Zurich Herald, 1927-12-01, Page 6IM
• • I and river , yield sustenance for two
Rine~ by the Spirit ,� sues.
Revolting•
,s An exceptionally rapid and c•ompet-
Repo ant craftsman an de successful hunter
maintain twin wives. It shone
artistic instinct has
Scientists Sojourning In Dutch - been cultivs,ted by the social organs-
Guiana l~ int `D'uka Bush zatton which requires th
may
. pi obable that the x
yam
a $ e men to
men Revere Supernatural please the women with the carving of'
Elements Attributed to Boa' elegant domestic tools and utensils.
Spoons and pot -stirrers may take .days
Conatritor Alligator and of patient "carving and accomplish
Cottonwood Tree.
WOMEN APPRECIATED
On , the edge of the northeastern
side of South America there is a
unique civilization little known to the
white men of this continent, • We
know of the strange life of the Congo,
of tho fascinating customs and the
ever-present danger of the African
jungles because adventurers and ex•
• plovers by the hundreds have brought
from the Eastern tropics the entranc-
ing facts of their experience..
But of the bush Negro or Djuka of
Dutch Guiana; of them and their
craftsmanship, of their customs and
their medicine, little has been told,
These black men of Surinam are
not native to this hemisphere. They
are a transplanted people. Brought
to South America as slaves in the
days of buccaneering and traffic in
human flesh, they revolted successful-
ly in the middle eighteenth century
and have since retained their free-
dom.
The Negroes of the north sloughed
off nearly everything that was native
'.. and African, completely yielding to
the influence of Caucasian civilization
ncl eager to imitate its customs and
e iulate its standards, but the Djukas
of the Dutch Guiana bush hold fast to
tits primitive habits of their Ablcan
ancestors.
At the American Museum of Na-
tural History is a collection consisting
mostly of carved wood implements re-
cently brought by Dr. Morton C. Ii,ahn
of New York City who, accompanied
by Howard A. Baugh, went to Dutch
Guiana in the interest of the Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History and
the Cornell Medical College, with
which latter institution Dr. Kahn is
associated.
Are Artists.
"The Djukas decorate practically
everything," said Dr. Kahn. "Even
their paddles for stirring pots are
finely shaped and delicately engraved
With designs handed down from those
known among their African ancestors.
They are a very artistic race, and a
Djuka artist gets more consideration
as a prospective husband than a mem-
ber of the tribe who is a less compet-
ent wood-carver. -
"Of course, the first consideration
is, can he liunt; fish and provide suc-
cessfully for a family as well as him-
self Bttt having determined that, his
prospective bride and her family want
to. know what hind of a craftsman he
is in the working of wood, for art in
that country is considered manly.
Women Control Children.
"The Djuka woman stands higher in
the social•scheme than in many sav-
age tribes, as those Negroes have a
matriarchal system of descent. She
has greater control over her children
than her husband, and her parents
and the maternal uncle of the child-
ren also have a hand in the upbring-
ing of the young.
"A man can't get a wife by show-
ing prowess with the bow and gun
and the carving knife and then lay
down on the job and expect to keep
her. Ile also Chas to keep up produc-
ing beautiful wood carvings for the
uze and edification of his wife, and if
he gets lazy in providing food and in-
competent in carving he is apt to lose
her. She can get a divorce from her
indolent partner by proving to the
council of the tribe that ler husband
has deteriorated as a provider and as
• an artist,"
Descent Traced Through Mother.
While the descent is traced through
'the mother and the headship of the
village passes to the gran -man's sis-
ter's male child, yet the society does
not discriminate against the man who
has the capacity to make the jungle
their purpose as household tools no
better, than a plain stink, but still the
men work on and not only carve but,
inlay some of the things with hard-
wood.
Value Art.
"The curious fact about the Djultas,"
said Dr. Kahn, "is that while they con-
sider an article of utility nearly worth
less without having been submitted
to the skill of the wood-carver, they
pay little attention to the wooden re-
preseutation of their gods.
"This is not accidental or duo to
religious indifference. They see a
spirit in nearly everything that lives
or is. Rocks, trees, animals --,all have
a supernatural element within them,
but the Dugas have no fear that the
god will be displeased if he is not
treated to an elaborate image. They
have a firm conviction that religion is
a quality that comes from within and
is not stimulated by exterior objects.
"Each village has its god, and they
hold as semi -sacred the boa-constrict-
er, the alligator and .the cottonwood
tree, which they call the `con -con
dree.' Over and above this world of
spirits they believe in an overruling
god of the universe."
The Djukas revolted in 1750. They
developed military leaders and an un-
canny knowledge of the swamps and
tracks of the jungle which trapped
and decimated their white masters.
The Dutch and their British allies
found it impossible to make headway
against them because the jungle swal-
lowed up almost every force which at-
tempted to penetrate the camps of
the Djukas.
A truce was made and friendly re-
lations established, but the Djukas,
177 years after this colonial war in a
hemisphere where the whites overran -
subdued and wiped out Incas, Aztecs
and other Indian tribes, still retain
their independence and occupy some
of the main waterways into the in-
terior of -the country.
' Proud of Independence.
Three Literary Giants
BIG IN .BODY AS WELL AS MIND
''Bi„ Wigs" i s" of letters fail to agree, "Do We 'Agree?" was the somewhat inappropriate title of iaedebate
-between George Bernard Shaw (lett) and Gilbert K. Chesterton (right), which took place in London t
r
night. Hilaire Belioc (centre) acted as chairman,
History's Most
Expensive, Pari
Exclusive : `Tea-fo'r=Three'
Costs Lady Houston
$7•,500,000
DEATH DUTIES
Chancellor Maintained the\
Right to Tax Estate of
Late Husband
London,=The most expensive tea
for=three in history—with Lady House
ton, widow of Sir Robert Houston,
miulti=mildionairs shipbuilder; Chani'
cellor oil the Exchequer. Churchill, anci>�
Sir Douglas Hogg, chief legal oflicme
for the Crown, discussing high fine:'.
ace over the cups—has enriched: tli
Ggvernment iby $7,500,000. ,
After the third cup of tea Lad))
Houston wrote the Ohan�cellor of tit
Exchequer a`cheque for seven and eJ
half million. The Chancellor put i1(
In hie pocket and ordered another
• Djukas have completely forgotten ri,e�>t��c. Reviews again united, and they w the
• incest Some time later they were
cup of tea around. Shortly the'reafte'r`
were the whole party broke ud. with Mr. Churc lei'
Dutch Gluana. of Canada, with an arrangement giving' Lady Houston a paternal pat
their transportation to Canada's Hfl8�.®ry whereby ` 'the capital moved around.on the back
Their history begins with the- rebel-
everything about t.ienxselves before
lionhi f Africa.
from one town to another It was on The huge payment represented at
and they, know nothing o rico.
"The ' Djukas respect themselves Right Hon. W. L. Mackenzie ly after the Parliament Building had compromise figure' between the $12,+
and those- who visit them. Their pride been. burned , in Montreal that the 000,000 which the Government sald,
and Capital was established , Sir Robert's $35,000,000 estate owed(
doesy not sell over into arrogance This remained so until 60
they are as courteous as one would in inheritance tax, and whatever reg
expect to strangers in whom they when atter aeveraldisorganized
i P.id ch eiidgesthe duction Lady Houston could negotii
have no great curiosity or especial in -h was ate,
terest. political Sir Robert, who left his entire fort
tune.. to thewii'e he married late in
King at Women's Cana-
dian Club
in Ottawa.
the We
ra
af
go'verilment had sorgan z
situation,the proposal
brought forward, that, instead of leav-
IMPORTANT ROLE
A rapid review of Canada's history,
"The Djukas are very proud of their
independence," says Dr. Kahn. "They
have no feeling of inferiority in ere-
spect to the whites. The white man
has nothing that they cannot do with-
out and they trade or not, as they
choose.
"The bush Negro may use a shot-
gun, buy some trade brass for brace-
lets around his wife's arms or legs,
make an exchange for lengths of
cloth and axes, but the white man
does not control the Negro's necessi-
ties. He likes a bit of candy and uses
tobacco by soaking the leaves in
water, using the liquid for sniffing up
the nose, but otherwise he lives on
what he grows in the way of crops
and the game of the jungle and the
river fish.
"In the Surinam jungle the Negro,
unlike some of his African brothers,
has not succumbed to the white man's
vines. The Djuka is pure black and is
proud of his skin and his kinky hair.
He tolerates no race admixture and
the Negro of the bush looks down up-
on the black men who live in the
Dutch towns. They have an opprobri-
ous term which they apply to the
town black, "buckrashiaft' buckia
meaning white man and shlaff mean-
ing slave.
gas ba ing the Maritime provinces to negou
themselves
Must Have Good WIIL- as a land of mystery first, sought life, had one great hobby, -to escape
"You cannot travel far in that noun- explorers and adventures, ate a little union between the inheritance 'at A few years
try without their good will. Alone, a French colony later, then a British they should be invited . to join forces he` made his legal residence in
white man would be helpless in the eolomy, and finally a confederated with Quebec and Ontario in forming a Jersey,
osey, Channel Isiauds, where thern
jungle; he cannot live without the Dominion playing an important role in solid, united Dominion of Canada. is se inheritance tax. But rhe Goys
help of the Djukas and they are so the community of British -nations,
competent to look after themselves in constituted the main part of the ad -
that environment that they regard the dress delivered by Right Hon. W, L.
helpless white man as a weaker crea- Mackenzie King, Premier of Canada,
tura because of his Inability to cone (before the Women's Canadian Club at
with the conditions of life in the jun •Montreal recently, -.
gle. History of Yesterday
"News of one's arrival is sent ups the The history of yesterday was al- the other Maritimes had to deal with
river by the beating of, this ram days so recent that no one every much interior opposition. to the deal.
There is a tom-tom code andd this drum'
knew much about it, Mr. King said, These communities at this time
wireless anticipates the arrival ofand this was particularly true of the were still only small colonies. They
visitor, If you have made ` a bad im- history of Canada. Only during„ the were united by the St. Lawrence river
pression„ this negative report is wail t tion
known throughout the community and
you will find that they doAnot care to
trade with you or assist you.
"In the Upper Surinam River I did
not find them anxious to trade any-
way. . I had the assistance of, E. W.
111 chief forester- Alexander
The famous conference at Quebec was
ernment maintained he `was• a resident
called, the Dominion of Canada was Etugland.
formed, and was formally born on It was a posthumous stroke of
July 1, 1867. irony, therefore, which gave the Gov,
Canada was then a Dominion of •
eminent $7,540,004. \
four provinces,' for Prince idward;:Is- «The idea of negotiating with Mr,
land did not come into the union and Churchill my own ,settlement of the
tax came to me spontaneously," Lady
Houston said. •
It might be added, in this connee-,
tion, that the Government impounded
her $2,000,000 yacht in which she
Control Hinterland.
"The Negroes still control the high-
er parts of the river roads into the .in-
terior, the Upper Surinam, the Sara -
mecca and the Marowyne, and their
villages are chiefly above the cater -
acts of these three streams. There is
no other way to enter the interior,
and those who travel and trade do so
because the inhabitants tolerate
them."
While the African colored man
works under the law of a white mas-
ter an dthe unrestricted exploitation
ter and 'the unrestricted exploitation
scandals of Putamayo and Kimberley
and current charges of peonage in
Kenya, in Surinam the bush Negro
trades or works as he wills.
"The white man obtains from the
Negro only what he is willing to
give," says Dr. Kahn. "There is no
cbnfllet between the Dutch and the
Djukas The Dutch' Control is most
considerate and tolerant. Each side
realizes that the present situation is
a satisfactory one and the Dutch
make no attempt to impose upon the
Negroes.'
"Besides the protection given them
by nature; the Djukas'' feeling of su-
periority is based upon the word-of-
mouth literature of the successful re-
bellions.
Maintain Saga of Deeds.
Confederation celebrations had;•�iost only as a .means of transpor a likes to ride the seven seas.
Canadians become fully aware of the Few - people realized how recent mod "I sent a telegram to Mr. Churchill
greatness and rapidity of Canada's ern means of transportation were. saying that I wished to present to the
development. When the first pa^lament met, one Government my share of the tax as
Every nation . likes to have a his -of the first businesses dealt"with was an act of grace.
toric background, and people natural-
ly
Roga c e dig back to remote days in search
Wolff and W. M. Strang, men of much of their national origin People some -
experience in the country, and the times said Canada's history went
wholehearted co-operation of the back 400 years to the discoveries of
Dutch authorities, and the natives Jean Cabot, It was not until a cen-
only sold me stuff as a favor and be- fury later, however, with the settle-
cause my'guide explained that I h ant of Champlain in 1608, that
come a long way and greatly admired authority began. to be eitaiblishegann
the products of their handicraft. They Canada and Canadian h story
like candy, but will not accept it in h the story of
trade, feeling that it should be thrown
in as a bonus."
The collection of household articles,
tomenta drums, eta
b ht here le one
the repurchase of lands given previ-
ously to the Hudson's Bay Company.
Thus in 1870 the province of Mani-
toba
ani
toba was formed. •
Now, on the west of coast et North between sips of good 'tea.
America was a• British community "Finto
I borrowed Mr. Churchill's
only 'to .be reached by sailing round pen and signed a cheque for one and
Cape Horn, and hev opened negotfa
a "(?alt million pounds -without miss-,
tions' to get into union with the Can- ing a sip.
oda of the .east. All they wanted "Lbsolutely, signing of the cheque
did not spoil my tea. We parted hap-
pily, Sir Douglas with his books,
Churchill with my cheque and I with
his pat on my back."
"The Chancellor invited me to tea
at the Treasury in Whitehall, Sir
Douglas was there,"she added.
"We discussed settlement of the tax
Ever since ten, Can- in the way of transportation was a
oda had: been that off the develop waggon road, but the Government de-
ment of.immigration and govern tided to give them a railroad. The
nhent. first effort at a railroad attempted by
0 years again, with the the Government itself was not very
paddles, imp ., Th
which Dr. Kahn roug
of the first of its kind in the country. French to British , rule, came, the great development of the Cana
He paid for it mostly in. tobacco opening of another era. And 60 years Pacific Raiiway-
leaves and candy- ago when Confederation' came to be, That brought Canada's history
Follow African Fashlon. Canada had advanced to be a group of down to 1871.
smallcolonies, To -day that grouping Rapid Settlement
"The woman and some of the men so preserved --
beautify themselves by raising scar
tissue on the body and face," he said.
"This fashion of embossing the body
is done 'by cutting the flesh in pat-
terns of short straight lines and then
rubbing charcoal into the cuts. These
three
as Nova buffalo of the railway, cams rapid
become raised like welts and few wo- the Atlantic shores, three British buffalo shared the land. After
men without a pattern of this kind communities, now known
on their face or body have' Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince settlement swan P Alberta
ewere and
n Si sited
askat-
somewhere t m these c e
any claims to beauty.." d thing •
to epi ovinces in 1905
en, io
change of national government from successful but it was followed by t e
Canadian
was that it was possible
to visualize the origin of Canada's
civization and the development to-
ward Confederation.
While one thought of Quebec as the
oldest part of Canada, there we're, on
Then there .was still a small con-
munity outside of the Dominion,
Prince Edward Island and in -the.
nearer west there was a wide unset-
tled territory on which. Indians and
Therapy Developed.
The occasional ,traveler coming out
of Surinam has reported that the would not be a bad idea if they would w
di 'tie men of the Djukas have de carry that scheme out to -day. But benada for that the Canada as only 22 years ago
their, there was one large province
and that they know o known as Canada, and these three
bat the jungle fevers an dthe venom ;settlements, which decided to become the history l of anreDomi Dominion
of t a
is snakes.itoThe anti -snake hat acpenfj one. In 1776. the whole of Ontario had en the
and-at the or the
s said be roditpowerfulthat a Per i had been part of Quebec under,one British
ish
ton who has takenei it into cut on government with it And as a mat- Crnw11 ofcoming he grio Caminister n the the
aha skin or it internallyciit. Htuow rter of fact it was largely due to the so Prince of Wales, to congratulate Case
per -
away the snakes in his vicinity. How French settlement ;in Quebec that on her jubilee.
t
ever, Dr, Kahn sahs that there is lit- Canada was today a British Domin- oda
tie real proof of this, ion for when t lasting pride in the v
Edward 'Island. At ones i e which completed the
provinces thought it ea goo
get together and. form themselves buildingofn now. -ire thDo inionse this year
into a province. Mr. King thought it kastivonly really the 22nd birthday of
veloped a remarkable system of ther-
apy
howt corn-
Slips
on
of to -day came to be.
And this year for the first ttnfe in
he United est
brokC :away from the Empire, if the With a great
n hostile development and wonderful progress surfaces outnumbered those inpured
('tench community had been
to Britain, the British settlements
wouId undoubtedly -have gone with
States All this should inspire Canadians
"This snake medicine," said Dr.
Kahn, "is made by arranging a dead
snake's head with rte tail thrust into
its mouth. ' This is slowly baked over
block powder.. I did not get stn op- !the rest.
portunity to investigate their system
of therapy, but found upon ingiiiring
in the town that the snake cure, is
well thought of by,.some of the peo-
ple. t
"I also learned that the Djukas
have a - medical center up the river,
and sick men and women are often
taken up to this town, spelled Da-
homey but pronounced Daumay..
"As the bush is very thick, the Ne-
groes live along the river. They have
trails through which they hunt the
peccary, the tapir and_the ogbiti with
shotguns and sometimes they crash
for some distance through the under-
growth, but the villages are all on or.
near the waterways. The clearings
are one or more miles apart and each
Village Is governed by a ,captain or
gran-maregran-mare"Far up in the interior lives the
king of the river—the grail -gran man.
---and he le the lord and ruler of'the
captains of the villages, The Djukas
plant quite some cassava, peanuts and
the liko, and this, with hunting and
fishing, provides for frost of their
needs."
a fire and the remains ground into
a
'They have maintained from genera-
tion to generation a sort of saga in
which the names of the leaders, the
stories of the big battles, the anec-
dotes of magic protection against
white men's bullets and tho incidents
of individual heroism and cleverness
have been preserved. The history Is.
told in a literary (Sr ceremonial lang-
uage which is compose dlargely of
modified African words. It is noble
„speed(or "deepee-talkcee which
Means what it sounds like--deep-talk,
-While the cofnmon speech is talkee'
INCONYM.,,:.. talkee, a mxturo of .African, Dutch,
F ' refieh and Inglthli.
Captain tain R. H. McIntosh "One of my guides who' was from
Who, out to establish English icing the town acid spoke 'talkee•takee'
distance record in flight to India, le 1 could not understand 'd.eepee-talkee,'
now
Slips Th' t Cost
Mankind is growing less sure-foot-
ed
ure-foot
ed In spite of better pavements, side-
walks, floors and stairways. the per-
centage of accidents due to slipping,
stumbling, tripping or loss of balance
is steadily going up. Thoughtlessness
on the part of the victim is the ex-
planation given by the State Indus-
trial •Commissioner. Employers in
New York State paid $6,500,000 in the
last twelve months its compensating
18,000 workers who fell. Only half
of that number were injured iiko
manner in 1923. On stairs the causes
for. falling might have been elimin-
ated with a little more care. Catch-
ing the heel of the shoe and misjudg-
ing the step are prominent in the ex-
planations.
Ladders that slipped, boxes, chairs,
tables or other makeshifts used in
trying to roach something, account for
hundreds of accidents. Wet floors
were charged with -700 slips on level
surfaces sustained by restaurant
workers and cleaners who should
have been eon guard against that con-
dition. Many others fel while carry
Ing trays, dishes -or packages. Per-
sons who fell while walking on level
reported then 1 It is an interesting fact that the
Separate Provinces
After the revolution the United
Empire Loyalists really founded On-
tario, and after some years Ontario
and Quebec *vers made separate prov;
•
a i
Workmen in
.ancient I3ritaitt
said to have been paid in salt,
those days a Malt had to be lite
worth his salt to hold his job..
are
In
ally
l•IAMO ON THE. Pini* r
t
"My, but the air' you tt"avei.witl
Is easy en the eyes," yy
R'Vory--'but hard on the 'purview
Canada had made in so short a time.
It should also inspire a great respect'
for the unity of the great British Em--
pine or Commonwealth of nations,
which had made the progress' and de-
velopment of the British. Dominions
possible. That unity was something
that would endure and something of
which Canadians, could well be proud.
A. little girl was • travelling in a
tramcar with her mother, a woman of
very slight build. Presently an ex-
tremely stout woman boarded the car,
anti sat down opposite the little girl,
The train started off with a jerk, and
the chilli contemplatedthe woman op-
posite her for some minutes, then,
turning to her mother, inquired in a
loud voice: "Mother, is that all one
lady?"
by .falls from elevations, but their
falls were not so serious. As a mat-
ter" of economy the employer is now
trying to make his premises safe, but
the worker seems still to entertain
the idlsa that accident chooses its vie,
tires Stccording-to .their luck.
__,a
,
Looking from • her drawing -room ,
window, a:'iady saw, as she thought, a
poor wretch of a roan shivering un-
der a lamp -post, In a moment of pity
she seat hitii a ten•shilling note wrap.,
pod in paper, on which she wrote the
words, "Never say' dint" The next
night there came a knock at her door.:
The man who hunched was the one
she had seen under the lamp post,
and in handing ileo patinas ten shill
lugs to the lady he reiaarltvd, "Here's
Never Say Die
Vein' m0007, lady.
ti, attd you were tate "Absolutely, chic and obsoletely
won at tortn to n
of
y One chic are less alike to the eyes than
•1 k
l
t Who bir.cltac IL I#appy to
oblige any time, remember!"
4