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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



prominence. He is sure not to be let go without 

 a parting touch of satirical disparagement. In 

 describing the departure from Khartoum (Feb- 

 ruary 8, 1870), he says with a sneer, "I had had 

 to embrace the governor, then a black pasha, a 

 rara avis in terris." This habit of indulging in 

 caricature for the sake of amusement easily leads 

 to a spirit of misrepresentation and calumny. 



In speaking of the love of music, for which 

 Africans are everywhere noted, Sir Samuel Baker 

 says, with a touch of exaggeration : 



" The natives are passionately fond of music. I 

 believe the safest way to travel in these wild coun- 

 tries would be to play the cornet without ceasing, 

 which could insure a safe passage. A London 

 organ-grinder would march through Central Africa 

 followed by an admiring and enthusiastic crowd, 

 who, if his tunes were lively, would form a danc- 

 ing escort of most untiring materials. ... A man 

 who, in full Highland dress, could at any time col- 

 lect an audience by playing a lively air with the 

 bagpipe, would be regarded with great veneration 

 by the natives, and would be listened to when an 

 archbishop by his side would be totally disre- 

 garded." 



After quoting this passage, a grave American 

 divine, in an elaborate article on Africa in an 

 American review, could see nothing from which 

 to infer any noble qualities in the negro, and could 

 "not let the opportunity pass without indulging in 

 the conventional giggle. Continuing Baker's 

 joke, he still further degrades the impression, in 

 order, apparently, to develop the smile into a 

 " broad grin." He says : 



" An African's religion finds vent at his heels. 

 Songs and dances form no inconsiderable part of 

 the worship at a Southern colored camp-meeting. 

 If we were constructing a ritual for the race we 

 should certainly include this Shaker element." l 



" An African's religion " is inferred from what 

 takes place at " a Southern colored camp-meet- 

 ing." "A ritual for the whole race "must "in- 

 clude the Shaker element." We would assure the 

 reverend doctor that such a "ritual" would bean 

 egregious failure. The "Shaker element" pre- 

 vails chiefly, if not entirely, among negroes, or 

 "colored" people, who have been trained under 

 the influence of the denomination of which Dr. 

 Wentworth himself is a distinguished orna- 

 ment. But only a comparatively small number 

 of Africans are shouting Methodists. The great- 

 er portion of the race who are not pagans are 

 either Mohammedans or Roman Catholics, and 



1 Methodist Quarterly Review (New York), January, 



1878. 



their "religion" does not "find vent at their 

 heels." The traveler in Africa will find himself 

 in need of far more solid acquirements when pass- 

 ing through Mohammedan districts than the abil- 

 ity to play the cornet, organ, or bagpipe. It is 

 due, however, to the qualities whose presence is 

 implied by the African's love of music that bilious 

 and irritable travelers pass through their country 

 not only with impunity, but receiving the kindest 

 treatment. 



" Wo man sinst, da lass dich rahig nieder, 

 Biise Menschen haben keine Lieder." 



And here we cannot but call attention to a 

 fact which in the intelligent negro undermines his 

 admiration of foreign races, viz., that his race, nu- 

 merically the weakest, has been through the ages 

 selected for oppression and ridicule by the other 

 branches of the human family. If there are ac- 

 cording to the present estimate 1,200,000,000 

 human beings upon the earth, 200,000,000 of 

 whom are Africans, we have in the treatment 

 which Africans have received from the rest of 

 mankind one of the most remarkable illustrations 

 of the advantage which the strong are prone to 

 take of the weak. Ten hundred millions against 

 two hundred millions. Ten persecuting, abusing, 

 ridiculing two. And this has been the case in all 

 the ages, ten against two. And yet men appar- 

 ently thoughtful affect to wonder that negroes have 

 appeared in all the historic periods as slaves, have 

 been represented on all the monuments of Egypt 

 as carried in chains in triumphal processions. 



But, in spite of all, the negro race has yet its 

 part to play, a distinct part, in the history of hu- 

 manity, and the continent of Africa will be the 

 principal scene of its activity. The mistake which 

 Europeans often make in considering questions of 

 negro improvement and the future of Africa, is in 

 supposing that the negro is the European in em- 

 bryo — in the undeveloped stage — and that when, 

 by-and-by, he shall enjoy the advantages of civil- 

 ization and culture, he will become like the Euro- 

 pean ; in other words, that the negro is on the 

 same line of progress, in the same groove, with 

 the European, but infinitely in the rear. The 

 Saturday Review, not long since, in a remarkable 

 leading article on American politics, in which 

 some curious inaccuracies occurred, made the 

 following statement: 



" On their own continent Africans seem to be 

 irreclaimable, but after two or three generations 

 of servitude they begin to resemble inferior Euro- 

 peans. The slave-trade may perhaps eventually 

 prove to have been the first cause of negro civili- 

 zation. The mimetic instinct of the negro race 



