“ savages.” Still the African’s peculiarity sticks to him:
he has gained no permanent good. The association of
white men and the glitter of money merely dazzle him.
He apes like a monkey the jolly Jack Tar, and spends his
wages accordingly. If chance brings him back again to
Zanzibar, he calls his old Arab master his father, and goes
into slavery with as much zest as ever.
I have spoken of these freed men as if they had no reli-j
gion. This is practically true, though theoretically not so ;
for the Arabs, on circumcising them, teach them to repeat the
words Allah and Mohammed, and perhaps a few others; but
not one in ten knows what a soul means, nor do they expect
to meet with either reward or punishment in the next
world, though they are taught to regard animals as clean
and unclean, and some go through the form of a pilgrim- :
age to Mecca. Indeed the whole of their spiritual education
goes into oaths and ejaculations—Allah and Moham-I
med being as common in their mouths as damn and blast!
are with our soldiers and sailors. The long and short of I
this story is, that the freed men generally turn out a loose,!
roving, reckless set of beings, quick-witted as the Yankee, I
from the simple fact that they imagine all political matters 1
affect them, and therefore they must have a word in every I
debate. Nevertheless they are seldom wise; and lying!
being more familiar to their constitution than truth-say-l
ing, they are for ever concocting dodges with the view,!
which they glory in, of successfully cheating people.!
Sometimes they will show great kindness, even bravery |
amounting to heroism, and proportionate affection; at I
another time, without any cause, they will desert and he I
treacherous to their sworn friends in the most dastardly I
manner. Whatever the freak of the moment is, that they I
adopt in the most thoughtless manner, even though they I
may have calculated on advantages beforehand in the I
opposite direction. In fact, no one can rely upon them J
even for a moment. Dog wit, or any silly remarks, will I
set them gigging- Any toy w*® amuse them. Highly
Conceited of their personal appearance, they are for ever
cutting their hair in different fashions, to surprise a friend;
or if a rag be thrown away, they will all in turn fight for
it to bind on their heads, then on their loins or spears,
peacocking about with it before their admiring comrades.
Even strange feathers or skins are treated by them in
the same way.
F Should one happen to have anything specially to communicate
to his master in camp, he will enter giggling,
sidle up to the pole of a hut, commence scratching his
§>ack with it, then stretch and yawn, and gradually, in
bursts of loud laughter, slip down to the ground on his
item, when he drums with his hands on the top of a box
until summoned to know what he has at heart, when he
delivers himself in a peculiar manner, laughs and yawns
Igain, and, saying it is time to go, walks off in the same
way as he came. At other times when he is called, he
will come sucking away at the spout of a tea-pot, or,
scratching his naked arm-pits with a table-knife, or,
perhaps, polishing the plates for dinner with his dirty
loin-cloth. If sent to market to purchase a fowl, he
comes back with a cock tied by the legs to the end of a
stick, swinging and squalling in the most piteous manner.
Then, arrived at the cook-shop, he throws the bird down
on the ground, holds its head between his toes, plucks
the feathers to bare its throat, and then, raising a prayer,
cuts its head off.
I But enough of the freed man in camp; on the march
he is no better. If you give him a gun and some ammunition
to protect him in case of emergencies, he will pro-
,mise to save it, but forthwith expends it by firing it off
in the air, and demands more, else he will fear to venture
amongst the “ savages.” Suppose you give him a box
of bottles to carry, or a desk, or anything else that requires
great care, and you caution him of its contents,