56 SPECIMENS OF COMPOSITION. 



SPECIMENS OF COMPOSITON. 



YOEUBA PEOVEEBS. 



The Yorubas have no songs, and, I believe, but few popular stories ; but the 

 language abounds in proverbs, which are at once the poetry and the moral science 

 of the nation. Many of them are sententious observations on the nature of things ; 

 others are designed to inculcate the various relative duties of men ; and a few are 

 simply an ingenious play upon words. 



We subjoin some specimens of these proverbs, not only to exhibit the idioms of 

 the language, but also to illustrate the character of the Yoruba mind. They are 

 taken chiefly from Crowther's Vocabulary. 



1. Eni aba kb t6 bi eni ore: eni aba kd &e ika; riruq ni i ruq 



Mat of grass not lasts as mat of bulrush : mat of grass not does bend ; breaking it-is it breaks 



w6mwom. 



to-pieces. 

 A grass mat does not last like a bulrush mat : a grass mat will not bend ; it breaks to pieces. 



2. Abaiyed^e k6 ^e ifl idi 6ran h&q. 



Tattler not does to-make root of matter apypear. 



It will not do to reveal one''s secrets to a tattler. 



3. Abd k6 &e ik^q m6 ni li ese, biko^e eni ti r)^e buburu. 

 Staple not does drive to-adhere-to one on foot, except one who is-doing evil. 



The stocks are not fastened on the foot of one, except of him who does evil. 



4. Abata tdkete, bienikpe k6 bd 6do tar). 



Marsh stands-aloof, as-if not with stream be-akin. 



The marsh stands aloof, as if it were not akin to the stream. — Said of people who are proud and 

 reserved. 



1. Kd ^e, does not; — 'ika,' infinitive after ^e, tlie preformative 'i' being very slightly sounded. 

 Observe the Hebraism, riruij ni i ruq, breaking it breaks, instead of 6 ruij, it breaks. This form is 

 poetical. 



2. Abaiyedie (4, he ; ba . . . die, spoils ; aiye, the world), a world-spoiler. ' Kd ^e ' here means it will 

 not do, it is not proper, which is quite an English idiom ; — ' fi . . . h^i) ' (to make . . . appear) is a compound 

 transitive verb, meaning to show, reveal ; — idl brar), the root of the matter, a secret. 



3. In various and widely separated countries of Africa, prisoners are sometimes confined by placing a 

 large iron staple around the ankle and driving the ends into a log, thus forming a rude kind of stocks. 



4. BI eni kpe, as if one should say. 



