Among Congo Cannibals - free ebook by John H. Weeks

AMONG CONGO CANNIBALS

Boloki Man and his Wife Notice the cicatrice on the man’s forehead and on the woman’s stomach. The brass ring round her neck in some cases weighs as much as 28 lbs. In her hand she is holding a paddle....

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PREFACE

The object of the author throughout these pages has been to give an account of his experiences among the Boloki (or Bangala), and a description of the manners, habits, customs, etc., of this interesting people amidst whom he lived in closest intimacy as a missionary. The author went to the Congo in 1881, hence his residence in what has been aptly called “Darkest Africa” covers a period of thirty years—fifteen of which were spent in other parts of the Congo, and fifteen amongst the Boloki people.

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INTRODUCTION

When living at San Salvador, in what is now known as the Portuguese Congo, in the early eighties of last century, the writer frequently conversed with the natives about the inhabitants of the far interior who occupied the banks of the Great Congo River and its tributaries. The San Salvador folk assured him that the natives of the mysterious hinterland were “half fish and half human”; that “from the navel upwards they were human, and downwards they were fish.” No arguments would alter their opini

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CHAPTER I IN SEARCH OF A NEW SITE

Peace —Bangala tribe—Panic in Bungundu towns—People become friendly—Driven away from Bokomela—Fierce and revengeful natives—Revisit Bokomela—A cordial welcome—Reason for warlike attitude—Shooting a native for a wager—Monsembe district—Bumba people stand to defend their women and children—Quietness dispels their fears. During the early days of July, 1890, we were busy at Bolobo station, preparing for our long journey up-river in search of a new site for a mission station. The steamer Peace , a ve

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CHAPTER II SETTLING AT MONSEMBE

Moral way of procuring land—Ground measured—Price asked—Amount accepted—Signing the agreement—Buying a house—An exorbitant price—A house for five shillings and a penny—Well-populated hut—Making ourselves comfortable—Cooking difficulties overcome—Present of two goats—Inveterate thieves—Afraid of our “books.” The authorities of the Congo Free State had informed us that we could take possession of any plot of land in the district that we cared to select. We did not, however, believe in accepting fr

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CHAPTER III STRUGGLES WITH THE LANGUAGE

“Trade” and “Bangala” languages—Making a vocabulary—Housekeeper and master of works—Natives tell us words—Elements of difficulty—Glib translations—Natives deceive us—Head-men offer us wines—We are a conundrum to our neighbours—Confidence gained at last—Collect nearly seven thousand root words—A mode of making derivations—Native figures of speech. On the main river there was a mixed language, commonly called among us the “trade language”; by means of this lingua franca we were able to make oursel

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CHAPTER IV EARLY DAYS AT MONSEMBE

Building our house—Armed natives—Their ruse to discover our strength—The reason of their proffered help—A tribal war—Cannibal feast—Taunt us with being cowards and women—We defend some visitors—Blood-brotherhood—Inquisitive Congo boys—Medicine and “books”—Mental powers of Congo lads—Native view of women. We were about a fortnight erecting the framework of our house and finishing the walls; and then it took us over two months to collect and dry local materials for the roof; but in the meantime we

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CHAPTER V ARTS AND CRAFTS AND NATIVE INDUSTRY

A Congo lad in England—People doing no work—Erroneous views—A condemnation of “niggers”—Its answer—White employers of black labour—Allowances to be made—Leather-work—String making—Bark cloth—Basket-work—Pottery—Dyeing and painting—Working in metal—Aptitude for learning handicrafts. Many years ago I brought a native lad of quick intelligence from the wilds of Congo to my home in London. He noticed the people crowding the pavements, filling the tram-cars, omnibuses, and trains; and his frequent qu

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CHAPTER VI CUSTOMS: SOME CURIOUS AND SOME CRUEL

Stopping the rain—Causing the river to subside—Appeasing water-spirits—Saved by his wit—Debit and credit in killing—Methods of drinking—Purification by fire—Preventing spirits following their relatives—Burying women alive with their husband’s corpse—Killing a man for a feast—Honouring the dead—Ceremonies at a grave—A monument to a chief. It was raining one day for about three hours when I noticed a rain-doctor standing on our beach trying to stop the continuous downpour. He was a tall, upright,

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CHAPTER VII SOCIAL LIFE AND ORGANIZATION

Salutations—Sneezing—Land is communal—River rights—Slaves and their position—Laws of inheritance—Sons given as pawns—Masters’ responsibility—Debtor and creditor—Rules for collecting debts—Rules for fighting—The evening meal—Dividing food—Greediness condemned—The village dance—The impromptu song—Its effect on various people. Rudeness, discourtesy, and lack of sociality are greatly condemned by the Boloki, and will be punished in longa , or the nether regions to which their spirits go after death;

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CHAPTER VIII MARRIAGE AND CHILD BEARING

Young girls betrothed—The bespoke money—Marriage money—Dressing the new wife—A large looking-glass—A woman can choose her husband—Divorce—No great desire for children—Storage for baby spirits—Treatment of twins—Snake omen—Woman’s totem—The mother-in-law—Polygamy and its results—Monogamy and its results—Better morality—More children—Purer women—Better home-life. Young girls and even babies are betrothed in marriage, and payments made for them long before they are old enough either to understand t

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CHAPTER IX NATIVE EDUCATION

Precociousness of the children—Teaching the tribal mark—Knowledge of astronomy—Divisions of night and day—Education—Paddling and canoeing—Swimming—Fishing—Hunting—Blacksmithing—The girls learned farming—Cooking—Hair-dressing—Mat and saucepan making—Charms—Taboos—First-fruits—First teeth—No moral training—Great liars and thieves—Capable of truth and honesty. There were no schools to attend until the white men went to live in their district; but the lads accompanied their fathers and elders and le

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CHAPTER X NATIVE GAMES AND PASTIMES

Dolls—Make-believe games—Mimic war—Model of steamers—Game of hand-thrusting—Hockey—Wheel game—Flipping arrows—Lip-sucking game—Ball game—“Tip-it”—Game with palm nuts—African backgammon—Gambling game—Teetotums—Hoop game—Cat’s cradle—Water games—Spear-throwing—Bull-roarers—Imitating movements of animals. There are not many games, but such as there are train the eye in quickness, the hand in precision, and the body in agility. Some little girls take pieces of stick or cassava roots to represent dol

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CHAPTER XI A PAGE OF NATIVE HISTORY

A great inland sea—The Boloki and Bantus—The Boloki man—A native retort—Meaning of Bangala—Movements of tribes—Murder of Boloki chief—Refuge in a tree—Boloki raiding—A famous chief—Comets an evidence of greatness—Tribal marks and meaning. There is much evidence in favour of the theory that the low-lying country of the Congo basin was once the bottom of a great inland sea, with here and there the highest points of land rearing their heads above the water, and thus forming numerous islands. The pr

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CHAPTER XII NATIVE GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIVES

No paramount chiefs—Head-man rules his own family—Stanley’s “Lord of many guns”— Monanga , a term of respect—The alien is robbed—The guest protected—Arrival of canoes—Estimation of native character—Good memories—Learning to read pictures—Timid and superstitious—Lack of reverence—Pride—Greedy and mean. Among the Boloki there are no paramount chiefs. Each town has its set of families that prefer living together, and each family has its head called mata , who is the eldest son, and who as eldest ta

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CHAPTER XIII NATIVE LAWS, CRIMES, AND ORDEALS

The family judge—The chief judge—Stolen property—Punishment for murder—Adultery—The Court—Native advocates—No oaths administered—Giving the ordeal—Various ordeals—An impartial judge needed—White man as judge—A selection of cases. It has already been stated in a previous chapter that the mata or head-man of the family dealt with all matters relating to his own family, and against his verdict there was no appeal; and also that the heads of the several families forming a town would meet together an

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CHAPTER XIV MYTHOLOGY AND FOLK LORE

Ideas concerning rebirth—Ideas concerning white men—A hippopotamus spirit—A prediction—Reticence of natives—Recited round the fire—The origin of man—The sun—A deluge—The destruction of the world—Fifteen folk-lore stories. There were misty ideas, but no definite belief, concerning the rebirth of their deceased ancestors. A few years before Stanley descended the Congo there was a general belief extant among the Boloki that many of their ancestors would appear in another form, and yet would be reco

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CHAPTER XV WAR

No army—The family fight—The town fight—The district fight—Procuring volunteers—“Medicine” put on spears—Poison used—No night attacks—Lips of the slain worn by the slayer—Spirit of the slain—Mode of attack—Prisoners—Women a cause of quarrels—War omens—War dance—Spears and flint-lock guns. One can hardly dignify the quarrels and fights that occur among the Boloki and their neighbours by the name of war. There is no army and no organization, but all the men and lads take part in the fight that aff

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CHAPTER XVI HUNTING

Scarcity of animal life—Bush-burning—Game in ancient times—No bush-burning on Upper Congo—Scarcity of game—Absence of prairie lands—Large forests—Division of an animal—Mode of preserving meat—Omen of success or failure—Taboo on trap makers—Fetishing hunting-dog—Spears used for some animals—String nets for others. Those parts of the Congo with which I am acquainted are not teeming with animal life, so far as my experience goes. I cannot claim the rôle of an ardent sportsman, yet I carried my gun

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CHAPTER XVII FISHING

Collecting fish for the Museum—Modes of fishing—By torchlight—Fish-fences—Traps and spoon-nets—Floating buoys and hooks—Fish-spears—Fish poisons—Prohibition with fish traps—Addressing the fisherman—Penalties—First-fruits—Portion given to head chief. Fish is very plentiful in the Congo and its tributaries. The writer was asked a few years ago by the authorities of the Natural History Museum, London, if he would undertake to collect Congo fish for them. This he readily consented to do, and was gla

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CHAPTER XVIII RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Ideas of a Supreme Being—His various names—Views of the spirit life—Fetishism—Medicine men and spirits—Black and white magic—Origin of the term fetish—Native crusade against fetishes—Bundle of charms—Its contents—Sacrifices to fetishes—Rise and fall of witch-doctors—An attempt to define fetishism—Natives very religious. We have found a vague knowledge of a Supreme Being, and a belief in Him, very general among those tribes on the Congo with which we have come into contact. In each case the nativ

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CHAPTER XIX THE BOLOKI WORLD OF SPIRITS

Surrounded by spirits—The soul leaves the body—Dreams—Bewitching folk—Losing one’s shadow—Disembodied spirits or ghosts—Ghosts enter animals—Deceiving the ghosts—Spirits of disease—Spirit of wealth—Spirits of crocodiles—Leopards—Spirits of unborn babes—Monsters on the islands—Forest sprites—Cloud-land folk—Spirits in spears—In canoes—In trees. The Boloki folk believe they are surrounded by spirits which try to thwart them at every twist and turn, and to harm them every hour of the day and night.

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CHAPTER XX MEDICINE MEN AND THEIR MAGIC

Number of medicine men—How to become a witch-doctor—Mayeya and his long dive—Makwata and his talking spear—A simple trick—Female witch-doctors—Three kinds of witchcraft—Discredited witch-doctors—Fear of the witch-doctors. There is not so great a variety of medicine men ( nganga ) [41] among the Boloki as among the Bakongo of the Lower Congo, nor is the modus operandi of bewitching people and of removing the witchcraft so well defined. Among the Boloki the medicine man is much in evidence, but he

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CHAPTER XXI TABOOS AND CURSES

Variety of taboos—The totem taboo—The permanent taboo—The inherited taboo—The temporary taboo—Circumcision taboo—Canoe-maker’s taboo—Mourner’s taboo—Cursing a wife—Taboo of sympathy—Father’s curse on a child—Kicking a person’s foot—Various curses—Different oaths—Giving tokens. Taboos are the prohibitions and restrictions put on things and actions by the witch-doctor during and after an illness, by the family totems, and temporarily by the individual himself. They are the “thou shalt nots” of fet

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CHAPTER XXII NATIVE CHARMS AND THEIR USES

A general name—No sacrifices to them—Preventive charms—Thief’s charm and antidote—Charm for rendering the owner attractive—Helpful charms in war—Modes of dealing with witchcraft—Certain charms for certain spirits—For success in fishing—To detect a murderer—To preserve goats in health—Giving ordeal to a son. The general name for fetish, charm, amulet, talisman, mascot, etc., is bonganga ; and this is also the word for the skill or art of the medicine man—that which constitutes him a member of the

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CHAPTER XXIII DEATH AND BURIAL

Three causes of death—By act of God—By another’s witchcraft—By one’s own witchcraft—An explosion—Decorating the corpse—fee to view the body—Smoking the body—Making coffins—Three kinds of graves—Killing slaves—Burying women alive—Signs of mourning—The nether world—Suicides—Funeral dance for a man—Dance for a woman. There are three causes of death well recognized among the Boloki: To die by an act of God; to die by another’s witchcraft; and to die by one’s own witchcraft. On the Lower Congo the fi

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CHAPTER XXIV NATIVE DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT

White and black magic—Albinos—Causes of disease—Those easy to diagnose—Non-professional healers—Discovering a troublesome spirit—Various remedies—Cupping—The clyster—Ligatures for snake-bites—Snake-men—Rubbing things out of a patient—Ignorance of physiology—White man’s difficulty—Dangers of buffalo-hunting—Ravages of crocodiles—Escaping crocodiles. The medicine man’s white magic, i.e. those means employed for curing the people of their mental and bodily ailments, may, to us, seem foolish and ina

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Note 1.—On Yeasts or Ferments

On the Lower Congo, where palm-wine was easily procurable, I have often made bread by using one tumbler of palm-wine to one of lukewarm water, with some sugar to counteract the sourness or acidity of the wine, and salt to taste. This was mixed with flour into a dough about 8 a.m., divided into two lumps, put into two well-floured or greased tins, and placed out in the sun to rise, with a cloth over them to keep away dust and dirt. About 11 or 12 o’clock the loaves would have risen well, and were

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Note 2.—On Boloki Verb

The verb in the Boloki language has the eight following forms: Active, Passive, Stative, Causative, Prepositional, Reciprocal, Reflexive, and Repetitive. The moods of the verb are: Infinitive, Imperative, Indicative, Subjunctive, and Purportive. Infinitive mood is made by prefixing lo to the verb: najingi lokanga = I desire to tie. The imperative is kanga , and a more emphatic form kangaka = tie. The imperative hortative is formed by leme = let, followed by the present subjunctive, as leme nakan

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Note 3.—On Boloki Method of Counting

The numerals from 1 to 5 are declinable. The letter in brackets is the particle that changes according to the class of the noun used, e.g. two persons would be batu ( ba ) bale = persons two but two cloths would be bilamba ( bi ) bale = cloths two. The numerals are: 1, ( y ) awi ; 2, ( i ) bale ; 3, ( i ) atu ; 4, ( i ) ne ; 5, ( i ) tanu ; 6, motoba ; 7, nsambu ; 8, mwambi ; 9, libwa ; 10, jumu or mokangu mwawi = one tying; 11, jumu na ( y ) awi ; 12, jumu na ( i ) bale ; 20, mikangu mibale ; 3

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Note 4.—On Boloki Relations or Kinship

The accompanying lists I received about the same time from two different young men of fair intelligence, and after I had written the two lists down I called both the young men and read over to them their different names for the same relative. They each argued that what they had given was the right one, and the other was wrong. I have found the same difficulty on the Lower Congo. It is impossible to procure a list of any real value. My colleagues find it much the same among other tribes. The nati

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Note 5.—On Native Diseases

1. Scrotal hernia, liboke denotes an early stage, and the word also means a parcel, bundle; benda is a later stage when the hernia is large; and likuku the last stage when the hernia reaches the knees. I have seen two or three examples of the last stage. 2. Paralysis from sickness, boboku . I never saw a case of this. 3. Smallpox, kokotu . We had an epidemic of this disease in 1893. Some people died, and others carry the marks to this day. 4. Bad diarrhœa, bolete , is supposed to be the result o

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Note 6.—On Health of White Men on the Congo

Perhaps the following statistics respecting the health of white people on the Congo will interest the reader. I have kept careful notes during the last thirty years, and the figures may be accepted as accurate. The figures refer only to Missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society. One hundred and ten men have joined the Mission since its inception in 1878 until December 31st, 1911. During recent years we have found it advisable for men to remain out only for a first term of two years instead

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