Chapter XVIHunting and Bush-burning
Manner of bush-burning--Witch-doctor makes a hunting-charm--Ceremony is carefully performed--Blazing bush and rushing animals--Satu arranges with another chief to burn the bush--Dimbula breaks the law and insults Satu--War is declared--Old Plaited-Beard being unsuccessful accuses Bakula of bewitching him--He tries to restore his luck.
As the hunting season was drawing near, Satu and his people decided to engage angang’ a nkongo, or the “medicine man” of the hunting fetish, to make for them a powerful charm that would endow them with good luck in all kinds of hunting. The time for bush-burning had arrived, when the tall grass in their district would be thoroughly dry by reason of the long drought, and would burn like prepared tinder. It is during the bush fires and the two succeeding months that systematic hunts are organized. It was therefore needful to prepare the charm as quickly as possible.
The first thing that Satu and his people had to do was to burn carefully a belt of grass, a hundred yards wide, right round their town, lestthe great, uncontrollable bush fires should come roaring up before the wind, and reducing their dwellings to ashes, destroy also their treasures and savings at the same time. For the purpose of burning this belt a damp morning, heavy with dew, was chosen; then the men and women went with sticks and knives, and cut or pushed down the grass all round the town--when the stems of grass are damp they are very pliable and are easily pressed down and will remain down as they dry in the morning sun.
The bush grass is anything from six feet to fifteen feet high, with stems as thick as a person’s fingers. When they are burning the steam generated in the stems causes them to explode with loud, gun-like reports, and the force of the explosions sends the burning grass hurtling through the air like rockets; hence Satu’s people took care to push down the grass so that the stalks pointed away from the houses.
After pressing down the grass round the town the wind was watched, and when it was favourable the broken-down grass was burnt. The men and lads, armed with branches, controlled and directed the flames; Bakula and the other lads just delighted in this bush-burning season, and looked forward to it with eager anticipation of the sport they would enjoy and the game they would secure.In dreams and talk they killed many an animal long before the first grass was fired.
Satu sent Bakula and two other lads to call thenganga, who made the hunting charms. On reaching his town they found him engaged in refreshing and reinvigorating his fetish. He took a large fowl at sunset, and, turning his face towards the setting sun, cut the throat of the fowl and let the running blood fall on the fetish, covering it with the life-blood of the sacrifice. This renewed the strength of the fetish, and, refreshing it, enabled it to impart power to various charms.
He then stood his fetish on the ground and surrounded it with several small heaps of gunpowder--laying a train from one heap to another. When all was ready he exploded the powder, and blew vigorously on his whistle--this aroused the fetish, made it alert and active in performing its work. Thengangahad the fowl cooked, and ate the whole of it himself, for to sell it or to share it with another would nullify its effect on the fetish as a sacrifice.
Bakula and his companions stood on one side keenly interested in these ceremonies, for was not their future success in hunting dependent in some way on these mysterious rites? Bakula, however, since his close intercourse with the white man, had begun to doubt the pretended powers of thesengangas, so turning to his fellow-messengers he asked: “How can that wooden image, that has to be refreshed with fowl’s blood and aroused with explosions of gunpowder, cause us to shoot straight in our bush lands? And again, how can it make the antelopes and bush pigs come our way, instead of going off in another direction?”
He then told the lads what he had seen in the King’s town respecting thengangawith his charm of feathers, and the iron prong hidden in them. And he concluded by saying: “I begin to think they trick us, take our money and laugh at us.” The lads could not reply to Bakula’s reasoning, but they had no doubt that thengangapossessed powerful “medicines,” and could do anything he liked; and they told Bakula in a friendly way not to let Old Plaited-Beard hear him talk in this manner, or he would quickly accuse him of witchcraft.
Early next morning they returned with the “medicine man” to their town; and immediately on arrival thengangaset to work to make the necessary charms. It was a busy time with him, and he would not have come so promptly, but Satu was a great noble and could pay well. Thengangaprocured some red camwood powder, some leaves of thelupemba-mpemba-tree, some young spikes of newniangagrass, some parrot feathers,cowry shells, wood ashes, a fore-leg of a bat, some small shot, and some nativepeppers. These he thoroughly cut up and well mixed, and each hunter filled his small horn with the mixture, and sealed the opening with a little rubber. He then received his fee and went.
The hunters being now in possession of their charms, went to visit the grave of a renowned hunter who had died some years previously. It was the custom that when a great hunter was dying he should draw a thread from hismbadi[58]cloth, and tie it round the forehead or arms of a young man chosen for the purpose. This person then became theKimpovela, or the one who speaks on behalf of others,i. e.an advocate; and this advocate was not allowed to marry more than one wife, and he must never beat her or he would lose his power as an advocate. Only the man thus selected by the dying hunter could perform the ceremonies at this grave. When the great hunter died, his hair was cut off and buried beneath a large stone near his place of burial, that the natives of the district might always know where the grave was situated.
Satu and his party took with them a calabash of palm-wine and, calling theKimpovela, passed on to the grave of the renowned hunter. The
advocate went first and kneeled with his back to the grave and his face towards the hunters, who approached him slowly, stopping every few steps to clap their hands. When they reached the kneeling man they spread out and sat round the grave, putting the wine and their guns on the ground near by. TheKimpovelathen turned towards the grave, and shaking his rattle repeatedly, he thus prayed to the deceased hunter: “You are blind, but your ears are not deaf. Oh, ears, hear well! we have come to you, we come kneeling. When you lived in the town you ate and you drank, now we who are left die of hunger; give us male and female animals.” When this prayer was finished a man put the calabash of wine on his shoulder, and theKimpovela, making the sign of the cross,[59]took a cup of the wine and poured it as an offering on the grave of the great hunter. The rest of the wine was drunk by the hunters sitting around the grave.
After drinking the wine theKimpovelarubbed a little of the earth wet with the oblatory wine on the forehead, temples, fore-arms, wrists, knees and insteps of each hunter; then he took each gun and drew his fingers up the butt, and reaching the barrel he snapped his fingers and handed the gun to its owner, who on taking it clapped hishands, sprang in the air, and holding the gun in front of him walked backwards a little way, facing the grave, and sat down to wait for the others. When all had finished they fired a salute and sang a song in praise of the great hunter to the rubbing, grating noise of the antelope drum. More palm-wine was drunk, and I am sure that by the time they had exhausted their wine, if they had seen an antelope not one of them was sober enough to have fired straight at it.
After these ceremonies were concluded whenever Satu and his people went hunting they either took their horns of medicine with them, each carrying his own under his belt, or they wetted the rubber stopper and rubbed the butt of their guns with a little of the moisture. This gave them accuracy of aim, or they thought so. By burning the belt of grass round their town they had secured their houses against fire, and by their charms and the visit to the grave of the renowned hunter they had ensured their future success as sportsmen; they were now consequently able to turn their attention to those parts of the bush where animals--antelopes, wild pigs and gazelles--were likely to be found.
A breezy day was chosen, and the hunters, taking their places along the portion of bush to be burned, fired the grass as soon as the nightdews were dried off. Animals browsing were startled by the roar of flames, rushed bewildered before the oncoming fire, and as they ran past were shot at by the waiting hunters. While the fire was burning hawks and fish-eagles circled above the burning bush, not “to drink in the smoke,” as the natives say, but in search of any hapless rats and snakes cut off from escape by the raging fire. These birds could be seen swooping down and carrying off to their lairs such reptiles and rats as their keen, hungry eyes detected.
These bush fires have taken place annually for generations, and undoubtedly account for the scarcity of wild game on the Lower Congo, the absence of large reptiles, the shabby appearance of the trees on the open veldt--they scarcely recover from one scorching before the dries are on them and another scorching is due--and the luxuriant grass, for the burnt remains of one crop enrich the soil to bear another as stalwart as the first.
During this season it is very weird to see, night after night, great bush fires blazing in different directions. The sky is aglow with them, and you smell and breathe a smoky atmosphere for days. Bits of charred grass are carried by the winds in all directions, and the country looks dressed in black as though it were mourning with a greatsorrow, and the sun, as though in sympathy with the earth, hides for days behind the clouds of ascended smoke.
During the hunts men are often wounded, and sometimes killed, by being mistaken for animals as they push through the rustling grass. Then follow recriminations, charges of intent to murder, and long law-suits that ruin the unfortunate family of the man who did not stop to look before he fired his gun. Sometimes, when a line of men is crawling through the grass tracking an animal, the trigger of a gun will catch in the stalks, the gun will explode, there will be a scream of a man in the agony of death, and the scared owner of the gun will be charged with murder, for there are no accidents in native law.
The culprit will be fortunate if the deceased is a member of a poor family, or a slave, for then he will get off with a heavy fine; but if the dead man is a person of importance his life will be forfeited, or he will be sold far away into slavery. He will be lucky if he is not shipped to St. Thomé or to Principe to work on the plantations.
During the bush-burning Satu and his men killed only three wild pigs and four gazelles; but they had a very serious quarrel with a neighbouring chief that developed into a war after the hunting season was over.
NATIVE ROPE BRIDGE.
NATIVE ROPE BRIDGE.
NATIVE ROPE BRIDGE.
NATIVE BRIDGE.
NATIVE BRIDGE.
NATIVE BRIDGE.
A part of Satu’s land ran by the side of ground belonging to a neighbouring chief named Dimbula; and according to custom Satu sent to Dimbula asking what day would be convenient for burning that part of the bush where their properties joined each other. After much palavering the day was fixed; but when Satu and his hunters reached the spot they found none of Dimbula’s people there.
It was against the law of custom for either party to fire the grass before the arrival of the other side; consequently Satu and his men sat waiting all through the long morning, and about noon they decided to return home--vexed with having wasted a whole morning. They had not gone very far when they heard shouts, and looking round saw the bush blazing. On hurrying back to the place they had so recently left, they found Dimbula and his men there.
Satu said: “We arrived here early this morning according to agreement, and we waited until midday, but as you and your people did not come, we did not burn the grass, and were just returning home intending to make a new appointment with you. Why have you broken the custom by firing the grass in our absence?”
“You think that because you areNgudi a nkama Katendithat you can do and say whatyou like,” replied Dimbula, with ill-suppressed anger and bad logic.
“No,” retorted Satu, “that is not so, or I would have lighted the bush early this morning, and not have sat here half the day waiting for you.”
“Let me tell you,” shouted Dimbula, “that my family had the title when your family was too poor to assume it, and was glad to sell the use of it.”
“Yes, that is true,” said Satu, “but that is no reason why you should burn the grass by yourself when you know my land runs by the side of yours.”
“You think that because you drove a white man out of your town and retained my runaway slave, that you can lord it over us,” said Dimbula, who by now was choking with unreasonable rage. In fact, we heard afterwards that Dimbula had planned the whole affair as an insult to Satu, of whom he was jealous, both as a rich man and as a noble of rank; and he also felt hurt because Satu had kept the “goat” that ran to him for protection.
Satu put down his gun, and with calmness and dignity went up to Dimbula and said: “I drove the white man away because I did not know him, and I accepted your slave according to native custom; but they are no excuses for insulting me.Listen, I swear by my mother,[60]that if you do not apologize and pay homage to me by the end of the hunting season I will fight you”; and turning his back on Dimbula he picked up his gun and walked away.
Just as Satu’s party reached the brow of the next hill, Dimbula sprang forward and shouted in contemptuous and boastful derision: “O mighty chief Satu, can I lend you twenty kegs of powder for the coming fight?”
The town was all excitement when they heard of the insults that had been heaped on their chief, and many of the more fiery ones wished to begin the fight at once; but Satu would not give his consent, and told them to wait until the hunting was finished.
A few weeks after the fires were over a fine grass covered the hill-sides and plateaus with such delicious fresh verdure that the antelopes and gazelles were enticed from the forests where they had fled from the devouring flames, to browse on it, and so delighted were they with the new sweet crop that they forgot all dangers, and were easily surrounded by hunters and shot down.
In these hunts native dogs were used, and a “medicine man” was usually called to endow them with good tracking powers. Thengangatook some chalk, some different leaves and the head of a viper. These he mixed thoroughly together and made into a bundle. He then took a small portion of the bundle and put it in a funnel-twisted leaf, caught a wasp and pressed its juice into the funnel, put in a little palm-wine, and squeezed the juice of this mixture into each dog’s nose. They then became good trackers and hunters. The chalk gave them wisdom, the leaves gave good health, the portion of viper imparted stealthiness, and just as a wasp makes straight for its nest, so the dogs would make straight for the game.
Some of Satu’s people went one day with their dogs to hunt, and had been gone most of the day when an antelope was seen by Bakula on the side of a distant hill. They instantly spread, worked to leeward and gradually bore down on the unsuspecting creature. The nearest man fired[61]and the poor animal fell mortally wounded. Directly it fell some grass was cut and spread out, and the antelope was laid on it.
The hunter who killed it put the butt of his gun to his shoulder and the muzzle on the carcass. A cross cut was made on the stomach, and the hunter put his fingers three times to the cut and to his upper lip, then again three times to the cut,and rubbed his fingers each time on his gun. The antelope was then removed, and the hunter put the muzzle of his gun under the grass and turned it over. The animal could not be cut up until this ceremony was performed, or the hunter would have lost his “hunting skill,” and, besides, it established beyond a doubt the ownership of the antelope.
The flesh of the animals killed in the hunts is always divided, according to certain well-recognized rules: the kidneys and strips of meat from the back were sent to Satu as chief of the town; one hind-leg was given to the men who were left in the town, and they shared it with their wives; one fore-quarter was given to the hunters, the heart was given to the father of the successful hunter, certain portions were sent to his mother and aunt, and the rest belonged to the man who killed it.
When the antelope was being divided, the bladder was emptied and filled with blood, and in a day or two it was carried to theKimpovela, or advocate, in charge of the renowned hunter’s grave. TheKimpovelabrought from his house a small wooden cross and fixed it in the grave. He then put the successful bullet in the prepared hole in the cross and poured the blood over the cross and the grave as an offering, saying as hedid so: “We thank you for sending us such a fine animal, and hope you will repeat the favour.” Only the blood of antelopes is given in this way. Some of the blood was rubbed on their fetish charms, and the end of the antelope’s tail was stuck in the wall over the doorway of the successful hunter.
During the hunting season Old Plaited-Beard was unsuccessful in his hunting--not a single animal fell to his gun, although he had several fine opportunities. He was exasperated at his failure, and looked around for the reason why his charms were ineffective. He now recalled to mind what the boys who accompanied Bakula told him on their return about their companion’s disparaging remarks concerning the “medicine man,” his fetish, and his trickery. He also remembered his admiration for the white man, and the attempts he made to bring about a meeting between them. Putting all these things together, he came to the conclusion that Bakula had bewitched him and his charms, and that consequently he was unable to kill any game.
Old Plaited-Beard sent for Bakula and accused him of destroying the power in his charms; and when the lad strenuously denied the accusation, he told him what he had sneeringly said in thenganga’stown about “medicine men” and theirtricks; of his companionship with the white man in the King’s town; and how he who used to wear so many charms had thrown nearly all of them away. It seemed a very black indictment.
Bakula admitted that he had lost faith inngangas, and told with dramatic force of thenganga’sexposed trickery in the King’s town; he did not deny his liking for the white man, for had he not shown kindness to him in forgiving him and healing his wound? He assented to the charge of throwing his charms away, for he could not see that the messes the witch-doctors put into horns and shells could help them in sickness, hunting, trading, or anything else.
“Besides,” he said, "if I had power to affect the charms made by the ‘medicine man’ for the town, how is it our people have killed pigs, gazelles and an antelope?"
“You let them shoot the animals, and took the spirit from my charms, so that I could not kill any,” unreasonably argued the superstitious old man.
“I am sorry no game fell to your gun,” soothingly replied the lad, “but it was through no fault of mine.”
Old Plaited-Beard looked at the apologetic lad suspiciously, and he thought that his very conciliatory attitude was a sign of his guilt. Hewould have understood him better if the spirited boy had burst into loud, angry abuse, recriminations and counter-charges. However, he only said: "Don’t do it again. Leave my charms alone and do not laugh at ‘medicine men’ and their fetishes, for you have put me to the expense of engaging angangato renew the power in my hunting charm."
Old Plaited-Beard went next day to thenganga nkongo, who made three plaits of nine pieces of grass in each plait. He then asked for a piece of the last bird or animal his client had killed. The old man took from his shoulder-bag the tail of a gazelle that he had brought for the purpose and handed it over to the “medicine man.”
A hunter always saves a feather or a claw of the last bird he killed, or the tail or hoof of the last animal he shot, and that is why all these odds and ends are stuck in the front walls of the houses. At any time he may repeatedly miss, and may require a piece of the last thing he killed to restore his luck. Thengangatook the gazelle’s tail from Old Plaited-Beard and put it on the ground; he then made three little heaps of loose gunpowder round it, and chalked a cross near the powder, and on the butt of the hunter’s gun. Thengangaexploded the powder; a little gunpowder was then put in the gun, and the hunter, standing a few feetaway, fired at the gazelle’s tail, and blew it from the spot on which it was resting, thus proving that his hunting skill had returned to him. If the tail had not been blown out of its position the “medicine man” would have repeated his ceremonies.
After the old man had knocked the tail away, thengangatook the gun from him, and put his finger in the dirt where the tail had been, and rubbed a little of the earth three times on the hunter’s upper lip; the fourth time he put his fingers on the butt of the gun, and ran them up the barrel and snapped them in the air. He then loosened the plaits, and shook the grass about the gun. Old Plaited-Beard stepped forward, solemnly clapped his hands, took his gun, sprang into the air, and returned home satisfied that in future he would be more successful. He had never been a good shot, and this season he failed utterly, and put all the blame on Bakula, on whom he determined to avenge himself on the first good opportunity.
Chapter XVIISatu and his People go to War
Satu as the insulted party makes the first move--He sends an embassy to Dimbula--He asks for an apology or offers a bullet--The apology is refused, but the bullet is accepted--The witch-doctor makes a new charm--Mode of fighting--The ridge-pole of chief’s house is captured--Dimbula sues for peace with a white goat--Pays homage to Satu--Blood brotherhood is made.
The hunting season had ended, and Dimbula had neither come to pay homage to Satu, nor sent an apology for the insults he had heaped on him. Dimbula’s attitude, his insolence, his breaking the bush-burning custom, and “What would Satu do?” were the general topics of conversation on the markets and around the evening fires. The people belonging to both towns swaggered, boasted of their prowess, and insulted each other whenever they met. There was no hope either of Dimbula humbling himself, or of Satu relinquishing his claims to homage, or at least his rights to courteous treatment.
As Satu was the aggrieved party he was consequently the one to make the first move. Bakulaand another lad were chosen to carry a message and a bullet to Dimbula’s town.
It was with much nervous trepidation that they went on their errand. On arriving at the town they found the chief and his head men engaged in a drinking bout. Bakula delivered his message: “Would Dimbula apologize for his insults and pay homage to Satu as a noble of high rank, or would he accept of the bullet Satu had sent him?” Bakula and his comrade then withdrew out of hearing while the men consulted about the answer that should be returned.
When the messengers were recalled, Dimbula said: “We will accept the bullet, as we never intend either to apologize or to pay homage to Satu. Tell him,” angrily boasted the excited chief, “that I can let him have fifty kegs of gunpowder if he is short of it,” and then followed a string of abusive epithets that I do not care to place on record. The two lads were glad eventually to find themselves outside the town in safety; and, on reaching home, delivered their message faithfully to the waiting people.
Upon the return of the messengers Satu sent to call in all the neighbouring chiefs, except Dimbula, and on their arrival he laid clearly before them the reasons of his quarrel with Dimbula, and his wish to fight him. After fullconsideration of the matter the chiefs gave their consent to the fight taking place; and thereupon Satu killed a pig and distributed it among the chiefs. The acceptance of this pig’s flesh assured their neutrality, and was a proof of their consent. It was now the business of the chiefs to see that no one went to the assistance of either of the towns at war; and thus Satu had gained an open field, and feared no interference while he was fighting his enemy.
The next thing to be done was to send for thengangawho made the war charms. On his arrival Satu and all the men who were to take part in the fighting assembled to greet and fête him, for their success, and perhaps their lives, depended on his good-humour and his care in making their charms. They told thengangathat they were willing to pay for the most powerful charms he could make.
The “medicine man” took a frog and killed it, then he procured some twigs from three different trees--the “lembanzau,” the “lolo,” and the “mfilu”; these four things were carefully burnt together, and the ashes made into a paste by the addition of some water. A little of this paste was put into a large number of snail shells, one of which was given as a charm to each fighting man. Then the men walked round one of the abovetrees, and on returning to the town some palm-wine was mixed with the paste remaining in the saucepan, and all drank of it. After each one had drunk a little of this mess, thengangatook the saucepan down to the road that led to Dimbula’s town, and placed it right in the middle of the path. Each man had then to jump over the pot, and if one had stumbled or touched the pot with his foot while jumping he would not have been allowed to go to the fight. The coming war was a popular one, so every man jumped carefully and lifted his feet well when he came to the saucepan.
The twigs used in making this charm were from “strong medicine trees,” and the frog was put in the mixture because they had noticed that the frog’s heart pulsates, or, as they say, “lives,” for some time after it is taken from the body. This tenacity of life was what the fighters needed.
Early next morning the warriors assembled in front of the chief’s home, and he served out the powder to them. Then thengangacame with a bowl of palm-wine, and dipping his fingers in the wine touched the lips of the fighters three times with the front and back of his fingers, and told them not to look back, nor enter a house, but go right away to the fight. This he did each morning during the war, for this charm put them undera spell that removed all possibility of harm or danger. And the warriors being now secured from bullets, knives, etc., went off in high spirits to the fight.
The lads, girls and women who were not permitted to go to the fight brought out their most powerful fetish, and placing it in the middle of a cleared space, danced round it, and as they circled about the ugly image they sang: “You fetish, you must kill any one who is bewitching our fighting men.” Hour after hour, through all the long morning and afternoon they assiduously danced and repeated their wearisome and monotonous injunction to their fetish.
Meanwhile, Satu led his men towards his insulter’s town; but in a valley that skirted the hill upon which his enemy’s town was built he saw Dimbula and his followers drawn up in fighting array. They were arranged in a long line behind trees, stones, ants’ nests, hillocks and any other cover they could find. Satu took his men to within sixty yards of the enemy, and then spread them in a long line. Abusive expressions of defiance were hurled at each other, each side ridiculing the bravery of the other, and asking if they had enough powder for the fight.
When they became tired of shouting, they began to fire their guns at one another across theopen bush. One man would load, run out and fire his gun, and return to cover; then another did the same, and sometimes there was simply a flash in the pan and no report at all. Through the whole of the day they fired at one another in this desultory manner, and not a single person on either side was hit. Their guns carried only about thirty yards with any effect, but they generally fired at a distance of about fifty yards. Again, as the butts of their guns were not pressed against their shoulders to steady them while taking aim, but held against the palms of the hands, or against nothing at all, they had free play, and the kick of the guns sent the slugs anywhere but in a straight line. In fact Tumbu, a lad, one day was standing well up the hill some distance above the combatants when a spent slug struck him on the leg, scratching the skin. You see it was not steady, calm aiming that caused a bullet to go straight; but the concoction the “medicine man” put in their charms, and if the bullets went in any direction but the right one it was not their fault, but their charms were not properly compounded, or their enemies had more powerful “medicine.”
The fighting had lasted some ten days when it was noticed by Satu’s party that their enemy’s firing was neither so frequent nor so loud, anevident proof that Dimbula’s boasted supply of gunpowder was running short.
It was now that a slave belonging to one of Satu’s head men ran forward in reckless bravado to fire at the enemy, and was himself struck by a bullet in the stomach. A fight with knives and clubbed guns took place over the fallen man.
Dimbula’s men wanted to secure the body, and Satu’s men resisted the attempt for the following reason: If the corpse fell into the hands of the enemy they would cut off the head, and soak it in water until the skull was freed of all flesh. Then the victor would either put it in a prominent place on a pole as a reproach to the conquered, or he would use it as a drinking-cup. The spirit of a man thus mutilated haunts and kills by witchcraft, not the man who slew him, but the members of his own family. Thus, on the one hand they fight to preserve the body intact so as not to have the vengeance of the spirit falling on them as a family; and on the other hand they fight to mutilate the enemy’s body so that his family may be done to death by the angry spirit. Hence the fight now raged over the body of the fallen man.
But Satu’s men were too strong, and, at really close quarters, too brave[62]to give way to theinsulter of their popular chief, and after a short, sharp scuffle, in which several were wounded on both sides, Dimbula’s men took to their heels and bolted towards their town, shouting loudly to the women and children to fly to the forest.
Satu, calling his men about him, gave chase up the hill and into the town, simply to find it deserted. They raided the houses, taking the little treasures that had been overlooked in the hurried flight of their owners, gathered fowls, goats and pigs, and drove them off to their town; but before leaving they pulled out the ridge-pole of Dimbula’s house, and carried it away in triumph--for to take the ridge-pole of a chief’s house against whom you are fighting is like capturing a royal standard in an English battle.
Satu and his fighters returned with their loot in great jubilation; but on arriving in their town their victorious ardour was somewhat damped by hearing that the slave had died from his wound, and several others had severe cuts and gashes gained in themêléeover the fallen man. The owner of the slave was very much annoyed at the destruction of his property, and said: “How is it my slave was killed and no one else? Surely he was bewitched!” He accused Satu of bewitching him, and the chief would have had to take the ordeal to clear himself of the charge;but the slain man was a slave, and no free man or chief ever takes the ordeal on account of a slave. Satu, however, soothed the vexed man by promising to make Dimbula pay for the slave, or give another in his place.
Next morning Satu led his men out again; but no sooner had they begun to fire than Dimbula’s voice could be heard shouting: “Luve! luve! luve!” or “Peace! peace! peace!”
Instantly upon hearing this cry for peace all fighting, according to custom, must cease; consequently Satu told his men to stop firing. Then a small company of men coming across the valley could be seen, the foremost of whom was Dimbula, and behind him came a neighbouring chief carrying on his shoulders awhitegoat. Dimbula took thewhitegoat, and kneeling in front of Satu, said: “I do not want any more fighting, and in token of my submission I offer you thiswhitegoat.”
Satu accepted the goat, and said: “I am glad to receive yourwhitegoat of submission; but I cannot promise you a lasting peace until you have: First, paid homage to me as a noble of rank; secondly, compensated my head man for a slave killed in the fight; and lastly, paid one hundred kegs of gunpowder and fifty pieces of cloth to compensate us.”
Dimbula begged for better terms, and pleaded poverty, stating truly that he had not the powder and cloth. All the swaggering arrogance of the bully had gone out of his tone and demeanour as he cringed on the ground before his conqueror; and as he crouched there he was seen in his true character--a coward.
To him Satu replied: “The homage you can pay now while you are kneeling before me; the slave you can also repay at once to my head man, for I know you have slaves; and for the rest you can hand over one of your brothers and two of your nephews for me to hold in pawn until you have paid the agreed price. This is fair, and I have only one mouth.”
Dimbula knew that it would be waste of time to plead further, and in his heart he was surprised that the conditions were so generous; so swallowing his pride he paid homage to his victor asN gudi a nkama Katendi. He then called one of his slaves and offered him to Satu’s head man, who, being satisfied with his healthy appearance, accepted him with alacrity. He then called his young brother and two nephews, and, promising to redeem them as soon as possible, put their hands in Satu’s, thus completing the conditions of peace.
In the meantime, angangawas called who camewith some stalks, leaves and palm-wine. He pressed the juice out of the stalks into the wine, and well mixing them he dipped the leaves in the liquid, touched the chiefs with the leaves and sprinkled the rest of the mixture indiscriminately over the fighters and people of both sides. Thus peace was established. To ensure this peace for all time, so far as these two men were concerned, thengangalet a little blood from them, and gave each to drink the blood taken from the other; then two needles were solemnly buried and the whilom enemies became henceforth staunch friends and blood brothers.
Down somewhere in Dimbula’s cruel, bullying, arrogant nature was a soft place for his nephews and brother, for at once he began to trade, nor did he rest until he had gained sufficient to redeem his relatives by taking the hundred kegs of powder, the fifty pieces of cloth, and the necessary threewhitegoats to cleanse them from all taint of slavery. Besides, he was eager to reinstate himself with the neighbouring chiefs, among whom he had lost his position as a defeated man too poor to meet the terms of peace. And Satu, as a proof of his increasing friendship for Dimbula, gave him back the ridge-pole that had been torn from his house.
Chapter XVIIIGoverning, Marketing, and Trading Customs
The making and enforcing of laws--Fines imposed--Division of fines--Congo week of four days probably named after their markets--Raids and robberies--Preparing a caravan for the road--Rules of the road--Arriving at a trading-station--Mode of trading--Goods given and received.
From this time Satu could not engage in trading expeditions, but devoted himself to governing the country by helping to make new laws or administering old ones. As a noble of exalted rank he presided over the chiefs of his district at the big palavers when difficult cases were judged, or called them together to give their sanction to new regulations.
Recently there had been much quarrelling on the markets, resulting in severe wounds and a few deaths. After much thought and many talks with his head men, Satu determined to stop these fatal fights by making a law that in future no guns should be carried on a market-place nor force used during market-time. He therefore sent for all the chiefs of the district, and on their arrivallaid clearly and forcibly before them the new law and the reasons for it. He also suggested that for every breach of the law a fine of three pieces of good cloth should be inflicted.
This was discussed, and it was finally settled that for taking a gun on the market the fine should be two pieces of cloth, and for originating a quarrel the fine should be five pieces, and the defaulter to pay all the damages of the disturbance.
As soon as this was settled Old Plaited-Beard was nominated as theN enkondo, or enforcer of the new law; and Satu divided the flesh of three pigs among the assembled chiefs; and they accepted it as a proof of their assent to the new law, and their promised aid in enforcing it. After this the witnessing chiefs went to a cross-road and one of their number proclaimed the new law. Lying on the ground he rubbed his mouth in the dirt, and then striking his knees with his hands he called down a bitter curse on any one who dared to break this edict.
This ceremony has often a very terrifying effect on the people, and he will be a bold fellow who risks the curse.
Each chief returned to his village or town, and told all his people of the new law and its penalties; thus, a day or two after the new rule wasmade and promulgated at the cross-roads, every one affected by it had heard of it.
It was now the duty of Old Plaited-Beard to follow up quickly any infringement of the new command, no matter who the culprit might be; and it was not long before a slave of a neighbouring chief carried a gun on to a market and in a drunken quarrel severely wounded a man. Old Plaited-Beard, theN enkondo, had to bestir himself at once to follow up the man who had broken the law.
This activity was necessitated by a curious view taken by the natives of laws in general. From the time a law was broken until the breaker of it was punished, that particular law did not exist, it was broken, dead; hence, for instance, any man could take a gun on a market and shoot another person and go unpunished, because the law against that crime was dead and could not be mended or brought again to life until the first breaker of it was punished by paying the penalty. This ensured quick dealing with culprits, and impartial administration of the law, for if a chief broke the law he was judged immediately like an ordinary man and paid the penalty, otherwise anarchy reigned until the law was vindicated by the infliction of the fine on the law-breaker. To neglect to punish the chief would mean that anyone could repeat the crime with impunity, for the law was dead.
The slave was quickly caught and brought before the chiefs; but as a master is responsible for the actions of his slave, it was really the owner who was on his trial and had to pay the fine of five pieces of cloth and compensate the wounded man. On meeting all the demands the master received his slave again, and did with him as he liked. The slave was his property in the same sense as his goats, fowls or pigs, and after cruelly punishing the man he sold him away from his wife and children to a distant tribe of people, and we never saw nor heard of him again.
The fines imposed on law-breakers are periodically divided among the chiefs of the district. They are one source of their income, and repay them for the trouble of administering the laws and governing the people. Satu, of course, took a larger share of the fines than the other chiefs. He not only presided over the palavers, but he also acted as treasurer and stored the fines until the time of division, and if he had failed to give the other chiefs their proper share at stated intervals, they would have refused to judge cases with him, and the country would have quickly become unmanageable and disorderly.
A share of the fines, however, would notsupport Satu as a chief and noble; consequently he had to turn his attention to trading on the markets and with the white men down at the coast. Bakula on account of his smartness was often employed by his chief to sell pigs, cloth, goats, gunpowder and other goods on the markets.
There are four days in a Congo week--Konzo,N kenge,N sonaandN kandu, and these are also the names of the markets held on those days. All the markets on a certain day all over our part of the Congo are calledKonzo, and all the markets next day are calledN kenge, and so on. These markets are all held in different places,e. g.all theKonzomarkets are held in different places from all the rest of the markets on the other three successive days; and these markets are so arranged that one in four comes within two to five miles of every town or village on the Lower Congo.
Thus one of theKonzomarkets was only four miles from our town; the nearestN kengeone was nine miles away from us, but near some other towns, the nearestN sonamarket was sixteen miles away, and theN kandumarket was nearly twenty miles distant from us, but not far from some other villages. Again, some of these markets were famous for certain articles that were always to be found on sale at them. For instance,at oneN kengea person could always find pigs, and buyers and sellers of pigs consequently travelled to that particularN kenge; anotherN kengewas noted for pots, calabashes and sauce-pans. OneN sonawould be noted for cloth and another for palm-wine. At all the markets cassava roots,kwanga, or native bread, peanuts, beans and various other food-stuffs were on sale, besides the speciality of the market.
There are also five important markets that are held every eight days, not on the same but on the successive eighth days. These are calledN kengeElembelo, held not far from the King’s town;Konzo Kinsuka, about two days north of the previous one; two days farther north isKonzo Kikandikila; three days north of that isKonzo Makwekwe, and about another two days north, but on the other side of the great river, is theN kenge N kila. Perhaps these great markets are to be found well established much farther north and south of the points I have named, and are only limited by the boundaries of the old kingdom of Congo, which formerly included Landana on the north and Bihe on the south.
While there were stringent laws against fighting, raiding, quarrelling and capturing people on the markets, no law could be enforced to guard small, unprotected parties on the way to or fromthe markets. Rowdy rascals would lie in wait and pounce on any defenceless child or adult, and, hurrying them away to some distant place, sell them into slavery, to the intense grief of their relatives.
I heard Bakula once tell how his young sister was sent by her mother to buy a saucepan at a market only four miles from home. She had bought the vessel and was returning to her town in the company of some neighbours, when, in a forest, she strayed from the path and was never heard of again, although the whole town turned out to search the forest.
Now and again some of these daring, reckless scamps were caught, and the whole countryside would wreak its vengeance on them, for there was scarcely a family but had lost one or more of its members or some of its goods by these kidnappings and robberies.
Bakula and some of the men were sent to the various markets far and near to buy up rubber and tusks of ivory. Sometimes they would take pigs and goats to sell, and having sold them would then buy what rubber and ivory there were for sale on the market. At other times they would take cloth and gunpowder to give in exchange for those products that white men bought at the coast--rubber and ivory. Occasionally they had to goto distant markets to buy pigs for cloth, and then travel to another market to exchange the pigs for rubber, peanuts and tusks.
Thus the rubber and ivory were gradually accumulated by the richer natives, and when enough were gathered a large caravan of men, from eighty to a hundred and twenty in number, was dispatched to the trading houses at the coast. As the natives could neither read nor write, it needed a clear head and a complicated system of knots and notches to keep a record of what was spent in pigs, goats, cloth and gunpowder in buying up the little stores of rubber and ivory on the markets. A man would tie a knot in a string for every pig sold, another string was used for every goat, another for every keg of gunpowder, and a notch was cut in a stick for every piece of cloth. By counting the knots and notches he knew just how much the ivory, rubber and peanuts had cost him; he also knew how much each man would “eat” on the road, and therefore he was quite able to ask of, and only accept from, the white traders a price that would pay for his stuff, meet the expenses of his carriers, and leave him a fair margin of profit for his risk of capital and trouble.
After months of petty trading on the markets, sufficient rubber, peanuts and ivory were collectedto warrant a journey to the coast. Satu himself could not go, so he sent one of his head men, and told him how much he wanted for the produce he was sending, which would require forty men to carry it. Satu’s agent had ten loads, and neighbouring chiefs and head men joined the caravan with their porters, so that when all were ready to start there were nearly one hundred and forty men and lads in the party, and as most had knives, guns or spears they were well able to protect themselves on the long, wearisome road.
When all was arranged for the journey a “medicine man,” namedN gang’ a mpungu, or the Luck-giver, was called. He came with his bag, containing pieces of leopard’s skin, hyæna’s skin, lion’s skin, and, in fact, a piece of the skin of every strong animal he could procure, and also some albino’s hair; and he carried with him his wooden fetish image with grass tied round its neck, knotted back and front.
The “medicine man” sat in the middle of the caravan, which stood round him with their bundles tied ready for the journey, and put the fetish image in front of him. Thengangaspoke to the image, telling it to give the traders good luck on the road and at the trading-station. A man then held a fowl by the head and the “medicine man” took it by the body and cut its head off and letthe blood drop on the image. After this the fowl was cooked and eaten outside the houses; and during and after this ceremony no one could enter a house or turn back from the road.
The fowl having been eaten, a shell was brought containing very small pieces of everything that was in the fetish bag of charms, and this shell was placed on the road by which the men had to travel to the coast. Every one in the caravan had then to step carefully over the shell, for if any one had touched it he would not have been allowed to proceed or he would die on the journey. Having passed safely over the shell of charms, we were not to look back or our luck would have been destroyed. Bakula performed these various rites in a very half-hearted manner, for he was losing faith in them.
As we were starting the members of our party shouted to the people left in the town: “Good health to you, and let no one follow us to give us bad luck in trading”; and those left behind said: “Good journey to you, and do not any of you return to bewitch us, or carry us to sell to the white traders.” The idea behind these requests was that any living person who is andoki, or witch, can visit a place by hisnkwiya, or evil spirit, and take a person away, or work them great harm by his witchcraft. Hence they live inconstant fear of each other, and all their charms, fetishes, and witch-doctors are employed in protecting them from one another. Before Bakula reached the shell his mother came hurrying towards him, and, pretending to spit on his face, said: “May you have all that you desire, may you have happiness and good luck, and may your words find favour with the people.” It was her mode of saying farewell to her son.
We were now fairly started on the road, and as all the omens were in our favour and thengangahad performed his ceremonies without the slightest hitch, everybody was in good spirits, and more ready to laugh and sing than grumble at the weight of the loads. Many points of etiquette had to be remembered as we passed through the numerous towns and villages on our road to the coast.
On passing through a village we were not allowed to let our sticks touch the ground or we should destroy the luck of that place and that would mean a heavy fine. While in the open country or bush many of the men hitched up their cloths (exposing their thighs) to give greater freedom to their legs; but on passing through a town they dropped their cloths out of respect to the town, or otherwise they would have been taken to the chief’s house and well beaten.In passing through any town every carrier was careful not to put his load on his head, as that was regarded as an exhibition of insolent pride, and would have aroused the anger of the towns-people, and a fight, with heavy fines, would have resulted. If we sat resting on the ground in any town we had to be careful not to shake off the dust from our cloths until we got outside the town, as such an action was regarded as putting a curse on the place.
Tolls had to be paid for using all bridges and canoes in crossing the larger rivers in our path; and a tax, according to the number of carriers and the value of their loads, was demanded by the overlords of the districts through which we passed. The non-observance of these customs and points of etiquette led sometimes to quarrels and fights between insolent travellers and insulted townsfolk.
On our arrival at the coast we were met by a native interpreter, who had visited our town and given Satu twenty pieces of cloth on the understanding that he was to have the privilege of selling our chief’s “trade produce” to one of the white traders. This interpreter showed us much hospitality, hoping thereby to be seller for the whole caravan.
The morning after our arrival we sorted Satu’sstuff into three lots--ten loads of ivory, eight loads of peanuts, and twenty-two loads of rubber. It was decided to sell the rubber first, so the men carried their loads to the trader’s store accompanied by the interpreter. The following conversation then took place, the white man and the interpreter talking Portuguese, and the native trader and the interpreter talking the vernacular--
Interpreter to white man: “How much for this rubber?”
The rubber was carefully examined and weighed.
White man: “I will give 200 pieces of cloth.”
Interpreter to native trader: “He will give you 80 pieces of cloth.”
Native trader: “That is not enough, I want 170 pieces.”
Interpreter to white man: “They want 250 pieces of cloth.”
White man: “That is too much; I will give 210 pieces.”
Interpreter to native trader: “He will give you 90 pieces.”
After much haggling the white man reached his limit of 220 pieces; and after much talking, lasting nearly the whole day, the native trader brought his price down to 150 pieces, and the interpreter worked his up gradually to thatamount. Being now agreed, the interpreter told the white man to take the rubber, and pay 150 pieces to Satu’s agent. Satu had instructed his agent not to take less than 135 pieces of cloth, and had also informed him what goods he was to select from the store. Having received fifteen pieces more than they anticipated, they reckoned that they had sold to great advantage.
Having settled the price, we went over to the store to draw the goods. Arranged round the store were the trade goods: cloths of various colours, lengths and qualities; plates, dishes, basins, ewers, mugs, cups, glasses, looking-glasses of different sizes, bright beads of gorgeous colours, machets, knives and guns. In another store was a huge pile of bags of salt, and isolated from the other houses was a store full of gunpowder.
Satu’s agent, according to his instructions, picked out fifty pieces of cloth; gunpowder to the value of fifty pieces, and fifty pieces worth of beads, mugs, trinkets, rum and gin.
All these articles were carried over to the shed in which we were living while transacting our business with the trader. Then the ivory was sold in the same manner, and, the price having been settled, guns, powder, liquor, blankets, cloth, etc., were selected up to the agreed amount.The sale of the peanuts was a very simple matter. We put the nuts on the scale, and salt was weighed against them, and when they balanced a gaudy coloured plate was put on top and the sale was completed,i. e.we received weight for weight in salt for our peanuts and a make-weight of a plate on top of each load.