NATIVE WISDOM

II

For a year or two the writer had watched this custom with growing indignation, until one day he decided to teach "my lord and master a lesson in honest work if not courtesy! Whilst tramping the forest of Central Africa on a hot day there appeared a heavily burdened file of women wending their way along. The whole file was ordered to stop, the burdens were lifted from the tired women and girls and placed upon the backs of the sturdy, unencumbered men, but lo! the women, like a pack of furies, turned gesticulating and loud of voice upon the writer: "Who now will protect us from our enemies-man, beast and snake-that lurk in every tuft of grass, every forest bush and every tree? Our men carrying loads will be surprised, overcome, and destroyed, and then will come the turn of the children. Oh! what fools are white men!" In a flash the wisdom of this native custom was revealed; abashed and ashamed, the author renewed a forgotten vow never to condemn a native custom without first making exhaustive inquiry.

În song and dance, as a carrier or paddler, or even in mortal combat, the African is the embodiment of towering energy. In the dance every rhythmic movement is punctuated by the loud "Ha! Ha!" and a stamping of feet that makes the very earth resound; forest axes ring loud as they fall upon the mighty tree trunk to unending and primitive song, whilst through the primeval forest echo calls to echo; the canoe is driven forward by vigorous dipping of the blades in

unison with the rise and fall of the singing "coach"; the whole line of carriers, each heavily laden, moves with swinging stride and perfect harmony in step to the tune of the file-leader, who occasionally joins in the chorus of song. Thus does Africa give the lie to the lazy nigger theory. But in sickness, loss of liberty, and in death the African goes all to pieces. It is because loss of personal liberty and sickness walk hand in hand with the dread spectre of death that the African suffers collapse upon the very approach of either. Death is not a release to the African, it is an everpresent terror; the creaking of a beam, the nightcry of the owl in the forest, the ripple of a stream, the rustle of leaves upon the trees, are but too often the solemn warning of departed spirits summoning the listener to the land without hope, the land in which there are many evil but few angel spirits.

Watch the African in sickness, in vain are appeals and words of encouragement, for he believes himself stricken unto death, and being without hope for this world or the next exhibits a capacity for dying which is the despair of science. Watch the African, too, in the presence of approaching death-relatives and friends crowd around, unwashed, dishevelled, fasting, eyes staring, lips compressed, all awaiting death's unfailing signalthat last tear drop. Watch them closely, for upon that dread signal the air is instantly pierced with one terrible shriek; then listen to the cry as it spreads from hut to hut until the whole village is filled with that awesome death wail. Watch

FAITH AND HOPE

13

them again in the Kasai basin, where, at that terrible cry, men rush forward and instantly snatch the body from the bed and carry it forth from the dwelling of man lest death shall smite

another.

Faith and Hope in a new and better world, both here and hereafter, means in very truth Life Eternal to the African race.

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CHAPTER II

POLITICAL DISTRIBUTION

THE administration of Africa falls roughly into three main groups-Self-Governing Territories, Crown Colonies, Protectorates and Spheres of Influence; and within this threefold category can be placed every territory in the continent.

The three self-governing territories at the present time are the Union of South Africa, Liberia, and Abyssinia.

set up

The Union Government of South Africa was in 1909 by virtue of the South Africa Act,* whereby the four Provinces-Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Natal-were placed under the Executive Government of a free Parliament and a Governor-General representing the British Crown. Parliament is composed of a Senate and a House of Assembly, under which constitution a Senator must be a British subject of European descent, whilst no actual voter in Cape Colony can be disqualified by reason of colour. Thus while the native and coloured people of the Cape of Good Hope possess restricted franchise under this constitution, those of the other provinces possess to-day no effective voice * Cd. 7508. August, 1914.

in controlling their own destinies. There is some probability that this question will arise in an acute form this year,* when Section 10 of the Act of Union seems to imply the intention, and certainly gives the right, of raising the question of amending the constitution. These four provinces of South Africa are under the Union Government of which General Botha is the first Premier and Lord Buxton the Imperial Representative, governing a white or tan-coloured population of 1,276,000 and a coloured population, which, including a large number of British-Indian subjects, totals nearly 6,000,000!

Liberia can only at the best be described as an "experiment," and not a very happy experiment either, in a Free Negro Republic. Just a century ago good men in Europe and America conceived the idea of founding in Africa herself a Republic where, unmolested, the freed slave should be given an opportunity to work out his own salvation in the land of his origin. In 1822 the first settlement was established, close to the present capital, Monrovia ; but it was not until 1847 that the constitution was formally approved as the "Free and Independent Republic of Liberia." During the intervening century the immigrant negro population has grown to about 10,000, and a Government has been evolved under a President, a Vice-President, and a Council of six members, responsible to Parliament composed of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Financially the country has never prospered,