ponents, in procuring and making public, with so much parade, letters from disappointed and dissatisfied colonists,-garbled extracts of letters from others, not intended for publication,-and in getting up prepared and exparte depositions, and labored and preconcerted interrogatories."

On motion, the foregoing report was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be published in the August number of the African Repository. W. W. SEATON, President, pro tempore.

Attest:

P. R. FENDALL, Recorder.

From the Millennial Trumpeter, Maysville, Tenn. July 5.

ABOLITION.

The friends of the Abolition Society labour industriously to impress on the minds of the public, that the Colonization Society meets with small encouragement from the opposers of slavery in the Southern and Western States. Every paragraph or word spoken against the Colonization Society, meets from them a hearty welcome, and is echoed from mouth to mouth and print to print throughout the country. There seems to be a spirit of hostility to the friends of Colonization reigning in the breasts of abolitionists, that totally annihilates every charitable feeling. This spirit of rivalry and self-aggrandizement, has so weakened their efforts against the primary object, i. e. the extinction of slavery, that a common observer would think they were merely opponents of the Colonization Society. We observe that a Mr. Thom of Kentucky, in a speech delivered before a Society at the North, has endeavoured to strengthen this belief, that the friends of Colonization were few in number, in the Mississippi Valley, and what there was, were weak in faith and silent in devotion. Where he got his authority for making these assertions we know not. The tocksin of dissension from the evils of Slavery has been sounded loud enough in the Mississippi Valley to be heard by all who have their ears open to the subject. And, all who impartially look at the excuses made and grounds assumed, by the advocates of Slavery, must admit that immediate and unconditional emancipation will never be sanctioned by the people. If the Abolition Society has friends in the West, many of them are mock friends, who while they speak in its favor, only do so that Slavery may be perpetuated. They are aware that the people will never permit the negroes to be unconditionally liberated among them, and therefore they countenance the Abolition attempt, lest the Colonization Society, which so well meets the views and opinions of the people, should ultimately effect the object they wish to prevent. We profess to know the sentiments of a majority of the people in Tennessee at least, and we fear not to hazard the assertion that every effort made by Abolitionists is only riveting the chains of Slavery more firmly on the slave. Even those who bewail the condition of the slaves, when they look around them and see the multitude of human beings that have so long been in bondage, would shudder at the idea of throwing off the yoke, without first preparing their minds to bend to civil authority, and their hearts to be governed by the Father of Peace. Again, there are many who oppose slavery for no other purpose than that of getting entirely rid of the whole African race. Lastly, we say to our northern Abolition friends, if they are sincere in their wishes for the welfare of the slaves in the Mississippi Valley, to cease their efforts to obtain immediate emancipation, and cease their attempts to impede the progress of the American Colonization Society.

REVIEW:

KAY'S TRAVELS IN CAFFRARIA.-CONTINUED FROM P. 146.

[From the Edinburgh Review, January 1834.]

Travels and Researches in Cafraria: describing the character, Customs, and Moral Condition, of the Tribes inhabiting that portion of Southern Africa: With historical and topographical Remarks, illustrative of the State and Prospects of the British Settlement on its Borders, the introduction of Christianity, and the Progress of Civilization. By STEPHEN KAY, Corresponding Member of the South African Institution. 12mo. London: 1833.

The Caffers are passionately fond of hunting, and pursue with ardour, not only the antelopes which inhabit their woods and mountains, but also the buffalo, the lion, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the elephant. The latter animal they sometimes assail for several days before they can destroy him.

The system of government among these tribes is of a very simple patriarchal character; resembling, in many points, that of our Highland clans in ancient times. The chieftainship is hereditary, though the succession does not always follow in a regular course, according to the European laws of primogeniture. The chief usually names his successor from among the children of his principal wife, who is always a female of high lineage, and generally taken from another tribe. The principal wives of the Amakosa chiefs, for instance, are mostly of the noble blood of Amatembu and Amaponda. The great chiefs are considered absolute sovereigns in their respective clans; but their arbitrary power is practically restrained, in all at least that relates to public affairs; nothing of importance is decided upon without the council of the leading men of the tribe, and captains of villages, who are selected generally from the wealthiest, the wisest, or the brayest of the horde. These men are termed amapagati, i. e. elders or counsellors. In all great questions of peace or war, a public council is held, at which all the warriors attend, and where the leading men deliver their sentiments with great freedom and animation. But on more ordinary occasions, such as disputes between individuals, or the trial of offenders, the Chief, assisted by a certain number of his amapagali, sits as judge, the counsellors forming a species of rude jury. The traditional usages and customs of the nation form their code of laws. Of these African courts of justice, the following account has been given by the intelligent Missionary, Mr. Brownlee, whose notes on the Amakosa Caffers are appended to Mr. Thompson's Travels:-' When offences are committed, or disputes occur, and the matter cannot be settled by the interference of friends, it is brought by the aggrieved party before his chieftain's court. Those concerned are immediately summoned to appear before a public meeting of the tríbe or clan. The place where the meetings are convened, is usually the cattle kraal of the horde or village; but if the weather be very warm, they sometimes assemble under the shade of the trees in some neighbouring wood. The parties concerned sit at the entrance of the kraal or place of assembly; the rest take their station in a circle within; but women are not allowed to enter, and only a few of the oldest and most respectable persons speak. When the matter is of great importance, the most profound attention is paid. The speakers rise in succession with the greatest decorum, and make long and animated harangues, until all sides of the subject have

been fully considered and discussed. After this, the chief, who acts as president of the court, gives his opinion, and refers it to the consideration of the assembly, who either concur in his opinion, or assign their reasons for dissent. Sometimes an important cause is kept pending for several days; but this is not generally the case,-for, as there are no fees for the advocates, the length of the process does not increase the costs.'-(Vol. ii, p. 349.) Mr. Kay, on the same subject, makes the following observations:

6

The Caffer chiefs are in all cases both legislators and judges, whilst "the old men" and favourite courtiers form a kind of jury and council too. The parties appear personally, plead their own cause, and produce their witnesses and proofs. In their public harangues, a man is seldom interrupted, although his speech be continued for hours together; but during this time his antagonist is all attention: when he rises to reply, every argument that has been adduced is taken up in the exact order in which it was delivered, and with as much precision as if answered at the very moment. Memory is their only note book; and although apparently put, on many occasions, to the severest test, they seldom seem to labour under any material difficulty in bringing up all the details of the subJect by the astonishing powers of recollection. Their language, on those occasions, is generally strong and nervous, and their manner exceedingly manly and dignified. Even the children, when about to reply to the most simple questions, step forward, throw back the head, and extend the arm; and give to their words a full, slow, and clear enunciation.' -P. 154,

It is curious to remark, that Major Laing, in describing the judicial customs of the Soolimas of north-western Africa, gives an account almost exactly corresponding with the above description furnished by these two Caffer Missionaries. Nor is this the only point of resemblance between the usages of these widely saparated tribes.

Murder or manslaughter, theft, adultery, and most other offences between private persons, are usually punished by a fine fixed by the court; varying, according to circumstances, from a single cow to the whole property of the offender. In aggravated cases, or when the offence is committed against powerful chiefs, the criminal is sometimes punished with death.

On the subject of their religious notions, Mr. Kay has not furnished much additional information. Nothing like a regular system of idolatry exists among them; but we find some traces of a belief in a Supreme Being, and sundry superstitious usages, which look like the shattered wreeks of ancient religious institutions and higher civilization. Among the Amakosa, the Supreme Being, the 'ruler of the stars and the thunder,' is sometimes spoken of with a vague sort of awe, under the name of Uhlanga, or Udali; but, since the missionaries settled among them, the term Uliko (which is employed to denote the true God) has generally superseded the native terms. This word (Utiko) is derived from the ancient Hottentot term Tiko, the name of the Supreme Spirit, and which is said literally to signify The Beautiful.' Among the Bechuana tribes, 'the wielder of the thunder' is worshipped, with propitiatory rites, under the title of Moreemo or Booreemo,-but rather as a destructive than a beneficent power.Among the Amapondas, Mr. Kay found traces of a belief both in a Supreme Creator, and also in inferior evil spirits, not unlike some of the notions of our own ancestors concerning demons and goblins:-

While conversing with these people upon religious subjects, I could not but remark that the word Utiko, generally used among the frontier clans for God, is here seldom or Rever heard; a fact which, coupled with the click attached to that word, very considerably strengthens the opinion of its being, like many others now embodied in the Caffer language, one of Holtentot origin. The proper names of Deity, used by the Amaponda, are Udali (Maker or Creator), and Umenzi, which signifies "Worker," and which, when used in a sacred sense, is fully understood as referring to that Being by whom the great works of nature were produced-the heavens, the earth, and the sea, &c. Tikaloski also is much frequently a familiarly talked about than among the more southern tribes. This

is an appellation that seems to be given to some invisible and indescribable being, whom they sometimes personify as a little ugly malignant demon, capable of doing them much harm, of inflicting pain, and of effecting their ruin. They likewise imagine that he is able to disturb their happiness by a kind of amorous intercourse with their women, by inducing them to play the harlot and the husband to go astray. The men, I was told, sometimes pretended to wage war with him, and after storming the hut in which he is supposed to be carrying on his mal-practices, loudly boast of victory.'-P. 339.

Mr. Kay mentions having witnessed the sacrifice of a young heifer, by direction of a sorceress, to propitiate the Shulugu (ghost) of the ancestor of a child, the daughter of an Amaponda chief. The whole of the flesh, however, of the sacrifice, was devoured by the witch, and the chief worshippers, and only the bones left to the hungry Shulugn.

Besides these faint fragments of religious belief, the Caffer tribes observe with great strictness certain traditionary customs and usages, which, as before mentioned, appear to indicate their derivation, at some remote period, from a people much more advanced in civilization than they them selves are now. The rite of circumcision is universally practised among them, unaccompanied by any vestige of Islamism. They do not appear to regard it as an act of religion, but as an indispensable festal ceremony, by which the youth, on arriving at the age of puberty, are admitted to the rank of manhood. On this occasion the circumcised band of youths are painted white, arrayed in a fantastic dress of palm leaves, and are kept separate for three months from the rest of the tribe; after which they are formally admitted, at a public meeting, to rank with men and warriors. A ceremony, somewhat analogous, is observed with regard to the young females, on their attaining the age of womanhood.

Still more remarkable are the funeral rites attending the sepulture of their chiefs, and the consignment of the dead bodies of all of inferior rank to the beasts of prey. The chiefs and their wives are usually interred under the hedge of the cattle-fold, and all their arms, accoutrements, and ornaments, are deposited in the grave beside them. These cemeteries are thenceforth held sacred; and among some of the tribes persons are appointed to take charge of them, who subsist on the produce of the consecrated cattle which are kept in these hallowed folds, and which are always allowed to die of old age. The abandonment of the dead bodies of the other classes to the hyenas has an appearance exceedingly savage and unnatural; and is attended with circumstances of a very revolting and deplo rable character. It is evident that this barbarous practice has originated in their ancient superstitions, connected with defilement from the touch or presence of the dead. When they think that death is inevitably approaching, they carry out the sick person into some adjoining wood or thicket, and leave him to expire alone; for they have an inexpressible dread of being near or touching a corpse, and imagine that death brings misfortune on the living when it occurs in a hut or hamlet. Owing to this savage superstition, they are so anxious to get rid of the dying, that it sometimes happens, says Mr. Brownlee, that persons of the privileged class are actually interred while yet alive. Cases also occasionally occur when those who have been carried out to the woods recover, and return to their relations; but this is very rare. The raiment of the deceased is considered as unclean, and must be destroyed, and the hut which he inhabited is shut: no person ever enters it again; it is called 'the house of the dead;' no one dares even touch the materials of which it is constructed, and they are left gradually to crumble into dust.

Mr. Kay remarks, that many circumstances connected with these funeral rites, and also with childbirth, leprosy, &c., bear a striking affinity to some of the observances enjoined by the Levitical Code. For instance, whoev.

er touches the dead body of a man is unclean for seven days, and is banished 'without the camp,' or kraal, till he be purified. After the death of a chief, all the people are purified on the third day in running water.

'When death has occurred in a village, all its inhabitants fast, abstaining even from a draught of milk the whole of that day, and sometimes longer. A man who has lost his wife, is required by custom to fast for several days, and to withdraw himself from society for the space of two or three weeks; during which he wanders about in some solitary and desert spot, without either comfort or companions. He not only keeps at a distance from the dwellings of men, but casts away his only garment, which is henceforth accounted unclean. His daily subsistence is derived entirely from a precarious supply of roots or wild fruits, &c.

The widow's lot is harder still. On the death of her husband, she, in like manner, retires to the forest or the wilderness, where she is obliged to remain for a much longer period than custom requires of the man. Her means of subsistence are equally precarious; a little water from the brook, and a few bulbous or gramineous roots, generally constitute the whole of her supply of food. After wandering about in solitude for two or three days, she throws away her upper garment, which, as mentioned above, is henceforth deemed impure. She is now, of course, entirely exposed, without covering by day or shelter at night. Having spent a few days more in this state, she cuts and lacerates different parts of her hody with sharp stones, until the blood flows in streams. The numerous scars left by wounds made on those occasions have, in several instances, been repeatedly shown to me. The hut in which she dwelt with her deceased husband is then burnt; consequently, she is obliged to erect a new habitation, or be dependant upon her friends for accommodation. When the days of her mourning are over, and the subsequent new moon makes its appearance, a number of cows or oxen, (if the husband had any,) proportioned to the number of wives that he had, are slaughtered, and new garments inade for each from the hides of thein. And this appears to be the only portion of his property that is awarded to them by law.'-P. 199–201.

sorce

But the most mischievous of all their superstitions, is the belief in sor ry. Mr. Kay has given a most frightful picture of its deplorable effects.Almost every disease and misfortune is ascribed to the practice of witchcraft; magicians or wizards are consulted to discover the supposed eriminal; incantations are practised till the multitude are wrought up to demoniac fury; and then some unhappy wretch is accused, and subjected to a variety of tortures-such as scorching with hot stones, stinging with blackants, and the like--till a confession of the imaginary crime is extorted. Conviction being thus obtained, the culprit is either condemned to some cruel death, to corporal punishment, or to confiscation of his cattle. Some of the chiefs render this delusion an engine of terrible oppression. When they wish to seize the property of a rich subject, or to destroy any one who has offended them, they bribe the magician or witch-doctor to accuse him of sorcery; and then if he escapes with only the loss of all his property he is fortunate. The scenes of this nature, described by the present writer, are exceedingly revolting, and tend to lower not a little the favourable estimate of the simple happiness of these tribes, as depicted by some former travellers. Mr. Kay, indeed, represents those pleasing accounts as altogether illusory; as well as the flattering delineations, given by Barrow and Lichtenstein, of their pastoral simplicity and innocence of manners. But while he proves clearly enough that these intelligent travellers have considerably underrated the extent of misery and moral evil prevalent in these 'dark places of the earth,' the worthy Missionary, we cannot help thinking, shows however unconsciously, a strong disposition to exaggerate even the darknes of paganism, and to paint the Ethiopian a shade blacker than the truth. We are led to draw this deduction, partly from a variety of circumstances stated by Mr. Kay himself, and partly from the fact that several other late writers, of the highest respectability, with the best opportunities for accurate observation, having concurred in giving a more favourable estimate of the Caffer character. It is, moreover, evident that Mr. Kay,