Page images
PDF
EPUB

the flames. The negroes have strong local attachments, and on such occasions the most agonizing scenes frequently occur.

The wives of wealthy Moorish chiefs have black female slaves, to whom they transfer all the toil, while they loll upon mats, smoking their pipes all day long. The poor slaves, who are treated with the utmost haughtiness and rigor, try to anticipate the slightest wish of their indolent mistresses. Sometimes they carry their attention so far, as to pick up every stone or stick, that might annoy the feet of these walking flesh mountains.

If a Moor has a son by any of his black slaves, the girl is much better treated than before; her child shares equal privileges with the other children, and is acknowledged as a free fellow-citizen like themselves. In this respect Christian slave-owners might learn a useful lesson from the ignorant Moslem.

The dwellings of negroes are generally huts made of the branches of trees and thatched with palmetto. The king's residence usually consists of a number of these huts surrounded by a clay wall. Each wife has a separate building, sometimes divided from the apartments of the men by a slight bamboo fence. Some of the African huts are very prettily painted, or stained, and the walls adorned with curious straw work. The Ashantees display a considerable degree of taste and even elegance in their architecture. Their houses and door-posts are elaborately carved

[ocr errors]

with representations of warlike processions, and serpents seizing their prey.

The various African tribes differ as much in personal appearance as the inhabitants of the numerous Asiatic kingdoms. The Pulahs, or Fulahs, of Bondu, between the Senegal and Gambia, are copper-colored, and have long hair. Some of them are black, though less so than many tribes. Their women are slender and graceful, with languishing eyes, and soft voices. The Wolofs are tall and well-shaped, with prominent and rather aquiline noses, lips not very thick, black complexions, uncommonly sweet voices, and a very frank, mild expression of countenance. This tribe is considered the handsomest in Africa. A people called Laobehs, whose manners bear a great resemblance to those of the gypsies, are intermixed with the Wolofs, but have no fixed residence. They select some well-wooded spot, where they fell a few trees, form huts with the branches, and work up the trunks into mortars, and other wooden vessels. The women pretend to tell fortunes; and though short, ugly, and sluttish, they are much sought as wives, on account of a superstition that such connections bring good luck. The Laobehs possess no animals but asses, on which they travel during their frequent peregrinations. Groups of these men and women may often be seen squatting round a fire, smoking and talking.

The color of the Mandingoes is black intermixed with yellow. They have regular features, with a frank, intelligent expression. The women are al

most universally well-shaped and handsome. The inhabitants of Bambara are not so black as the Wolofs, but have no pretensions to beauty. They have round heads, very closely curled hair, coarse features, flat noses, thick lips, high cheek-bones, and bandy legs. The inhabitants of Bornou, Mozambique, and Southern Guinea, bear a great resemblance to those of Bambarra. The Congoese have European features, bright eyes, and black complexions. The Kaffers, or Caffres, have likewise the European conformation of head and features; their complexion is glossy black, their eyes large and sparkling, their teeth are beautifully white and regular, and the sion of their countenances bright and good-humored. Travellers all agree in describing the men as uncommonly noble and majestic figures. The women are of lower stature, rather muscular than graceful; but many of them have very handsome faces.

expres

The African women wear two long strips of cotton cloth, either blue or white. One is tied round the waist and falls below the knees; the other is worn over the shoulders like a mantle. The latter garment is generally thrown aside when they are at work. The upper part of the person is almost universally exposed. The wealthy sometimes wear a kind of robe without sleeves, under their pagnes, or mantles. Mungo Park speaks of seeing women in Bondou, who wore a thin kind of gauze, called byqui, which displayed their shape to the utmost advan tage. Sandals are sometimes worn, but they more frequently go barefoot. Women of the island of St.

Louis, who are generally handsome, and many of them fair, by frequent intermarriages with Europeans, wear a long garment of striped cotton fastened at the waist, with another four or five yards in length thrown over the shoulders in the antique style. Striped cloth is twisted round the head, so as to form a high turban. Their slippers are usually of red, yellow, or green morocco, and they are seldom without golden ear-rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

The Kaffer women wear a cloak made of leopard or calf skins, dressed in such a manner as to be exceedingly soft and pliant. This garment, which is worn over the shoulders, and conceals all the upper part of the person, is never laid aside except in the very hottest weather. They wear no other clothing but a small apron. It is a singular fact that the Kaffer men care much more about ornaments than

the women. Almost every individual wears necklaces of beads, or polished bone, with several ivory bracelets about his arms and ankles. Those who can afford it have wreaths of copper beads around their heads, from which brass chains are suspended. The women, on the contrary, seldom wear any other ornament than a row of beads, or small shells, around the edges of their aprons. Females of the royal family sometimes have a few brass buttons on their cloaks, and beads or shells on the skin caps they wear in cold weather. The other African women are very fond of ornaments. They decorate their heads with coral beads, sea-shells, and grains of gold and silver. Sometimes a small plate of gold is worn

[ocr errors]

in the middle of the forehead. The gold dust, which they collect, is kept in quills, stopped with cotton; and these are frequently displayed in the hair. Sometimes strips of linen are stretched upon a stick, so as to form a turban in the shape of a sugar loaf, the top of which is covered with a colored handkerchief. In some places the hair is raised high by means of a pad, and decorated with an expensive species of coral brought from the Red sea. Among some tribes the women twist their woolly locks around straws greased with butter; and when the straws are drawn out, the hair remains curled in small tufts. This process requires a whole day. A more neat and simple style, is to braid the hair in several tresses, made to meet on the top of the head. Almost all the Africans grease their heads and anoint their bodies; a custom said to be necessary to prevent cutaneous diseases, and the attacks of insects, in warm climates. Tattooing is very common, and almost every tribe has a style peculiarly its own. The gold ornaments worn in Africa are generally very massive. The heavy ear-rings sometimes lacerate the ear, to avoid which they are often supported by a band of red leather, passing over the head from one ear to the other. The necklaces and bracelets are sometimes of gold fillagree work, very ingeniously wrought. Daughters of rich fami lies wear a necklace of coral, intermixed with gold and silver beads, which crosses below the breast, and is fastened behind, under the shoulders. The skins of sharks, or strings of beads as large as a pigeon's egg, are sometimes worn around the waist, and small

« PreviousContinue »