Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/149

FERNANDO-PO. II7 it to the coapass of the wrist, and through this thong the men pass their knives. Their currency is two species of shells, which they find on the coast, and which serve also to deck their persons and protect their dwellings against the evil spirits. All the Bubi tribes live in the interior, remote from the " citizens," whom they have good reason to mistrust. Formerly they were hunted down and carried away into slavery ; hence had to take refuge in caves and dense thickets, guarded by a fierce breed of dogs, which growl and bite, but never bark. ]Now they live in huts, into which they reluctantly admit Europeans. On the other hand, they were themselves at times dangerous neighbours, and are said to have twice poisoned the streams and springs in order to drive away the Portuguese, who appear to have been effectually got rid of in this way. The Spaniards also were on the point of withdrawing in 1858, the natives having refused to supply them with provisions. Now, however, all are better friends ; the authority of the governor is recognised, and his staff of office sent to two hostile tribes suffices to restore order. The Bubis worship the great spirit, Umo, an invisible being, who reveals himself in a dazzling light and in a rumbling voice coming up from the depths of the ground. When a votary wishes to implore his mercy, or obtain a knowledge of the future, he penetrates through a narrow fissure into the cave, and advancing on all-fours lays his offering at the feet of the priest representing the divinity. Suddenly a bundle of rays flashes through an opening in the vault, enveloping the priest in a divine light. He is consulted and transmits the supplications to Umo, and the cavern presently reverberates with the thunder of the god himself, who seems to rise from the abyss to answer the prayers of the suppliant. There also resides on the east coast a " powerful king," who cannot be approached in person, but who remits the executive and judicial functions to the hula, a society which speaks and acts in his name. At the coronation he retires to a cave in order to hold commune with the demon through the mediation of snakes. The secondary " kings " of the neighbouring tribes are scarcely to be distinguished from ordinary subjects. Trade — Topography.— Administration. The coast population, concentrated in Santa- Isabel on the north side, and in a few scattered hamlets, are mostly the descendants of black slaves set free either by the English cruisers or by their Spanish masters. The European traders have also introduced some Negroes from Lagos, Cape-Coast, Sierra-Leone, or Sam-Thome, who represent the most civilised section of the black population, and give the English language the preponderance over Spanish. But the Cuban exiles, recently numbering two hundred, have most contributed to the industrial and commercial development of the island. To them is due the honour of having introduced the cultivation of cacao, sugar, tobacco, and begun i'iiG manufacture of the famous Santa-Isabel cigars. But after serving their term of banishment most of these