Having occasion to speak with the King about that time, I asked him if he had written the said letter, and I gave him a translation of it. The old man was sitting in a high-back, embossed, leather chair, and rising from it, he said, “My brother, the King of Portugal, sent me this chair, and I senthim a letter thanking him for his gift, and that is the only letter I ever signed my mark to or ordered to be sent.” He had signed away his country in saying “thank you for a chair.”
Attached to the letter were the names of the head Portuguese Roman Catholic priest, a Portuguese trader, and a French trader, as witnesses to the King’s mark. Shortly after reading this letter I met M. D----, the French trader, and told him I had just seen the said letter. I reminded him of its date, and asked, “Why was not I requested to sign this letter, for all the other white men in San Salvador signed it, and I was here on that date? Am I not a white man?”
M. D---- answered, “We did not ask you to witness the King’s mark because we felt sure you would not do it until the King thoroughly understood the real purport of the letter.”
I thanked M. D---- for his estimate of my character, and gave him my view of the manner in which they had deceived and defrauded the King.
The King thought he was saying: Thank you for a few presents sent him by a brother sovereign; but he was signing away his territory to another power, and in this way he and his people were defrauded of their true rights. They have every reason to hate white men for robbing them of their country and reducing them to slavery.
41Kill herself(p.181).--Suicide was not uncommon on the Lower Congo. Both men and women committed it for much the same reason as folk do in England.
42Oily-face(p.183).--A lightish skin (not the colour of a half-caste or an albino’s skin) and an oily face were signs of beauty, hence the proverb: “The toad has an oily face where his father’s sister is,”i. e.A person is always beautiful to his own family.
43Girl’s father of no importance(p.187).--On the Lower Congo there is mother-right but no father-right. The children belong to the mother’s family and not to the father. He has no rights over them, nor does he arrange for the marriage of his daughters, and he receives a very small share only of the marriage money paid for his daughters.
44Rest claimed by the uncle(p.188).--(See also note43.) The uncle was the head of his sisters’ families and the guardian of their children,i. e.of his nieces and nephews. His eldest sister’s eldest son was his heir. He helped his nephews when starting in life, and assisted each in paying the marriage money for his first wife, and arranged for the marriage of his nieces.
He claimed the great bulk of the marriage money for this reason: Suppose he received £3 for his niece, and after five years she died, her husband would come to the uncle and say, “I gave you £3 for the loan of your niece, and she is now dead. I want my money back, and as you have had the use of it for five years I expect 20s.interest on top.” Now probably the uncle would not be able to pay this relatively large sum, and in lieu of it would give another woman as a wife to the man. In another five years, we will say, the second wife dies, and the husband goes to the uncle and says, “The second woman you let me have is dead, and as you have had the use of my money for ten years I want it returned with 40s.interest.” (Sometimes they demand the equivalent of 80s.to 100s.interest.)
The uncle cannot meet so large a demand, so he gives another--the third--woman, and should she die the husband has no further claim either for the capital sum, interest, or another woman. Should the husband die, then his heir has the same claim on the uncle up to three women, or the money with interest; and if the uncle dies, then his heir who receives his property is responsible for the claims of the husband or of his heir up to three women or the money. (Seenote 54.) As the uncle took the greater risks, it was only right that he should take most of the money. Whatever the father received was his absolutely, without any risks.
45Girl received little presents(p.188).--After a man has paid a part or the whole of the marriage money, he will make presents of cloth, fish, meat and trinkets to his betrothed. Should the negotiations for her be broken off, he will put an exorbitant value on those presents, and complicate matters by his demands. An unbetrothed girl would not receive presents from a young man without the consent of her family, and if she did do so without such consent, and the young man applied to the family for her hand in marriage and was refused, he would demand all his presents back, or in lieu of them a most extortionateprice. Hence no girl would accept a present from a man unless she knew that her uncle and her family regarded his suit with favour. There are, of course, untractable nieces on the Congo as there are unreasonable daughters in Europe.
46Girl’s mother agreed(p.188).--Every wise young man would by various presents gain the goodwill of his future mother-in-law, otherwise she could, under different pretexts, cause the marriage to be postponed, and make herself very disagreeable and objectionable when she could no longer hinder it.
47Sign of the cross(p.199).--In the latter part of the fifteenth century the Portuguese Roman Catholics were present in San Salvador, and during the next half-century they became predominant in the local, political, and religious life of the people. They introduced many superstitions, images, relics and rites. In the early eighties we saw Romish images used as fetishes, relics and the cross used as charms, and baptismal rites practised as a superstitious ceremony. The mark of the cross enters largely into the catalogue of the witch-doctor’s stock-in-trade.
48I swear by my mother(p.205).--In the Congo language there is no lack of oath phrases. And these may be divided into four classes--
(1) Swearing by one’s relations, as shown in the text. Any near relative may be substituted for mother. This may be extended into: By my mother, may I never see her deathbed, or may my mother desert me.
(2) Swearing by a notable person or place: By the great King. By Dom Alvaro. By the road to Congo. By the path to the tomb of the deceased King.
(3) Swearing by the fetishes; and this may be divided into two classes: (a) Those who swear by the ordinary fetishes, as: By the lightning fetishes (nzaji), etc., and (b) those who have been initiated into thendemboguild and swear by the fetishes of this secret society, as: May thenkitacause me to go mad. By thendemboenclosure. By albinos and dwarfs. These latter are all powerful in thendemboguild. (SeeFolk-Lore, June 1909, p. 189.)
(4) Swearing by God, as: May God punish me.
49Nearest man fired(p.206).--Hunting laws were very stringent and had to be carefully observed, or the breaker of them would one day find that no one would accompany him on his hunts nor allow him to join them in theirs.
If a man fires at an antelope and it rushes away, the hunter looks to see if any blood has fallen, or any hairs; if not, it is decided that he has not killed it, although he may have mortally wounded it; if another man fires and it drops, it is the latter’s animal. If there is any dispute as to whether it was killed by the first shot or the second, the one who is positive and over-rides all argument must take the heart of the antelope and eat it (not raw). If his shot really killed it all is well, but if not, the eating of the heart will destroy hiskinkongo, or hunting skill. Many a man has relinquished his claim to an animal for fear of spoiling his luck.
50Brave(p.218).--When the natives fight with spears, knives and arrows they are courageous, and, knowing how far their weapons will carry, they run in to throw them. They will fight foot to foot with their knives. To them guns are mysterious things--they pull a trigger and there is a puff, a bang, and a bullet or slug flies out, and the distance it will travel is, to them, an unknown quantity. They are not acquainted with the science of firearms, and are so overawed by the mysteriousness of these weapons that their natural bravery has not full play.
51Some decoction(p.248).--The witch-doctor procures some bark of the baobab-tree, presses the juice out of it and rubs this on hand and arm of the accused person who has well paid him. He can then dare the boiling oil with impunity.
52In whose district his town(p.253).--The “parish” of Wathen is 3000 square miles in extent, and is divided into four and sometimes five districts, according to the strength of the missionary staff for the time being. Each district is in charge of a white man, and all the boys attending school on the station from that district are especially in his charge. He looks after their welfare, cares for them, attends them in sickness, listens to their palavers, and acts the part of a father to them. All the girls from the same district are in the special care of his wife (if he is a married missionary), and she acts as a mother tothem. All matters connected with the Church members and teachers of the district are taken first to him, and he settles them upon well-understood principles, and if any extraordinary issue arises he consults his colleagues, and they jointly come to a decision, so that all the districts may be governed on uniform lines. He acts also as a pastor towards all the Church members of his district.
53Sunset at six o’clock(p.257).--The nights and days are about equally divided, as there are only some fifteen minutes’ difference during the whole year in the time of the sun’s rising and setting. Certainly on the Congo there is not that sudden darkness at sunset so frequently stated in books on the tropics, for the twilight lasts from thirty to forty minutes.
54Women I have borrowed(p.324).--The old word on the Congo for marriage wassompa nkento, which means to borrow a woman (seenotes 43and44), for which loan the man paid something to the girl’s uncle. All members of the Church are married by Holy Matrimony, and the wordsompa(or to borrow) has given place tokazala(to take as a wife).