By the Rivers of Water
Page 65
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