Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/231

AFRICA. XII. Cape Colony. (1) San (Bushmen); (2) Hottentots; (3) Basutos; (4) Kaffirs.

XIII. Southeast Africa. Bechuanas; many tribes, whose names begin with Ba-.

XIV. Zambezia, south and north. (1) Bechuana natives; (2) in North Zambezia the greatest confusion of natives.

XV. Portuguese East Africa. (1) Zulus; (2) Tonga tribes; (3) mixed tribes; (4) Banyans or Hindu traders in seaports.

XVI. German East Africa. Bantus, pressed on by Aralis, Zulus, Nilotic Negroes. Many tribes whose names begin with Ma- or Wa-.

XVII. British East Africa. Ethnic diversity, every race in Africa except Bushmen-Hottentots. (1) Bantus; (2) Marai; (3) Somali; (4) Gallas; (5) Bantu Gallas (Wa-Huma); (6) Negroes; (7) Negritos.

XVIII. Madagascar. Malayo-African mixed peoples, all speaking a Malayo-Polynesian language. (1) Hovas, in the centre; (2) Betsimisarakas, on the east; (3) Sakalavas, on the west. The Northern Africans are Hamitic, and were preceded (1) by Stone Age peoples; (2) by the kindred of Iberians, Silurians, and other tribes of Southern and Western Europe. The monolith builders apparently merged into the Berber Hamite intruders, who, in turn, were encroached upon by Phœnician Semites; then followed Romans and Teutonic Vandals, though the chief ethnic element cuntinued Berber until the coming of the Arabs (100-200 A.D.) and the irruption of the Moslems (from 639 A.D.). The Arabs are now in the ascendency, but Hamitic tribes continue in the uplands (Keane, 1895).

There are among the African peoples examples of the lightest and the darkest races. There are also examples of the smallest and the largest of mankind, as the measurements in metric standard from Deniker will show: Akka, 1.378 meters; Bushmen of Kalahari, 1.529; Mzabite Berber, 1,620; Batckes of the Congo, 1.641; Algerian Arabs, 1,656; Berbers of Tunis, 1.663; Abyssinians, 1.669; Danakils, 1.670: Kabyles, 1.677; Bechuanas, 1.684; Mandingo, 1.700; Kaffirs, 1.715; Somali, 1.723; Wolof, 1.730 (many are over six feet); Fulah, 1.741. Compare with these the Eta of the Philippines, 1.465; Eskimo, 1.575; Lapps, 1.529; Cheyennes, 1.745; Sikhs, 1.709; and Marquesas Islanders, 1.743. The range of cranial index is quite as wide. Among the Congo tribes the index is 72°.5; the Fijian Negroes have an index of 67°.2; the Sara of the Chad Basin have an index of 82°.4; but many peoples in Oceanica, America, Asia, and Europe range between this ratio and 88°.7.

. Fifty-eight per cent. of the population, according to the estimate of H. P. Beach, are devotees of the native religions, which are characterized by these features: (1) Belief in some sort of a supreme God, who, in a vaguely conceived way, creates and rules all. (2) Worship of ancestors. It is not so elaborately worked out as in China, but still it underlies the West African scenes of dreadful slaughter of the slaves and wives of his predecessor, ordered when a chief succeeds to office, for by such bloodshed he pays respect to the deceased. (3) Fetishism, with the accompaniment of a priest or sorcerer. (4) Superstition of the grossest and most degrading kind. The heathen African is the slave of this low type of religion, and, in consequence, his life is full of terrors, as it is to the interest of the fetish doctors to work upon

these fears. Idolatry is not found in central Africa at all, and nowhere is it so elaborated as in India. Imported Religions.—(1) Mohammedanism. Of the religions imported into the continent, by far the most important is Mohammedanism, the faith of 30 per cent. of the population. It came thither in the seventh century and overran all north Africa in a hundred years, so completely overturning the Christian churches which had been planted there that they have never been revived. Mohammedanism retains its conquests in Egypt, Barca, Tripoli, Algeria, and Morocco, and it is to-day one of the greatest missionary religions. It presents a one-sentence creed: &ldquo;There is but one God and Mohammed is his prophet,&rdquo; and has the simplest methods. The missionary is unpaid and usually a native. There are no mission boards, or expenses for salaries and printing. There is usually no special training, although in Cairo there is a Mohammedan university, attended by thousands of students, and from this many of the missionaries go forth. They have been remarkably successful in spreading their faith among heathen populations in Central Africa. In this way Mohammedanism has exerted an influence which counteracts the native religions, and so improves the condition of the peoples it reaches. (2) Christianity; (a) Copts, the descendants of those original Christians who, in the fifth century, adopted the theory that in Jesus the human and divine make one composite nature (monophysitism), and so are reckoned among Christian heretics. They are found in Egypt and number about three-quarters of a million. (b) Abyssinian Christians, who trace their faith back to the Coptic missionaries of the fourth century, but present a curious mixture of Christianity and Judaism. (c) Roman Catholics: The first missionaries of this faith to penetrate the Dark Continent were Jesuits, and they began work in the middle of the sixteenth century. Indeed, St. Francis Xavier came to Mozambique as early as 1541, but he did not stay more than six months. The result of the work, carried on continuously ever since, has been that now one and two-fifths per cent. of the population are Roman Catholics, living in all parts of the continent. Livingstone bore testimony to the value of the work of these missionaries. (d) Protestants: The first who came to Africa were Moravians. This was in 1792. Since then all branches of Protestantism have labored there, and their converts now number one and nine-tenths per cent. of the population, and they are found in every part. Roman Catholics and Protestants, especially the latter, carry on missionary work among the Coptic and Abyssinian Christians. South Africa is to a considerable extent a Christian country of the modern civilized type. (3) Judaism: About three-tenths of one per cent. of the population of Africa are Jews.

. Slavery is still &ldquo;the open sore of Africa,&rdquo; as Livingstone said, and nowhere is it more cruel, bloodthirsty, and destructive. The ivory trade is a constant source of trouble, setting tribe against tribe in war. Polygamy is widespread. The tribal government, the absence of central authority, the usual conditions of savage life, in bondage of superstition and terrors of every kind, these disturb life over great stretches of territory. Yet it is the testimony of travelers that peace and a certain kind of