850 



WESTERN AFRICA. 



There are many fetiches ^ or indefinable objects, principles of worship, or consecrated things. 

 The fetiche seems to resemble the obi of the West Indies, and the taboo of the South Sea 

 Islands. Charms, amulets, and saphies, or written charms, are in great use, as defence from 

 danger, &c. It is a general custom, in eating and drinking, to throw a little food or drink on 

 the ground, as an offering to the dead. At various places, but especially in Ashantee and Da- 

 homey, there are human sacrifices, and Coomassie is the very court of Moloch. At the " yarn 

 custom," in September, when the yam is ripe, the convicts are executed ; but all chiefs, who 

 enter the city, have the right of sacrificing 4 slaves, one at each of the 4 corners of the city. 

 At the death of a chief, or one of his family, the grave is filled with the heads of the victims 

 who are sacrificed, that their spirits may be in attendance on the soul of the departed. When 

 the king's mother died, 3,000 people were slain ; and, on occasions when the king would pro- 

 pitiate the higher or the lower powers, he offers these sacrifices ; and, as the victims are taken 

 promiscuously, the streets are deserted, or a few people only cross them by stealth, or run 

 through them at full speed. When a death takes place in a family, the slaves run forthwith to 

 the woods, for it is usual to sacrifice one on the instant, and more at the burial. The persons 

 to be sacrificed, are sometimes led in processions, with a knife through their cheeks and 

 tongue. 



In the Portuguese settlements, which are large, and divided into duchies, counties, and mar- 

 quisates, the Christian religion has been preached to the negroes since the 15th century. The 

 gospel, however, is not embraced by any free nation, and the Jagga negroes have associations 

 to prevent its spread. This cannot excite surprise, when we consider what Christians have 

 done in this part of Africa. 



In Congo, Loango, and other countries, more or less subject to the Portuguese, the labors 

 of the Capuchin missionaries have been successful, and there are more than 100,000 converts, 

 including soine native princes. It is probable, that their Christianity is not of the purest kind. 

 The outward forms of worship are those of the Romish church, though there are many pagan 

 observances. French ecclesiastics, also, founded missions in Cacongo and Loango, in 1766. 

 The missions are still kept up, though feebly, in these countries, and in Benguela. At Sierra 

 Leone, bibles are distributed by thousands in the native languages, and negroes of superior tal- 

 ents trained for teachers and missionaries. Similar advantages are spread, also, from Liberia. 



The king of Ashantee has 3,333 wives, and the number is religiously kept entire, though 

 many of them are infants, and but a few hundred of the wives are attached to the palace. Po- 

 lygamy is common on the whole coast, but the Mahometan professors have generally but 4 wives. 

 When the wives of the king of Ashantee go out, they are preceded by boys with whips, who 

 fall upon every one in the street, that no one may see the ladies. These boys or pages, have 

 the right of pilfering in the market, and they are always busy .in their vocation. They will 

 trip down a countryman, bringing his supplies, and when scattered on the ground, collect the 

 merchandise and run away. The market people, however, are very circumspect, and if they 

 can take the pages before they reach the palace, may inflict upon them any beating short of 

 death. 



The government of the different countries or tribes, is despotic, aristocratic, or republican. 

 The ordeal by poison is used in many places, and the poison must be taken both by the ac- 

 cused and the informer. Few of either survive it. Lander, who was forced, on his return, 

 to swallow a bowl of the vegetable poison, walked off unharmed to his tent, where he dis- 

 charged his stomach by a powerful emetic, and received little injury. 



At Ashantee, the legal Interest is 33| per cent for 40 days, and if the debtor cannot pay, 

 he may be sold to slavery, subject to redemption. In charges of treason, if the accused is 

 acquitted, the accuser suffers death. It is forbidden, by law, to praise another man's wife ; 

 so that "honey-mouth," as flattery is called, is not in repute. Conjugal disputes are some- 

 times settled by the interference of jSiumbo Jumbo, a mysterious personage, who seems to be 

 in the interest of the husband ; his interposition is decisive. He is an incarnate bugbear, 

 dressed in the barks of trees, and sometmies surmised to be the husband himself. Mumbo 

 Jumbo comes at evening, and goes to the Bentang tree, where the whole village assembles, 

 though the females are the least pleased, for no one knows to whom the visit is intended. At 

 about midnight, Mumbo fixes upon the offender, who is stripped, tied to a tree, and scourged. 



The people of the western countries have the art of smelting iron, though they do not use 

 the metal skilfully in any manufactures. They have some sweet and simple tunes, which they 

 oiay on a calabash guitar, with a few notes. Marriages, among the Mandingoes, are celebrated 



