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
"They are, physically and intellectually, the best of the races between
Unyamwezi and the sea. Their color is a rich dark brown. There is
something in their frontal aspect which is almost leonine. Their faces
are broad and intelligent. Their eyes are large and round. Their noses
are flat, and their mouths are very large; but their lips, though thick,
are not so monstrously thick as those our exaggerated ideal of a negro
has. For all this, though the Wagogo is a ferocious man, capable of
proceeding to any length upon the slightest temptation, he is an
attractive figure to the white traveler. He is proud of his chief, proud
of his country, sterile and unlovable though it be; he is proud of
himself, his prowess, his weapons and his belongings; he is vain,
terribly egotistic, a bully, and a tyrant, yet the Wagogo is capable of
forming friendships, and of exerting himself for friendship's sake. One
grand vice in his character, which places him in a hostile light to
travelers, is his exceeding avarice and greed for riches; and if the
traveler suffers by this, he is not likely to be amiably disposed toward
him.
"This sturdy native, with his rich complexion, his lion front, his
menacing aspect, bullying nature, haughty, proud and quarrelsome, is a
mere child with a man who will devote himself to the study of his
nature, and not offend his vanity. He is easily angered, and his
curiosity is easily aroused. A traveler with an angular disposition is
sure to quarrel with him--but, in the presence of this rude child of
nature, especially when he is so powerful, it is to his advantage and
personal safety to soften those angles of his own nature. The Wagogo
'Rob Roy' is on his native ground, and has a decided advantage over the
white foreigner. He is not brave, but he is at least conscious of the
traveler's weakness, and he is disposed to take advantage of it, but is
prevented from committing an act because it is to his advantage to keep
the peace. Any violence to a traveler would close the road; caravans
would seek other ways, and the chiefs would be deprived of much of their
revenues.
[Illustration: AFRICAN WARRIORS.
The shields and assegais are flourished in the air while the demon-like
warriors dance and yell in preparation for battle.]
"The Wagogo warrior carries as his weapons a bow and a sheaf of
murderous-looking arrows, pointed, pronged and barbed; a couple of
light, beautifully-made assegais; a broad, sword-like spear, with a
blade over two feet long; a battle-axe, and a rungu or knob-club. He has
also a shield, painted with designs in black and white, oval-shaped,
sometimes of rhinoceros, or elephant, or bull-hide. From the time he was
a toddling urchin he has been familiar with his weapons, and by the time
he was fifteen years old he was an adept with them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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