History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880. Vol 1

Mandingo, and Grebo.-Poetry: Epic, Idyllic, a

Table of

pe, we infer, that, while there are many dialects in that region, they all belong to one common family. During the Saracen movement, in the second century of the Christian era, the Arab turned his face toward Central Africa. Everywhere traces of his language and religion are to be found. He transformed whole tribes of savages. He built cities, and planted fields; he tended flocks, and became trader. He poured new blood into crumbling principalities, and taught

vants of Rome, bearing the double swords and keys. Not so extensive as the Ara

found on several words in the original text. These letters are indicated here by the coding [)x] for a breve above any l

a family or language called the Fantyipin. All these dialects, to a greater or less extent, have incorporated many foreign words,-Dutch, French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and even many words from Madagascar. The language of the Gold and Ivory Coasts we find much fuller than those on the Grain Coast. Wherever commerce or mechanical enterprise imparts a quickening touch, we find the vocabulary of the African amplified. Susceptible, apt, and cunning, the coast tribes, on account

he Mpongwe, which is spoken on the western coast in very nearly the same parallel of latitude. One-fifth of the w

he above was written just

l dialects, proved of immense use to me; and in three days I discovered, after classifying and comparing the words heard from the W

he dialects west and south-west of the Mountains of the Moon are numerous, and apparently distinct, they are referable to one common parent.

hical arrangements, as well as for its almost indefinite expansibility. In these respects it not only differs essentially and radically from all

all the dialects we have examined. It is spoken, with but slight variations, among the Mpongwe, Ayomba, Oroungou, Rembo, Camma, Ogobay, Anenga, a

g, scattered amongst the following tribes: the Balengue, Mebenga, Bapoukow, Kombe, Mbiki

old their place among roving, barbarous tribes through so many years. In the Mpongwe language and its dialects, the liquid and semi-vowel r is rolled with a fulness and richness harmonious to the ear

guage, in and about Cape Palmas. It is about twelve hundred miles from Gabun to Cape Palmas, about two thousand miles from Gabun to Senegambia, and about six hundred miles from Cape

ge is consequently monosyllabic. A great proportion of Grebo words are of the character indicated. A few verbs will illustrate. Kba, carry; la, kill; ya, bring; mu, go; wa, walk; ni, do; and so on. This is true of objects, or nouns. Ge, farm; bro, earth; w[)e]nh, sun; tu, tree; gi, leopard; na, fire; yi, eye; bo, leg; lu, head; nu, rain; kai, house. The Grebo people seem to have no idea of syllabication. They do not punctuate; but, speaking with the rapidity with which they move, run their words together until a whole sentence might be taken for one word. I

ees of comparison. We find no inflections to suggest case or gender. The adjective mpolo, which means "large," carries seven or eight forms. While it i

rve to impart a clearer idea of the arbit

(Singular, nyare m

yare impolu

(Singular, egara ev

ra volu, la

Singular, idambe iv

mbe ampolu,

(Singular, omamba o

ba impolu, la

which such changes are made. And yet he is as uniform and strict in his obedience to

y particle gives the indicative mood its grammatical being. The imperative is formed from the pre

, to

, lov

a, t

, do

les the verb can form the infinitive and potential mood. The Mpongwe verb carries four tenses,-present, past or historical, perfect past, and future. Upon the principle of alliteration the perfect past tense, representing an action as completed, is formed from the present tense by prefixing a, and by changing a-final into i: for

he conclusion that it is quite loosely put together. The saving element in its verb is the minuteness with which it defines the time of an action. The causative form is made by the use of a suffix. It does not use the verb "to go" or "come" in order to expres

ting field for philologist

rough, the Dark Continent, that the element of gentleness predominates among the more considerable tribes; that they have a keen sense of the beautiful, and are susceptible of whatever cultur

poor fellow, a

shadows. Why sho

ontinent, he made a halt at Kabinda before he ended his miraculous journey at Zanzibar on the Pacific Ocean. He had been accompanied in his perilous journey by stout-hearted, brave, and faithful natives. Their mission almost complet

o see Zanzibar,

k not, master. We shall ne

in this way. Wake up-shake yours

ars death? Let us die undisturbed, a

life! Four of them died in consequence of this strange malady at Loanda, three more on board her Majesty's ship Industry, and one woman breathed her las

he has seen his white brothers. La il Allah, il A

y had proved their stanch heroism and their fortitude; they had lived and endured nobly. I remember the enthusiasm with which they responded to my appeals; I remember their bold bearing during the darkest days; I remember the Spartan pluck, the indomitable c

ced stranger

r, where his

th and streng

n us, row,

now surround me, still char

s had we not seen together! What a noble fidelity these untutored souls had exhibited! The chiefs were those who had followed me to Ujiji in 1871; they had been witnesses of the joy of Livingstone at the

from me. Rapidly, as in some apocalyptic vision, every scene of strife with Man and Nature, through which these poor men and women had borne me company, and solaced me by the simple sympathy of common suffering, came hurrying across m

poor, ignorant children of Africa, for, from the first deadly struggle in savage Ituru to the last staggering rush into Embomma, they had rallied to my voice like veterans, and in the hour of need they had ne

ead it with tears and emotion, have blessed the noble Stanley, and thanked God for the grand character of his black followers! There is no romance equal to t

ing party scoured the district for food, but found none. Starvation was imminent. The feeble travellers lay upon the ground in the camp, with death pictured on their dusky features. Stanley called his boat-captains to his tent, and explained the situation. He knew that he was within a few days march of Embomma, and that here were located one Englishman, one Fren

t talk more! I am ready now. See, I will only buckle on my belt, and I shall sta

there are white men at Embomma, we will find them out. We

won't you? Hear me, my master. I am your servant. I will outwalk the two

too, sir,'

but, Robert, you cannot follow these t

f he breaks down,' said U

y. 'We must have Robert along with us, oth

ess! The world has wept over such stories as Bianca a

me her re

ints the ha

or proudl

of wasting strength against a stubborn enemy. And besides, there is something so tender in these words that they seem to melt the heart. "We will walk and walk, and when we cannot walk we will crawl!" We have never read but one story that approaches this narrative of Mr. Stan

e struggle,- friends and loved ones far away beyond the beautiful blue sea. These poor savages had nothing to steady their purposes save a paltry sum of money as day-wages,-no home, no friends; and yet they were as loyal as if a throne were awaiting them. No, no! nothing waited on their heroic devotion to a magnificent cause but a lonely death when they had brought the "master" to the sea. When their stomachs,

Africa are both orators and logicians. A people who have such noble qualities as this

o under three different heads; viz., the E

d must babble before it can talk, and all barbarians have a sense of the sublime in speech

n and barbarian, was arrested or overwhelmed, first by the influx of the Christian religion, then by the conquest of the Norman-French. But

expression rises suddenly, almost in spite of them, to their lips. There is no art, no natural talent, for describing, singly and in order, the different parts of an object or an event. The fifty rays of light which every phenomenon emits in succession to a regular and well-directed intellect, come to them

ions of the African. Panda was king of the Kaffirs. He was considered quite a great warrior. It took a great many isi-bongas to describe his virtues. H

of the Tchaks, co

w which fle

with a whis

was ever in so

le for room w

dorer of the va

u tookest at the

of N'dabazita,

alone of all

broke and left t

o burn at some

the bullock o

icious if only

ways be tastel

from Mankeba

seen the leo

ogether betwee

between the Ju

who thundered be

King! son of Jokwane

ss opponent of

lephant, an eleph

thee, thou monarc

6 asserts that Panda was too humble minded, and thought more of the power of Dingan than it deserved; while line 7 offers as proof of this assertion, that, when they came to fight, Panda conquered Dingan. Lines 8 to 11 all relate to the custom of seasoning sticks by hanging them over the fireplaces in Kaffir huts. Line 14 alludes to the fact that meat is very seldom roasted by the Kaffirs, but is almost invariably boiled, or rather stewed, in closed vessels.

ite cleverly. It should not be forgotten by the reader, that, in the translation of these songs, much is lost of their original beauty and perspicuity. The following son

offspring

the catt

be, fleet a

t, of beaut

ike the comb

arge, too hu

selekatze, son

'Swazi, so

the gates o

Gundave of

n size, of

Ungwati of a

f the king

bove, raining

tion to his boundless riches, and, finally, to celebrate his war achievemen

had carried victory on his spear throughout all Kaffir-land. Everywhere the tribes had bowed their submissive necks to his yoke; ever

ished, finishe

ou go out to

ll you go out

t conque

ou going to

ished, finish

ou going to

hurrah

ou going to

g modern in this deep la

orous and metrical elements of real poetry, contains true mil

AR

I am not afraid. If I die, I wil

nt, and is never hit by the murderous ball. The

that kills. It is Fate which str

the musicians he m

e harp; 3, those who sing the legends and battle-songs of their country, or who improvise satires or panegyrics. This last class are dreaded, though despised. They are richly rewarded in their lifetime, but after

me knowledge of their mythology in order to thoroughly understand all their figures of spee

e palace of

strange

as whit

and tangled as

t than the prin

with the ski

beautiful

s built of

is a forest

white beads

rains on th

its character we have yet met with from the lips of unlettered Negroes. It is certainly a noble song of triumph. It swells as it rises in its mission of praise. It breathes the same victorious air of the song of

NG OF

s, sing; the jo

iends; sing to t

d, O friends, sing

the lands behind, and

go you left

ldren, your brothe

e you seen a

eft the gre

OR

ends! sing; the

riend! sing to

fresh, is go

lt, and bad, u

e wine to drink

-bah! it mak

eads, O men, a

u can see

tretches

sweet, fre

from Usu

tures, cattle,

ves, warriors,

is the far-kno

scorned at us

gwana. What

land, its pastu

he far-known

land is j

cattle, shee

s rich in cl

pen, and his

Msungu must

nd beer, wi

e and play th

drink, and s

rful chief and a Christian. He was a poet, and composed hymns, which he repeated to his people till they could retain them upon their mem

inkulu si

om' unada

ndala id

nquinquis

kula goz

quinquis n

onana su

ua siko

ama zenza

nkula s

a q'aba

a kaka l

a klati

h'inani s

u ziman'

ku ziman'

ua, sikok

om' uadal

dala idal

slat

comfort!

ent One

the firma

ns, and s

Ruler, Mi

Good, A

e great et

ent pray

ife, we ca

igh thro

f refuge s

ty and

hield, our s

er, stil

pon our p

the blin

cate the

od for us

re pierced fo

ds for us

od who gav

n, his thr

Creator of

and God

ick. Quengueza was the name of the afflicted monarch. Ilogo was a favorite spirit who inhabited the moon. The time to invoke the favor of this spirit is during the full moon. The moon,

, we a

as bewitch

we as

we do to cu

ts are th

s are thi

on is

O moon

the house

e king d

O moon! O

our band-masters. The song is rather an indifferent howl, with little or no relevancy. It is a position much sought after, and aff

ve h

he a go

he's a sti

e hi

op in the

has a b

e hi

-bicho! m

ive me mat

ong Mr. R

ted by a small worm, which it is necessary to kill with raw spirits. From the frequency of their demand,

a most accomplished parasite and flatterer. He makes a study o

or Griot. He had him summoned. He made him sing songs which made the echoes of the Bornou mountains

I

ead. Oh! how can he sing the wonderful deeds of the Toubab? His voice and his breath would not be strong eno

I

sighed, and covered her head with her robe. Then she turned to her young lover, and she said, 'Go to the

he Balengi county, in Central Africa. There is wonderful tenderness in it,-tenderness that

than weep,

the sun is shining:

loves thee; go, tell

ill! Thy father loves

ll thou

my child, why

el, but the children always find loving maternal arms ready to shelter their heads against the wrath of an indifferent and cruel father. The mother settles all the disputes of the children, and cares for them with a zeal and tenderness that would be real beautiful in many Am

d stone." They do not worship the true God, nor conform their lives unto the teachings of the Saviour. They worship snakes, the sun, moon, and stars, trees, and water-courses. But the blo

go. Christianity in Abyssinia, and Mohammedanism in Northern Guinea, have become so mi

ern Central Africa, believe in a supreme Creator, and in a host of lesser divinities. These last they represen

t the lonely and feeble reaching out

TNO

ntinent, vol. ii. pp. 320, 321; se

ern Afric

ern Afric

ern Afric

orial Afri

ge Africa

ark Continent, vol

ark Continent, vol

glish Literature,

ial Africa,

, vol. ii. p. 346, sect. iii. Peschel's Races of Men, p. 462, sq., especially

p. 197, sect. v. Moffat's Southern Africa;

ge Africa,