CHAPTER XVI

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THE DARK CONTINENT.

Yes, the great Buffalo[3] sleeps; his mightiest victory was his last. His warriors howl in vain, his necromancers gaze aghast. Fetich, nor magic wand, nor amulet of darnel, Can charm back life to the clay-cold heart and limb. FERDINAND FREILIGRATH.

It is only of late years that much has been known of the people of the heart of Africa. Explorers have passed through its borders; along its coasts travelers have wandered, but few have, until recently, pushed on into the interior. Even to-day there are vast regions unexplored. Of the millions of peoples inhabiting these parts we know only that which the Arab slave-dealers, and some native African traders have told us. The extreme points, North, South, East and West Africa have been known for many years. The interior, stretching back from Upper Egypt, and extending clear across to the River Niger, has been but little traveled by foreigners. From Zanzibar on the south-east, radiating like a fan, explorers have passed to the great lakes to the north-west, the Victoria Nyanza and Albert Nyanza, to the west to Tanganyika Lake, and to the south-west, the Nyassa and Bangweolo Lakes. To the west of these lakes, saving only the countries lying along the banks of the Lualaba, Livingstone, or Congo River, along which Stanley traveled, the land is almost unknown.

Even of the African peoples among whom Europeans have lived, it is difficult to learn much of their religions. First, because they have no sacred books, no records, in fact no writing at all. Their traditions and teachings have all been handed down by word of mouth. Again, the Africans are unwilling to tell foreigners about their religious beliefs, customs and worships. It is difficult to gain their confidence. When one asks them about it, they give evasive answers, or pretend to know nothing about the matter. This fact has led to the supposition that some of these peoples had no religious nature whatever, but that they formed an exception to the general evidence in favor of man’s religious nature.

Yet travelers have by patient investigation, observation and inquiry learned considerable. They have compared their conclusions, and have so been able to give us some idea of the gods and religions of Africa.

The Africans have no buildings of brick or stone, and have no knowledge, seemingly, of writing. These two facts have been brought to show that the Africans must have left the rest of the family of mankind very soon after the Deluge. The Africans are, with the exception of some of the South Sea Islanders, and the Aborigines of Australia, the most degraded people on the face of the earth. But here and there among them are small nations who are intelligent, and shrewd, and possessed of capabilities which place them above their fellow-Africans. The African peoples are of all shades of color, from blackest black to purest white, and just so do they vary very greatly in point of intelligence. Yet the best are very degraded, and the worst are but little above the beasts of field or forest. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ is needed anywhere, it is among the peoples of the Dark Continent.

[Illustration: A LAWYER OF ZULULAND.]

AFRICAN BELIEF IN A GOD OR GODS.

There are to be found even yet traces of the high position from which the Africans have fallen in their degradation. One of these traces is the universal belief in a God or gods. This, of course, is no such exalted idea of a Supreme Being as is to be found among Christian nations or even among the better nations of heathens, but still it is a Great One in whom they believe. This belief is not the result of reasoning, of observation of the powers of nature or of study of their own human nature, but is an inborn conception. Apart from revelation, apart from argument, from cause and effect, from design, from government or from anything else, men must believe in a God or gods. Hence we are not astonished at finding that among all the Africans there is this belief. Many of their ideas of God are horrible, shocking and revolting, others again attach no evil ideas to their gods, but exalt them in a very high degree.

PRAYING FOR RAIN.

In South-eastern Africa, along the Zambesi River, the people pray to a god, with whom they connect no impure traditions or degraded worship. When in danger of war or famine, they appeal to this god. They call him Mpambi. The worship is of this kind: When famine is threatened because rain is withheld, the people of a village resort to a cleared space of ground, inclosed by a fence. Here a _prayer-hut_ is erected. Women and men worship together. Generally a princess having in one hand a basket containing Indian corn-meal, and in the other a pot of native beer, or Pombi, goes into the hut, where she can be seen and heard. She puts the basket and jar on either side of her and sprinkling a handful of meal on the floor, cries, “Imva Mpambi, Adza moula!” (Hear, O God, and send rain!) The people respond by gently clapping their hands and chanting, Hear, O God! This is repeated until all the meal is used up. Then the jar of Pombi is emptied on the floor. The woman then comes out of the hut, closing the door. Throwing themselves upon their backs, she and the people unite in praying “Hear, O God, send rain!” Then she arises, washes herself in a jar of water which stands before the chief. Then all the women take their calabash cups and throw the water into the air, with frantic gesticulations.

Among the Zulus the lightning and thunder were represented as coming from “The Lord in Heaven.” If lightning struck and killed the cattle the people were not distressed. It was said “The Lord has slaughtered for Himself among His own flock. Is it yours? Is it not the Lord’s? He is hungry; He kills for Himself.” If a village is struck with lightning and a cow is killed, they say “This village will be prosperous.” If a man is killed, thus they said, “The Lord has found fault with him.” When they pray for rain, the heads of the village select some black oxen (like the black clouds which bring rain) and one is killed in sacrifice. Its flesh is eaten in the house in silence. The bones are burnt outside of the village. After this a song is sung, or hummed, for no words are used.

THE HOTTENTOTS’ GOD, GOUNJA GOUNJA.

The Hottentots call God “Gounja Gounja” or “Gounja Ticquoa.” They are said to have no divine worship, and few, if any, religious ceremonies, and, in their savage state, appear a very stupid race, almost void of the power of reason, without any knowledge of divine subjects, and but a vague notion that there is one great Lord of all, and likewise an evil spirit, a devil. They observe a yearly festival when the seven stars appear together, at the beginning of summer. The parents wake their children when these stars appear, and go with them into the fields, where they dance and sing. Their song is, “O Ticquoa, thou Father over our heads, give us rain, that all our fruits may ripen and we may have food in plenty.”

THE BUSHMEN’S GOD.

The Bushmen believe that there is a god in the sky, whom they call Kaang, or chief. One of the Bushmen says of his countrymen: “They perform a kind of religious worship to two rocks, the one representing a male, and the other a female. When going out to hunt, they implore the aid of these deities to provide them with food. First they go to the male rock, and strike it with a stick. If it sounds, they believe the report is heard in _Heaven_, and they will have success; but if they get nothing, they repair to the female rock, which they think is inhabited by a malicious spirit, and beat it well, upbraiding it, saying: ‘Why do you by your hidden arms cause all the game to be shot dead so that we can find none.’”

[Illustration: KING COFFEE’S PROTECTING GOD.]

All the tribes of Western Africa show some belief in gods. The Mohammedans and the Portuguese and English traders have of late years affected the peoples’ notions to some extent; but from the descriptions of earlier travelers we can see what their belief was. In Sierra Leone they called God “Canou;” on the Gambia River, they called their god “China.” The Niam-Niams call their god “Noro.”

Among the Africans are found many traditions of the origin of the world and of men. Among the Zulus, the following tradition is held, which will serve as a specimen:

ZULU TRADITION OF THE ORIGIN OF MEN.

Umkululu, the first man, had his origin in a valley of this world, where there was a bed of reeds. He sprung from the bed of reeds, and a woman (a wife) sprung from the same bed of reeds after him. They had but one name, that of Umkulunkulu; and men sprung from Umkulunkulu by generation. All things, as well as Umkulunkulu, sprung from a bed of reeds; everything, both animals and corn coming into being with him. He looked upon the sun when it was finished, and said: “There is a torch which shall give you light, that you may see.” He looked on the cattle, and said: “There are cattle; be ye broken off, and let the cattle be your food; eat their flesh and drink their milk.” He looked on wild animals, and said: “That is such an animal; that is an elephant; that is a buffalo.” He looked on the fire, and said: “Kindle it, and cook, and warm yourself, and eat meat when in has been dressed by the fire.” He looked on all things, and said: “So-and-so is the name of everything.”

Among the Basutos there is a legend that men and animals came from the interior of the earth, out of an immense hole.

GOOD AND BAD SPIRITS.

Between the Supreme Being and man, the Africans believe that there are a vast number of spirits. They are not afraid of God, but they have an intense dread of these spirits. They believe that God is too far off to hurt them much, but they believe that the world of spirits is around them. Even when God does send lightning or thunder, for instance, it is because the spirits bring them down. To their imaginations these spirits people the darkness with hideous shapes, poison the light with their presence, sweep over the plains in the forms of wild beasts, fill the forests, inhabit trees, live on the tops of the mountains, and in the secluded recesses of caves and valleys; make their homes in the sea, the lakes and the rivers; the air is full of them, the earth teems with them; fire is not free from their presence, and human beings are possessed by them. To them, also, they attribute the sorrows and the sufferings, the misfortunes, and, in most cases, the deaths of mankind.

[Illustration: THE PRIESTS’ TRICK OF RAISING AN IDOL OUT OF THE EARTH.]

As elsewhere, there are men who take advantage of the superstitious condition of their fellow countrymen, and make gain of it. Three priests once assured their followers that they could raise an idol out of the ground, and would do it the next day. During the night they dug a hole, in which they placed a lot of dried peas and an idol’s head and shoulders. They covered all up carefully. Just before daylight they took some water and poured it upon the peas. The people gathered early in the morning to see the priests keep their promise. They came forth, and, as the peas gradually swelled, began their incantations and murmurings, and, of course, very soon the idol appeared, and the deluded people were abundantly satisfied.

THE SPIRIT IN THE INSECT.

The Hottentots believed that the good spirits sometimes came in the form of a winged insect, having a green back, a belly speckled with white and red, and with two horns. They worshiped this insect wherever they found it.

If this insect alighted on a Hottentot he was looked upon as a man without fault, and distinguished and reverenced as a sacred person ever after. His neighbors gloried that they had such a favored mortal amongst them, and published the fact far and near. The fattest ox belonging to the kraal was killed as a thank-offering, and all the people kept festival for days. The case was in every respect the same if the insect alighted upon a woman; she was regarded as a sanctified person and the delight of the spirit.

The son of a German, who had given leave to some Hottentots to turn their cattle upon his land, was amusing himself one day in the kraal, when this insect appeared. The Hottentots immediately ran tumultuously to adore it, while the young German ran to catch it, in order to see what the effect would be amongst them. He seized it in the midst of them. The cry of agony was general when they saw it in his hands. They stared with distraction in their eyes at him and at one another. “See, see, see!” said they. “What is he going to do? Will he kill it?” They were wild through apprehension of its fate. “Why,” said he, “do you make such a hideous noise; and why are you in such agony about this paltry creature?” “Ah!” they replied, with utmost concern, “it is a divinity. It is come from Heaven. It is come on a good design. Do not hurt it; do not offend it. We are the most miserable wretches on earth if you do. This ground will lie under a curse, and the crime will never be forgiven.” This was not enough for the young German, who determined to carry the experiment a little further, and made as though he certainly intended to maim or destroy it. On this the people ran about, and screamed as though they were frantic; they fell prostrate on the ground before him, and with streaming eyes and loudest cries besought him to spare the creature and give it its liberty. Having sufficiently tested the reality of their belief in this insect-god, he let it fly, and they shouted in all the transports of joy.

FETICH WORSHIP.

A fetich is some material object in which a god or a supernatural power is supposed to dwell. An idol is a representation of a god. Fetichism is the lowest form of idolatry. Fetichism and witchcraft go together. The fetiches guard against the power of witches, and this is their primary object. They act as charms or amulets, and are worn on all parts of the body to keep off disease; are placed around the houses, villages or fields to keep off hurtful influences. The fetiches are of various sorts; the reeds of certain plants, the roots of certain trees, the horns of a diminutive deer, the claws and teeth of lions and leopards and other sorts of animals, slips of wood fantastically notched, knuckle-bones, beads and a kind of white stone being most commonly used. Amongst the Kaffirs, whose belief in witchcraft is intense, faith in the virtues of fetiches is, as a natural consequence, equally great. You rarely meet with a Kaffir who does not carry with him a whole series of charms. These, of course, are furnished by the witch-doctors and prophets, and as they are not of the least intrinsic value, and are highly paid for, the business of making fetich is a profitable one. To a European a superstitious Kaffir has a very ludicrous appearance, as the following description of a man who seems to have been peculiarly impressible to the value of fetich will show. His head was richly bedecked with pig’s bristles, set straight, so as to stand out on all sides like the quills of a hedgehog, with many feathers on his head, while around his neck there was strung a great number of charms, the principal of which were fragments of bone, the head of a snake, the tooth of a young hippopotamus, and an old brass door-handle.

[Illustration: A YOUNG FETICHIST.

Showing some of the various trinkets and amulets upon which dependence for an increase of sanctity and safety is placed by the devout.]

[Illustration: A CAZEMBE FETICH MAN.]

The Africans believe that there are lucky fetiches which guarantee them success in all their undertakings. They respect one another’s fetiches, and will not attack an enemy when they think that he has a fetich superior to their own. They are therefore very ready and eager to discover wherein special excellence may lie. A fetich of supposed superiority will command a high price.

[Illustration: DECORATED FETICHIST.]

[Illustration: THE JU-JU HOUSE, OR TEMPLE OF SKULLS, AT BONNY, WEST AFRICA.

After devouring the bodies of their victims, the priests of the people of Bonny were wont to take the skulls and place them in the walls of their temples.]

A HORRIBLE FETICH.

When hard pressed in war, and in danger of being utterly overthrown, in some parts of Africa, the people--like the king of Moab, who sacrificed his own son when the battle went against him, in order to move the compassion of his adversaries, or to inspire them with terror, or as a sacrifice to offended gods--will make horrible fetiches of human beings. Perhaps the most astounding instance of such a practice occurred in West Africa. The king of Bonny having been defeated in battle, retreated to his principal town, and finding that it was in imminent danger of being attacked, called together his magicians in order that they might aid him in repelling his enemies. They were equal to the emergency. The people were assembled in front of the principal gate of the town. Two holes were dug in the ground close to each other. The wizards then begun their operations, and when the people had been wrought up by their proceedings to a pitch of unreasoning excitement, so that they were ready to perpetrate any act no matter how horrible, the chief of the wizards pointed to a girl who was standing amongst the spectators. She was instantly seized, and, under his direction, her legs were thrust into the holes that had been prepared for this purpose, which were then filled up with earth so that she could not extricate herself from them. Then a number of men brought lumps of wet clay, which they built around her body in the form of a pillar, kneading them closely as they proceeded, until she was entirely covered over. This device produced the desired effect, for so terrified were the hostile tribes at what they regarded as an invincible fetich--or greegree, as the fetich is called in West Africa--that they dared not attack the town, and, like the kings of Israel and Judah, after the sacrifice of the king of Moab’s son, they withdrew from the further prosecution of the war, and returned to their homes.

The clay pillar, with the body of the girl within it, stood for several years where it had been erected, and served effectually to preserve the town from being again attacked or in any way troubled by its enemies.

STANLEY AND THE AFRICANS’ FEAR OF FETICH.

The Africans have a superstitious dread of writing and regard it as a bad fetich. When the African traveler, Stanley, had almost finished his journey through the Dark Continent, he was one day making some entries in his note-book. This book contained all the important results of his great journey. Seeing him writing the savages surrounded him and demanded that he destroy the “tara-tara,” as they called it, lest it should injure them. They said that those black lines on the paper would bring sickness and death to them and their animals unless the book was burned. The savages were determined to get the book. Only by a trick could he save either the book or his own life. He went to his tent and managed to exchange his note-book for a copy of Shakespeare’s works. This he burned “to please his friends,” as he told them.

[Illustration: IDOLS WITH MIRRORS IN THEIR BODIES.]

The Africans have idols of all shapes and sizes and made of all sorts of materials. Some of these are provided with looking-glasses in their stomachs, but for what purpose we do not know. They have a few god-houses or huts. Their continent is dark not only because peopled in the main by peoples whose skins are dark, but because the light of religion seems almost to have died out and darkness to have covered the land and all of the people.

WITCHCRAFT.

[Illustration: A WITCH DOCTOR.]

To polygamy and slavery add witchcraft superstitions, and the degradation of Africa is properly called “desperate” degradation. It may be doubted whether polygamy and slavery are as great obstacles to civilization as are these superstitions. These are interlaced with the whole structure of African society. No one is supposed to die from natural causes; disease is charged to witchcraft. No one is killed in war, in hunting, by drowning or mischance, but it is charged to witchcraft. The witches must be found out and tortured to confession and death.

“I was asked,” says Du Chaillu, whose representations of witchcraft superstitions are abundantly confirmed by other travelers and missionaries, “to go and see an old friend of mine, Mpomo, who was sick. They had spent the night before drumming about his bed to drive out the devil. But I soon saw that neither drumming nor medicine would help the poor fellow. The film of death was in his eyes. He held out his hand to me and feebly said: ‘Chally, save me, for I am dying.’

“He was surrounded by hundreds of people, most of them moved to tears by their friend’s pitiable condition. I explained to him, that I had no power to save him; but he and all around had the conviction that if I only wished I could cure him. They followed me to my house, asking for medicine. Not to seem heartless, I sent him something to make his remaining moments easy. At the same time I warned them that he would die and they must not blame me. When I awoke the next morning I heard the mournful wail which proclaimed that poor Mpomo had gone to his long rest. The cry of the African mourners is the saddest I ever heard. They mourn literally as those who have no hope.

“In the afternoon I heard talk of witchcraft. On the day Mpomo was buried proceedings were begun to discover who had bewitched him. A great doctor was brought from up the river, and for two nights and days incantations were repeated. On the third morning, when old and young, male and female, were frantic with the desire of revenge, the doctor began his final incantations. Every man and boy was armed with spears, or guns, or axes. The whole town was possessed by a thirst for human blood. For the first time I found my voice without authority. I could not even get a hearing.... At a motion from the doctor, the people became still. This silence lasted about a minute when the loud voice of the doctor was heard: ‘There is a very black woman who lives in a house,’ describing it, ‘she bewitched Mpomo.’ The crowd, roaring and screaming, rushed frantically for the place indicated. They seized upon a poor girl named Okondaga, the sister of my good friend and guide Adouma. Waving their weapons over her head, they tore her away to the water-side, bound her with cords, and then rushed back to the doctor again.

“As poor Okondaga passed by in the hands of her murderers, she saw me, though I had turned away not to be seen, for I could not help her. I heard her cry out, ‘Chally, Chally, do not let me die!’ It was a moment of agony; I was minded to rush into the crowd and rescue the poor victim. But I should only have sacrificed my life, without helping her. So I hid myself behind a tree, and, I confess it, shed bitter tears.

“Presently silence fell once more upon the crowd. Then the voice of the devilish doctor again rang over the town, like the croak of a raven, ‘There is an old woman in a house,’ describing it, ‘she bewitched Mpomo.’

“The crowd rushed off and seized a niece of King Quenguesa, a noble-hearted and majestic old woman. As they crowded about with flaming eyes, she rose proudly from the ground, looked them in the face unflinchingly, and motioning them to keep their hands off, said, ‘I will drink the mboundou, but woe to my accusers if I do not die.’ She was escorted to the river without being bound. She submitted without a tear or a murmur.

“A third time the dreadful silence fell upon the town, and the doctor’s voice was heard: ‘There is a woman with six children. She lives on a plantation toward the rising sun. She, too, bewitched Mpomo.’ Another furious shout, and in a few moments they brought to the river one of Quenguesa’s slaves, a good woman, whom I knew. The doctor now, in a loud voice, recited the crime of which these women were accused. Okondaga, he said, some weeks before, asked Mpomo for some salt, and he refused her. She had said unpleasant things to him, and had by sorcery taken his life.

“Then Quenguesa’s niece was accused. She had no children, and Mpomo had children. She envied him, and had bewitched him.

“Quenguesa’s slave had asked Mpomo for a looking-glass. He had refused her. Therefore she had killed him with sorcery. As each accusation was repeated, the people broke out into curses. Even the relatives of the poor victims were obliged to join in this. Every one rivaled his neighbor in cursing, each fearful lest luke-warmness should expose him to a like fate....

“The victims were put into a large canoe with the executioners, the doctor, and a number of the people, all armed. Then the tam-tams were beaten, and the mboundou quabi was prepared. Mpomo’s eldest brother held the poisoned cup to his sister’s lips. At sight of it poor Okondaga began to cry, and even Quenguesa’s niece turned pale, for the negro face has at such times a pallor quite perceptible. The mug of mboundou was handed to the old slave woman, then to the royal niece, and last to Okondaga. As they drank the multitude shouted: ‘If they are witches let the mboundou kill them, if they are innocent let the mboundou go out.’

“Suddenly the slave woman fell down. She had not touched the bottom of the boat before her head was hacked off by a dozen swords. Next came Quenguesa’s niece. In an instant her head was cut off, and her blood was dyeing the waters. Meantime poor Okondaga staggered, and struggled, and cried, vainly resisting the working of the poison in her system. Last of all, she fell. Then all became confused. A random hacking ensued, and in an incredibly short time the bodies were cut in small pieces which were cast into the river.

“After this the crowd dispersed to their houses, and for the rest of the day the town was silent. Some of these rude people felt that the number in their almost extinguished tribe was becoming less, and the dread of death filled their hearts. In the evening poor Adouma came secretly to my house, to unburden his sorrowing heart. He, too, had been compelled to take part in the dreadful scene. He dared not refrain from joining in the curses heaped upon his poor sister. He dared not mourn publicly for her. I comforted him as well as I could, and I spoke to him of the true God, and of the wickedness of the conduct we had witnessed. He said at last, ‘O Chally, when you go back to your far country, America, let them send men to us poor people to teach us from that which you call God’s mouth,’ meaning the Bible. I promised Adouma to give the message, and I now do so.”

God pity poor Africa! May the Light of the Sun of Righteousness soon shine on her dark land!

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