The heart of Africa, Vol. 1 (of 2)Schweinfurth, Georg August
Science
The heart of Africa, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Schweinfurth, Georg August
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Schweinfurth, Georg August, 1836-1925 -- Travel -- Africa, Central
Dyoor is a name assigned by the Dinka, and is synonymous with men of
the woods, or wild men. This designation is a name of contempt, and is
intended to imply the condition of poverty, in which, according to
Dinka ideas, the Dyoor spend their existence. Of course, it refers to
their giving their sole attention to agriculture, to their few goats
and poultry, and to their disregard of property in cattle. They speak
of themselves as Lwoh. They use the Shillook dialect unaltered except
in a few expressions which they have adopted, and are anxious to claim
a northern origin, specifying their progenitors as O-Shwolo, or
Shillooks. The area of their territory is quite small, and their
number cannot exceed 20,000 souls.
On the north they are bounded by the numerically large tribe of the
Dembo and some smaller kindred clans. Eighty miles to the south of
them, but separated by the entire width of the Bongo country, reside
the Belanda, a tribe of which the customs are modified by their
intercourse with the Bongo, but which still make use, with very minor
differences, of the Shillook dialect. These Belanda are partly under
the surveillance of the Niam-niam king Solongho, and partly tributary
to the intruders from Khartoom.
The chequered map of Africa suggests to every reflective mind many
considerations as to how any advance in civilisation can be possible.
There is an utter want of wholesome intercourse between race and race.
For any member of a tribe which speaks one dialect to cross the
borders of a tribe that speaks another is to make a venture at the
hazard of his life. Districts there are, otherwise prosperous in every
way, which become over-populated, and from these there are
emigrations, which entail a change of pursuits, so that cattle-breeders
become agriculturists and agriculturists become hunters living on the
chase; districts again there are which shelter the remnant of a people
who are resisting oppression to the very verge of despair; and there
are districts, moreover, which have been actually reduced to a
condition of vassalage and servitude; but the case is here altogether
without example of a district which, whatever be its other
fluctuations, has ever submitted to a change of race or of tongue.
[Sidenote: DYOOR DECORATIONS.]
Former travellers, although they have found their way to the Dyoor
without concerning themselves with the origin of the people, appear to
have made the observation that their complexion is a shade lighter
than that of the Dinka. For my part I am convinced that this is so;
not that I should feel justified in insisting upon this token as
showing a difference between Dinka and Shillooks. Probably, the colour
of the skin of the Dyoor loses something of its darker hue from their
living in the shadows of their woodlands; but this is a question which
involves meteorological and geographical considerations which are
beyond our grasp.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account