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Almeida, Raymond, A.; Nyhan, PatriciaCape Verde and Its People: A Short Hi_Atory, Part I[And] Folk Tales of the Cape Verdean People.Department of Communications, Ottawa (Ontario).Communications Research Centre.Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, D.C.7646p.American Committoe for. Cape Verde; 14 Beacon Street,Boston, Massachusetts 02108 ($1.50 each, paperbound,20% discount 20 copies or more)

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 Plus Postage. He Not Available from EDRS.DESCRIPTORS *Cultural Education; Rlementary Secondary Education;

Folk Culture; Folklore Books; *Foreign Countries;History; *Resource Units; Social History; *SocialStudies

IDENTIFIERS *Cape Verde Islands

ABSTRACTTwo booklets provide an overview of the history and

folklore of Cape Verde, a group of islands lying 370 miles off thewest coast of Africa. One booklet describes the history of theislands which were probably settled initially by Africans from thewest coast of Africa. By the 15th century the islands were colonizedby Portuguese and other Europeans. The language, Crioulo, is amixture of Portuguese vocabulary and African grammar. Geographicalposition was the main reason for settlement of Cape Verde: locatednear the African coast, with good winds and currents, the islandswere an ideal stopping place for ships sailing between North,Americaand Africa and Europe and South America. Salt and hand-woven clothwere exported from the islands, and in the 15th and 16th centuriesslave trade provided another basis for.commercial activity. CapeVerdeans came to America in the 17th century as slaves, and-irclateryears,others immigrated to New England to work in cranberry bogs.

--Cape-Verde- lecame independent-of-Portuguese-rule- in-1975.'One -of-itsmost serious problems is recurring drought and famine. The booklet offolk tales contains five stories wi:th the same characters: a foolishman, a clever boy, and an equally clever wolf. The folk tales seemappropriate for intermediate or junior high reading level. (AV)

Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished* materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort ** to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal ** reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality ** of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available ** via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not* resPonsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions ** supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original.********************************************************************

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HIE ICSAN COMMITTEE EDIt CAPE VERDI INL

TCHUBA means rain in Crioulo, the language ofthe Cape Verdean people. Throughout five centuriesof Portuguese colonial rule in our drought riddenWest African islands, our poets and song writers haveused the word as a metaphor or symbol for "hope".

TCHUBA. the American Committee for CapeVerde, is an independent, non-profit, tax exemptorganization. TCHUBA is engaged in the productionof educational materials and programs far use inAmerica as well as self-help development programsin the Republic of Cape Verde.

The leadership of TCHUBA is composed of CapeVerdeans, Cape Verdean-Americans, and other Mdi-viduals who share our dedication to "life for CapeVerde" and to cultural pluralism in American life.

The City of Praia, capitol of the Republic of Cape Verde.

CAPE VERDE AND ITS PEOPLE

A SHORT HISTORY

PART I

Written hy: Raymond A, Almeida and Patricia Nyhan

Adapted from an Unpublished Manuscript by

Deirdre Meintel Machado

Produced under an Ethnic Heritage Studies Act Gra_ (Titl IX)

from the U.S Office of Education,

Washington, D.C.

The development of this document was supported bya grant from thc United States Office of Education,Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. How-ever, the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily

fleet the position or policy of the United StatesOffice of Education, and no official endorsement bythe United States Office of Education should beinferred. Permission to reprint is granted if acknowl-edgment is made to the American Committee forCape Verde, Inc. 1976

The cover de n is from a pano, a hand-woven Cape Verdean textile.

© Copyright 1976

by The American Committeefor Cape Verde, Inc.

14 Beacon St.Boston, MA. 02108

PREFACE

Many New Englanders know that Cape Verdeansailors manned the Yankee whaling ships of the late19th century and labored in the cranberry bogs andtextile factories in the first part of this century. FewAmericans know that the large-scale immigration tothe United States which began over a century ago wasjust one step in a long and continuing history of con-tact between the American people and the people ofCape Verde. This book, which is Part I of a shorthistory of the Cape Verdean people, is about thatrelationship you might call it the "Cape VerdeanAmerican Connection.

6

CONTENTS

i. Preface

1. Who Are the Cape Verdean People?. General Overview

2. The First Cape Verdeans

3. Europeans Come to the Cape Verdes

4. Slavery and the Development of a Culture

5. Yankees Arrive

6. Salt Brings More Ships

7. Hides for.the Yank es

Islanders Buy horn Americans

Portugal Cracks Down

US. Chas s Slavers

1 "Arnericanos" Make a New Life

Footnotes

Bibliography

The Republic of Cape Verde is a group of islinds. or archipelau.o. lying 370 miles tiff the west coast ofAfrica. The Cape Verde Islands became an independent nation on July 5,1975, after 500 years ofPortuguese colonial rolv.

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CAPE VERDE ISLANDS

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1. WHO ARE THE CAPE VERDEAN PEOPLE?

Many Faces One People

The story of the Cape Verdean people begins a longtime aeo no one is exactly sure just how long ago.Some historians believe that the first people who livedon this string of small islands were Africans from thenearby coast of West Africa. No one really knows forSUM_

In the 15th century Portueuese and other Europeanadventurers, settlers and outcasts came to the islandsand established small settlements. Portugal made CapeVerde a colony in 1456. The "Cape Verdean people"was born after generations of contact between thesefirst coloniz.ers and the West African people they im-ported as slaves.

Within the confines of these isolated islands thepopulation of Cape Verde developed as a multi-racialpeople, a people of many faces but one people. Mostof these early colonists were European men who tookwives from among the lareer African slave populationor from among the erowing population of mesticupeople (mixed African and European). Today, few ofthe 275,000 people of Cape Verde are of either pureAfrican or pure European origin. However, they allshare the same unique culture customs, folklore,music and literature. The Cape Verdean language,Crioulo is also unique. Crioulo has its roots in severalWest African languages and Portuguese. Equally asimportant is the fact that Cape Verdeans share a com-mon history of 500 years of colonial rule, Cape Verdedid not become an independent nation until 1975.

Many Cape Verdeans celebrate the same religiousfeasts as the Portuguese, but their drumming, singingand dancing have deep roots in their African heritage.They grew corn, an import from the Americas (Brazil)using African methods but layed out their small fieldsusing traditional Portuguese terrace farming practices.The people sometimes use a stone mill to grind cornthe way Portuguese peasants once did, but they alsouse the mortar and pestle found throughout Africa.

Whether a Cape Verdean appears black, white or ofmixed racial background. he or she feels part of thisculture. Even Cape Verdeans living n immigrant com-munities in the U.S. and other countries can belong tothe Cape Verdean culture, as well as their new one.

Hunger and Poverty

The Cape Verde islands arc small, poor and isolated.Except for the sailors who used to depend upon them

10

for safe harbor and supplies, they have remained vir-tually unknown to outsiders. Even the severe droughtsand famines which regularly occur in the islands haven'tattracted international attention. As one Cape Verdeanpoet wrote, "The radio doesn't broadcast it, the news.papers don't mention it, no one telegrams".1

The Cape Verde Islands are part of the Sahelianzone of West Africa. "Sahel is an Arabic word whichmeans "coast" and refers to those nations which borderon the southern "coast of the Sahara Desert. For al-most six months each year the prevailing winds in thisregion of the world blow in a southwesterly directionoff the great desert. These dreaded winds bring on theparched earth, wind erosion and continual agriculturalcrises so characteristic of this region of the world. Inthe worst of times severe droughr. lasting many yearshas devasted the Cape Verdean people with hunger,disease and death.

The following figures will give you an idea of thesilent tragedy in which the people of Cape Verde live.It is interesting to note that these figures were devel-oped by the colonial government.2

Years ofFamine Total victims

Between 1747 and 1900 58 more than250,000

Between 1900 and 1970 25 135,000

For a better conception of the impor ance of thesefigures we must try to appreciate them in light of thetotal population of the islands.

Years of theGreat Famines

1773-76

1830.33

1863-66

1900.03

1920-?,

1940-43

1946-48 35%

*1967-76 Nu statistics available

Percentage of Total Populationto Die of Drought Related Disease

and Starvation

50%

35%

40%15%.

20%

15%

During the 203 years between 1773-1976 the pep-pie of Cape Verde have endured more than half a cen-tury of famine. The number of victims of this scourgehas been larger than the actual population of the islands.During the 20th century, Cape Verdcans have alreadysuffered 20 years of famine. During each of these years

of famine between 15% and 35% of the populationhas been lost.

During the last two centurie f Portuguese rule,the people of Cape Verde have had to face one yearof total famine for every four years of their existence.This tragedy contradicts the so-called civilizing and

Christianizing effort of Portuguese colonialism inAfrica. During these years of intensive drought thepopulation of Cape Verde, especially the poorest,have been deprived of even minimal standards ofhealth and the nutrition necessary to survive.

1 011

12

2. THE FIRST CAPE VERDEANS

Legend

Where did the people of Cape Verde come from?If life was so difficult on these small barren islands,why did the Portuguese want to establish a permanentcolony here? What kind of people developed in thisisolated corner of the world? Why is the history ofthe Cape Verdean people of any interest to Americans?These are sonic of the important questions we willexplore in this short history of the Cape Verdean peo-ple.

The earliest Cape Ve deans left only one clue, mys._terious rock inscriptions on the island of SS° Nicolau.3No one is really sure who put them there. One legend

says that the Wolofs,an ethnic group from the coastof Guine% West Africayisited the islands before Euro-peans came to Cape Verde. The story has it that smallgroups of Wolof had taken refuge from their tribalenemies on the coast. If this was so they probablytook advantage of the rich fishing grounds aroundCape Verde. Early visitors may have come to the is-lands of Sal and Maio to gather salt. For many centu-ries "white gold", as salt was sometimes called in thispart of the world, had been used as part of the cur-rency for intertribal trade in West Africa. Even todayCape Verde has an active salt mining industry. Arabian

sailors may have known about the Cape Verde Islandsin early times, too.4

Whatever the true story of Cape Verde's earliestpeople is, the population must not have been largeenough to prevent the next visitors from taking com-plete control.

Fact

Criminals, adventurers, a few nobles, Jews fleeingthe persecution of the "Spanish Inquisition" and peas-ants escaping the poverty of Portugal's countrysidewere typical Of the early Portuguese settlers. The dan-gers and difficulties of life in the Islands made it hardto attract settlers. Other Europeans also settled in theIslands included small numbers of French, English,Italians, and Germans. These included pirates and ordi-nary seamen who had jumped ship, as well as tradersand fortune-seekers. But the Europeans were soon out-numbered by the African slaves they imported.

As the demand for slave labor increased in the NeWWorld, the islands became a "crossroads of the seas."Goods from the world over were exchanged for slavesalong the coast of West Africa. In the 17th centuryalone the Cape Verdes were the first stop in the "middlepassage" for at least some 28,000 Africans on theirvoyage to the New World. Many would not survive,few would ever return.8

Ii

,L EUROPEANS COME TOTHE CAPE \TIMES

Antonio da Noll. Explorer

JUST thirt -sLen us hcfHFL ilumbus first came

America in 1 402, ,Inother teaclied the Cape

Verde Islands. Both Antonio da Noll and Columbuswere lookmg tor somethnw else tlw riches or TheOfIer1T. 130th 111(`11 came Iron, the eriv ot Genoa, andboth worked for buropean royally. In their day, voy-ages to the Orient were made by wav of the Alricancoast.

When r: Noli Wed, he churned the Cape VerdeIslands for Portugal because his expedition had beensponsored r,: a Poi tuguese prince, I lem v the Naviga-tor. 1 ly to:old tive ISLIMIS. Six years later a PM-

tuguese named Diogo Anonso reached the other five.

What tho found (v ere two ts pcs of islands in the ar-chipelago: the 'lat. sands.. dry ones (Sal, Boa Vista.Maio. Santa Luna). and the more humid mountamousones (So Vicente. Slio Nicolan, Brava, SontoLogo and S5otiago. Nlost of therm were 1 ormed 1 roil)

volcanos about two hundred million years rigo. the

flat isl_tiurk nine now ancient dem the mountainousones, (One island, Fogo still has a smoking volcano:

it last erupted in 1 05 7.1

First Coloiticts

Spaniards. Por tuguese arid Italians ttrst settled inthe largest Island. Slotrago. Europe needed sugar,

hese I:mope:in settlers hoped to become rich bygrowing sugar cane with the labor 01- the At rican salvesthey brought with them.' They knew that sugar f romthe Portuguese island of Madeira (discovered someyears earliei was idrcady making colonists therewealthy. But S5otiago proved disappointing. Its dryand unpredicrahle climate made survival difficult.Since those early days, almost evely generation hasknown famine ill Sliottago. Sometimes as many as hall01 the pt.piihtioll dicds

"Crossroads of the Sea

Why were these islands settled, then'? Their geo-eraphical position was tho key. Located near the Af ri-_can coast, wah good winds and currents, they were an

ideal stopping point for ships sailing between NorthAmerica and Africa and Europe and South America.Sailors could come iii out a storms and take on tood

2

and w2ter. On the other hand. the Islands were fairgank for pirates, including the well-known English-man. Sir Francis Drake] The remains of many look-out towers used for spotting unfriendly vessels canstill be seen.

4. S- %YEW( AND THE DEVELOPMENTOF A CULTURE

Crioulo: a language for many purposes

Crioulo is the language of the Cape Verdean people,When thinkine about Crioulo it is important that wewith:tuber how the language developed and what roleit played in the slave trade and the development calthe Cape Verdean people.

The Cape Verdean Crioulo developed very early inthe history of African and European interaction in theIslands. It served as a vehicle for inter-ethnic communi-cation among the Af riean slaves and very quickly be-edille the lingua _franca or the everyday language of thecommon people of the IslAds. Slaves who were fluentin Crioulo and who had been baptised were calledladinos,1(1 In the coastal towns of S5otiago and Fogothey served as interpreters for the clergy, Europeansettlers and slave merchants.

The "soul" -f Cape Verde

The Crioulo language has borrowed much of itsvocabulary from Portuguese. But its rhythm, intona-tion, its -inner feeling and its grammar.show distinc-tive Al'rican influences. The "soul" of the Cape Ver-dean experience finds its only true expression in thelanguage which developed in response to this earlyhistory of intense cultural confrontation betweenpeoples and institutions of two very different worlds.Through Crioulo the Cape Verdean people could es-cape momentarily from the hardships of life. It wasthe language of dance, poetry and song. The most im-portant type of song was the morna, African slavesin Brazil shouted and danced to their samba. The samspectrum of joys, pains and hopest-was expressedthrouell the "Blues" and "Spirituals" by Africans inNoah America. The morna is a window into the soulof die Cape Verdean experience.1 I The Portuguesecolonizer did not voice objection to the morna in thesame way he did to the Butaque which was regarded

as more African in form with its more intense rhyth-mic body movements and drumming. A careful analysisof the themes and hopes expressed in many of themornas and batuque reveals the intense feelings whichthe writers had about their human condition in colo-nial Cape Verde.

Crioulo-speaking middlemen from Cape Verde

Crioulo-speaking traders became essential interme-diaries between slavers and various African ethnicgroups. The language was exported to the Guind coastby these middlemen. Even today Crioulo is still under-stood by many different ethnic groups in coastal WestAfrica.

The first of these middlemen were white men whowent out from Cape Verde to establish slave tradingrelationships in coastal waterways of Guine) 2 Theywere called langados from the Portuguese word lancerwhich means to throw or send out. A langado wouldtake on certain African ways, learn the art of barteringand negotiating with different local chieftains. Hetook an African wife usually of the same ethnic groupas the chieftain he sought as his protector. He usuallytried to win his hosts'protection and friendship withofferings of gifts from the world beyond the GuineCoast.

Middlemen along the Guine Coast

African traders who left their village societies alsoset up slave trading relationships in the river commerceof the Guind coast. These African slave traders wereknown as tangonlaus. I 3 They took on certain Portu-guese.manners and dress and professed certain Christianbeliefs. Eventually the langados and their racially-mixedchildren and the tangomaus evolved into one singlemulatto Afro-Portuguese trading class, speaking Criou-lo and professing to be Christian even though theypracticed much of the ritual religious customs of the .

area. They tended to think their Portuguese ancestryand cultural background made them superior to theAfricans among whom they lived.

Pano Cape Verdean Textile and the Slave Trade

The Cape Verdean cloth trade was a central linkbetween the islands and the Guine slave trade. OneModern historian views the pano as the symbol of the"Africaniiation of the Cape Verdes".1 4

Panos or body cloths are rectangular cotton weav-ings usually about two yards wide. They are sewnfrom 6 or 7 inch cotton strips and are always six stripswide. Panos were dyed with the blue coloring extract-ed from the indigo plant. The weaver usually had hisown designs. The more complicated patterns werehighly prized especially by the slave and free Africanpopulation of Cape Verde. In good agricultural yearsenough cotton was produced in Fiotiago and Fogo forlocal weavers as well as for the export trade. As is thecase on the West African coast, weaving is consideredmen's work while the gathering and preparation of thecotton was usually the domain of women.

Although African slaves taken to Cape Verde broughttheir weaving craft with them from their villages onthe Guind coast, the weavers' art was perfected be-yond the level of the skills of West African craftsmen.The popularity of Cape Verdean textiles produeed ahigh demand among the upper classes of the variousslave trading societies along the Guind coast. In the1500's,Cape Verdean panos were always part of the"mix" of commodities demanded by those chieftainswho were engaged in the selling of slaves."

Today this type of textile is still prodtieed in partsof the African nations of Niger, Mali, and Guinea-Bissau. A few old men who learned the ancient craftfrom their fathers before them still weave panos in theinterior regions of the island of Sgotiago'.

Selling panos to foreigners was made illegal in1721) 6 Portugal hoped to give full control of theslave trade to companies from Lisbon. But the saleswent on. Even the threat of the death penalty didn'tprevent sales to American and English traders, whopaid higher prices than the Portuguese for these panog.The Yankees usually didn't take the restriction tooseriously. Refusing even to pay the port duty, theycontinued to sail to Cape Verde and to the Guindcoast with-Their patios in search of slaves for the plan-tations of the "New World." 7

The largest number of Africans lived in Sffotiago,where they worked on plantations. Here the distancebetween master and slave was greatest a fact whichled to social and racial barriers that existed for cen-turies. Each island developed a slightly different racialmix. For example, the first settlers in S5o Nicolauwere families from Madeira, another of Portugal'sAtlantic colonies,Soon after these families arrived withtheir slaves, the first people of mixed race in the Is-lands began to deveop. Brava, on the other hand, hadfewer slaves than most of the other islands and somost of her population appears more European inorigin.

Black slaves were thought of as "beasts of burden"and had almost no rights under law. They were brought

The pant), is still the prized possessIon of many womenin Siotiago.

to work on the plantations of Cape Verde, though inlater times they were traded to work in other Portu-guese colonies or to other slave-holding countries.Originally, the right to operate slave trading was oneof the privileges granted by the Portuguese king tofavored colonists IO make them want to settle in the-Islands.

The vast Amority 0 the Cape Verdean popula-tion in the 15th 6nd 16th centuries was involved in

14

some way in the slave trade. Cape Verdeans were in-volved with the buying of slaves as land owners orslave merchants in the business of re-selling slaves.Other Cape Verdeans labored as slaves to produce thecotton and textiles which were an important part ofthe currency for slave trading on the Guini. coast.Other Cape Verdeans were involvain outfittingpassing ships on their way to the slave coast or pre-paring to set sail for the Spanish West Indies and theAmericas with their human cargo.

During the first two centuries of Portu uese rulethe Islands of SSotiago and Fogo were the most heav-ily settled. Their land was divided among a few greatPortuguese feudal lords. They produced (1) foodstuffsfor domestic consumption as well as (2) crops andproducts for export: cotton, coffee, sugar cane, wine,cloth . and "urzella" ( a lichen, a moss-like plant usedto make dye); also bay salt, leather, amber and.hides.Later this production declined because of the onsetof continuing cycles of drought and famine as wellas changes in Portuguese laws regulating trade in slaves.

The entire system of social, political, economic andpsychological relationships in colonial Cape Verde wasso firmly rooted in the experience of the slave tradethat generations would pass before any significantprospects for change emerged. It can be said that theslave trade was the "prime mover" in the historicaland cultural development of the Cape Verdean people.

Assimilation

No comprehensive understanding of Portuguesecolonialism is really possible without an appreciationof the relationship between assimilation and colonialcontrol.

Assimilation is the process by which selectedmembers of the colonized group were brought into theinstitutions and "the World view" of the ruling group.

Already in the fifteenth century, Cape Verdeans ofmixed blood had been given some rights black Cape.Verdeans didn't have, such as the right to trade inslaves on the African coast, and the right to inheritland..Assimilating themselves into the landowningpopulation (becoming absorbed into their culture),some Cape Verdeans were able to improve their situa-tion. However, only a very special few people of pureAfrican origin ever owned land until the mid-1800's,some 400 years later. Another way to become assimi-lated was to marry into the landowning class.

Along the Guind coast as well as in Angola and inMozambique, the Portuguese colonial governmentestablished laws strictly defining the rights of personsof mixed blotro'which regulated their position incolonial society." Although these laws were neverofficially enacted in the colony of Cape Verde, asocial class system developed very early in the historyof the islands. It was always better to have some Euro-pean blood. It was generally better to be of mixedEuropean and African parentage than it was to beborn of African slave parents. Even so, as early as the17th century, social status was not as.rigidly deter-mined in Cape Verde solely on the basis of skin coloras was the case in other African colonies of Portugal.

16

One way of understanding the social system incolonial Cape Verde would be to say that a persononly had a chance of "getting ahead" if he shared thevalues and beliefs of the Portuguese. The more an in-dividual's values, beliefs and manner approximatedthose of the Portuguese, the more likely that indivi-dual was to get ahead in Cape Verdean society. Thesystem was designed to produce people of mixed Euro-pean and African backgrounds who,after having adopt-ed a "more European world view:' would act as themeans for political and cultural control of the colony'spopulation. Unlike most other areas colonized byEuropean nations in Africa and in the -New World,"men of color could have access to the best educationavailable at the time. Those assirnilated individualswho demonstrated the highest identification with thevalues and institutions of the Portuguese colonizercould even rise to the height of colonial governmentadministration in the Islands or one of the othercolonies of Portugal.

A Way Out of the System

What alternatives were open to those people in co-lonial Cape Verde who could not achieve the statusof this very special class of assimilated individuals?For almost two centuries Cape Verdeans have-beenfaced with the decision of whether to remain a Frtu-guese subject in a land continually afflicted by yearsof drought and human suffering or to try to emi-grate to a new land with the hooe of making a newlife. The decision was usally quite painful. Leavingmeant saying "good bye" to loved ones, maybeforever. Leaving also meant new opportunities towork and earn enough money to enable the_familyleft behind in the Islands to survive. The immigrantworker had to endure the pain of separation fromhis family and develop the skills to resist the discrim-ination he so often found in the "new country" Ifhe was successful in creating this "new life" he couldalso change the social status of his family back in theIslands. The simple fact of life was that relatives whoregularly received the support of responsible emi-grant workers were able to eat better! The formulawent something like this: those who ate better werealways at least one step ahead of the suffering andhardships which continually befell those families whooccupied the bottom of this complicated class systemin colonial Cape Verde.

Today there are hundreds of thousands of CapeVerdean immigrants scattered in communities through-out the world. The largest of these communities is inthe United States. How did this long history of con-tact between American and Cape Verde develop?

5. YANKEES ARRIVE

1600's and "Triangu r Trade"

Americans and Cape Verdcans rrobably first meteach other in 1643. That year a vessel arrived in Bos-ton carrying wine, sugar, salt and tobacco from theBarbados, West Indies. The event was recorded in thejournal of Jonathan Winthrop, a well-known Massa-chusetts colonist. Slaves from the Cape Vcrdean islandof Maio had been exchanged for the goods. This wasthe first example of triangular commerce", whichbecame important for the development of New Eng-land) 9 The term "triangular" refers to the route takenby the Yankee trading ships. From Boston, New Bed-ford, Bristol,_Nantucket and other New England putts,the small vessels sailed to England2° to trade theirAmerican goods or to the African coast (with some-times a stop in the Cape Verdes). Then they went tothe West Indies before heading home. The route con-necting the three ports formed a triangle.

When ships stopped in the Cape Verdes, it was us-ually to buy African slaves. The island,of gotiago had

TA.0

the largest slave market. Most of the slaves would betraded for goods in the Caribbean, where the Yankeesgot "bills of exchange" to buy manufactured goods inEngland. They also traded slaves for molasses (neededto make ruin, an important trade good), cloth, ironand other things to later exchange for more slaves,

Smugglers

When the U.S. outlawed the slave trade in 1809, theYankees found another reason to stop at Sriotiago.There they could find corrupt officials to assist in theirsmuggling. Some traders disguised their vessels aswhalers; others sailed under flags of nations less op-posed to slavery, such as Spain or Portugal. In Soti-ago, officials could be persuaded to_arrange fake shipsales so that the vessels could fly the Portuguese flag.2Portugal passed a law in 1858 requiring that slaverybe totally abolished in all of her colonies by 1878.Slaves were formally freed in 1869, but with a "spe-cial status" and most continued to work for their for-Mer masters until April 1878, when abolition was com-plete.

IMPORTS FROM EUROPEFOR RE-EXPORT TO THE COAST

iron, paper, manufactured goods,wine, woolens, copper and brns

silver fromthe Americas

MAIO

Q saltAUTIAo0

raw cotton

EXPORTS TO THE COAST \

cotton, rum, cloth (panos),horses, salt, beads, salted meat

16 CJJTUY TRAPE

6AP VEAZT

,

ArA

IMPORTS FROM THE .COAST

\slaves, wax hides, dyesand ivory

A

et,Meas*c.aelP5

s.4Pes

PE VE DE & WINE COAST

sm urr 44,

1617

6. SALT BRINGS MORE SHIPS

Huge Salt Deposi

Slaving was not the only intcrcst Yankees had inthe Cape Verdes. Another attraction was the vastsalt deposits on some of the islands -enough to filla thousand ships," in the words of an early Portuguesevisitor.2 2 Maio, Sal and Boa Vista, the salt islands,are virtually at sea level. These dry, sandy islands werless important for agriculture than for herding. In timesof drought they became deserts. But their salt bedscaught the eye of Americans, British and other foreign-ers. Salt was used as a seasoning, a food preservative,especially for drying fish and meats, and ballast forsailing vessels.

Salt beds could be dug with relatively little effort.Since these flat beds were below sea level they wouldfill up as the tide rose. The waters would then be trap-ped in the salt flats (salinas) with a wall of dirt or asimple darn before the tides began to recede. The hotdrying air slowly evaporated the water leaving behindthe much sought after sea salt.

Maio was the center of the salt trade until about1850. Lying only nine miles from Silotiago, Maio wasin easy reach for ships coining for supplies and repairs.Another salt island, Boa Vista, was not a good stop-ping place, treacherous rocks and shallows made landlanding difficult. The island was incorrectly placed onearly maps, and to make matters worse, something inits geological composition causes compass needlesnear Boa Vista to malfunction. Shipwrecks were socommon (over 100 in the nineteenth century) that

Islanders made a successful business out of collectingdebris washed ashore. Sal (whose name means "salt"in Portuguese) drew most of the salt trade after 1850,when better extraction methods were developed. Anearby port, Minclelo 011Siu Vicente. began to growat this time which helped develop trade at Sal.

"The English Road-

Most of the American salt trade took place onMaio. It began because of our colonial relationshipwith England. whose codfish fleet made yearly stopsin the Cape Verdes. Maio's trade with the British wasso busy that the approach to the island was called

the English road." The main settlement was calledPorto Engles, meaning -English Port."

By 1686, some of the salt taken by English shipswas being sold in Boston. A century later, Americanships began to take on salt in large quantities. By the

1800's, Americans took even more salt than the Brit-ish. One Cape Verdean scholar, Antonio Carreira, saidthe Americans were second only to the Portuguese in

Maio salt trade between 1826 and 1880.24Maio's salt was not really an export". Foreigners

often paid nothing for the salt itself, but only for thelabor of transporting it from the Salt beds to the ships.Often the poor Islanders could be paid with a fewpieces of used clothing. To most inhabitants, gettingenough clothes for protection from the drying sunand the evening's cool breezes was difficult. Islandersused a system of barter rather than selling thi pro-ducts or manual labor for cash. One of the reasons forthis was that Portuguese-approved currency was diffi-cult to find and no one was sure how much the foreigncurrency found in the Islands was really worth. Someof the goods the Islanders got in exchange-for salt in1753 were: silk, paper, cotton cloth, gunpowder, wineand wool cloth.25

Officials Get Angry

The Portuguese tried to regulate the salt trade. Asearly as 1624, colonial officials made complaintsagainst the foreigners. They were.angry at how easilyforeigners obtained the salt, landing without permis-sion and paying cheaply. The Portuguese didn't likethe competition. Still, they didn't try very hard tocontrol the salt trade, compared to their strict controlof other economic activities. Even though Porto Ingleslies in full view of the capital on Kotiago and couldhave been easily supervised by the'Portuguese, thecolonial government did little to actually preventBritish and American vessels from trading in salt.

7. HIDES FOR THE YANKEES

Livestock Trade

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,live animals front S. Vicente and S. Nicolau were partof the Yankee triangular commerce". The Portuguesetried to regulate this livestock trade to favor her ownmonopolies a policy called "protectionism". Amer-icans were interested in a Cape Verdean mule, knownfor its strength and small size. The king of Portugaloutlawed the sale of livestock to foreigners in 1721,but enforcing this proved difficult. The Americanstook advantage of the confusing wording or his decreeand carried away enough female animals to continuebreeding in the New World:26

Trade in cattle hides and goatskins lasted a longertime. During the drought of 1791-3, 30,000 hideswere sent to North America.2 7 Most of them wereprobably from Boa Vista, whose size (239.1 squaremiles) is suited to raising livestock if there is enoughrain.

Goats: A Messing and a Curse

Goatskins probably caine from all the islands. Whenthere is sufficient rain, this hardy animal is foundthroughout the archipelago, where it is both a blessingand a curse. Its protein, in the form of cheese, milkand meat, is. cheaper than cattle's or pigs'. However,if they are left untended, they destroy ground plantsquickly and cause soil erosion. -

America was the most important market for goat-skins during the nineteenth century. The trade wasprofitable: buyers could sell the skins in Boston fortriple what they paid in the Cape Verdes." Droughtin the islands was always "good news" for the Yankeegoat hide traders. Thousands of animals had to beslaughtered before they died of starvation and conse-quently the selling prices were lowered by the islanders.

S. ISLANDERS BUY FROM AMERICANS

Tobacco Becomes Popular

Trade between the Cape Verdes and the U.S. wasnot a one-way affair. Before heavy emmigration to theU.S. began, Americans goods were well-known in theIslands. During the War of 1812, the British stoppedthe Americans from entering the Cape Verdean ports,and Islanders missed the American tobacco which hadbecome popular. By 1820 trade with the Americansgot going again and manufactured goods from the U.S.were valued even over yortuguese goods.

Whaling ships brought American goods regularly,when they stopped for supplies and to take on extra"hands," From their New England ports, the whalerscarried merchandise for ballast as far as the CapeVerdes. There goods were sold on arrival, or given toIslanders to sell before the ship's return the followingyear. The Americans supplied wood, furnittue, cloth-ino dishes and foodstuffs between 1820 and 1840. Bythen emigrants were already leaving Brava and Fog°bound for America. Lopes da Lima, a Portuguese ob-server of the day, commented that he hoped for theday when "these two islands will return to being Por-tuguese colonies."2 9

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Yatikeev' Fair Deal

American products were regarded as "generallygood, and the prices very reasonable," wrote SirnTioBarros, a Cape Verdean writer of this century. Ameri-cans were viewed as on the whole fairer in trade withCape Verdeans than the Portuguese or the British.30

The assistance provided by American officials, mer-chants and seamen during the famine of 1830 33

would be long remembered by the Islanders. Duringthis particular period of drought one out of everythree Cape Verdeans died as a direct result qf thefamine. The Portuguese colonial government and theBritish shipping companies did nothing to preventover 30,000 people from starving to death.

The American help was greatly appreciated. Fund-raising campaigns were_held thronghout New Englandand the American consul in Praia (the capital) donatedmuch of his own food supplies and wrote his country-men for help. A sea captain who had traded in theislands was able to persuade the U.S. Congress to sendeleven ships loaded with emergency provisions.31 EvenLopes da Lima admitted that the Americans w-cin "theeternal gratitude of the populace." An American visit-ing the Islands ten years later found that Cape Ver-deans had not forgotten his country's assistance: "Menspeak of it with quivering lips and faltering voice ...women, with streaming eyes, invoke blessings on thatforeign land that fed their children."

9. PORTUGAL CRACKS DOWN

Trade Regulations

On July 5, 1844, Portugal decreed trade regulationsthat ended up seriously damaging the Islands' alreadystruggling economy and trade with Americans. Portu-gal was just recovering from civil wars and wanted toregain control over the economy of the Islands. She

as very afraid of foreign competition.-The new regulations governing trade forbade Cape

Verdeans from importing many goods, including clothand shoes. Exhorbitant import duties were levied onother goods. Any non-Portuguese goods entering theIslands were supposed tobe transported_ on Portuguesevessels. Cape Verdean ports were as good as closed toforeign trade in the eyes of the law. Portugal startedbuying more goods from Brazil (another .of its colonies)than Cape Verde, so commerce in coffee (from Fogo),hides, and aguardents (grog) drastically declined. BoaVista's port, Sal Rey, was a sad sight, with thousandsof hides left rotting in the sun.

Portuguese Monopolies

This kind of treatment was nothing new for CapeVerdeans. As we have seen, similar laws had cut downlegal trade during the eighteenth century, when thearchipelago was given over to monopolist companiesfrom Portugal. These companies controlled importsand exportS and even named government officials.Earlier in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,Portuguese monopolists had control of much of thecommerce, especially the slave trade.

For the Cape Verdeans, the regulations of 1844were the first of many misfortunes affecting trade withthe U.S. The years 1845-6 were poor harvests; the1860's brought serious drought. The whalers pickedup more and more crew members. As New England'sown rural poor people went to work in the textilemills of Massachusetts and Rhode island towns -- soCape Verdean emigration increased.

Trade with the U.S. was dealt another serious blowwith the outbreak of Civil War in America. Yankeeshipping in the area of the Islands declined through-out this period until tile Portuguese restrictions weremoderated in 1871.32 Throughout the latter third ofthe 19th century. American ald Cape Verdean contactwas virtually limited to those islands with the largestestablished immigrant communities in the U.S. Brava

and Pogo. Gradually this commerce declined until itinvolved little more than the trade which immigrantswere able to develop themselves.33

10. U.S. CHASES SLAVERS

"Africa Squadron-

In 1842 the U.S. and Great Britain establishedspecial naval units called -Africa Squadrons" to enforcethe anti-slav ing laws of eacn country. [heir task wasto chase and capture illegal slave ships.

The first Africa Squadron for the U.S. was com-manded by Commodore Matthew Perry (who later wenton to Japan to establish trade and diplomatic relationsfor the United States). Perry had sailed the West Africacoast and came to appreciate the advantages of theCape Verdes. So he made his Squadron headquartersin Sfrotiago. He liked the Islands for their location andclimate. Americans had little resistance to the tropicalfever on the African coast and found the drier climateof the Cape Verdes safer_ Even so, a number of mencontracted fatal illnesses while on patrol, and specialcemeteries were set aside for them in Praia and Min-

20

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The Africa Squadron broi ght a different kind ofAmerican to the Islands, for its officers were gentle-men of New England's upper class. Several wrote abouttheir stay. One of these writers, Horatio Bridges, hadbeen so Moved by descriptions of the famine in the1830's that he asked his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne(the American author) to help him write the memoirsof his Island trip in 1842.35

Bridges found much vegetation and good haivestsin Santo Ant-do; and called the people "a genial andpleasant-tempered race." His view of S5otiago wasdifferent, though; there slaves were still being sold "bythe pound." He called the Cape Verdeau involved inthe slave trade "intemperate, dissolute and vile," andthe Portuguese "little better." Bridges was prejudicedagainst that island from the time he arrived. Sincethere was no dock in Praia in thosezdays, hezhad to be _

carried from ship to shore on a laborer's shoulders. Onthat memorable occasion, a sudden wave knock- lhisbearer over, and Bridges was drenched.

'Everywhere he went, Bridges found Americans. AtMindelo, the fourwssels-in port were all Yankee yes-.sok. Elsewhere he saw ships from Salem, Boston, Pro-vidence and other New England ports, coming forgoatskins, hides,and galt_In the remote village of Nuion Santo Antlio he dicovered an old Yankee grand-father clock, whose owner turned out he an Americanwhaleman who jumped ship.

Charles Thomas, a chaplain in the Africa Squadron;visited the Islands in 1855. Much had changed sinceBridges' visit. Because of the Portuguese trade restric-tions, commerce had slowed. Once again drought hadmade the Cape Verdes a desolate land. In Maio starv-ing workers loaded Salt, "only enough to buy corn tokeep body and soul together," Thomas wrote. BoaVista was "almost a desert" where cattle with sadfaces and tears in their eyes walk so solemnly in cud-less rumination over grassless fields."3 6

1 "AMER1CANOS"

Flow of Emigrants

AKE A NEW LIFE

By the time of the Africa Squadron, Cape Verdeanswere emigrating to the U.S. in a steady stream. Sincethe mid-19th century every "wave" of this emigrationhas closely paralleled the years of the great droughts(refer back to Chapter I of this book). The vast major-ity of the Cape Verdean emigrants to America havealways been from the village and rural poor communi-ties. They were simple people with simple dreams,

Like most other emigiants who came to the UnitedStates, Cape Verdeans came in search of their share ofthe "American promise." Thos^. who left were usuallydesperate and had little to lose. In the eyes of CapeVerdean upper classes, America was st'll a barbaricplace: they didn't think the trip was worth the risks.Those who were able to get an advanced educationwithin the Portuguese colonial world usually remainedin the islands or worked in their profession in Portugal,Angola, or one of the other colonies.

Once a Cape Verdean peasant left the islands aboarda sailing schooner bound for the United States, his

status was immediately altered. The people back homewould call him 'Inercano' (American). Islanders did notalways understand the difficulties of life in the shantiessurrounding the cold and damp cranberry bogs ofWareham, Massachusetts. The reality of a 12 hour perday/six day work shift in a New Bedford textile millor in the sub-basement of a rope factory was difficultto describe in terms which an Islander could under-stand. The kind of discrimination which Cape Verdeanworkers eneoumered on their long struggle to get jobson the docks and in the factories of Providence, RhodeIsland was a part of the American reality which differedfrom the dream the people back home held onto. Allthe folks back home saw were-the periodic letters witha dollar bill neatly tucked inside or the oil drums whichthe schooners would bring jammed packed with food,clothing and at least one photograph of their well-dress-ed "American" relatives in New England.

Poor ex-slaves and descendants of slaves wound upowning property in the U.S. and the poor Islandersback home were much impressed. That kind of changemeant a lot in the small societies of the archipelago.This history of interaction with America would have aprofound impact on local historical development espe-cially in Brava and Fogo.

A Story of Common People

Thetfirst Cape Verdean arrived in America long be-fore the whaling ships brought "deck hands" to ourshores. He probably came as a slave. He may havebeen sold by an owner who could not feed him (whichhappened during the famines). Or, he may have soldhimself into slavery during one of the droughts in_order to get fed. He may have been a freeman kidnap-ped by a Yankee trader, as once happened to a CapeVerdean- weaver who eventually ended Up in Maryland.(This case came to court and the kidnapper had to re-turn the weaver to the Islands at his own expense.37)We shall probably never know his name. The main ac-i tors in our story are "common people"; few of them

left any records. It was these nameless seamen, slaves,immigrants, and traders who made Cape Verdeans andAmericans pat-t of each other's histories.

Cape Verde became an independent nation on July, 5, 1975. The long movement towards liberation fromforeign rule has signaled the dawn of a new era in thehistory of the people of these islands. Many peoplewho had never even heard of Cape Verde just a fewyears ago now have found new interest in this young-country. The islands' geographic location gives themstrategic military and economic importance so theworld's major powers will watch their political life withinterest. There is another reason why the Cape VerdeIslands would be of interest to Americans; many of theislanders who fled poverty and starvation found ahome in the U.S. Today there are some 300,000 CapeVerdean-Americans, mainly in New England. (Califor-nia, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio also have CapeVerdean communities.)

Cape Verde will emerge from centuries of sufferingand colonial neglect. The era of independence pre-sents the Islanders as well as Cape Verdeans aroundthe world with the first opportunity to join handsand work for a strong and free Cape Verde.

As Amerin, move Past the celebration of twohundred years of independence, we hope to learnmore about the contributions of such "common peo-ple" to our history. And.as the Republic of Cape Verdeenters her new era of independence, it is time to be-gin discovering the history of.these people. It is a his-tory of unknown and "invisible" people who havesurvived the exploitation of the more powerful forhundreds of years. There is much to be discovered.

5

FOOTNOTES

1. Jorge Barbosa, "Crianças" in Modernos PoetasCabo-Verdianos, edited by Jaime de Figueiredo,published by EdtOes Henriquinas Achamentode Cabo Verde, 1961, pp. 29-32.

2. Seroantropologia das lilies de Cabo Verde, histi-tute for Overseas Research, Lisbon, 1960.-

3. Reference isbeing made to the markings and aanimal drawings on the so.called "RochaEseribida" of S. Nicolau. Similar inscriptionshave been discovered on the Island of S. Tiago.Serious scholarly research concerning the originsof the inscriptions has yet to be done.

4. A.H. de Oliveira Marques, Historic de Portugal.1973, Vol. 1, p. 198.

5. B.M. Gunn and N.D. Walkins, "Geoehernestryof the Cape Verde Islands and Fernando Nor-onha", American Geological Society Bulletin,Vol. 87, pp. 1089-1100.

6. T. Bentley Duncan, Atlantic Islands: Madeira,The Azores and The Cape Verdes in Seven-teenth Century Commerce and Navigation,University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1971,p. 19.

7. Ibid, p. 176.

8. Ibid., p. 210.

9. Ibid., p. 216-218.

10, Antonio Carreira, Cabo Verde: FormacEci e Ex-tinctio de Unia Sociedade Escravocrata (1460-1878), Lisbon, 1972, p. 265.

11. Bentley, op. cit., p. 23'7.

I?. Ibid., 'p. 212.

13. Ibid., p. 212.

14. Ibid.. p. 222.

15. Ibid., p, 220.

16. Antonio Carreira, Panaria Cabo-Verdiano-Guineense, Muse() de Ethnologiado Ultramar,Lisbon, 1968, ID. 44.

17. Ibid., p. 26.27

18. James Duffy, Portugal in Africa, PenguinBooks, Baltimore, 1963, pp. 163-165.

19. Bernard Bailyn, The New England :erehatus inthe 17th Century. Harvard University Press,Cambridge, MA, 1955, p. 84.

20. Richard Pares, Yankees and Creoles, I larvardUniversity Press, Cambridge, MA., 1956, p. 157.

222 1

Antonio Carreira, Cabo Verde: Forntacao eEvtinclio de Unta Sociedade Escravocrata,1972, Lisbon, p. 489.

Europeans in West Africa, 112450-1560, Vol. I,published by the Hokluyt Society Publication,Series 2, Londott, 1942.

Antonio Carreira, A Ilha do Maio in Revista doCentro de Estudos Demogralicos. Separato No.14, published by Institut° Nacional de EstatIstica,1971, p. 62-65.

24. Ibid., p. 253.

25. Antonio Carreira, Cabo Verde: Font:ad-a e Ex-tincao de Utna Sociedade Escravocrata, 1972, p,247.

26. Ibid., p. 231-232.

17. Mid., p. 240.

18. Duncan, op. cit., p. 171.

29. Jose Joaquim Lopes de Lima, Ensaio Estataticadas Possessoes Portuguesas,Imprensa Nacional,Lisbon, 1944, p. 100.1

30. SiriZo.Barros, op. cit., p. 60.

31. Orlando Ribeiro, A Ilha do Fogo e as SuesErupaies, ihblished by Junta de InvestigacZesdo Ultramar, Memorias, Serie Geographica, 1960(2nd Edition), p. 201.

Simao Barros, Ensato Sabre a Historic de CaboVerde, 3 Fasicido Edicties Hesperitanis, 1936,p. 59.

Ibid.

34. For a description of Perry's visit to the CapeVerde Islands see the following: Samuel EliotMorrisonyThe-United-IStates Africa Squadron-and the Cape Verde Islands in Portugal and Brazilin Transition, edited by Raymond S. Sayers,Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1968,pp. 145-148.

35. Horatio Bridges, Journal of an African Cruiser,1st. Edition, published by Wiley and Putnam,London, 1845, republished in 1968 by Dawsonof Pall Mall, London.

Charles W. Thomas.Adventures and Observation'son the West Coast of Africa and Its Islands, origi.-nally published in 1860, republished in.1869 byNegro Universities Press, New York, p. 330.

37. Elizabeth. Donnan, Documents Related to theHistory of the Slave Trade, Voluine IV, Wash-ington, D.C., Carnegie Institute PublicationsNo. 409, p. 30 in Vol. IV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For readers who wish to know more about the Cape Verde Islands a d their people, the followingreadings are suggested:

Aratijo, Norman A Study af Cape Verdean Literature. Boston College,1966 Chestnut Hill, MA. The first chapter provides a general

description and history'of the Islands. Available inpublic and university libraries.

Duffy, James Portugal in Africa. Penguin Books, Inc., Baltimore, Md.1963 This book has many references to the Cape Verde Is-

lands and also provide a general understanding ofPortuguese colonialism in Africa. Available inpaperback.

Atlantic Islands. Madeira, The Azores and the CapeVerdes in Seventeenth-Century C'ommerce and Nav-igation, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Seeespecially Chapters 1, 2, 8, and 9. Available in publicand university libraries.

Voices from An Empire: A History of Afra-PartugueseLiterature. University of Minnesota 1975. Contains alengthy section on history of the Cape Verdean liter-ary tradition. Available in public and universitylibraries.

"The United States Africa Squadron and the CapeVerde Islands," in Raymond S. Sayera, ed, Portugaland Brazil in Transition, University of MinnesOta Press,Minneapolis. pp. 145-148. A brief essay written for ageneral audience.

Rodney, Walter A History of the Upper Guinea Coast. Clarendon Press,1970 Oxford. Includes many references to the Cape Verdes

and provides an interesting discussion of lancados.Available in university libraries.

Tyack, David B. Capeverdean Immigration ta the United States. Unpub-1952 lished Senior Honors Thesis, Harvard University, Cam-

bridge, Ma. This work is found in the Widener Libraryat Harvard. It gives a very interesting accounts of CapeVerdeans immigrants and has an extensive bibliography.

Bentley, Duncan T.1971

Hamilton, Russell G.1975

Morrison, Samuel Eliot1968

2 2

U.S. DEPARTMENTOF HEALTH,EDUCATION &WELFARENATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

EDUCATION

THIS POCVAiENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY A5 RECEIVED FROM rTHE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN-ATING IT POINT5 OF VIEW OR OPINION5STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE-SENT onFicIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUCATION POSITION on POLICY.

,pERmISSooN To ,REFRODUCE TH5 rCOpyRIGHTED MATERIAL AY MICRO. 'FiCHE ONLy HAS ERN RANTEo BY ,

C) E I_ AND ORGANIZA I IP A

iNO UNDER AGREEMENTSWITH THE NA,

TIONAL INSTITuTE OF EDUCATION,FURTHER REPRODUCTION OUTSIDETHE ERIC SYSTEM REQUIRES PERMIS.

SION OF THE COPYRIGHTOWNER..

Folk Talesof the

Cape Verdean People

Translated from Crioulo(the language of the Cape Verdean people)

by: The Cape Verdean Educators Collaborative

Written for Upper Elementary Schoolby: Patricia Nyhan and Raymonti A. Almeida

Designed by: Robert OliverIllustrations by: John Cooley

Published by TCHUBA The American Committee for Cape Verde Inc.under an Ethnic Heritage Studies Act grant (Title IX)

from the U.S. Office of Education

2 3

f-`

COPYRIGHT 1976 0 BY TCHUBA THE AMERICAN COMMITTEEFOR CAPE VERDE, INC.

14 BEACON ST., BOSTON, MA. 02108

2 4

CONTENTS

CAPE VERDE: ABOUT THE PLACEABOUT THE PEOPLE

MAP OF THE REPUBLIC OF CAPE VERDE

THE BIGGEST LIAR

Par Fooled by a Boy

Part 2: Stealing the Road

Part 3: The Evil Eye

Part 4: "If You Don't Want to be Nho Lobo"

STORM COMING

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Page

7

9

14

16

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A view of the rugged interior regions of Saotiago.

CAPE VERDE

ABOUT THE PLACE:

The Cape Verde Islands are situated _n the Atlantic Ocean about 370 mites offthe coast of West Africa. This group of ten small islands bear the name of Verdebecause they are located close to Cap Vert in Senegal. The- name of" this tiny coun-

___ try:.does_noLpainta_true_picture _of whatCapeNerde_Usuatlyloolcslike.ln_thispart of the world the hot drying winds which blow off the Sahara Desert causecontinuous cycles of drought. The rainy season is very- unpredictable. If a littlerain falls in July, August and September then there will be food and Cape Verdewill really turn green. If it doesn't rain until September or October the seed thefarmers have planted will have already died. If too much rain cothes at any onetime, all of the seed and the precious fertile top soil will be washed doWn the mottain sides to the sea. Some titnesit doesn't rain for many years ata time. In theseperiods of drought -the people suffer greatly from food shortages, hunger and dis-ease.

The total land area is just a little bit larger than the state of Rhode Island. Mostof the islands were formed many millions of years ago by volcanic activity. Eventoday there is still an active volcano on the island of Fogo. Most of Cape Verde isa rugged mountainous country with many isolated valleys.

2 7

Every day there is work tistart the day by poundingseparated from each kernebe slowly boiled into theVerdean people. The ryttand pestle (Pi lifo) can be Icountryside in Cape Verdt

2

ABOUT THE PEOPLE:

Cape Verdeans are a multi-racial people. A people of many faces but one people.A people linked by a common language, Crioulo, and a common culture, the CapeVerdean culture. A people tied together in a common history of colonial oppres-sion and constant struggle to survive the hardships of life in Cape Verde.

-===Portuguese explorers-first-came-to the-islands-around the year 1456, Soon-after-their arrival they began to take people from the nearby coast of West Africa andkeep them as slaves to work the barren land of Cape Verde. Some of these Africancaptives would be sold to slave merchants and shipped to plantations in the "NewWorld". Because of the remoteness of the islands and the difficulties of transpor-tation and communication,, a population of mixed European and African racialbackgrounds developed.

For 500 years Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal. In order to escape the hard-ships of life during times of severe drought many people emigrated to other Portu-guese colonies in Africa or Portugal. Cape Verdeans have been emigrating toAmerica for over 150 years. The first large numbers of people came to New Eng-land as crewman aboard whaling ships. Later Cape Verdeans came to America ascontract laborers to work in the cranberry bogs of southeastern Massachusettsor the textile mills and shoe factories of New England. Today, Cape Verdeans stillcome to America and to other immigrant communities throughout Europe to makenew lives for the families they bring with them and to help build a strong nationfor the families they have left behind in the islands.

On July 5, 1975, Cape Verde became an independent country. Independencedid not come easy. The people of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde fought againstthe Portuguese colonial Government for 13 years before total independence wasfinally won. Cape Verdean immigrant_cornmunities here in America and aroundthe world are joining hands to build a future of hope for the people of their islandhomeland.

- -

THE BIGGEST LIARPART 1: FOOLED BY A BOY

Once there was a man who thought he could tell the biggest and bestlies in the whole world. "I'll show everybody he said. "If I find anyonewho can tell bigger lies than me, give him my cow." And so he set outon the long dusty mountain road to the village...the old man, his old cowand a bag of the biggest lies in the whole world.

At every step along the way his neighbors tried to tell better lies thanthe old man. By the time it was dark, no one had won the old man's cow.

3 0

12

Late that night the man came to a hut at the bottom of a cliff. He wokeup a little boy who was sleeping inside. "My pipe needs a light," he said."Please give me a light from your fire.

The boy only answered by stirring the fire. Finally the man got tired ofwaiting. He asked, "Menin (little boy), what are you doing?"

"I'm dividing today's fire from yesterday's _and day beforeyesterday's. Then I'll give you some," the boy said.

The man didn't understand. "Menin, give me some water," he said."All right," the boy said. He bagan to shake some water up and down

in a bottle.The man asked, "Why don't you just give me a cup of water?""Well, I'm dividing today's water from yesterday's--to give you fresh

water."The man couldn't understand! What a strange boy this is, thought the

the old man."Menin, where's your mother?" he asked.

"She's gone to the king'S palace to sew it up with her needle and thread.It was torn last night."

"What! cried the man. "Well, where is your father?"He's gone to the river to get some water in a flowerpot with a hole in

it. He's going to water his garden.""Really?" said the man. He couldn't tinderstand this little boy with all

the answers. (He thought, "I'll test him.") "Menin," he asked, "Did youhear? A child was born last night with seven arms, seven legs andseven necks."

The boy quickly ,answered. "Senhor, I'm not sure, but I think I foundsomething of that baby's. This morning I went to the river fOr water.There I found a dress with seven sleeves and seven collars."

"Really?" said the ma Well, did you hear? A donkey took a trip intothe sky last week."

"Senhor, I'm not sure...when I went to the river last week I heardthunder. When I looked up, I saw a saddle falling out of the sky. rt mustbe that donkey's."

("I'll test him again," thought the man.) He asked the boy, nin, didyou hear? The river caught fire last week."

"Senhor," said the boy, "I'm not sure...but last week we caught a lot offish burnt on just one side. The fire in the river cooked them, I guess."

The man couldn't think of any more lies. "My dear Menin," he cried,"take my cow. You are the smartest liar of all!"

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50 VICENTE

3 3

PART 2: STEALING THE ROAD

On his way home from the boy's hut, the man saw Nho Lobo, the wolf.Nho Lobo was lying in the sun, dreaming about food. (The lazy wolf wasalways dreaming about food.) Nho Lobo woke up and said, "Senhor, youlook so sad. What's the matter?"The man answered, "I lost my cow. I thought I was the best liar in theworld, but a little boy told better lies and won my cow. Now I don't knowhow to get my cow back."

(Nho Lobo thought, "I'd like that cow for my dinner. I'll ll this man Iwill help him. But .then I'll trick him and take his cow.

"Come with me! Nho Lobo said to the man. "I'll get her back for you.""No, I don't trust you," said the man. "You will trick me.""Don't worry," said Nho Lobo "I have seven bags full of lieS: here. If I

open one of them, the lies will cover the town.""All right," said the man. "Let's go!"Soon the little boy heard a noise outside his hut. He looked out and saw

Nho Lobe) and the man. "Nho Lobo is coming to take my cow," he said tohimself. "What can I do?" He thought for a moment. Then he called tothe man, "Where are the seven wolves you said you'd bring? You're onlybringing one. Well, bring him in. We'll tie him up and kill him."

"What!" cried Nho Lobo. "Kill me! That's why you brought me here!We 1,7you'll-riever-e-attion-e!"--Arid- offlie ran.

"Ha, ha--I tricked you_ Nho Lobo. You won't get my cow now!" saidthe boy.

15

-

"Senhorwhy are you standingfthere?"_theloyaskedtheman..Don'tyou know Nho Lobo is going to steal the road and put it in his pocket?How will you get home then?"

"What!" cried the man. He ran to catch Nho Lobo before he stolethe road.

Nho Lobo hid on the side of a mountain. The man passed him, butdidn't see him. He was running so fast, he fell off the cliff and brokehis leg.

36

18

PART THE EVIL EYE

Three days later the little boy went to the mountain to getsome hay for his cow. Nho Lobo was still there. He was ahungry wolf aftcr three days with no food. When he sawthe boy he s.,-1 to himself, "Nho Lobo, today you'll have agood dir E1-1:."

Siir tfl.dy the boy saw Nho Lobo. He quickly put his headdown f-nd N-Joked sad.

"Merin," asked Nho Lobo, "Why are you sad? Don't youhave any mother?"

"No," answered the boy. "My mother is dead.""Why did she c';e?""She died bepat_pe I looked at her with my evil eye," said

the boy."And your father?""He is dead, too.""Why did he die?""I looked at him, too, said the boy. (He was still look ng

down.) "Everybody I look at dies.""What!" shouted Nho Lobo. "And are you looking at me

now with your evil eye?"

"Not yet, but I'm going to soon!" cried the boy.Nho Lobo left in a hurry, running backwards to keep an .

eye on the boy. He ran fast to the side of the mountain. Hewas afraid. He heard the boy shout, "In a minute I'm goingto look at you. I've almost found you!"

Nho Lobo jumped up. He jumped so, high, .he fell off themountain backwards. And that was the end of Nho Lobo.

The little boy turned around and walked hoine. He, 'wasvery happy. He still had his cow; .and he knew he could tellthe biggest lies in the world. He had fooled the old man Andoutsmarted Nho Lobo.

3 819

PART 4: A NEW ENDING TO AN OLD STORY*

"If you don't want to be Nho Lobo, don't dress in his skin!""Si bu ca cr'e ser Nho Lobo, ca bu bisti peter

---a popular Cape Verdean saying

The next day the old man went to town to tell the people what hadhappened to him. He told them that he always had thought he could tellthe biggest lies in the world. Then he tolc:1 them about the little boy whohad tricked him with even bigger lies. The old man was very sad that hehad been beaten by a little boy.

20

*Part 4 was written by a Cape Verdean-American as a new endingto this folk tale. The other three parts were told; like most folktales, the people themselves or folk) created them and passedthem on by word of mouth.

When the man had finished his story, an old wise wo an whisperedin his ear so no one else could hear:

"The little boy is a bigger liar than you, but he is young. We hope hewill not grow up to be as big a fool as you."

Poor man! He believed the lies of Nho Lobo and the clever little boy.Poor little boy! He does not yet know what the wise old woman knows:

"If you do not want to be Nho Lobo, don't put on his skin!"

4 0

21

MandiOca, is a staple food:.in Cape- Ver0e.and.in.:m-anyi-other countries-1n-West Africa. A -"staple7is a foo.c1Whiak:Ith. MajOrity±,Of thepeciple de---i

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pend- Upon -for. Most_ of what they, pat...-In the Caribbean:, and.. Centrat... ... ... ... ,,..

-. Amerita.it is knoWn-aa-mari.i6c .or:yucti.-The:.niktidjoa:Plani-lia'sja.rge,;-edible- foots::The'dark'broWn. skina Of...theSe. foOtS:bide.lhe--StarehY-whitevegetable', which..has. the ton-sistenCY of a yam- or..sWeet pOtat-CL:--Mandjoda.is easy to...plant. -Just 'ciit apiece of--a,shOot- frorn-,a-.yoUng mandioca-plant . .

anctstick -it in the, ground. If the-rains Cipme- On_ time-and:yo4.keep,N11.0.-,..--Lobo out of youtgarden you'll haVe .Plenty-. of manctioca-in- a few-months..morrths.

Nho Lobo was a lazy wolf. And greedy, too--he ate everything he coulcfind. But his nephew Tubinho was different; he was a worker.

One day they planted mandioca together. Tubinho _worked hard,digging the soil and planting the Mandioca shoots. But by the end of theday, his uncle had eaten up all the new shoots. Poor Tubinho had toplant some more.

A few days later, Nho Lobo saw Tubinho s plants growinwent to his nephew and said, "I'm hungry. I wish I had some of thamandioca." Tubinho told him it wasn't ready to eat. But the wolfanswered "Then give me something else to eat. But I'd really like thatmandioca." Nho Lobo begged and begged. Finally Tubinho pulled up aplant and gave it to him.

Nho Lobo loved the plant, but he didn't love work. He made a plan totake all the mandioca away from Tubinho.

"You don't have to work here any more," he told his nephew. "I'll dothe work and give you some plants when they are ready." But he trickedTubinho, he ate all the mandioca himself in one day.

Two days later, Tubinho passed by_Nho Lobo s house. In his hand hehad two long ropes made froin carapathe had cut. When Nho Lobo sawhim he asked,"What are you going to do with all that rope?" Tubinhopointed to a black 0.oud in the sky.

"Well, what is it?" asked Nho Lobo."A big storm is coming," said Tubinho.

that isn't tied.""Sell me some rope, aid Nho Lobo."I can't sell this rope, said Tubinho "I need to tie

the storm won't get me." He started to tie himself."Tie me first!" cried Nho Lobo. So Tubinho tied him,to a fig-tree.

knotted the two ropes together. Then he walked away and left hisuncle there.

rapata is a rugged plant that grows wild everywhere on the rockymountain slopes of Cape Verde. Cape Verdeans pull the strong whitefibers from the green pointed leaves of the carapata plant. After thefibers are dried in the sun they can be used to make strong rope or twine.Some people even make floor mats, pocket books and many other house-hold items from the fiber of the carapate plant.

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A few days later, a monkey came to the fig-tree. He started to eat so efigs. Nho Lobo was still tied there. "Throw me a fig, monkey!"he shouted. "rm so hungry."

The Monkey threw a fig into the wolfs mouth Soon Nho Lobo wascrying again. "Untie me, Monkey," he begged.

"No, I'm not going to untie you. I can't trust you, said the monkey."I'll give you my land if you let me go," said Nho Lobo."No," answered the monkey. "I don't trust you."Please, Monkey! give you my land and everything on it!" cried

Nho Lobo. But the monkey said no. Four more times he begged. Finally,the monkey felt sorry for Nho'Lobo and untied him.

When Nho Lobo got free,-he suddenly grabbed thepulled hard.

"What are you doing? cried the monkey."Just trying to wake up my hand," said Nho Lobo. "It fell awas tied up."The monkey screamed, "Nho Lobo, let me go! Please let me go! I've

been so good to you!"But Nho!Lobo laughed and said, "No, I'm not going to let you go. I'm

going to kill you and eat you-nowr Tubinho was close by on a hill andheard their noise. He called, "Oh Nho Lobo, do you know the best way toeat the monkey?"

"No, how?" asked Nho Lobo"Tie his feet together and throw him up in the air, said Tubinho

"He'll fall down into your mouth, and that way you won't lose evena hair."

"Tubinho you're a smart boy! That's the way to do it, said Nho Lobo.So he took the monkey and threw him high in the air. The monkey felldown and ran away. He found Tubinho and said, "Thank you, you savedme from Nho Lobo."

eep when

_And Nho Lobo stood there all da with-his mouth open:..waitin