in which a savage chief astonishes a savage animal.
there is something exceedingly pleasant in the act of watching—ourselves unseen—the proceedings of some one whose aims and ends appear to be very mysterious. there is such a wide field of speculation opened up in which to expatiate, such a vast amount of curious, we had almost said romantic, expectation created; all the more if the individual whom we observe be a savage, clothed in an unfamiliar and very scanty garb, and surrounded by scenery and circumstances which, albeit strange to us, are evidently by no means new to him.
let us—you and me, reader,—quitting for a time the sad subject of slavery, and leaping, as we are privileged to do, far ahead of our explorers harold seadrift and his company, into the region of central africa; let you and me take up a position in a clump of trees by the banks of yonder stream, and watch the proceedings of that negro—negro chief let me say, for he looks like one,—who is engaged in some mysterious enterprise under the shade of a huge baobab tree.
the chief is a fine, stately, well-developed specimen of african manhood. he is clothed in black tights manufactured in nature’s loom, in addition to which he wears round his loins a small scrap of artificial cotton cloth. if an enthusiastic member of the royal academy were in search of a model which should combine the strength of hercules with the grace of apollo, he could not find a better than the man before us, for, you will observe, the more objectionable points about our ideal of the negro are not very prominent in him. his lips are not thicker than the lips of many a roast-beef-loving john bull. his nose is not flat, and his heels do not protrude unnecessarily. true, his hair is woolly, but that is scarcely a blemish. it might almost be regarded as the crisp and curly hair that surrounds a manly skull. his skin is black—no doubt about that, but then it is intensely black and glossy, suggestive of black satin, and having no savour of that dirtiness which is inseparably connected with whitey-brown. tribes in africa differ materially in many respects, physically and mentally, just as do the various tribes of europe.
this chief, as we have hinted, is a “savage;” that is to say, he differs in many habits and points from “civilised” people. among other peculiarities, he clothes himself and his family in the fashion that is best suited to the warm climate in which he dwells. this display of wisdom is, as you know, somewhat rare among civilised people, as any one may perceive who observes how these over-clothe the upper parts of their children, and leave their tender little lower limbs exposed to the rigours of northern latitudes, while, as if to make up for this inconsistency by an inconsistent counterpoise, they swathe their own tough and mature limbs in thick flannel from head to foot.
it is however simple justice to civilised people to add here that a few of them, such as a portion of the scottish highlanders, are consistent inasmuch as the men clothe themselves similarly to the children.
moreover, our chief, being a savage, takes daily a sufficient amount of fresh air and exercise, which nine-tenths of civilised men refrain from doing, on the economic and wise principle, apparently, that engrossing and unnatural devotion to the acquisition of wealth, fame, or knowledge, will enable them at last to spend a few paralytic years in the enjoyment of their gains. no doubt civilised people have the trifling little drawback of innumerable ills, to which they say (erroneously, we think) that flesh is heir, and for the cure of which much of their wealth is spent in supporting an army of doctors. savages know nothing of indigestion, and in central africa they have no medical men.
there is yet another difference which we may point out: savages have no literature. they cannot read or write therefore, and have no permanent records of the deeds of their forefathers. neither have they any religion worthy of the name. this is indeed a serious evil, one which civilised people of course deplore, yet, strange to say, one which consistency prevents some civilised people from remedying in the case of african savages, for it would be absurdly inconsistent in arab mohammedans to teach the negroes letters and the doctrines of their faith with one hand, while with the other they lashed them to death or dragged them into perpetual slavery; and it would be equally inconsistent in portuguese christians to teach the negroes to read “whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them,” while “domestic slavery” is, in their so-called african territories, claimed as a right and the traffic connected with it sanctioned.
yes, there are many points of difference between civilised people and savages, and we think it right to point this out very clearly, good reader, because the man at whom you and i are looking just now is a savage.
of course, being capable of reading this book, you are too old to require to be told that there is nothing of our nursery savage about him. that peculiar abortion was born and bred in the nursery, and dwells only there, and was never heard of beyond civilised lands—although something not unlike him, alas! may be seen here and there among the lanes and purlieus where our drunkards and profligates resort. no; our savage chief does not roar, or glare, or chatter, or devour his food in its blood like the giant of the famous jack. he carries himself like a man, and a remarkably handsome man too, with his body firm and upright, and his head bent a little forward, with his eyes fixed on the ground, as if in meditation, while he walks along.
but a truce to digressive explanation. let us follow him.
reaching the banks of the river, he stops, and, standing in an attitude worthy of apollo, though he is not aware that we are looking at him, gazes first up the stream and then down. this done, he looks across, after which he tries to penetrate the depths of the water with his eye.
as no visible result follows, he wisely gives up staring and wishing, and apparently resolves to attain his ends by action. felling a small tree, about as thick as his thigh, with an iron hatchet he cuts off it a length of about six feet. into one end of this he drives a sharp-pointed hard-wood spike, several inches long, and to the other end attaches a stout rope made of the fibrous husk of the cocoa-nut. the point of the spike he appears to anoint—probably a charm of some kind,—and then suspends the curious instrument over a forked stick at a considerable height from the ground, to which he fastens the other end of the rope. this done, he walks quietly away with an air of as much self-satisfaction as if he had just performed a generous deed.
well, is that all? nay, if that were all we should owe you a humble apology. our chief, “savage” though he be, is not insane. he has an object in view—which is more than can be said of everybody.
he has not been long gone, an hour or two, when the smooth surface of the river is broken in several places, and out burst two or three heads of hippopotami. although, according to disco lillihammer, the personification of ugliness, these creatures do not the less enjoy their existence. they roll about in the stream like puncheons, dive under one another playfully, sending huge waves to the banks on either side. they gape hideously with their tremendous jaws, which look as though they had been split much too far back in the head by a rude hatchet—the tops of all the teeth having apparently been lopped off by the same clumsy blow. they laugh too, with a demoniacal “ha! ha! ha!” as if they rejoiced in their excessive plainness, and knew that we—you and i, reader—are regarding them with disgust, not unmingled with awe.
presently one of the herd betakes himself to the land. he is tired of play, and means to feed. grass appears to be his only food, and to procure this he must needs go back from the river a short way, his enormous lips, like an animated mowing-machine, cutting a track of short cropped grass as he waddles along.
the form of that part of the bank is such that he is at least inclined, if not constrained, to pass directly under the suspended beam. ha! we understand the matter now. most people do understand, when a thing becomes obviously plain. the hippopotamus wants grass for supper; the “savage” chief wants hippopotamus. both set about arranging their plans for their respective ends. the hippopotamus passes close to the forked stick, and touches the cord which sustains it in air like the sword of damocles. down comes the beam, driving the spike deep into his back. a cry follows, something between a grunt, a squeak, and a yell, and the wounded animal falls, rolls over, jumps up, with unexpected agility for such a sluggish, unwieldy creature, and rumbles, rushes, rolls, and stumbles back into the river, where his relatives take to flight in mortal terror. the unfortunate beast might perhaps recover from the wound, were it not that the spike has been tipped with poison. the result is that he dies in about an hour. not long afterwards the chief returns with a band of his followers, who, being experts in the use of the knife and hatchet, soon make mince-meat of their game—laden with which they return in triumph to their homes.
let us follow them thither.
