Portrait of a mulatto woman walking with a parasol on the coast. Hutton's general description of "superior black women and mulattoes" on the Gold Coast also applies to this subject. As he wrote, "They wear a cloth either of silk or cotton, which they fasten round their waist with a handkerchief, from which is suspended a large bunch of silver keys, about thirty-two in number. Under their cloth they wear a girdle that goest several times round their loins, and forms into a large pad behind, just at the small of their backs, which is called a cankey, and on which they carry their children. This cankey, which has a very unseemly appearance, possesses the advantage of keeping the cloth loose, and thus prevents their shape from being exposed. The young girls in general are proud of showing their bosoms, but the mulatto women conceal theirs by wearing a linen shirt." (p. 93-94), Plate in William Hutton's A Voyage to Africa: Including a Narrative of an Embassy to One of the Interior Kingdoms, in the year 1820 . . . (London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1821), p. 92., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Creator
Clark, J., 1789-1830, engraver
Date
1821
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Hutton 5536.O p 92, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2915
Portrait image of Andries Africander, a mulatto Hottentot (i.e. Khoikhoi), who served as Harris's driver during part of his travels. A pensioned private in the Cape Rifle Corps, Africander is shown here with his rifle. As Harris noted, and as the engraving suggests, he was missing both his right eye and his index finger. When Harris first made Africander's acquaintance, the latter had already made numerous trips into Moselekaste's country. He was also acquainted with the chief, and spoke a bit of English and Sichuana. He proved, however, to be an unfortunate addition to Harris's party. "A coward, a mutineer, and an inveterate liar," Harris wrote, " . . . Andries caused more mischief and trouble to us by his pernicious example and rebellious conduct when beyond the reach of the law, than can be well conceived by those who have never had the misfortunes to be exposed to the machinations of so dangerous a ruffian." (p. 10), Plate in Sir William Harris's The wild sports of Southern Africa: Being a narrative of a hunting expedition from the Cape of Good Hope, through the territories of the Chief Moselekatse, to the Tropic of Capricorn (London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1852), p. 8., Fels Afro-Americana Image Project, Africa: Images, Maps, and Geography.
Date
[1852]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Books & Other Texts | Rare U Afri Harris 14048.O p 8, https://digital.librarycompany.org/islandora/object/Islandora%3A2912
