Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa; With Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People baixar o livro de graça

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DECREASE OF THE MPONGWE. 41 CHAPTER III. Some Causes of the Decrease of the Mpongwe.?Restrictions as to Intermarriage.? Last Days of King Glass.?Public Opinion on the Gaboon.?Mourning for a King. ? Making a new King.?Character of the Mpongwe.?An African Gentleman. ?Food. ?Agriculture. To return io the Mpongwe, who, as the leading tribe on the Gaboon, deserve a few words more. I have said before that this, in common with most of the tribes, is slowly decreasing in numbers. Polygamy and the numerous murders, or accusations for witchcraft, do more to cause this decrease than aught else visible, as will be shown in the course of this narrative; much more than fevers and irregular habits. The coast tribe is much divided into classes, whose distinction is kept up chiefly by the restraints in intermarriage. Of Mpongwe of pure blood there are at present not more than three hundred. Next to these in rank come the descendants of Mpongwe fathers by Mbinga, Shekiani, or Bakalai women; these amount to about 800. Next come the children of Mpongwe men by their slave women. These are called bambai; and, though they enjoy little less consideration than the purer blood, are not permitted to marry with that privileged class. These may number 1000. Then come the children of slaves, who form a great proportion of the population, numbering not less than 1000; and, finally, the lowest of all, the slaves, who number, I suppose, three or four thousand. They live chiefly on the right side of the Gaboon River, having their villages, called Kringe, Qua-ben, Louis, or Dowe Glass, Prince Glass, and two more, on Point Olinda and Parrot Island. On the left side are the villages of Roi Dennis, otherwise culled King William, King George, and King Lucan. These dignitaries are petty chiefs, who go...