Salutations Among The Negroes To Each Other When They Meet Are
Always Observed, But Those In Most General Use Among The Kafirs Are,
"Abbe Haeretto," "'E Ning Seni," "Anawari," Etc., All Of Which Have
Nearly The Same Meaning, And Signify "Are You Well?" Or To That
Effect.
There are likewise salutations which are used at different
times of the day, as "E ning somo" ("Good morning"), etc.
The
general answer to all salutations is to repeat the kontong of the
person who salutes, or else to repeat the salutation itself, first
pronouncing the word marhaba ("My friend").
CHAPTER XXI - RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND INDUSTRIES OF THE MANDINGOES
The Mandingoes and, I believe, the negroes in general, have no
artificial method of dividing time. They calculate the years by the
number of rainy seasons. They portion the year into moons, and
reckon the days by so many suns. The day they divide into morning,
midday, and evening; and farther subdivide it, when necessary, by
pointing to the sun's place in the heavens. I frequently inquired
of some of them what became of the sun during the night, and whether
we should see the same sun, or a different one, in the morning; but
I found that they considered the question as very childish. The
subject appeared to them as placed beyond the reach of human
investigation - they had never indulged a conjecture, nor formed any
hypothesis, about the matter. The moon, by varying her form, has
more attracted their attention. On the first appearance of the new
moon, which they look upon to be newly created, the pagan natives,
as well as Mohammedans, say a short prayer; and this seems to be the
only visible adoration which the kafirs offer up to the Supreme
Being. This prayer is pronounced in a whisper, the party holding up
his hands before his face: its purport (as I have been assured by
many different people) is to return thanks to God for His kindness
through the existence of the past moon, and to solicit a
continuation of His favour during that of the new one. At the
conclusion they spit upon their hands and rub them over their faces.
This seems to be nearly the same ceremony which prevailed among the
heathens in the days of Job. {5}
Great attention, however, is paid to the changes of this luminary in
its monthly course, and it is thought very unlucky to begin a
journey, or any other work of consequence, in the last quarter. An
eclipse, whether of the sun or moon, is supposed to be effected by
witchcraft. The stars are very little regarded; and the whole study
of astronomy appears to them as a useless pursuit, and attended to
by such persons only as deal in magic.
Their notions of geography are equally puerile. They imagine that
the world is an extended plain, the termination of which no eye has
discovered - it being, they say, overhung with clouds and darkness.
They describe the sea as a large river of salt water, on the farther
shore of which is situated a country called Tobaubo doo (the land of
the white people). At a distance from Tobaubo doo they describe
another country, which they allege as inhabited by cannibals of
gigantic size, called komi.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 36 of 87
Words from 18471 to 19018
of 45368
