Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark ContinentHeadley, Joel Tyler
History
Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent
Headley, Joel Tyler
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
"Formerly wars in this country were caused by blood feuds between
different chiefs; they are now encouraged by the slave buyers of the
Mirma, for the purpose of supplying these human chattels for the market
of Zanzibar. The Waseguhha are about the most thorough believers in
witchcraft, yet the professors of this dark science fare badly at their
hands. It is a very common sight to see cinereous piles on the roadside,
and the waving garments suspended to the branches of trees above them,
which mark the fate of the unfortunate 'Waganga' or medicine man. So
long as their predictions prove correct and have a happy culmination,
these professors of 'uchawi'--magic art--are regarded with favor by the
people; but if an unusual calamity overtakes a family, and they can
swear that it is the result of the magician's art, a quorum of
relentless inquisition is soon formed, and a like fate to that which
overtook the 'witches' in the dark days of New England surely awaits
him.
[Illustration: EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT.
Sometimes performed by burning; at other times by beheadal and casting
into the river.]
"Enough dead wood is soon found in their African forests, and the
unhappy one perishes by fire, and, as a warning to all false professors
of the art, his loin-cloth is hung up to a tree above the spot where he
met his doom.
"In Southern Usagara, the people are most amiable; but in the north, in
those districts adjacent to the Wahumba, the people partake of the
ferocious character of their fierce neighbors. Repeated attacks from the
Waseguhha kidnappers, from the Wadirigo or Wahehe robbers on the
southwest, from Wagogo on the west and from Wahumba on the north, have
caused them to regard strangers with suspicion; but after a short
acquaintance they prove to be a frank, amiable and brave people. Indeed,
they have good cause to be distrustful of the Arabs and the Wangwana of
Zanzibar. Mbumi, Eastern Usagara, has been twice burned down, within a
few years, by the Arabian Waseguhha kidnappers; Rehemeko has met the
same fate, and it was not many years ago since Abdullah bin Nasib
carried fire and sword from Misonghi to Mpwapwa. Kanyaparu, lord of the
hills around Chunyo, Kunyo, once cultivated one-fourth of the Marenga,
Mkali; but is now restricted to the hill-tops, from fear of the Wadirigo
marauders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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