Journal of an African Cruiser: Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape De Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and Other Places of Interest on the West Coast of AfricaBridge, Horatio
History
Journal of an African Cruiser: Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape De Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and Other Places of Interest on the West Coast of Africa
Bridge, Horatio
Africa, West -- Description and travel; Bridge, Horatio, 1806-1893
13.--The Decatur arrived this evening, after a passage of thirty days from
Porto Praya. She left the Macedonian on the way, the winds being light,
the current adverse, and the frigate sailing very badly.
17.--The Macedonian arrived.
Coming off from town, to-day, I took a canoe with a couple of Kroomen, who
paddled down the river, till we arrived at a narrow part of the
promontory. On touching the shallows, one of the Kroomen took me on his
back to the dry land. The two then picked up the canoe, carried her across
the cape, perhaps a hundred yards, and launched her, with myself on board,
through the heavy surf.
21.--Sailed at daylight for Sinoe, leaving the Macedonian and Decatur, an
American ship and barque, an English brig, and two Hamburg vessels, at
anchor.
25.--Anchored at Sinoe at noon.
26.--Ashore. Visited Fishtown, a well-built native village, containing
probably four hundred inhabitants. It is within about two hundred yards of
the colonial dwellings. The people are said to have committed many
depredations upon the colonists; and there is an evident intention of
driving them off. This is the tribe with which we are to hold a palaver.
There are two grand divisions of native Africans on the Western Coast, the
Fishmen and the Bushmen; the latter being inhabitants of the interior; and
the former comprising all the tribes along the sea-shore, who gain a
subsistence by fishing, trading between the Bushmen and foreign vessels,
and laboring on shipboard. The Kroomen, so often mentioned, are in some
respects a distinct and separate people; although a large proportion,
probably nine-tenths of those bearing that name, are identical with the
Fishmen. The latter are generally treacherous and deceitful; the Kroomen
are much more honest, but still are not to be trusted without reserve and
discrimination.
The government of these people, and of the natives generally, is nominally
monarchical, but democratic in substance. The regal office appears to be
hereditary in a family, but not to descend according to our ideas of
lineal succession. The power of the king is greatly circumscribed by the
privilege, which every individual in the tribe possesses, of calling a
palaver. If a man deems himself injured, he demands a full discussion of
his rights or wrongs, in presence of the rulers and the tribe. The
head-men sit in judgment, and substantial justice is generally done. There
are persons, celebrated for their power and copiousness of talking, who
appear as counsel in behalf of the respective parties. The more
distinguished of these advocates are sometimes sent for, from a distance
of two or three hundred miles, to speak at a palaver; and, in such cases,
they leave all other employment, and hurry to the scene of action.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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