The World and Its People Part 36

CHAPTER XLIX.

LOWER GUINEA.

Southern, or Lower Guinea, begins at the equator. It is generally understood to include the maritime coast line of West Africa. For about fifteen hundred miles it extends in a north and south direction from the head of the Bight of Biafra to Cape Frio.

On the northern part of the coast, out from the high peaks of the Cameroons, which stand on a peninsula of the mainland, are four volcanic islands in line.

The largest of these is Fernando Po, which belongs to Spain. Its perfectly conical summit, which rises to an elevation of over ten thousand feet, is wooded completely over. Its harbor of Clarence Cove is one of the most picturesque points in West Africa. At one time it was a place of banishment for political offenders from Spain.

Prince's Island, which has been compared to a volcanic garden, and St.

Thomas, beyond it, whose lofty peak rises over seven thousand feet above the sea, belong to Portugal. The little rugged island of Ann.o.bon, which is the last of the chain, belongs to Spain.

The section around the Cameroon peaks has, within a short period, been occupied by the Germans. Near the equator, on the coast of Lower Guinea, the Spaniards have some small settlements in the beautiful Bay of Corisco, and on the promontory of San Juan, which adjoins it. The French, too, hold not only the inlet of the Gaboon, but a large portion of the coast, together with an extensive inland section, which was ceded to them by the Berlin Conference, when the Congo State was established.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A NATIVE OF THE GABOON RIVER.]

One of the chief negro tribes of West Africa, the Fans, occupy the coast line of Lower Guinea. They are a fine race, but are p.r.o.nounced cannibals. Since they have come in contact with Europeans this revolting practice has been less prevalent.

The Fans have long been famed for their skill in forging weapons and making poisoned arrows. These occupations have declined since the advent of Europeans.

Du Chaillu, the explorer, relates his experience upon arriving at one of the Fan villages. So alarmed were the men, women, and children, that they fled in terror the moment they perceived the white "spirit," as they called him.

In his journal he writes: "If I was not frightened, I was at least as much surprised by all I saw as the Fans could be. These fellows, who now for the first time saw a white man with straight hair, were to me an equal surprise, for they are real, unmistakable cannibals. And they were by long odds the most remarkable people I had thus far seen in Africa.

They were much lighter in shade than any of the coast tribes, strong, tall, well made, and evidently active; and they seemed to me to have a more intelligent look than is usual to the African unacquainted with white men."

He describes these people as almost without clothing. Such as they had was made from the soft inside bark of a tree, while from the waist was suspended the skin of some wild animal. Their teeth were filed, which gave the face not only a ghastly but a ferocious appearance; and, in addition to filing, some had blackened the teeth.

The hair, or rather wool, was pulled out into long, stiff, thin plaits; and on the end of each, white beads or rings of copper or iron were strung.

Some of these natives wore caps made of feathers. Others wore long queues. These were made of their own wool, lengthened out by a kind of tow, which had been dyed black and mixed with it. This gave the wearers a very droll appearance.

Over the shoulders they wore suspended the huge, long knife of the country, and in their hands they bore spears and an immense shield made of elephant hide. About their necks they wore various charms and ornaments, which rattled constantly as they walked.

The shield the Fan carries is made of the hide of a very aged elephant.

Only the part which lies across the back of the animal is used. It is dried and smoked, and thus rendered as hard and impenetrable as iron.

The shield when finished is about three feet long and two and a half feet wide.

The charms, or fetiches, which are worn suspended around the neck by the Fans, consist of the fingers and tails of monkeys; human hair, skin, teeth, and bones; clay, old nails, copper chains, sh.e.l.ls; feathers, claws, and skulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood; seeds of plants; and ashes of various substances. This belief in charms indicated to Du Chaillu the highly superst.i.tious nature of the people.

The women of the Fan tribe wear still less clothing than the men. They are small and hideously ugly. They wear their teeth filed like the men, and, in place of clothing, decorate their bodies with red dye.

The babies of this tribe were carried by the mothers in a sling, or rest, which was made of the bark of a tree and worn suspended from the neck.

Du Chaillu writes of these people that they crowded about him as soon as they became convinced that he meant them no harm, calling him "spirit,"

and examining every detail of his person and dress that he would permit them to touch. They seemed especially impressed by his hair and feet.

They could not sufficiently admire the former. On his feet he wore boots, and, as his pantaloons hid the tops of these, they very naturally drew the conclusion that his boots were his feet, and expressed wonder that they should be of so different a color from his face.

Their color is dark brown, rather than black, and they tattoo themselves more than any of the other tribes north of the equator, though south of it there are tribes that pursue this practice to a much greater extent.

The men do not disfigure themselves as much as the women, who take pride in the many blue lines and curves with which they cover their bodies.

Their cheeks, too, they mark with various designs, and to add to their hideous appearance they wear in their ears huge copper and iron rings, which are so heavy as to weigh down the lobes to an ugly length.

The men of this tribe are very expert blacksmiths. The tools they make are rude, but they are far superior to those made by any other African tribe. Their weapons are very effective. Their battle-axe is a terrible instrument. One blow from it will split open a human skull. Another weapon is a singular pointed axe. This is thrown from a distance, very much as the American Indian used the tomahawk when on the war-path.

The war knife carried by this tribe is a cruel weapon when used in a hand-to-hand conflict. When not in use it is worn suspended from the side. Another deadly weapon is a huge knife, over a foot long and two-thirds of a foot wide. This is used to cut through the shoulders of an enemy.

The spears, which are fully seven feet long, are thrown with wonderful skill and accuracy to the distance of thirty yards. Crossbows are used in war and on hunting expeditions. Some of the larger arrows, which are used in the hunt, are about two feet in length, and are tipped with an iron head resembling the sharp barbs of a harpoon.

Some of the axes and knives are decorated with a kind of scroll work.

This is wrought in iron with graceful lines and curves, showing considerable artistic taste on the part of the native workmen.

The most deadly of all weapons used by the Fans is a small, insignificant-looking rod of bamboo. It is not more than a foot long, and is simply sharpened at one end. This is the famous poison arrow, a single pin's point p.r.i.c.k of which means death. The poison for these arrows is obtained from the sap of a plant which grows in the forests.

The point of each arrow is carefully dipped several times in the sap and allowed to dry, when it turns a red color.

These arrows are carried in a small bag made from the skin of some wild beast. They are much dreaded by the tribes at war with the Fans, for they can be thrown with great force at a distance of fifteen feet, and with such velocity that they cannot be evaded. There is no possible cure for a wound inflicted by one of these deadly yet harmless-looking missiles. Death soon follows in its wake.

In addition to skill in iron work, the Fans show considerable ingenuity in making vessels of clay. These they make surprisingly regular in shape, considering that they have no lathe, like ordinary potters.

Just beyond the low coasts above the delta of the Ogowe lies the hilly, thickly wooded sh.o.r.e of Loango. Here oil palms, gum trees, copper, ivory, coffee, cotton, and bananas are found in abundance.

The great river Congo, or Zaire, forms a line of division across West Africa; and the coast lands south of this line are very different from those which lie north of it.

In place of the lagoons and swamps, backed by evergreen forests, which lie north of the great river, level sandy bays appear along the sh.o.r.es farther south, and the forest vegetation is more distant from the coast; so that only long stretches of coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, with here and there a tall tree, are seen from the ocean.

Behind the coast plain, however, the land rises in terraces, each of which is marked by a change of vegetation, from the first, with its larger shady trees and broad-leaved gra.s.ses, to the second, in which creeping plants abound, clasping the biggest trees with a ma.s.s of foliage and flowers, up to the third, where the plains are covered with gigantic gra.s.ses. Each of these changes of level corresponds to a change of climate, from the hot coast land up to the cool interior.

Here, in the Congo State, under the rule of the King of the Belgians, we find Banana Point, Boma, Vivi, names familiar to us in our reading of the Congo River district. Higher up the river, we find Leopoldville, on Stanley Pool, the princ.i.p.al station amongst the many that dot the river along this part of its course.

All the country for a great distance south of the river was once subject to the king of Congo, from whose dominion the river is named; his capital became the center from which the early Jesuit missionaries spread cultivation and industry far and wide.

Here they built the cathedral and monasteries of San Salvador, the ruins of which still exist, and by their influence extended the territory of the king of Congo.

On their expulsion, however, the kingdom gradually diminished, till its territory now includes little more than the neighborhood of the capital; though its king still controls several of the chief trade routes to the interior.

Portuguese West Africa is generally called the Province of Angola. It is divided from north to south into five districts. Each district has its chief town corresponding to it in name.

In former times the slave trade was the main traffic of this coast.

Since the cessation of that traffic the ivory trade has also declined.

The groundnut is now largely cultivated for the oil it yields. Coffee grows wild, cotton is cultivated, and palm oil is brought down the Kuanza River in considerable quant.i.ty. Iron has long been smelted in the district of Cazengo, a little north of the Kuanza, and copper and gold appear in small quant.i.ty in many parts.

Most of the smaller kinds of game abound, but the elephant has disappeared from the mountain districts.

The capital of the colony is St. Paul de Loanda. It is mainly a European town, situated on a fine bay. It has large houses roofed over with tiles. The open verandas, so characteristic of these houses, give an artistic and beautiful finish to them, and are a source of pleasure and comfort to the owners, since they give free admission to the cool sea breezes.

Benguela, a large port on the coast, was formerly one of the great slave marts, from which thousands of unfortunates were sent to Brazil and to the island of Cuba. Mossamedes lies farther south. It is a pretty town, built of stone houses and commanded by a fort. Ambriz is the northern port, but is sadly neglected, and presents a desolate picture of ruin and decay.

It is a matter of much interest to note the spread of Christianity in different sections of the dark continent, which, once shrouded in the gloom of superst.i.tion and barbarism, now receive the light of the Gospel. To quote from a daily paper:--