The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 65, March, 1863. Various

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 65, March, 1863

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9

Sometimes Fetichism furnished a legend which Catholicism, in its best estate, would not despise. Here is one that belongs to the Akwapim country, which lies north of Akkra, and is tributary to Ashantee. "They say that Odomañkama created all things. He created the earth, the trees, stones, and men. He showed men what they ought to eat, and also said to them, 'Whenever anybody does anything that is lovely, think about it, and do it also, only do not let your eye grow red' (that is, inflamed, lustful). When He had finished the creation. He left men and went to heaven; and when He went, the Fetiches came hither from the mountains and the sea. Now, touching these Fetiches, as well as departed spirits, they are not God, neither created by God, but He has only given them permission, at their request, to come to men. For which reason no Fetich ever receives permission to slay a man, except directly from the Creator."—Petermann's Mittheiltungen, 1856, p. 466.

10

Droit Public des Colonies Françoises, d'après les Lois faites pour ces Pays, Tom. I. p. 306.

11

On the other hand, an elaborate Manuel des Habitans de St. Domingue cautions the planters on this point: "Carefully avoid abandoning the new negroes to the discretion of the old ones, who are often very glad to play the part of hosts for the sake of such valets, to whom they make over the rudest part of their day's work. This produces disgust and repugnance in the new-comers, who cannot yet bear to be ordered about, least of all to be maltreated by negroes like themselves, while, on the contrary, they submit willingly and with affection to the orders of a white." This Manual, which reads like a treatise on muck or the breeding of cattle, proceeds to say, that, if the planter would preserve his negroes' usefulness, he must be careful to keep off the ticks.

12

In Cuba, the slave who had lived upon the island long enough to learn the language was called Ladino, "versed in an idiom."

13

American Oriental Society, Vol. I. p. 423, et seq.

14

Harvey's Sketches of Haiti, p. 292. See a vocabulary in Manuel des Habitans de St. Domingue, par L.J. Ducoeurjoly, Tom. II. Here is a verse of a Creole song, written in imitation of the negro dialect:—

Dipi mo perdi Lisette, Mo pas souchié Calinda,* Mo quitté bram-bram sonette, Mo pas batte bamboula.** Quand mo contré l'aut' negresse, Mo pas gagné z'yeu pour ly; Mo pas souchié travail piece, Tou qui chose a moué mouri.

* A favorite dance.

** A kind of tambourine or drum made of a keg stretched with skins, and sometimes hung with bells.]

The French of which is as follows:—

Mes pas, loin de ma Lisette, S'éloiguent du Calinda; Et ma ceinture à sonnette Languit sur mon bamboula. Mon oeil de toute autre belle N'aperçoit plus le souris; Le travail en vain m'appelle, Mes sens sont anéantis.

15

There was a proverb as redoubtably popular as Solomon's "Spare the rod"; it originated in Brazil, where the natives were easily humiliated:—"Regarder un sauvage de travers, c'est le battre; le battre, c'es le tuer: battre un nègre, c'est le nourrir": Looking hard at a savage is beating him: beating is the death of him: but to beat a negro is bread and meat to him.

16

A Commissioner's fee under the Fugitive-Slave Bill. History will repeat herself to emphasize the natural and inalienable rights of slave-catchers. In 1706 the planters organized a permanent force of maroon-hunters, twelve men to each quarter of the island, who received the annual stipend of three hundred livres. In addition to this, the owners paid thirty livres for each slave caught in the canes or roads, forty-five for each captured beyond the mornes, and sixty for those who escaped to more distant places. The hunters might fire at the slave, if he could not be otherwise stopped, and draw the same sums. In 1711 the maroons became so insolent that the planters held four regular chases or battues per annum.

17

A coarse rum distilled from the sugar-cane.

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