Africa and its inhabitants . e, whose body wasformerly shared, like the funeral baked meats, between the dead and the and evil spirits rule over the earth, those of the forests and the sea beingheld in special awe. For the Cameroon highlanders, the Seat of the Gods isitself a god, half stone, half man, who wraps himself in a white snowy mantlewhenever any serious event is pending over his subjects. The Ba-Kundus of the northern slopes far excel the Ba-Kwiri in the industrialarts, although apparently not their superiors in natural intelligence. Theirdwellings are not mere hovels of
Africa and its inhabitants . e, whose body wasformerly shared, like the funeral baked meats, between the dead and the and evil spirits rule over the earth, those of the forests and the sea beingheld in special awe. For the Cameroon highlanders, the Seat of the Gods isitself a god, half stone, half man, who wraps himself in a white snowy mantlewhenever any serious event is pending over his subjects. The Ba-Kundus of the northern slopes far excel the Ba-Kwiri in the industrialarts, although apparently not their superiors in natural intelligence. Theirdwellings are not mere hovels of branches and reeds, like those of the coastvillages, but real stone houses, properly cemented, and sometimes even decoratedwith rude frescoes representing men and animals. The palaces of the kings THE CAMEEOONS. 877 are also embellished with carved fetishes; but the talent of the Ba-Kundu artistsis displajed especially iu the ornamentation of the palaver houses, which, Fig. 182.—Tribes of the 1 : 2,000, Range of the Tauibtir speech. 11 (o nil)K«t. Depth J. l(; f~} . ,in Milm. however, also serve as shambles. The warrior who has sliiin his iof, the woniauwho has given birth to a son, paint themselves in red to manifest their renown tothe e^es of all. The chief occupation of the people is the weaving of nets uuH .\FKICA II. C C 378 WEST APEICA. cordage, with which they enclose extensive spaces in the forests to entrap thegame driven in by the beaters. The plantations of the Ba-Kundus are cultivated as carefully as the finestEuropean gardens by their slaves, nearly all imported from beyond the Ba-Faramimountains. These slaves, generally taller, stronger, and braver than their masters,and their equals in intelligence, are serfs in little more than the name, living inseparate villages, and sometimes even forming autonomous republics with theirlocal chiefs and general assemblies. Their communal independence is complete,and according to the missionary R
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Keywords: ., bookauthor, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology
