In The Crannies Of
These Buildings Trailing Plants Covered With Pretty Mauve Or Yellow
Flowers Take Root, And Everywhere, Along The Tops Of The Walls, And
In The Cracks Of The Houses, Are Ferns And Flowering Plants.
They
must get a good deal of their nourishment from the rich, thick air,
which seems composed of 85 per cent.
Of warm water, and the
remainder of the odours of Frangipani, orange flowers, magnolias,
oleanders, and roses, combined with others that demonstrate that the
inhabitants do not regard sanitary matters with the smallest degree
of interest.
There is one central street, and the others are neatly planned out
at right angles to it. None of them are in any way paved or
metalled. They are covered in much prettier fashion, and in a way
more suitable for naked feet, by green Bahama grass, save and except
those which are so nearly perpendicular that they have got every bit
of earth and grass cleared off them down to the red bed-rock, by the
heavy rain of the wet season.
In every direction natives are walking at a brisk pace, their naked
feet making no sound on the springy turf of the streets, carrying on
their heads huge burdens which are usually crowned by the hat of the
bearer, a large limpet-shaped affair made of palm leaves. While
some carry these enormous bundles, others bear logs or planks of
wood, blocks of building stone, vessels containing palm-oil, baskets
of vegetables, or tin tea-trays on which are folded shawls. As the
great majority of the native inhabitants of Sierra Leone pay no
attention whatever to where they are going, either in this world or
the next, the confusion and noise are out of all proportion to the
size of the town; and when, as frequently happens, a section of
actively perambulating burden-bearers charge recklessly into a
sedentary section, the members of which have dismounted their loads
and squatted themselves down beside them, right in the middle of the
fair way, to have a friendly yell with some acquaintances, the row
becomes terrific.
In among these crowds of country people walk stately Mohammedans,
Mandingoes, Akers, and Fulahs of the Arabised tribes of the Western
Soudan. These are lithe, well-made men, and walk with a peculiarly
fine, elastic carriage. Their graceful garb consists of a long
white loose-sleeved shirt, over which they wear either a long black
mohair or silk gown, or a deep bright blue affair, not altogether
unlike a University gown, only with more stuff in it and more folds.
They are undoubtedly the gentlemen of the Sierra Leone native
population, and they are becoming an increasing faction in the town,
by no means to the pleasure of the Christians.
But to the casual visitor at Sierra Leone the Mohammedan is a mere
passing sensation. You neither feel a burning desire to laugh with,
or at him, as in the case of the country folks, nor do you wish to
punch his head, and split his coat up his back - things you yearn to
do to that perfect flower of Sierra Leone culture, who yells your
bald name across the street at you, condescendingly informs you that
you can go and get letters that are waiting for you, while he smokes
his cigar and lolls in the shade, or in some similar way displays
his second-hand rubbishy white culture - a culture far lower and less
dignified than that of either the stately Mandingo or the bush
chief. I do not think that the Sierra Leone dandy really means half
as much insolence as he shows; but the truth is he feels too
insecure of his own real position, in spite of all the "side" he
puts on, and so he dare not be courteous like the Mandingo or the
bush Fan.
It is the costume of the people in Free Town and its harbour that
will first attract the attention of the newcomer, notwithstanding
the fact that the noise, the smell, and the heat are simultaneously
making desperate bids for that favour. The ordinary man in the
street wears anything he may have been able to acquire, anyhow, and
he does not fasten it on securely. I fancy it must be capillary
attraction, or some other partially-understood force, that takes
part in the matter. It is certainly neither braces nor buttons.
There are, of course, some articles which from their very structure
are fairly secure, such as an umbrella with the stick and ribs
removed, or a shirt. This last-mentioned treasure, which usually
becomes the property of the ordinary man from a female relative or
admirer taking in white men's washing, is always worn flowing free,
and has such a charm in itself that the happy possessor cares little
what he continues his costume with - trousers, loin cloth, red
flannel petticoat, or rice-bag drawers, being, as he would put it,
"all same for one" to him.
The ladies are divided into three classes; the young girl you
address as "tee-tee"; the young person as "seester"; the more mature
charmer as "mammy"; but I do not advise you to employ these terms
when you are on your first visit, because you might get
misunderstood. For, you see, by addressing a mammy as seester, she
might think either that you were unconscious of her dignity as a
married lady - a matter she would soon put you right on - or that you
were flirting, which of course was totally foreign to your
intention, and would make you uncomfortable. My advice is that you
rigidly stick to missus or mammy. I have seen this done most
successfully.
The ladies are almost as varied in their costume as the gentlemen,
but always neater and cleaner; and mighty picturesque they are too,
and occasionally very pretty. A market-woman with her jolly brown
face and laughing brown eyes - eyes all the softer for a touch of
antimony - her ample form clothed in a lively print overall, made
with a yoke at the shoulders, and a full long flounce which is
gathered on to the yoke under the arms and falls fully to the feet;
with her head done up in a yellow or red handkerchief, and her snowy
white teeth gleaming through her vast smiles, is a mighty pleasant
thing to see, and to talk to.
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