Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/270

220 WEST APEICA. head of a Sileniis on the body of an Antinous.'* Morally, as well as physically, the Kroos are one of the most remarkable peoples in Africa. At once honest and proud, and conscious of their power, they are passionately fond of freedom, never enduring servitude at the hands of any masters. Although settled on a seaboard exposed for four centuries to the visits of the slavers, they have always combined to resist every attempt at capture, and when they were seized they either starved or drowned themselves to escape bondage. Nor did they ever themselves trade in human flesh with the whites, although domestic slavery was a national institution. The Fishermen, however, originally a distinct tribe, but now mainly assimilated to the Kroos, made no slaves, but sacrificed captives taken in war under a fetish tree. The Kroos constitute small commonwealths, whose hereditary chief is, so to say, merely a ^'minister of foreign affairs," whose duty it is to deal for the common good with European captains and the representatives of Liberia. He does all the speaking at the palavers, gives and receives the presents, but takes no part in the government of the tribe. The elders,^ recognised by the iron ring worn on their leg, discuss all the communal interests, deliberating on the measures to be taken and securing their execution. Their president, who is at the same time head of the fetish-men, has charge of the national symbols. His house is a sacred asylum for fugitives, whom he protects until convinced of their guilt. He is regarded as specially entrusted with the welfare of the nation, so that if all goes well he receives the public thanks, but otherwise is deposed and reduced to the position of a private citizen. Property, apart from a few personal objects, is held in common by the whole family, and cannot be alienated without the consent of its adult members. The land also is theoretically a collective property, but the actual tiller of the soil is its de facto owner, and he can be dispossessed by no one, although he has no right to sell it. When he ceases to work his plot it reverts to the community. Notwithstanding their devoted attachment to their homes and families, the Kroos are of all Africans the most given to temporary emigration. Leaving the cultivation of the soil to the women and captives, they offer themselves in their fourteenth or fifteenth year for emploj^ment either in the factories or on board ship, usually, however, stipulating for a short engagement, seldom extending beyond " thirteen moons." But for them European trade on the Guinea coast would be almost impossible. Vessels that have lost all or most of their white crews would be at the mercy of wind and water but for these hardy and daring mariners, who thus completely disprove the commonly accepted statement that the natives of tropical lands are always hopelessly indolent. Full of respect for their employers and loyal to their engagements, the energetic and persevering Kroomen also expect and insist on the faithful execution of the contract by the traders or skippers engaging them. They also do some trading on their own account, selling to the ships' companies cattle, rice, ground-nuts, palm-oil, and preparing sea- salt for the Mandingans of the interior. The Kroo language, a member of the Manda family, which also includes the Fanti, Ashanti, Bassa, and Grebo, is gradually giving place to English, at least in the neighbourhood of the factories. Most of the chiefs have received and accepted