Narrative
Tangweera: Life and Adventures among Gentle Savages
Charles Napier Bell · 1899
Synopsis
The account of a childhood on the Miskito coast, in the middle of the nineteenth century. The narrator, the son of a British merchant, travels up the rivers, lives in the villages, frequents the mahogany camps, hunts, fishes and trades; he describes the fauna, the customs and the beliefs of the Miskitos and the peoples of the interior, and the ties they maintain with the black Creoles of the coast.
Context
The book appeared in London in 1899 from Edward Arnold, in more than three hundred pages, with plates, some of which are due to the author's boyhood companion. It opens with the history of the coast, its tribes, the arrival of the Black population, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and British dependence. The University of Texas Press reissued it in 1989, with an introduction by the anthropologist Philip A. Dennis. The author shares the racial prejudices of his time, but also his affection for the Miskitos.
Who it is for
A narrative in English, long and anecdotal, with no French translation; the 1989 reissue makes it easier to find.
Prizes and reception
Presented by its modern publisher as a document for anthropologists, historians and naturalists.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.