By the Rivers of Water

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By the Rivers of Water Page 65

by Erskine Clarke


  attack on by French, 274

  Bible, translations of, 244, 298, 369

  Catholic mission, relationship with, 276

  cemetery, 265, 297, 321

  challenges of, 244–245

  curriculum, 246

  daily routine, 246, 248

  food, 247–248

  French authorities, relationship with, 268, 274, 299

  girls, education of, 253

  lack of staff for, 277

  mission station, 239–240, illustration K

  mission strategy, 244

  missionaries, illustration J

  mosquito netting, use of, 240

  news from, 318–319

  parental opposition to conversions, 293

  preaching, illustration N

  racism at, 369

  Barracoon, slave, 223–224, 361, illustration 5

  Bassa Cove, 78

  Bayard Island, Liberia, 156, 189, 280

  Bible, translations of, 169, 244, 298, 369

  Big Town, Cape Palmas, 79–80, 118–119, 157, 182

  destruction of by settlers, 317

  Black River, 35–36, 375

  Blackbeard Island, GA, 10, 32, 88

  Blacks

  in Charleston, 48

  church membership, 8, 37–38, 47

  Freedpeople, churches of, 354–355

  literacy and, 20, 60

  in Maryland, 97, 193, 194

  memories that challenge white memories, 37, 357, 371

  in Savannah, 7–9, 28, 30

  whites’ misunderstanding of, 356–357

  whites’ paternalism toward, 133, 352

  Boggy Gully settlement, 37, 38, 39, 90, 215, 218, 348–349

  Boston Journal of Natural History, 282

  Brazil

  Catholic Church in, 362

  Leighton’s visit to, 361–362

  as mission field, 362

  mission schools in, 362

  slave markets in, 361

  Brick Presbyterian Church, New York, 327

  Butler’s Island, GA, 10, 14

  Camwood, 75

  Cannibalism, 176

  Cape Coast, 185, 222

  Cape Lahu, 242

  Cape Mesurado, 48, 73

  Cape Mount, 83

  Cape Palmas

  landscape, 94

  malaria, 98

  Maryland in Liberia established at, 82

  Monrovian settlers moved to, 77

  weather in, 97–98

  See also Fair Hope mission; Harper

  Catfish Creek, 10

  Catholic Church, in Brazil, 362

  Catholic mission, relationship with Fair Hope missionaries, 276

  Catskill Mountains, 41–42, 176

  Cause and effect, 109–110

  Cavally River, 81, 122

  Central Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 91

  Charleston

  free blacks in, 48

  opposition to colonization, 48

  religious revival in, 44–45

  slave markets in, 35

  Charleston Observer, 210, 324

  Charleston Union Presbytery, 49

  Charms, 16–17, 31, 37, 75, 106–107, 156

  See also fetishes; greegrees

  Cherokees, usurpation of lands by whites, 57

  Chickasaw tribe, 360

  China, Christian population in, 378

  Choctaw tribe, 360

  Cholera, 210

  Circular Congregational Church, Charleston, 44, 45, 47, 285

  Civil War

  battles, 341–345

  beginning of, 331

  burning of Columbia, SC, 345

  Robert E. Lee’s surrender, 346

  surrender of Savannah, 344

  Colonists. See Settlers, African American

  Colonization

  abolitionists’ opposition to, 118, 138, 144

  American Colonization Society, 48, 82, 85, 363

  as deportation, 64

  as imperialism, 144, 151, 211, 318

  indigenous peoples and, 86

  opposition to, 48, 60, 63–64

  renewed interest in, 363–365

  support for, 47, 48–49, 63

  as way to whiten America, 62, 64, 118, 194, 325, 364

  Columbia, 154

  Columbia, SC, burning of, 345, illustration P

  Columbia Theological Seminary, 50, 345

  Como River, 229, 264, 298

  “Comparative Vocabularies of Some of the Principal Negro Dialects of Africa” (Wilson), 284

  Compromise of 1850, 310

  Confederacy, establishment of, 331

  Corisco Island, 242, 318, 330, illustration 13

  Cotton, cultivation of, 36–37

  Cotton Kingdom, 192–193, 323

  Creole language, 12, 75, 81, 165

  Cultural imperialism, 110

  Cumberland Island, GA, 6, 23

  Dahomey, 242

  Darien, GA, 4, 9–11, 16, 31, 32

  Dash, 80, 95, 107, 122

  Dead, veneration of, 294

  Decatur, 270

  Denah, 122, 175

  Devil in the belly, 260, illustration 13

  Devil raising, 232–234

  Doboy Sound, 10

  Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 113

  Duka’s Town, 254, 258, 259, 278

  Dysentery, 200, 256

  Edgar, 82, 93

  Église évangélique du Gabon, 368

  Elmina, 222, 242

  Emancipation

  adjustment to, 348

  of Hutchinson Island slaves, 92–93, 116, 147–149

  whites’ fear of, 310–311, 325

  Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, 342

  Emperor, 184, 185

  Enlightenment, 109

  Episcopal mission in Liberia, 113, 131, 192, 197, 202, 208, 277, 279, 317, 365

  Evangelization, 86

  Fair Hope mission

  advocates for Grebo interests, 95–96, 139, 201

  buildings at, 94–95, 165, 167, 172, 200

  cemetery, 199, 236, 256, 280

  closing of, 197, 236–237

  daily routine, 159–160, 162

  description, 94–95, illustration 8

  dress code, 166–167

  funerals, 132, 204

  garden, 159–160

  girls, education of, 165–166

  growth of, 186–187

  landscape, 127

  legacy of, 208

  meals, 160

  military duty, 142, 194–197

  polygamy, church membership and, 182

  as refuge for settlers, 139

  relationship with settlers, 138, 177, 184

  school curriculum, 163–164

  stolen goods, dispute over, 202–207

  Fair Hope plantation

  Gullah culture, 32, 33

  landscape, 33

  slave life at, 32

  Fang (or Pangwe)

  appearance of, 232

  at devil raising, 232–234

  migration of, 232, 298, 366

  Preston’s study of language, 298

  warrior, illustration L

  woman, illustration M

  Farmer preachers, 49

  Fernando Po Island, 163, 242

  Fetish priest, 76, 112

  Fetishes, 75, 106–107, 110, 251, 260, 377

  as weapon of slaves, 320, 367–368

  See also charms; greegrees

  Fevers, 52, 64, 74, 83, 98–99, 104, 131, 136

  First African Baptist Church, Savannah, 8, 18, 20, 55, 59, 345, illustration 1

  First Presbyterian Church, Augusta, GA, 339

  First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, S. C., 60

  Fish Town, mission at, 186

  Fish Town, transfer of school to, 197

  Flora, 4, 5

  Food

  at Cape Palmas, 38, 135–136, 152–155, 159–162

  in Gabon, 227, 247–249, 251

  in Lowcountry, 19, 38

  “Former Civi
lizations of Black Races of Men” (Smyth), 308

  Fort Sumter, attack on, 331

  France

  attack on Glass’s Town, 273–274

  ban of capital punishment of slaves, 367

  construction of fort in Gabon, 268

  deception of Glass, 269

  relationship with Baraka mission, 268, 274, 299

  treaties with Mpongwe kings, 267, 269–270

  use of estuary as trade and military base, 266, 319, 366

  Free blacks

  in Charleston, 48

  fear of in Maryland, 97, 193, 194

  in Savannah, 7–8

  Freedom’s Journal, 133, 134

  Freedpeople

  churches of, 354–355

  movement of, 347, 348–350

  at Pine Grove plantation, 348

  Friendfield plantation, 375

  “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” (Mason), 30, 373

  Gabon

  clothing, 231, 232

  Fang (Pangwe), 232

  fetish magician, illustration G

  French imperialism in, 266–270, 273–274, 319, 366

  furniture, 231

  houses, 231

  initiation rituals, 232–234

  landscape, 223, 264

  mission schools in, 240, 253–254

  musical instruments, 231

  rum, 231

  slave barracoon in, 223–224

  See also Mpongwe

  Gaboon, printed tracts in, 236

  Gaboon Stories (Preston), 292

  Gardiner Spring Resolution, 332, 340

  Garonne, 24

  Garroway, 78

  General’s Island, GA, 9–17

  See also Gullah culture

  George’s Town (Nghaga), 229, 254

  Georgia

  antislavery petition in (1739), 5

  inland waterway, 10, 31–32, 88

  landscape of, 10–11, 32–33, 88

  sea islands, 4, 10, 14, 32, 88

  Georgian, 24

  Girls, education of

  in Gabon, 253

  in Liberia, 165–166

  in U.S., 352–353

  Glass’s Town

  attack on by French, 273–274

  as choice for new mission, 222–223

  slave barracoon, 223–224

  Gnambahda, 121–122

  Gola, 365

  Gonorrhea, 288

  Good Will Presbyterian Church, Salem, SC, 355, 370

  Good Will school, Salem, SC, 370–371

  Goree Island, 93–94

  Gorilla (njina), discovery of, 281–282, 300, 308

  Gospel of John, translation of, 298

  Grabbo, 176

  Grand Cavally, 80, 197

  Graway, 81, 162–163, 376

  Great Awakening, 44–45

  Grebo

  Bible, translation of, 169

  Christian faith, adoption of, 365

  cleanliness of, 119–120

  code of laws for, 124

  conflict with Americo-Liberians, 113–116, 177, 365, 377

  conjugal relationships, 122

  dancing, 126

  Davis’s conversion, opposition to, 182–183

  as democratic society, 79

  dictionary and grammar, 101–102

  divination, use of to discover cause, 109

  dress, 80, 81, 120

  eating customs, 161

  education, interest in, 82, 163

  fables, 175–176

  fetishes, 106–107

  fluid culture of, 108

  funeral rites, 108

  houses, 118–119

  humor, 175–176

  land ownership, understanding of, 115

  malaria, treatment for, 100

  manufacture of goods to sell, 78–79

  meals with missionaries, 160–161, 187, 201

  men, role of, 119

  music, 126

  oracle, 188

  pilfering from colonists and mission, 114, 138

  poisoning, 111

  polygamy, 181, 195

  printed Bible stories, reaction to, 169–170

  private space, view of, 95

  rice fields, 121–122

  sale of rice to settlers, 135

  sassy wood ordeal, 111, 187–190, 365, illustration 14

  seamanship, 78, 106

  singing boatmen, 106

  slave trade, 126–127, 174

  swimming, 105

  trade goods, 78

  trade with interior peoples, 152, 174, 176

  welcome of settlers by, 79–80, 94

  witchcraft, 111, 188

  wives, significance of, 181

  women, role of, 119

  Greegrees, 75, 77, 80, 106

  See also charms; fetishes

  Gullah culture

  boatman songs, 12

  charms and conjuring, 16–17, 37

  dancing, 13–14

  drums, 14–15

  fiddles and banjoes, 14

  on General’s Island, 11–17

  ghosts, 15–16, 37

  hags, 16, 37

  healing, 17, 37

  history of, xiii

  hulling rice, illustration B

  language, 11–12

  links with Africa, 75, 106–107, 227

  ox cart driver, illustration C

  proverbs, 13

  singing, 14

  slave funerals, 15

  stories, 11–12

  witches, 16

  Haidee, pilgrims at, 175

  Half Cavally, 197

  Harper, Liberia

  conflict between settlers and Grebo, 138–139, 156–157

  food shortage, 135–136, 138

  origin of name, 97

  Home and Foreign Record, 210, 313

  Hutchinson Island, GA

  attempted sale of, 147, 149

  Bayard settlement on, 6

  emancipation of Bayard slaves, 92–93, 116, 147–149

  emigration from, 153–155

  Gullah community on, 11

  hurricane destruction, 309

  Indâ, 289, illustration G

  Independent Presbyterian Church, Savannah, 29–30, 89, 213, 309

  International School, Campinas, Brazil, 362

  Jehovah’s Witnesses, 377

  Johns Island Presbyterian Church, 167

  Journal of the American Oriental Society, 284

  Jupiter, 83, 87

  Kobangai’s Town, 264

  Kong mountains, 174

  Kra, 203

  Kru (or Kroo)

  boats, illustration 12

  description of, 77–78

  Leighton’s admiration for, 242

  seamanship, 83

  settlers and, 365

  swimming, 105

  town, illustration 9

  Ku Klux Klan, 359

  Lake Sheppard, 97, 162

  Lancastrian teaching system, 163

  Landscape. See Africa, West; Cape Palmas; Lowcountry; Pine Grove plantation

  Leopard men, 16, 262, 367

  Leopards, 240, 248, 262, 367

  Liberator, 134

  Liberia

  colonization of, 47–48

  declaration of independence, 307

  renewed interest in, 363

  treaty with Grebo, 317

  war with Grebo, 365, 377

  See also Harper; Maryland in Liberia; Monrovia

  Liberian Herald, 135

  Liberty, idea of, 111, 216–217, 327–329, 350, 356

  Libreville, Gabon, 319

  Life of Charles Hodge, 370

  Literacy,

  illegality of in U. S., 20, 60

  power of, 170–171, 371

  Loango, 4

  Lowcountry

  identification with, 33, 39–41, 88, 348–350, 357

  landscape, 10–11, 32–33, 39–40

  as part of mission field, 376–377

  MacKenzie Presbyterian University, 362

  Malaria, 19, 22, 91, 98–99


  Man of war, 203, 204

  Mande, 365

  Mandingos, 75, 242

  Maryland Colonization Journal, 192

  Maryland Colonization Society, 61, 97, 112, 143, 191

  attempts to whiten Maryland and, 62–63, 118, 192–194

  Maryland in Liberia

  claims to be legitimate state, 142–144, 207

  departure of settlers to, 71

  hopes for, 61–62

  militia, 142, 157

  negotiations with King Freeman for land, 81–82

  as project of a benevolent society, 142

  relationship to mission, 142–144

  Mayesville, SC, 347, 349

  Mbwiri (or Ombwiri), 293–294

  McIntosh County, GA, 9, 11

  Measles, 288, 319

  Medway River, 10

  Memories, African American, 280, 355, 382

  and African traditions, 12–18, 156

  challenge white memories, 37, 140, 357–358, 371

  and place, 9, 348–349

  Memories, Grebo, 129–130, 180

  Memories, Mpongwe, 257, 291, 319–320

  Memories, white, 95, 140, 160, 201, 234, 335–337

  and maintaining a white South, 357–359

  and place, 40, 127–128, 285–286, 350

  and racism, 58, 137, 153

  Merchants, African, 184

  Methodist circuit riders, 49–50

  Miasmas, 19, 98, 147

  Middle Passage, 4, 77, 325, 361

  Middle Passage, Second, 323

  Militia, mission personnel service in, 142

  Missionaries

  malaria, protection from, 91

  missionary narratives, 112

  purpose of Christian gospel, 110

  resistance to removal of Cherokees, 57

  susceptibility to illnesses, 279, 280, 296, 301–302, 319

  Missionary, 366

  Missionary Herald, 88, 112, 209, 210, 211, 235, 301, 318

  Monrovia

  Africans as settlers’ servants, 74–75

  colonists’ complaints, 62

  conflict with indigenous peoples, 177

  export of camwood, 75

  misleading reports on, 84–85

  missionary schools in, 74

  settlers move to Cape Palmas, 77

  slave ships, repair and sale of, 141

  Mosquitoes, 98

  Mpongwe

  alcoholism, 244, 258, 263, 288, 319

  alphabet, development of, 246

  Bible, translations of, 169

  Big Men (or Head Men), role of, 259

  challenges to old traditions, 288–289

  contact with outside world, 97, 257–258

  conversion, resistance to, 296

  devil in the belly, 260

  diseases, 288, 319

  dress, 238

  fears, 263

  fetish doctor, illustration O

  food, 227

  funeral ritual, 289–290, illustration 15

  Great Spirit (Mwetyi), 234

  history of, 257

  “king,” meaning of term, 259

  language family, 255

  language of, 284–285

  linguistic abilities, 242

  marital relationships, 260–261

  materialism, 244

 

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