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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
established wife or wives are far from being jealous of one another; to the contrary- are delighted to welcome a new wife, and make great preparations for her homecoming, realizing that the work of all will be commeasurably lessened. Each woman has her own personal boma, or hut, and is not housed as in harems of other peoples. Also every wife is allotted a certain amount of property, and each child also has property given on birth. No change of times or circumstances deprives either of their titles. Their individual families are small, and the mother has supreme right over her children. Women are permitted to enjoy exactly the same moral freedom and standard as the men, only declassed when she may be indiscreet and holds a liaison with porters in a caravan, or with an enemy of her tribe.
Women when ill are doctored by the old women of the tribe, who are very skillful; however, as a rule they enjoy immunity from the sufferings of their civilized sisters. The men are doctored by men, and magic doctors are supported. In true Spartan fashion, the deformed, the disabled, the infirm, are quietly sent to la la (sleep) —no matter the sex. This is common to many people exposed to the elements and the attacks of wild beasts, or surrounded by inimical tribes, and deemed a mercy often pathetically enjoined, and even earnestly besought by the victims. Emblems of war, likewise of peace, play an important role. Observance of the same, especially the peace emblems, have much to do, if not all, with my attaining immediate admission among tribes disposed to be forbidding, and at times hostile. Familiarity with several of their dialects permitted me a better understanding of the people by sparing me the delusion of misinterpretation or careless and garbled reports. Moreover, the Africans are eloquent in gestures and facial expression. An observer can comprehend without a word there. Their dialect, however, is musical, circumscribed, epigrammatic, full of metaphor, and, above all, ceremonious.
They are far from being inept. To the contrary, are quick to imitate; without, however, wise discretionary powers to guide them as to what to avoid or what to adopt. After deliberate contemplation it appears to me the true method of civilizing Africa is by the establishment of industrial manual training stations and medical and nurses’ posts, and the presence of practical, honest, sober, decent, industrious white men and women, whose daily life will carry the highest precepts of enlightenment. Africa is no place for impractical zealots of any kind, nor should the natives be made the wards of an enervating philanthropy, robbing them of self-support, and ennobling individual responsibility.
My geographical work consisted in circumnavigating Lake Chala, situated on the northeastern slope of the African Olympus, Mount Kilimanjaro - 30° 22 J south latitude^ 0 17' east longitude, 3,000 feet above the sea. My pride in the triumph is pardonable considering that no less an explorer than Thompson writes respecting the inaccessibility of this sheet of water, cupped within the escarped walls of an extinct crater. “ I went all around it, and although I am not deficient in enterprise or nerve, I saw no place I dare descend, not even if I could have swung from creeper to creeper like a monkey.”
In fine, without bloodshed, without loss of but one man, who was killed by a lion, by peaceful, tactful, humane measures, it has been my privilege to traverse the country of thirty-five African tribes, and return to the coast with all my porters, leaving behind a record women need never blush to consider.
Conclusion: It was worth while if my venture may be instrumental in bringing about peaceful, humane methods of would-be colonizers, and banish forever the military attitude of aliens, when intruding themselves upon the Arcadians of East Africa. In due course I propose to return and lend my efforts to a “ common-sense ” method of colonization, and substantiate the principles many explorers look askance at, and criticise as too Utopian for Africa.