kills and eats them. So it’s a drawn battle, for the Bubi
enjoys the pig and thè pig enjoys the yams, which
singular excellence in this island and celebrated rouS
the Bight. Now, I am told, the Government are firmly discouraging
the export of these yams, which used to be quite a
little branch of Fernando Po trade, in the hope that
induce the native to turn his attention to working m t e co
and cacao plantations. Hope springs eterna m
human breast, for the Bubi has shown continually
since the 16th century that he takes no interes in
things whatsoever. Now and again a man or woman w
come voluntarily and take service in arence, su
to clothes, and rapidly pick up the ways of a house
store. And just when their owner thinks he owns a treasur
and begins to boast that he has got an exception to all
Bubidom, or else that he knows how to manage hem better
than other men, then a hole in that mans domestic
arrangements suddenly appears. The Bubi has gone, without
living a moment’s warning, and without stealing his maste
property, but just softly and silently vanished away. And it
hunted up the treasure will be found in his or er par i c u a
village -clothesless, comfortable, utterly unconcerned, and
unaware that he or she has lost anything by leaving
Clarence and civilisation. It is this conduct that gams
for the Bubi the reputation of being a bigger idiot than he
fe Fot West Africans their agriculture is of a fairly high descrip-
tion_ th e noteworthy point about it, however, is the absence
of manioc. Manioc is grown on Fernando Po, but on y y
the Portos. The Bubi cultivated plants are yams {Dioscorea
alata) koko (Colocasia esculenta)— the taro of the South Seas,
and plantains. Their farms are well kept, particularly thos
in the grass districts by San Carlos Bay.
the Cordillera districts are the best flavoured, but those o
the east coast the largest. Palm-oil the east coast me length. is use,d hfo r cd om, e„st1ic
purposes in the usual ways, and palm wme both fresh and
g L 1, the ordinary nati,e. drink. Rum rs held rn
high esteem, but used in a general way 1 moderation as a
cordial and a treat, for the Bubi is, like the rest of the West
African natives, by no means an habitual drunkard. Gin
he dislikes.1
And I may remark you will find the same opinion in regard
to the Dualla in Cameroons river— on the undeniable authority
of Dr. Buchner, and my own extensive experience of the West
Coast bears it out.
Physically the Bubis are a fairly well-formed race of medium
height; they are decidedly inferior to the Benga or the
Krus, but quite on a level with the Effiks. The women indeed
are very comely: their colour is bronze and their skin
the skin of the Bantu. Beards are not uncommon among the
men, and these give their faces possibly more than anything else,
a different look to the faces of the Effiks or the Duallas. Indeed
the people physically most like the Bubis that I have
1 1 am glad to find that my own observations on the drink question
entirely agree with those of Dr. Oscar Baumann, because he is an unprejudiced
scientific observer, who has had great experience both in the
Congo and Cameroon regions before he came to Fernando Po. In the
support of my statement I may quote his own words :— £< Die Bube
trinken nämlich sehr gerne Rum ; Gin verschmähen sie vollständig, aber
ausser Tabak und Salz gehört Rum zu den gesuchtesten europäischen
Artikeln für sie. Wie bekannt hat sich in Europa ein heftiges Geschrei
gegen die Vergiftung der Neger durch Alcohol erhoben. Wenn dasselbe
schon für' die meisten Stämme Westafrikas der Berechtigung fast
vollständig entbehrt und in die Categorie verweisen worden muss die
man mit dem nicht sehr schönen aber treffenden Ausdrücke “ Humanitätsduselei
” bezeichnet, so ist es den Bube gegenüber wohl mehr als
zwecklos. Es mag ja Vorkommen dass ein Bube wenn er sein Palmöl
verkauft hat, sich ein oder zweimal im Jahre mit Rum ein Räuschlein
antrinkt. Deshalb aber gleich von Alkohol-Vergiftung zu sprechen wäre
mindestens lächerlich. Ich bin überzeugt dass mancher jener Herren
die in Wort und Schrift so heftig gegen die Alkolismus der Neger zetern
m ihren Studentenjahren allein mehr geistige Getränke genossen haben
j . zelln Bube während ihres ganzen Lebens. Der Handelsrum welcher
|Wie ich mich öfters überzeugt zwar recht verwässert aber keineswegs
tu r f Send schlecht schmeckt, ist den Bube gewöhnlich nur eine
■pelikatesse welche mit Andacht schluckweise genossen wird. Wenn
f m . Arbeiter bei uns einen Schluck Branntwein oder ein Glas Bier
igemesKt um sich zu stärken, so findet das Jeder, in der Ordnung; der
f , e Jedoch, welcher splitternackt tagelang in feuchten Bergwäldern
pntier klettern muss, soll beliebe nichts als Wasser trinken!” Eine
-J^ Cam^,ke Tr°pen- insei Fernando Eöo, Dr. Oscar Baumann, Edward
Holzer, Wien, 1888.