the eyes of his white master, he was. Of what use was it for him to show himself ambitious, progressive and active? If he did so he would be termed a "smart nigger," and his reward would be the auction block, where because of these very qualities, he would bring a bigger price to his master.

You say that he has no intellect. What was done to enlarge

'to tHE LIG;HT of AMERICA. 'j

^nd cultivate his mental powers until the Civil War? Where for him and his were the schools and the advantages for learning such as the white children had ? For the negro, the slave, in the very happiest and most prosperous moments what was there beyond a hoe, cotton-picking, three scanty meals a day, his bare hut at night, and his banjo? Do you think, kind reader, that you ought to judge of the possibilities of the African people by their unfortunate representatives found in this country? Why, there are some tribes in the interior of Africa that have never come into contact with Christianity or civilization and its influences ; but they are not idle or shiftless. They cultivate their own lands, invent their own alphabets, make their own hoes, and are superior to American negroes in intellect. Also plant corn, make their own fibre ; tan leather, and make it into sandals for their feet.

Others in the Western sections, including my own tribe, obtain ore. When iron they melt it and work it over into sabres and spears and various other articles. From gold ore, they make finger rings and amulets. Most certainly these are signs that there is something in the African man capable of cultivation, and demanding the respect and attention of the civilized world. The day is not far distant when the sable man will shine forth with that intelligence, knowledge, education and the love of God, such as will give him a place among the enlightened men of the world. I know that, with God's gracious sanction, my prophecy will come to pass. This is a self-evident fact — that the negro in his original state is a man of some intellect ; but when forced into slavery and bondage, he becomes demorahzed in every respect, for which he is not responsible, for he cannot help himself. The white man is blameworthy.