Gabaon

“ Learn to hear,όταν παρέλθη λήψεται υμάς πρωϊ πρωϊ παρελεύσεται υμάς και εν νυκτί έσται ελπίς πονηρά μάθετε ακούειν 20ye that are distressed; we cannot fight, but we are ourselves too weak for you to be gathered.στενοχωρούμενοι ου δυνάμεθα μάχεσθαι αυτοί δε ασθενούμεν του υμάς συναχθήναι 21The Lord shall rise up as a mountain of ungodly men, and shall be in the valley of Gabaon ”

“ Where it took weeks for other men to travel a hundred miles through the African jungle, we shall manage it in as many hours. We could leave Gaboon at eight in the morning, say . . ."
"Where on earth is Gaboon?"
[Pg 105] He treated the interruption—which was actually inspired by a genuine thirst for knowledge—with contempt.
"You'll find it on any map of Equatorial Africa," he answered quietly. "As I was saying, we could leave there at eight in the morning and be in the heart of the gorilla country by ten o'clock at the latest. I intend making Gaboon the headquarters." ”

“ The Gaboon country, to retain the now familiar term, although no one knows much about its derivation, is placed, by old travellers in "South Guinea," the tract lying along the Ethiopic, or South Atlantic Ocean, limited by the Camarones Mountain-block in north latitude 4°, and by Cabo Negro in south latitude 15° 40' 7", a sea-line of nearly 1,200 miles. The Gaboon proper is included between the Camarones Mountains to the north, and the "Mayumba,"properly the "Yumba" country southwards, in south latitude 3° 22',—a shore upwards of 400 miles long. ”

“ The theory of an external soul deposited in an animal appears to be very prevalent in West Africa, particularly in Nigeria, the Cameroons, and the Gaboon. Among the Fans of the Gaboon every wizard is believed at initiation to unite his life with that of some particular wild animal by a rite of blood-brotherhood; he draws blood from the ear of the animal and from his own arm, and inoculates the animal with his own blood, and himself with the blood of the beast. ”

“ The natives at the Gaboon, to whom these excellent people are sacrificing themselves, are said to present more favorable points of character than those in most other parts of Africa. They are mild in their manners, friendly to Europeans and Americans, and disposed to imitate them in dress and customs. They own many slaves among themselves, but treat them with singular gentleness, and never sell them to foreigners. They are very indolent, and make no adequate improvement of their advantages for agriculture and trade. Their country is excellent for grazing, and the cattle of the best kind ”

“ But 15 to 20 miles away to the right I caught sight of the mighty mouth of the Gaboon—a miniature sea, nearly as large as the Bay of Corisco.
I knew that the upper reaches of this estuary constituted the approximate boundary of the Gorilla Country, and a thrill of expectancy ran through me like cold quicksilver. The salvation of the aged became a matter of minor importance, and in its place there grew an almost bloodthirsty lust for conquest. In spite of our ninety miles an hour the quivering machine seemed to be dragging like lead. ”

“ It was the Dago, with his shrug and his feeble, complaisant smile, who scraped the boards of the pigsty and hoisted coal for the cook, and swept out the fo'c'sle while the other men lay and smoked.
"What made ye ship, anyway?" men would ask him angrily, when some instance of his incompetence had added to the work of the others. To this, if they would hear him, he had always an answer. He was a Portuguese, it seemed, of some little town on the coast of East Africa, where a land-locked bay drowsed below the windows of the houses under the day-long sun. ”

“ Gabadi was therefore released, returned his axe, and given some tobacco, to ease his mind of any feeling of fright or annoyance at the sudden manner in which we had effected our introduction to him.
We then asked him to go down the river to his village, and tell the people where we were, and that we wished to be friendly; also, that we would buy all the food they chose to bring us. Gabadi said that his wives had been in a camp some little distance away from the place where we had caught him, and that they had fled while we were engaged in making his acquaintance ”

“ Now one of the first things that struck the traveller was that in this country animal life was exceedingly scarce, and this was curious because the Gaboon Country is situated in one of the hottest parts of Africa where every place teems with life. ”

“ These savannahs (savánas) add an indescribable charm to the Gaboon Coast, especially when the morning and evening suns strike them with slanting rays, and compel them to stand out distinct from the setting of eternal emerald. The aspect of the downs is civilized as the banks of the Solent; and the coast wants nothing to complete the "fine, quiet old-country picture in the wilds of Africa" but herds of kine grazing upon leas shining with a golden glory, or a country seat, backed by the noble virgin forest, such a bosquet as Europe never knew. ”

“ Once the baboons had tasted the sweetness of the young corn, they would come again and again, camping in the kloofs overhead as long as anything remained for them, like a deaf guest. But for all that, he had no notion of leaving them to plunder at their ease. The least one can do with an unwelcome visitor is to make him uncomfortable; and he sent to certain kraals on the farm for two old Kafirs he had remarked who had the appearance of cunning old men. ”

“ Gaboon and French Congo (5,000) , a French Colony in W. Africa fronting the Atlantic, between the Cameroon country and the Congo State, and stretching inland as far as the head-waters of the Congo River; in the NW. is the great Gaboon estuary, 40 m. long and 10 broad at its mouth, with Libreville on its N. bank; along the coast the climate is hot and unhealthy, but it improves inland; the natives belong to the Bantu stock; the French settled in it first in 1842, but only since the explorations of De Brazza in 1876-86 have they begun to extend and colonise it. ”

“ The Gaboon men are often almost black, whilst the women range between dark brown and cafe au lait. The beard, usually scanty, is sometimes bien fournie, especially amongst the seniors, but, whenever I saw a light-coloured and well-bearded man, the suspicion of mixed blood invariably obtruded itself. It is said that during the last thirty years they have greatly diminished, yet their habitat is still that laid down half a century ago by Bowdich, and all admit that the population of the river has not been materially affected. ”

“ The Gaboon River is not long, but it receives many tributaries and for the last hundred 21miles from the sea it is magnificent. Forty miles before it reaches the sea it bends northward by northwest and widens out into a broad estuary from five to fifteen miles in width and forty miles long, which I have always called the bay. It is one of the few, and one of the best, harbours on the entire coast of Africa. Libreville, the old French capital of the Congo Français, and Baraka, our mission station, are situated on the east bank of the estuary and opposite its broad mouth. ”

“ The French, too, hold not only the inlet of [Pg 299] the Gaboon, but a large portion of the coast, together with an extensive inland section, which was ceded to them by the Berlin Conference, when the Congo State was established.
A NATIVE OF THE GABOON RIVER.
One of the chief negro tribes of West Africa, the Fans, occupy the coast line of Lower Guinea. They are a fine race, but are pronounced cannibals. Since they have come in contact with Europeans this revolting practice has been less prevalent.
The Fans have long been famed for their skill in forging weapons and making poisoned arrows. ”

“ The Mpongwe women of Gaboon who have long been in contact with the French are without comparison the most cultivated, best-looking, most artful, and most dissolute women of the entire coast. The story of their licentiousness, as Tertullian once said of the women of the ancient stage, had best remain hid in its own darkness lest it pollute the day. Most young men of other tribes coming among them as Bojedi did are like country boys [320] arriving in the city, and are easy quarry. ”

“ The stock struck on bone, and he felt it crush and fail, and there was the thing at his feet.
"How they broke the charge, with what a frenzy of battle they drove the baboons from them, none of the four who spoke again could ever tell. But it must have been very soon after Shadrach clubbed his rifle that the beasts wavered, were beaten, and fled screaming, and the farmer found himself leaning on his weapon and a great Zulu, shining with sweat, talking to him.
"'Never have I had such a fight,' the Zulu was saying, 'and never may I hope for such another. The baas is a great chief. ”

“ Indeed, the ascendency the Gaboon trade attained to in the middle parts of this 19th century was an artificial one, the natural outlet for the trade being the districts round the mouth of the Ogowé river, which penetrates through a far greater extent of country than the rivers Rembwe and Ncomo, which form the Gaboon estuary or Rio Gabon of Barbot. ”

“ From this it would appear that most of the so-called Gaboons must have been in reality Pygmies caught in the inland equatorial forests, for Bosman, who traded among the Gaboons, merely inveighed against their garrulity, their indecision, their gullibility and their fondness for strong drink, while as to their physique he observed: "they are mostly large, robust well shaped men." ”

“ The Gabun was discovered by Portuguese navigators towards the close of the 15th century, and was named from its fanciful resemblance to a gabão or cabin. On the small island of Koniké, which lies about the centre of the estuary, scanty remains of a Portuguese fort have been discovered. The three principal tribes in the Gabun are the Mpongwe, the Fang and the Bakalai. ”

“ First blood to the Vrouw.
"Baboons," continued the old lady, "are among a farmer's worst enemies. They steal and destroy and menace all the year round, but for all that there are many farmers who will not shoot or trap them. And these, you will notice, are always farmers of a ripe age and sense shaped by experience. They know, you may be sure. My stepsister's first husband, Shadrach van Guelder, shot at baboons once, and was so frightened afterwards that he was afraid to be alone in the dark." ”

“ The mouth is of vast width, and both jaws bristle with a terrible array of sharp-pointed teeth.
The African species all belong to the same genus, of which the Crocodile of the Nile is the type.
At the Gaboon, the negroes hunt their enemies either with muskets or a kind of harpoon. Their vulnerable points are the attachment of the anterior limbs, and, of course, the eyes. It is here that their assailants endeavour to mark them. They are killed every day without their number appearing to be sensibly diminished, and, what is singular enough, without their seeming to grow mistrustful. ”

“ Gabas is a hamlet in a barren plain. The torrent here rumbles underneath glaciers and among shattered tree-trunks; it descends, lost at the bottom of the declivity, between colonnades of pines, the mute inhabitants of the gorge. The silence and constraint contrast with the desperate leaps of the snowy water. It is cold here, and everything is sad; only, on the horizon may be seen the Pic du Midi in its splendor, lifting its two jagged piles of tawny gray into the serene light. ”

“ From where he lay on his stomach, with his rifle before him, Shadrach could see the line of ridge of rocks over which the baboons must come, dark against a sky only just less dark; and with his eyes fixed on this he waited. Afterwards he said that it was not the baboons he waited for, but the yellow man, Naqua, and he had in his head an idea that all the evil and pain that ever was, and all the sin to be, had a home in that bushman. So a man hates an enemy. ”

“ The country around Gaboon is more open than most parts of West Africa. A dense undergrowth of shrubbery and long grass grows up each year, which towards the end of the dry season is burned off by the natives, in some places to clear their gardens, and in some places for the fun of seeing it burn. ”

“ A few years have made such changes that the Fang of the Gaboon, instead of boasting of cannibalism, would indignantly deny it. In the interior they still practice it as an insult to the enemy. But on the Gaboon they insult the enemy by charging it against them.
“The African,” says Booker T. Washington, “lives like a child, in the realm of emotion and feeling.” And a white man among Africans lives much in that same realm. ”

“ Three men should make a gabion in an hour.
Gabions may be made without the forms, but the work is slower and not so good. The circle is struck on the ground and the pickets driven at the proper points. The weaving is done from the ground up. The entire time of one man is required to keep the pickets in their proper positions.
If brush is scarce, gabions may be made with 6 inches of wattling at each end, the middle being left open. In filling, the open parts may be lined with straw, grass, brush, or grain sacks to keep the earth from running out. ”

“ Dagon, I pray
Thy raving wrath confuse her daring mind.
[DELILAH ascends the altar, and places the child in Dagon's arms; then she remains kneeling.]
SAMSON: [From within.] Lord Sabaoth! Be blessed for evermore,
That Thou no heathen hast created me
CHORUS: Devoted to Dagon's holy bliss
The flesh and blood of mankind is,
If it ascends a sacrifice
'Gainst thund'ring wrath 'tis calming spice. ”