Africa South Of The Sahara Joseph R Oppong
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- 6. Africa South of the Sahara ◆ Australia and the Pacific ◆ East Asia ◆ Europe ◆ Latin America ◆ North Africa and the Middle East ◆ Northern America ◆ Russia and the Former Soviet Republics ◆ South Asia ◆ Southeast Asia ◆ 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page i
- 7. 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page ii
- 8. Africa South of the Sahara Joseph R. Oppong Associate Professor University of North Texas Series Consulting Editor Charles F. Gritzner South Dakota State University MODERN WORLD CULTURES MODERN WORLD CULTURES 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page iii
- 9. CHELSEA HOUSE PUBLISHERS VP, NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Sally Cheney DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION Kim Shinners CREATIVE MANAGER Takeshi Takahashi MANUFACTURING MANAGER Diann Grasse PRODUCTION EDITOR Noelle Nardone PHOTO EDITOR Sarah Bloom Staff for AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Lee Marcott EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Joseph Gialanella SERIES AND COVER DESIGNER Takeshi Takahashi LAYOUT Maryland Composition Company, Inc. DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR Carol Field PROJECT MANAGER Michael Henry ©2006 by Chelsea House Publishers, a subsidiary of Haights Cross Communications. All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America. www.chelseahouse.com First Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oppong, Joseph R. Africa South of the Sahara / Joseph Oppong. p. cm. — (Modern world cultures) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7910-8146-X (hard cover) 1. Africa, Sub-Saharan—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. DT351.O66 2005 967—dc22 2005010039 All links and web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. Cover: Women and children doing laundry in a stream in Axum, Ethiopia 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page iv
- 10. T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Introduction vi Introducing the African World 1 Physical Geography 14 Historical Geography 28 Population and Settlement 41 Culture and Society 55 Political History 69 Making a Living 81 Future of the African World 98 Appendix A 109 History at a Glance 110 Further Reading 114 Index 115 Picture Credits 123 About the Contributors 124 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page v
- 11. I N T R O D U C T I O N Charles F. Gritzner vi Geography is the key that unlocks the door to the world’s won- ders. There are, of course, many ways of viewing the world and its diverse physical and human features. In this series—MODERN WORLD CULTURES—the emphasis is on people and their cultures. As you step through the geographic door into the ten world cultures cov- ered in this series, you will come to better know, understand, and appreciate the world’s mosaic of peoples and how they live. You will see how different peoples adapt to, use, and change their natural envi- ronments. And you will be amazed at the vast differences in thinking, doing, and living practiced around the world. The MODERN WORLD CULTURES series was developed in response to many requests from librarians and teachers throughout the United States and Canada. As you begin your reading tour of the world’s major cultures, it is important that you understand three terms that are used through- out the series: geography, culture, and region. These words and their meanings are often misunderstood. Geography is an age-old way of viewing the varied features of Earth’s surface. In fact, it is the oldest of the existing sciences! People have always had a need to know about and understand their surroundings. In times past, a people’s world was their immediate surroundings; today, our world is global in scope. Events occurring half a world away can and often do have an immediate impact on our lives. If we, either individually or as a nation of peoples, are to be successful in the global community, it is essential that we know and understand our neighbors, regardless of who they are or where they may live. 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page vi
- 12. Geography and history are similar in many ways; both are methodologies—distinct ways of viewing things and events. Histori- ans are concerned with time, or when events happened. Geog- raphers, on the other hand, are concerned with space, or where things are located. In essence, geographers ask: “What is where, why there, and why care?” in regard to various physical and human fea- tures of Earth’s surface. Culture has many definitions. For this series and for most geogra- phers and anthropologists, it refers to a people’s way of life. This means the totality of everything we possess because we are human, such as our ideas, beliefs, and customs, including language, religious beliefs, and all knowledge. Tools and skills also are an important aspect of culture. Different cultures, after all, have different types of technology and lev- els of technological attainment that they can use in performing various tasks. Finally, culture includes social interactions—the ways different people interact with one another individually and as groups. Finally, the idea of region is one geographers use to organize and analyze geographic information spatially. A region is an area that is set apart from others on the basis of one or more unifying elements. Language, religion, and major types of economic activity are traits that often are used by geographers to separate one region from another. Most geographers, for example, see a cultural division between Northern, or Anglo, America and Latin America. That “line” is usually drawn at the U.S.-Mexico boundary, although there is a broad area of transition and no actual cultural line exists. The ten culture regions presented in this series have been selected on the basis of their individuality, or uniqueness. As you tour the world’s culture realms, you will learn something of their natural environment, history, and way of living. You will also learn about their population and settlement, how they govern themselves, and how they make their living. Finally, you will take a peek into the future in the hope of identifying each region’s challenges and prospects. Enjoy your trip! Charles F. (“Fritz”) Gritzner Department of Geography South Dakota State University May 2005 vii Introduction 0699_FM 6/4/05 7:28 AM Page vii
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- 14. Welcome to the African culture world, the birthplace of human- ity! It is here, according to archaeologists, that culture first began, a development that marked the dawn of humankind. In the equatorial eastern part of the continent, our settlements, our tools and weapons, and our art began. Much later, the earliest humans gained control of fire and were able to make clothing and shelter that allowed them to leave their tropical homeland. More than one million years ago, they began to spread across the Old World to Asia and Europe. The cradle of humanity—what an incredible region to study! For many people, the “African world”—the part of the continent that lies south of the Sahara Desert—is a place of emaciated children, AIDS, tragic civil war, grinding poverty, and hopeless despair. Less Introducing the African World 1 C H A P T E R 1 0699_ch01 6/4/05 7:47 AM Page 1
- 15. well known is the fact that the African world has some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and the richest gold and diamond mines. According to the World Bank, from 1975 to 1995, the country with the highest annual economic growth worldwide was Botswana, an African country! In addition, Botswana’s mines make it the world’s biggest producer of dia- monds. South Africa is the world’s leading producer of gold. Yet, despite the massive gold, diamond, and oil deposits, many African people do live in abject poverty. The African world is a region of amazing contrasts. The grandeur of physical landscapes reveals fascinating differences. In 2 Africa South of the Sahara Many African countries are rich in gold reserves. Ashanti Goldfields Company owns the Obuasi gold mine, one of Ghana’s richest. To get the gold underground, the sur- face of the mountain has to be stripped. After extracting the gold, restoring the environment takes a very long time. 0699_ch01 6/4/05 7:47 AM Page 2
- 16. the east, majestic snow-capped mountain peaks tower above the deep Great Rift Valley. Vast stretches of savanna grasslands teem- ing with wildlife—the home of safaris—sharply contrast with dry, desert landscapes. In land area, Gambia, with an area of only 4,363 square miles (11,300 square kilometers), is tiny compared to gigantic Sudan, with 967,494 square miles (2,505,810 square kilometers), slightly more than one-quarter the size of the United States. Politically, the contrast is similar. Prosperous democratic governments such as Botswana and South Africa are neighbors to poor, repressive governments such as that of Zimbabwe. As you can see, there is much to learn about the African world. The physical and cultural geography of the region is overwhelmingly rich and diverse. These themes are the pri- mary focus of this book. In your journey through Africa south of the Sahara Desert, you will explore how people have cultur- ally adapted to, used, and changed the various natural environments in which they live. You will learn how the amaz- ing tapestry of African cultures differs from one location to another. The author, an African originally from Ghana, has attempted to provide a refreshing picture of the African world, including its many successes and promising future. Issues such as poverty, disease, and war, which are prevalent throughout much of the region, are also addressed. Many titles can fit the African world. A few of them might be “geographic center of the world,” “the abused world,” “world of contrasts,” and “home of world leaders.” Africa is indeed the geographic center of the world. It is surrounded by other landmasses in all directions. Both the equator (0 degrees latitude) and the prime (or Greenwich) meridian (0 degrees longitude) pass through the continent. In fact, the African con- tinent sits squarely astride the equator, with its northernmost and southernmost extremities lying at approximately 35 degrees latitude. This means that most of the African world lies within the tropical latitudes where weather is hot year-round and climates and seasons are distinguished only by differences 3 Introducing the African World 0699_ch01 6/4/05 7:47 AM Page 3
- 17. in the amount and distribution of rainfall. It also means that disease-causing organisms such as mosquitoes and flies do not die off with a change in season. Instead, they are a general nui- sance, often causing sickness, year-round. The African world has been called an abused world. It suf- fered extreme devastation from slavery and colonial exploitation. Slavery alone took millions of its most productive people. During the era of colonialism, Great Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal cut Africa into pieces like a cake and devoured its natural resources as they built their empires. Many African countries still suffer from the lasting effects of this historical abuse and exploitation. In fact, the dividing of Africa is the underlying reason for many of Africa’s continuing civil wars. As Europeans divided the continent, many tradi- tional enemies were grouped together in the newly emerged “countries” and many families and tribal groups found them- selves separated by political boundaries. Here is the story of Kofi from Ghana, West Africa. Kofi is a member of the Akan-speaking people of West Africa and lives about 40 miles from Ghana’s border with Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Since childhood, Kofi has known that some of his family lives in Côte d’Ivoire and speaks French. In fact, when there is a funeral, many people from Côte d’Ivoire come to participate. Kofi looks forward to these visits because his uncles bring him nice gifts and his aunts spoil him. When he asked his mother why his relatives from Côte d’Ivoire have weird names and speak French, his mother explained that his aunts and uncles were descendants of his great-grandmother, Nana Aboagyewa. Some of Nana Aboagyewa’s children lived in a village several miles away. When Great Britain and France divided West Africa, the boundary line divided the two groups of villages—the western part went to the French and the east- ern part to the British. Ultimately, those in the French part went to French schools and adopted French culture in the modern country called Côte d’Ivoire and those in the eastern 4 Africa South of the Sahara 0699_ch01 6/4/05 7:47 AM Page 4
- 18. 5 Introducing the African World This reference map of Africa south of the Sahara shows the countries, cities, and major landforms of the region. A complete list of the countries in this region is given in Appendix A. Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,340 ft. 5,895 m) S A H E L C O N G O B A S I N Cape of Good Hope St. Helena Zanzibar I. Kal ahar i D eser t A d a m a w a Namib Deser t Katanga Plateau Lake Victoria Lake Malawi Lake Tanganyika Lake Turkana B e n u e R . C o n g o R i v e r U e l e R . O r a n g e R . Z am b e z i R . Nile R. N i ger R. Lake Chad Luanda Windhoek Gaborone Pretoria Mbabane Maseru Cape Town Maputo Harare Lilongwe Brazzaville Kinshasa Dar es Salaam Kigali Kampala Nairobi Bangui Libreville Yaoundé São Tomé Malabo Abidjan Monrovia Freetown Bissau Ouagadougou Bujumbura Lusaka Accra Yamoussoukro Abuja Dodoma Porto- Novo Lomé SOUTH AFRICA SWAZILAND LESOTHO NAMIBIA BOTSWANA ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE TANZANIA ANGOLA COMOROS GUINEA GUINEA- BISSAU IVORY COAST GHANA BENIN TOGO EQUATORIAL GUINEA SÃO TOMÉ & PRINCIPE SIERRA LEONE BURKINA FASO LIBERIA CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC C A M E R O O N GABON Reunion (France) M A D A G A S C A R NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO KENYA UGANDA RWANDA BURUNDI MALAWI CONGO M O Z A M B I Q U E S E Y C H E L L E S MAURITIUS A T L A N T I C O C E A N I N D I A N O C E A N M o z a m b i q u e C h a n n e l 20°S 10°S Tropic of Capricorn Tropic of Capricorn 0° Equator 10°N 30°S 20°S 10°S 0° Equator 10°N 30°S 0° 10°W 20°W 30°W 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E 50°E 60°E 0° 10°W 20°W 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E 50°E Mountain peak Feet Over 10,000 5,001–10,000 2,001–5,000 1,001–2,000 0–1,000 Below sea level Meters Over 3,050 1,526–3,050 611–1,525 306–610 0–305 Below sea level Elevation N S E W 0 1000 Kilometers 0 1000 Miles 500 500 0699_ch01 6/4/05 7:48 AM Page 5
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- 20. it seemed to Eugenia she had nothing to tell. At first the younger sister felt rather puzzled, but before long the mystery was explained—an accidental allusion to the hero of the evening by name, and Sydney understood the whole; understood it, young as she was, far better than Eugenia herself. The discovery by no means diminished her anxiety, the cause for which she, perhaps, a little exaggerated. She knew her sister’s fitfulness and impressionability; she suspected, though but dimly, the unsounded depths beneath. Yet she made an almost unavoidable mistake in judging this vivid, complex, immature nature too much by her own. How could a girl of seventeen, wise though she might be for her years, have done otherwise? She kept her suspicions to herself, her misgivings also at first, but she did not altogether succeed in concealing her gravity. “What are you looking so gloomy about, Sydney?” said Eugenia. “I don’t quite know. I can’t exactly say why I feel so—not gloomy, Eugenia, but anxious,” she replied. “I am not sure that I like that Captain Chancellor, however handsome and charming he is. I don’t think it was quite nice of him picking you out in that conspicuous way. It must have made people notice you.” “That would never trouble me,” said Eugenia, loftily; but still the half-expressed doubt in her sister’s words seemed to echo some hitherto unacknowledged instinct in herself. Sydney went on speaking— “I have often felt a sort of vague dread of finding ourselves really grown-up, Eugenia. Papa can’t enter into things as a mother could, though he is so kind and gentle. We seem to
- 21. be thrown so on our own resources. I don’t, of course, mean so much with regard to myself;” here a faint tinge of pink crept over her face; “I am wonderfully, unusually fortunate; but that does not make my anxiety for your happiness the less; I wish we had a mother, Eugenia.” “So do I,” said the elder girl, wistfully. “Even if she had lived a few years with us it would have been different. But not even to be able to remember her! We can’t expect papa to see that we are too much thrown upon ourselves, for he has never seen it otherwise. And, of course, Aunt Susan is less than no good. However, Sydney,” she went on, in a different tone, “as far as regards this Captain Chancellor, whom, for some reason—I don’t know what, I don’t think you quite do yourself—you are so afraid of, you may set your mind at rest. I have been thinking very seriously to myself to-day. I thoroughly understand myself and the whole position of things, and I am very well able to take care of myself. I am not going to have my head turned so easily.” Sydney smiled, and shook her head. “I hope not,” she said. Eugenia grew more earnest. “Don’t look so unconvinced,” she remonstrated. “Even supposing I were so contemptibly silly, do you think I couldn’t stop in time—do you think I would let any one— even you—find it out? But, after all, what is more to the purpose, and will satisfy you better than all my assurances, the chances are very small that I shall ever meet this dangerous person again. So forget all about him, Sydney, and I shall too. By-the-bye, how strange it will seem to have Gerald Thurston here again. I am glad for papa’s sake.”
- 22. “And for our own sakes too,” said Sydney, with some indignation. “I think you are strangely ungrateful, Eugenia. Have you forgotten how very, very kind he was to us—to you especially? I know you cried bitterly when he went away.” “Did I? I was a child,” said Eugenia, indifferently. But immediately her mood changed. “No, Sydney,” she exclaimed, “it is ungrateful of me to speak like that; I do remember and I shall always like Gerald. But Frank provokes me into seeming uninterested by the fuss he makes about Gerald, as if such a piece of perfection never existed before. And you’re nearly as bad yourself. Now, don’t look dignified. I cannot help being contradictory sometimes. Kiss me, Sydney;” for by this time Sydney had risen and was really leaving the room, but stopped to kiss her sister as she was told. “That’s a good child, and thank you for your advice, or warning, whichever it was, though I really don’t need it as much as you think. I promise to forget all about Captain Chancellor as fast as I can. There now, won’t that please you?” The “forgetting all about him” was not to be done in a minute, she found, though she set to work at it vehemently enough; for the leaving anything alone, allowing a possible evil to die a natural death, as is not unfrequently the wisest policy, was a negative course quite opposed to Miss Laurence’s principles. Constantly during the next few days she found herself speculating on the possibility of her meeting Captain Chancellor again, recalling his words, and looks, and tones; but these “follies” she did her best to discourage. Never had she been more active or energetic in her home duties, never more resolutely cheerful. Sydney watched her, wondered, and admired, but still could not feel quite as easy in her mind as before the talk in the old school-room. Eugenia, on the contrary, was eminently
- 23. pleased with herself, and had thoroughly recovered her own respect. The task set before her she imagined to be all but achieved—the goal of perfect mastery of the impression she now believed to have been a very fleeting one, all but won. One day at dinner, within a week of the foggy evening, her father turned towards her with a startling announcement. “Oh, by-the-bye, Eugenia, I was forgetting to tell you. I expect two or three gentlemen to dine here the day after to-morrow. Mr Foulkes, the school-inspector, you know, Mr Payne, and Frank Thurston—there is just a chance of Gerald, but Frank hardly expects him so soon, he has been detained in town by business—and I asked Captain Chancellor, the Dalrymples’ friend. He called on me yesterday at my office to get a little local information he required, and I was much pleased with him. He seems very intelligent, and superior to most young men of his standing. It must be dull for him here—very different from a place where there is a large garrison—but he says he likes it better.” Eugenia hardly heard her father’s last words: she was conscious only of a rush of tumultuous, bewildering delight. What had become of her strong-mindedness, her self- control, all her grand resolutions? She felt that Sydney was purposely not looking at her; it was almost worse than if she had been. Never mind! Sydney soon would be able to judge for herself as to whether she were, after all, so very silly. In any case this was not of her doing—this unhoped- for fulfilment of her dreams. Dreams she had not encouraged, had kept down with a strong hand. It had been right to do so; might not this news of her father’s be looked upon as her deserved reward? The idea was a pleasant one; it excused to herself her own extreme, unreasonable happiness.
- 24. The rest of the dinner appeared to her a very feast of the gods; she herself was radiant with happiness—it seemed to sparkle about her in a hundred different ways. Even her father was struck with her brightness and beauty. He held her back for a moment as she passed him when she and Sydney left the room, and kissed her fondly—an unusual thing for him to do, and it added to the girl’s enchantment. Only Sydney seemed in low spirits this evening, but she roused herself at Eugenia’s first word of reproach, and wisely refrained, from the slightest renewal of her former warning. Eugenia’s moods were seldom of long duration. A little cloud came over her sun even before they were joined by their father from the dining-room. Its cause was a very matter-of-fact one. “Oh, Sydney!” she exclaimed, suddenly. “How can we manage to have a very nice dinner on Thursday? We must have everything good and well arranged, and there are some things cook never sends up nicely. And don’t you think we might walk to Barton’s nursery-gardens to-morrow and get some flowers? I am sure papa would like everything to look nice.” Sydney professed herself quite willing to speak to cook about exerting herself to the utmost—to walk any distance and in any direction Eugenia wished. So they were very busy the next day, and on Thursday morning they went to Barton’s and got the flowers, as many as they thought they might afford. There were a few camelias among them, and in arranging them for the table, Eugenia kept out two—a scarlet one for Sydney, a white one for herself. But at the last moment the white flower fell to pieces, which so distressed Sydney that Eugenia had
- 25. difficulty in persuading her to allow her own one to remain in its nest among the plaits of her soft fair hair. “I don’t care for things you don’t share, Eugenia. I couldn’t be happy if you weren’t,” she said, with more earnestness than the occasion seemed to call for. And Eugenia laughed at her and called her a little goose, and looked as if she felt little fear that happiness and she would ever be far apart.
- 26. Volume One—Chapter Four. Sisters-in-Law. “Prithee, say thou—the damsel hath a dowry?” “Nay, truly, not so. No diamonds hath she but those of her eyes, no pearls but those in her mouth, no gold but that hidden among her hair.” Old Play. The morning succeeding the day on which Captain Chancellor had seen Roma off for Brighton, found her comfortably seated at breakfast with her sister-in-law in the lodgings which Mrs Eyrecourt had engaged for the month of sea air, generally by a happy coincidence, found necessary in late autumn for “the children.” Their visit to Brighton was later than usual this year, having been delayed by home engagements; most of Mrs Eyrecourt’s friends had left, and she was beginning to feel anxious to follow their example. “I am so glad to have you back again, Roma,” she said, as she watched her sister-in-law pouring out the coffee. “It has been dreadfully dull the last week or two, and so cold. I shall be glad to be at home again. How did you manage to keep yourself alive in Cumberland?” “Lady Dervock keeps her house very warm,” replied Roma. “The coldness isn’t the worst part of it—it is so dreadfully dull and out-of-the way. She was very kind, as I told you, and did her best to entertain me. She invited all the neighbours she has, to come to dinner in turn, but there are not many, and they are mostly old and stupid. Still, it was gratifying in one sense. I have no objection to be considered the woman my dear godmamma delighteth to
- 27. honour. It looks promising. But I couldn’t live there. Ah, no,” with a little shudder. “I shall certainly let Deepthorne if ever it belongs to me.” Mrs Eyrecourt looked up quickly. “Lady Dervock may put a clause in her will obliging you to do so,” she said. “I have heard of such things. But, seriously, Roma, I do hope you are not allowing yourself to count upon anything of that kind? It would be very foolish.” “Count upon it!” repeated Roma, with an air of the utmost superiority to any such folly. “Certainly not, my dear Gertrude. I never count upon anything. I amuse myself by a little harmless speculation upon possibilities; that’s all, I assure you.” “And about Wareborough? How did you get on there? Mary Dalrymple was very kind, of course, and made a great deal of you and all that, I have no doubt. But oh, Roma, how unlucky it was about Beauchamp’s turning up there. I cannot tell you how provoked I was.” A look of annoyance came over her face as she spoke, heightening for the time the slight resemblance she bore to her brother. It was not a striking resemblance. She was a small, fair woman, considerably less good-looking than one would have expected to find Beauchamp Chancellor’s sister. Her figure, of its kind, was good, and shown to advantage by her dress, which was always unexceptionable in make and material, delicately but not obtrusively suggestive of her early widowhood. She hardly looked her age, which was thirty-one, for her skin was of the fine smooth kind which is slow to wrinkle deeply; her eyes of the “innocent-blue” shade, her hair soft and abundant.
- 28. Roma did not at once reply; but looking up suddenly, Mrs Eyrecourt saw that her sister-in-law was smiling. “What are you laughing at, Roma?” she asked, with some asperity. “It’s very strange that you should begin to laugh when I am speaking seriously.” “I beg your pardon, Gertrude—I do, really,” said Roma, apologetically. “I didn’t mean to smile. I was only thinking how curiously like each other you and Beauchamp are when you are not pleased. Oh, he was so cross to me the other night at the Dalrymples’! Only to poor me! He was more charming than ever to every one else. And it was all through trying to please you, Gertrude. I wouldn’t dance with him on account of your letter, and whether you believe it of me or not, I do hate making myself disagreeable—even to Beauchamp.” There was a curious undertone of real feeling in her last words. Gertrude felt sorry for her, and showed it in her manner. “I don’t want you to make yourself disagreeable, Roma. I only want to save real disagreeables in the future. It is both of you I think of. Certainly this infatuation of Beauchamp’s is most unlucky; and though you say you are so sure of yourself, still, you know, dear, he is very attractive, and—” “Of course he is,” interrupted Roma—“very attractive, and splendidly handsome, and everything that is likely to make any girl fall in love with him. But I am not any girl, Gertrude, and I never could fall in love with him. Oh, I do wish you would get that well into your little head! What a great deal of worry it would save you and me! I have a real liking and affection for Beauchamp—how could I not have it, when you remember how we have been thrown together?— but I know his faults and weaknesses as well as his good qualities. Oh, no! If ever I imagine myself falling in love
- 29. with any one, it is with a very different sort of person. Not that I ever intend to do anything so silly; but that is beside the point. Now, Gertrude, are you convinced? By-the-bye, you should apologise for speaking of poor Beauchamp’s amiable feelings as an ‘infatuation,’ shouldn’t you?” “I didn’t mean it in that sense,” replied Mrs Eyrecourt, meekly. “I only meant—” “Yes, I know what you meant,” interrupted Roma again. “You meant that, as we are both penniless, or very nearly so, and, what is worse, both of us blessed with most luxurious tastes and a supreme contempt for economy, we couldn’t do worse than set out on our travels through life together. Of course I quite agree with you. Even if I cared for Beauchamp—which I don’t—I know we should be wretched. I couldn’t stand it, and I am quite sure he couldn’t. The age for that sort of thing is past long ago. Every sensible person must see that, though now and then, in weak moments, one has a sort of hazy regret for it, just as one regrets one’s childish belief in fairy tales.” She sat silent for a minute or two, looking down absently, idly turning the spoon round and round in her empty cup. Then suddenly she spoke again. “It is very puzzling to know what is best to do,” she said, looking up. “Do you know, Gertrude, notwithstanding your repeated injunctions to me to try to snub Beauchamp without letting it come to a regular formal proposal, and all that, I really believe I should, on my own responsibility (it couldn’t cause more uncomfortable feeling than the present state of things), have let it come to a crisis and be done with, but for another, a purely unselfish, reason.” “What do you mean?” asked Mrs Eyrecourt, looking alarmed.
- 30. “Just this: I think it possible that his fancy—after all, I am not sure that it is anything but fancy, or whatever you call it —for me, may keep him from something still sillier.” “What do you mean?” repeated Gertrude again. “You can’t mean that Beauchamp would think of marrying any one still —” She hesitated. “Still less desirable than I?” said Roma, coolly. “Yes—that is exactly what I do mean.” “He would never be so foolish!” exclaimed her sister-in-law. “He is too alive to his own interests—too much a man of the world. And think what numberless flirtations he has had! Oh, no, Roma! he would never do anything foolish of that kind, I feel sure.” “I don’t,” said the younger lady. “He is a man of the world, he is alive to his own interests; but still, Gertrude, remember what we know as a fact—that at this moment, though it should ruin all his prospects for life, he is ready— more than ready, absurdly eager to marry me. So we mustn’t count too much on his worldly wisdom, cool-headed and experienced in such matters as he seems. Certainly, contradiction may have had a good deal to do with the growth and continuance of his feelings for me. There is that to be considered; and knowing that, I was idiotic enough to try to warn him.” “To warn him! Oh, Roma; do you mean that there is some one already that he would ever really think of seriously?” asked Mrs Eyrecourt, with great anxiety. “Not exactly that—at least, not as yet,” replied Roma. “What I mean is, that if I succeeded, as I could easily, if it came to
- 31. the point, in quite convincing him he must altogether give up thoughts of me, he would be very likely to do worse—or more foolishly, at least. I have no doubt the girl is as good as she is pretty—I was taken by her myself—but utterly, completely unsuited to him in every single respect. And for this reason, Gertrude, I was very civil to Beauchamp at the end: I let him come to the station to see me off—we parted most affectionately. I wanted to do away with the bad effects of my warning, which I feared had offended him deeply the night before. But after all, perhaps, the warning was rather encouraging to his vain hopes than otherwise. I do believe he thought I was jealous.” She smiled at the recollection. “The worst of it is,” she went on, “if he thinks so, it will probably lead to his flirting all the more desperately, in hopes of my hearing of it. And then if it comes to my being driven into formally refusing him, what shall I do when he comes to us in February? He told me he is to have six weeks then. And he will go back to Wareborough again after that. Oh dear, oh dear, it is all dreadfully plain to my prophetic vision.” “Roma, do be serious. You don’t mean to say—you can’t mean, that this girl, whoever she is, is a Wareborough girl. Wareborough!” with supreme contempt, “Why, we all thought your cousin, Mary Pevensey, throwing herself away when she married Henry Dalrymple, though he didn’t exactly belong to Wareborough, and was so rich. By-the- bye, this girl may be rich; not that that would reconcile me to it,” with a sigh. “But it might somewhat modify the vehemence of your opposition,” said Roma, in her usual lazy, half-bantering tone, from which her unwonted earnestness had hitherto roused her. “No, Gertrude; you must not even apply that unction to your damask cheek—what am I saying? I never
- 32. can remember those horrid little quotations we had to hunt up at school, and I am so sleepy with travelling all yesterday—lay that flattering unction to your soul, I mean. Beauchamp would say I was trying to make a female Dundreary of myself—a good thing he’s not here. No, she is not rich. I told you she was utterly unsuited to him in every way. I found out she wasn’t rich before Beauchamp ever saw her; something interested me in her, I don’t know what exactly, and I asked Mary about her.” “Not rich, and Wareborough! Oh, no, Roma; I am quite satisfied. There is no fear in that quarter. It is only one of his incessant flirtations, I am sure.” “If so, it will be all on his side. She isn’t the sort of girl to flirt. It would be all or nothing with her, I expect,” said Roma, oracularly. “I can’t understand what makes you think so much of it,” said Mrs Eyrecourt, fretfully. “How often did you see them together?” “Only once—that last evening at the Dalrymples! There was a carpet dance. Don’t you remember I wrote and told you they would ask Beauchamp, when they heard he was coming?” said Roma. “Only once. You only saw them together once, and that at a dance, where Beauchamp was sure to flirt—especially as you snubbed him! Really, Roma, you are absurdly fanciful,” exclaimed Mrs Eyrecourt. Roma took the remark in good part. “Perhaps I am,” she replied; “but it isn’t generally a weakness of mine to be so. For all I know, the girl is engaged to someone else, or she and Beauchamp may
- 33. never see each other again. I don’t say I have any grounds for what I fear. One gets impressions sometimes that one can’t account for.” “Ah, yes, and I really think, dear, you are a little morbid on the subject. You have had so much worry about Beauchamp,” said Gertrude, consolingly. “But as you’ve told me so much, tell me a little more. Is she such a very pretty girl? There must be something out of the common about her to have attracted you. Who is she?” “She is a—” began Miss Eyrecourt, but a noise at the door interrupted her. There was a bang, then a succession of tiny raps, then a fumbling at the handle. “That tiresome child!” exclaimed Mrs Eyrecourt. “Floss,” in a higher key, “be quiet, do. Run up stairs—never mind her, Roma; go on with what you were saying.” But the fumbling continued. Roma’s nerves, perhaps, were not quite in train this morning; however that may have been, the noise was very irritating. She got up at last and opened the door. “Come in, Floss,” she said, good-humouredly, but her invitation was not accepted. “I won’t come into rooms when people call me a tiresome child at the door and I haven’t been naughty,” said the new- comer, with much dignity and scanty punctuation. She was a very small person indeed. Of years she numbered five, in height and appearance she might easily have passed for three. She was hardly a pretty child, for her features, though small and delicate, were wanting in the rosebud freshness so charming in early childhood; her eyes, when one succeeded in penetrating to them through the tangle of wavy light hair that no combing and brushing could keep in its place, were peculiar in colour and
- 34. expression. There was a queer greenish light in them as she looked up into Roma’s face with a half-resentful, half- questioning gaze, standing there on the door-mat, her legs very wide apart, under one arm a very small kitten, under the other a very big doll—fond objects of her otherwise somewhat unappreciated devotion. She was a curious child, full of “touchy tempers and contrary ways,” not easily cowed, rebellious and argumentative, and no one had as yet taken the trouble to understand her—to draw out the fund of unappropriated affection in her baby heart. Roma got tired of holding the door open. “Come, Floss,” she said, impatiently, “come in quickly.” Floss stared at her for another minute without speaking. Then, “No,” she said deliberately. “I won’t come in nor neither go out;” and as Roma turned away with a little laugh and a careless, “then stay where you are, Floss,” the child shook with indignation and impotent resentment. “She is really dreadful, Roma,” said Mrs Eyrecourt, plaintively. “For some time past nurse tells me it is the same thing every day—out of one temper into another, from morning to night.” “She must take after her uncle,” said Roma; “it is all contradiction. Don’t bother yourself about her, Gertrude. I’ll ring for nurse.” And the matter ended in the poor little culprit being carried off to the nursery in a whirlwind of misery and passion, reiterating as she went that mamma and aunt made her naughty when she had “comed down good.” “What has become of Quintin?” asked Roma, when they were again left in peace. “I haven’t seen him this morning.”
- 35. “He is spending the day with the Montmorris boys. He set off quite early, immediately after his breakfast, in great spirits, dear fellow,” replied his mother. “How different he is from Floss, Roma!” “Yes,” answered Roma, “he is a nice boy. But it comes easily to people like Quintin to be good, Gertrude. He has everything in his favour—perfect health, a naturally easy temper, good looks, and every one inclined to think the best of him. Whereas poor little Flossy seems to have been always at war with the world. She is so delicate too. My conscience pricks me sometimes a little about that child.” “I don’t see that there is anything more to be done for her. I trust to her growing out of these tempers in time,” said Mrs Eyrecourt, philosophically—she was always philosophical about Floss when not in her immediate presence. “Speaking of the Montmorris boys, Roma, reminds me we are dining there to-day. That is to say—I accepted for myself certainly, and for you conditionally, the day before yesterday. You are not too tired to go?” “Oh, no. I daresay I shall feel brisker by the evening,” replied Roma. “I suppose it isn’t anything very overwhelming, is it? for my wardrobe is getting rather dilapidated—I didn’t think I should have been so long without going home, you know. By-the-bye, Gertrude, are you not in deeper mourning than when I went away?” “Yes, I forgot to tell you. Indeed, I hardly thought you would care to hear—the poor old man had been virtually dead for so long. It is for our old uncle—Beauchamp’s and my uncle I mean—Mr Chancellor of Halswood. He died a fortnight ago. It was hardly necessary to go into mourning; he was only my father’s uncle. But still he was the head of the family, and I thought it better.”
- 36. “Who succeeds him?” asked Roma. “Halswood is a nice place, isn’t it?” “Very; but they have never kept it up properly,” said Mrs Eyrecourt. “At least, not for many years past. Old Uncle Chancellor has been half in his dotage for ever so long, but still he had sense enough to be jealous of his grandsons. There are two of them; the elder of course succeeds. He has sons; he has been married some years. We know very little of them now. My great uncle was angry with my father for selling Winsedge to your people, Roma; for though it was not entailed, and had come into the hands of a younger son, it had been a long, long time in the family. And that made a coolness they never got over.” “Why did your father sell it?” inquired Roma. “It would have been very nice for you now if it had belonged to Beauchamp. Much nicer than for it to be Quin’s, who has got plenty already.” “Yes,” replied Gertrude, slowly; “it would have been very nice, but it could not have been. My father was dreadfully in debt, and even selling Winsedge didn’t clear him. When he died it was all my poor mother could do to start Beauchamp in the army. Poor Beauchamp! it has been very hard upon him to be so restricted, with his tastes, and his looks, and his feelings altogether. He has never been extravagant, as young men go, but he hates poverty.” Roma laughed. “I don’t think he knows much about it, so far,” she said. “Wait till he is married with very little more than he has now—two or three hundred a year and his pay. It wouldn’t be long before love came flying out of his window. But, dear me,” starting up as a timepiece struck the hour, “how late it is! I must write to tell Mary Dalrymple of my safe arrival. What time is the Montmorris’s dinner hour? Seven; oh, I am glad of that; we shall get home early.”
- 37. The Montmorrises were quiet, steady-going, rather old- fashioned people, who lived in Brighton as evenly and monotonously as they would have lived in a country village. They were not by any means in Mrs Eyrecourt’s “set,” but they were very old friends of the Chancellor family—old Mr Montmorris, indeed, had been their lawyer for generations, and his firm, in which his eldest son now represented him, still managed the Halswood affairs. Once upon a time there had been a large family of young Montmorrises, but, after the manner of large families, they were now scattered far and wide—“some were married, some were dead,” two maiden sisters only, no longer youthful, still representing at home the boys and girls, the “children” of long ago. But their brother—Mr Christian Montmorris, the hope of the family and the head of the firm—had by this time a wife and large family of his own, none of whom had any objection to spending a few weeks now and then at “grandpapa’s,” on which occasions their father used to “run down” from town as many times a week as he could spare the time, “running up again” by the first train the next morning; for he was a shrewd, clever, energetic man, with some fingers to spare for other pies besides those it was his legitimate office to cook; with a clear head and a sharp eye for a wary venture or a profitable investment. Among other by-concerns of this kind, in which his name did not appear, he was interested in the affairs of the great Wareborough engineering company, in whose employ Gerald Thurston, the curate’s elder brother, had spent the last three years in India. The sisters-in-law were received by their friends with open arms. “So kind of you to come to us in this unceremonious way. So pleased to see Miss Eyrecourt again. We quite feared Mrs Eyrecourt would have left Brighton this year before you joined her,” said Miss Cecilia Montmorris. And then old Mrs
- 38. Montmorris broke in with self-congratulations that “Christy” had just arrived unexpectedly, and, what was more, had brought a friend with him, a gentleman just arrived from India. “We were quite pleased to see him, I assure you,” she continued, addressing Roma in particular, “for a new- comer always brings a little variety; and now that my boys are all away from us we seem to be falling out of fresh acquaintances sadly. Mr Montmorris and I are getting too old for any sort of gaiety,” she went on. “It is dull for Cecilia and Bessie sometimes, but they are good girls, very, and they know it won’t be always that they will have their father and me to care for. Besides, they have a little change now and then when Mrs Christian takes one of them up to town for a week or two. Bessie is going back with them next week. And you have been away up in the north, I hear, my dear? How did you like that? I used to know Cumberland in my young days.” So she chattered on with the not unpleasing garrulity of gentle, kindly old age. She was a very sweet old lady, and Roma considered herself much more fortunate than her sister-in-law, who had been seized upon by Mrs Christian Montmorris to have poured into her sympathising ear an account of how dreadfully ill her youngest but one had been the last two days, cutting its eye-teeth. Gertrude smiled and said, “indeed,” and tried to look interested; but Roma laughed inwardly at her evident eagerness to change the conversation. Mrs Eyrecourt was not a person in whom the maternal instinct was in all directions fully developed: she loved her handsome little son as much as she could love anything; she honestly meant to do her best by Floss, but on certain points she was by no means an authority. It is, indeed, a question if both Quintin and Floss might not have passed through babyhood guiltless of cutting any teeth at all without her awaking from her happy unconsciousness of
- 39. their failure in the performance of this important infantine obligation. So poor Gertrude sat there, looking and feeling very much bored and rather indignant with Roma for the mischievous glances of pity she now and then bestowed upon her. At last, however, the door opened to admit the two gentlemen, whose late arrival had prolonged “the stupid quarter-of-an- hour,” and with, a sensation of relief Mrs Eyrecourt turned to reply to Mr Christian Montmorris’s greeting, feeling that she had had quite enough of his better-half for some time to come.
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