Chapter 7

39Mani or Muene, lord and even king, as Muene Putu, King of Portugal, but also applied to a mere village chief. TheCabechof Battell must have resided somewhere about Muchima, but on the right bank of the Coanza.

40Battell’s Guinea wheat ismasa-mamputo, orgrão de Portugal, the zea mayz of botanists, which, according to Candolle and Ficalho, was introduced from America.

41Kasanza’s lake can confidently be identified with the Lalama Lake of modern maps, south of the Rio Bengo, thirty-six miles due east of S. Paulo de Loanda.Kais a diminitive;nsanzameans village.

42The river of Bengo or Nzenza, which enters the sea ten miles north-east of Loanda.

43Mani Bangono’s district is not mentioned elsewhere. It cannot have been far from the sea.

44Mushi or Mwishikongo, a Congo-man: plural, Eshi-Kongo.

45Bamba, or rather Mbamba, the south-west province of Congo, extending to the lower Coanza.

46Lamba, or Hamba, is bounded by the Bengo in the north, and by the Coanza and its tributary the Lucalla on the south. The “Governor” here referred to is João Furtado de Mendonça. Battell seems to have been among the reinforcements despatched after the disastrous campaign in the spring of 1596. The “General” of Battell was João de Velloria, a Spaniard, who was Capitâo mór do Campo.

47The route followed by Battell is approximately indicated upon the map. Sowonso may be the same as Dapper’s Chonso or Douville’s Quionso, beyond Icolo. As to the other places along the route, I can suggest no identifications. Namba Calamba certainly has nothing to do with the Portuguese Fort Calumbu on the Coanza, built in 1571.

48Kumba ria Kaiangu?

49Outeiro(Portuguese), a hill.

50Battell’s Ingasia is undoubtedly the Angazi or Engase of Duarte Lopez, a Bunda district subject to Bamba, which in Pigafetta’s map lies to the south of the river Bengo. Mendez de Castellobranco, p. 11, mentions Engombe (Ngombe). The name survives perhaps in the Ndembu Ngombe a Muquiama on the northern bank of the Bengo, who, according to J. V. Carneiro (An. do conselho ultramar., vol. ii, pp. 172 to 179, 1861), was in olden times dependent upon Congo. The name Ngombe (“ox”) is, however, a very common one.

51The Pete, more correctly calledPuita, orKipuita, is a musical instrument described by Monteiro (Angola, vol. ii, p. 140), and in Cordeiro da Matta’sDiccionario, p. 29. It consists of a hollow wooden cylinder, one end of which is covered with sheepskin. A wooden stick is passed through the centre of this sheepskin, and a most hideous noise is produced by moving this stick to and fro.

52The Pongo (mpunga) is an ivory trumpet.

53Engeriay seems to be a misprint, perhaps for theOghegheof Duarte Lopez, which Ficalho identifies with Mung’eng’e (Spondias lutea) of Angola, calledGegoby Lopez de Lima (Ensaios, vol. iii, p. 15). Dr. Welwitsch found the tree growing wild in the mountains of Benguella, whence it was transplanted to Loanda. It is valued for its wood, the shade it affords, and its fruit, which resembles a yellow plum, is of delicious flavour and esteemed as a remedy against bile (Ficalho,Plantas uteis, p. 126; Monteiro,Angola, vol. ii, p. 298). Purchas, in a marginal note, Bk. VII, c. 4, says that theOgheghe“bears a fruit which is like a yellow plumme and is very good to eat, and hath a very sweet smell withall.” This information was given by Battell.

54Pome-water, a kind of apple, calledmalus carbonariaby Coles (Nares’sGlossary).

55Margaritais the Portuguese (and Latin) for pearl. Purchas may have suggested the word, whilst Battell simply referred to thecowriecurrency of the country, or to a more valuable shell such as Cavazzi (p. 12) says was found near Cambambe, a collar of which had the value of a slave; or to a crystal found in Shela, and called “thunder-stone” by the natives. Mr. R. C. Phillips writes: “I have found that some kind of stone used to pass as money in the old slave times, say in 1850 or 1860, but I never saw one. These stones were of great value, and I have a vague idea they were called ‘agang.’”

56The author’s “wheat” is maize (see p. 7).

57This is undoubtedly the bay upon which Manuel Cerveira Pereira, in 1617, founded the city of S. Filippe de Benguella. The bay at that time was known as Bahia da Torre, or de S. Antonio. By its discoverers it seems to have been named Golfo de S. Maria. The “torre” is, of course, the Ponta do Sombreiro or S. Philip’s bonnet. Pimentel (Arte de Navegar, 1762, p. 276) locates a Bahia da Torre fifty miles to the south of Benguella Bay, which therefore corresponds to the Elephant Bay of modern maps, with its “mesa,” or table-mountain rising to a height of a thousand feet.

58Cacongo (recteKikongo), according to Welwitsch, is the wood ofTarchonanthes camphoratus. It is hard, of a greyish olive colour, and has the perfume of camphor. Its powder is esteemed as a tonic (Ficalho,Plantas uteis, p. 206).

59Carraca, a vessel, generally of considerable burthen, and such as could be profitably employed in the Brazilian and Indian trade.

60Ndalabondo seems to be the name of a person. The people in the interior of Benguella are known as Bi’nbundo.

61Neither Mr. Dennett nor Mr. Phillips knows a bead of that name.Mpinda(plur.Zimpinda) means ground nut.

62For an account of Dombe, which lies to the south of St. Filip de Benguella, see Capello and Ivens,From Benguella to the Territory of Yacca, London, 1882, vol. i, p. 308; and Serpa Pinto,How I Crossed Africa, London, 1881, vol. i, p. 46. Copper ore abounds in the district, and a mine, four miles inland, was recently worked by the Portuguese (Monteiro,Angola, London, 1875, vol. ii, p. 198).

63That is, bark-cloth made of the inner bark of thensanda, Banyan or wild fig-tree, orFicus Lutata(see Pechuel Loesche,Loango Exped., vol. iii, p. 172).

64Purchas spells indifferently Gaga, Iagge, Giagas, etc. The correct spelling is Jaga or Jaka. For a sketch of the history of these military leaders, see Appendix.

65The Morro, or bluff, of Old Benguella, in lat. 10° 48´ S., is a conspicuous headland, presenting a perpendicular cliff towards the sea, its summit being covered with cactus trees. Here Antonio Lopez Peixoto, a nephew of Paulo Dias, in 1587, had built a presidio, which was soon afterwards abandoned.

66The river Cuvo (Kuvu) enters the sea in 10° 52´ S.

67In a note to Bk.VII, c. iv, § 8 (Hartwell’s translation of Pigafetta), Battell is made to say that “the Iagges came from Sierre Liona. But they dispersed themselves as a general pestilence and common scourge through most parts of Ethiopia.” But see p. 83, where Battell denies the statements made by Lopez.Walkenaer (Histoire des Voyages, vol. xiii), says that Dapper’s Sierra Leone cannot be the place usually known by that name. The only locality in that part of Africa named in honour of a lion, as far as I know, are the Pedras de Encoge, or more correctlydel nkoshi(which means Lion).

Walkenaer (Histoire des Voyages, vol. xiii), says that Dapper’s Sierra Leone cannot be the place usually known by that name. The only locality in that part of Africa named in honour of a lion, as far as I know, are the Pedras de Encoge, or more correctlydel nkoshi(which means Lion).

68Ndongo is the name of the kingdom of Ngola (Angola). Its old capital was at Pungu-a-Ndongo, a remarkable group of rocks, popularly known as Pedras Negras.

69Ngongo (plural Jingongo), in Kimbundu, means twin, and henceNgong’e, a double bell, such as is described by Monteiro (Angola, vol. i, p. 203); in Lunda it is calledrubembe(Carvalho,Exp. Port.,Ethnographia, p. 369). See alsonote, p. 80.

70“Gingado,” elsewhere spelt “Iergado,” is evidently a misprint forJangada, a Portuguese word meaning “raft.” Such a raft is calledMbimba, and is made of the wood of thebimba(Herminiera Elaphroxylon, Guill. et. Perr.), which is identical with theAmbajof the Nile, and grows abundantly on the swampy banks of the rivers. Battell himself, at a critical point of his career, built himself such ajangada(Ficalho,Plantas uteis da Africa, 1884, p. 33).

71Tavale.Mr. Dennet suggests thattavalecorresponds to thelibalaof Loango, a word derived from the Portuguesetaboa(table), for the instrument of this name consists of a board supported by two sticks of wood, and kept in its place by wooden pegs driven into the ground. The player beats this board with his two index fingers. A. R. Neves,Mem. da Epedição a Cassange, p. 110, callstabalhaa drum, which is beaten to make known the death of a Jaga Cassange.

72Mbala or Embala merely means town or village. Lad. Magyar (Reisen in Süd-Afrika, p. 383) has a district Kibala, abounding in iron, the chief town of which is Kambuita on the river Longa. Walckenaer’s suggestion (Histoire des Voyages, vol. xiii, p. 30) that Bambala and Bembe are identical is quite unacceptable.

73The baobab is indifferently called by Battellalicunde,licondo,elicondi,olicandi, oralicunde, all of which are corruptions ofnkondo, by which name the tree is known in Congo. The Portuguese know this characteristic tree of the coast-land and the interior asimbondeiro(frommbondoin Kimbundu). Its inner bark yields a fibre known aslicomte, is made into coarse cloth, and is also exported to Europe to be converted into paper. The wood is very light. The pulp of the fruit is refreshing, and was formerly esteemed as a remedy against fever and dysentery. The seeds are eaten. The shell (macua) is used to hold water (hence the popular name of Calabash tree). Ficalho distinguishes three species, viz.,Adansonia digitata, Linn., the fruit of which is longish;A. subglobosa, bearing a bell-shaped fruit;A. lageniformis, yielding a fruit shaped like a cucumber (see Monteiro,Angola, vol. i, p. 78; Ficalho,Plantas uteis, p. 100).

74The cedar of the Portuguese isTamarix articulata, Vahl., and resembles a cypress (Ficalho,Plantas uteis da Africa, 1884, p. 94).

75Kizangu, in Kimbundu, means fetish. Burton (Two Trips to Gorilla Land, vol. ii, p. 120), saw a like image, also called Quesango, in a village above Boma.

76The so-called fetishes (fromfeitiço, a Portuguese word meaning sorcery) are not idols, but charms and amulets, generally known asnkissi,nkishi, ormukishi. There arenkissipeculiar to a district, village, or family; charms and amulets to shield the wearer or possessor against all the evils flesh is heir to, and others enabling the priest orngangato discover crime or the cause of disease. The idea underlying the belief in the efficacy of these charms was very prevalent among our own ancestors, and the images, rosaries, crosses, relics, and other articles introduced by the Roman missionaries are looked upon by the natives as equivalent to their ownnkissi. Even at the present day, images of S. Francis and of other saints may be seen in the collection of Royal Fetishes at S. Salvador, and a cross calledsantu(Santa Cruz) “is the common fetish which confers skill in hunting” (Bentley,Pioneering on the Congo, vol. i, pp. 35, 36, 39). The images, according to Bentley, seen among the natives are not idols but receptacles of “charms” or medicine. As to a belief in witchcraft (ndoki, witch;Kindoki, witchcraft), it is not even now quite extinct among Christian people, boasting of their civilisation, for a reputed wizard was drowned at Hedingham in Essex in 1863, and a witch burnt in Mexico as recently as 1873. Matthew Hopkins, the famous witch-finder, cannot claim a higher rank than an Africannganga, although his procedure was not quite the same. Nor can I see any difference between a fetish and the miraculous “bambino” manufactured in the sixteenth century, and kept in the church of S. Maria Aracœli, which a priest takes to the bedside of sick or dying persons, who are asked to kiss it to be cured, and whose guardians are at all times ready to receive the offerings of the faithful (see Dickens,Pictures from Italy).

77Marginal note by Purchas:—“Of these Giagas read also Pigafetta’sBook of Congo, translated into English by M. Hartwell, and myPilgrimage, l. 7. But none could so well know them as this author, who lived so long with them.”

78The river Longa [Lungu] enters the sea in lat. 10° 20´ S.

79A soba Calungo is shown on the most recent maps as residing north of the river Longa.

80Perhaps we ought to readTunda, the bush, the East. Lad. Magyar (Reisen, p. 378) has a chief Tunda in the country of the Sellas, and Falkenstein (Loango Expedition, p. 73) heard of a district Tunda, inland from Novo Redondo.

81The Gonsa or Gunza (Ngunza) of Battell is undoubtedly the Coanza. A river Ngunza enters the sea at Novo Redondo.

82Shila, nasty;mbanza, towns.

83According to Duarte Lopez (Pigafetta, p. 55), the feathers of peacocks and of ostriches are used as a standard in battle. Hence, peacocks are reared within a fence and reserved for the king.

84Njilo(in Kimbundu), bird;mukishi, a charm.

85See note, p.51.

86Cambambe (Ka, diminutive;mbambi, gazelle), a village on the north bank of the Coanza, below the falls formed by the river in forcing its way through the Serra de Prata. Silver, however, has never been found there (at least not in appreciable quantities), nor anywhere else in Angola or Congo. Still we are told (Paiva Manso, p. 50) that the King of Congo, in 1530, sent the wife of King Manuel two silver bracelets which he had received from one of his chiefs in Matamba, and that among the presents forwarded by Ngola Nbande, the King of Ndongo, to Paulo Dias in 1576, there were several silver bracelets, which the Regent of Portugal, Cardinal Henrique, had converted into a chalice, which he presented to the church at Belem (Catalogo dos Governadores de Angola). According to Capello and Ivens (Benguella, vol. ii, pp. 58, 233), silver ore is plentiful in Matamba, although they never saw anyin loco.

87Battell’s Casama is the wide province of Kisama (Quiçama), to the south of the Coanza.

88This Casoch (a misprint for Cafoch) is the Cafuxe (Cafuche) of the Portuguese, who defeated Balthasar de Almeida on April 22, 1594. On August 10, 1603, the Portuguese, led by Manuel Cerveira Pereira, retrieved this disaster.

89The name Calandola is by no means rare. A Calandula Muanji resided in 1884, eight miles to the north-east of Malanje (Carvalho,Viagens, vol. i, p. 443); another resided, formerly, near Ambaca (ib., p. 230); and a third on the Lucala, south of Duque de Bragança, was visited by Capello and Ivens (Benguella, vol. ii, p. 45). A Jaga Calandula accompanied Joāo Soares de Almeida on his disastrous expedition to Sonyo (Cat. dos Gov., p. 390). Either of these may have been a descendant of Battell’s Calandula.

90Human victims are still sacrificed by the diviner when consulting departed spirits (see A. R. Neves,Memoria, p. 119).

91Cavazzi (Historica Descrizione de tre Regni Congo, etc., Bologna, 1687, p. 207) gives a plan of a Jaga camp, or Kilombo. It is formed of a square stockade, having in its centre the quarters of the Commander-in-chief, within a triple hedge of thorns. Between the stockade, which has only a single gate, and the inner enclosure are the quarters of the six principal officers, including the Golambolo (ngolo, strength,mbula, a blow), or Lieutenant-General, the Tendala, or Commander of the Rear-guard, and the Mani Lumbo (lumbu, a stockade), or Engineer-in-chief.

92Tavales(see note, p. 21).

93Bahia das Vaccas, old name for Benguella Bay. There seems to be no native name for gold; yet Dr. Francisco José Maria de Lacerda, when with the abortive expedition of 1797, which was charged with the exploration of the Kunene, met a negress whose head-dress was composed of golden laminæ, said to have been washed in that river (Burton,Lacerda’s Journey to Cazembe, London, 1873, p. 23). Ladislaus Magyar (Reisen, p. 176), says that about 1833 a Brazilian miner washed gold in the mountains of Hambo. Quite recently, in 1900, the Mossamedes Company granted a lease of the Kasinga goldfields to an English company.

94The Imbondos are clearly the Nbundu of Angola, who draw the palm wine from the top, whilst the Jagas cut down the tree.

95Purchas adds, in a marginal note: “Fruges consumere nati.”

96“Flesh” in the sense of encourage.

97Calando should be Calandola (see note on p. 28).

98Mbamba, a whelk or trumpet-shell (Cordeiro da Matta,Dicc. Kimbundu).

99Mr. Dennet suggestsmsose, a turritella, popularly known as screw-shell.

100No ostriches are met with in Angola, and as to beads made of ostrich eggs, I can give no explanation.

101Monteiro was told that the Sobas and their wives among the Musele only use human fat to anoint their bodies (vol. ii, p. 157).

102The practice of wearing such nose ornaments exists to the present day in Lunda, among the Bangala and other tribes (Capello and Ivens,Benguela, vol. i, p. 265; Carvalho,Expedição Portugueza ao Muatianvua, Lingua de Lunda, p. 367;Ethnographia, p. 349).

103Marginal note by Purchas: “They use this ceremony in Florida.”

104Civet-cats are numerous in this part of Africa.

105I am inclined to believe, from what we learn from Cavazzi and other missionaries, that only those children were killed which were born within theKilombo. On the other hand, at the Court of the ferocious queen Jinga, we are told by Captain Füller, a Dutchman, that, on two days in 1648, 113 new-born infants bornoutsidethe camp were killed (Dapper,Africa, p. 545).

106Ngunza, according to Cordeira da Matta, means all-powerful; according to Bentley a herald, who speaks on behalf of a chief.

107See note, p.19.

108Human sacrifices among the Jaga are even now of frequent occurrence. They are made at the installation of a Jaga, one year after his election (when the sacrifice and its accompanying banquet are intended to conciliate the spirit of Kinguri, the founder of the Dynasty), at his death, on the outbreak of war, etc. The ceremony witnessed by Battell was an act of divination. The soothsayer summons the spirit of Kinguri, who is supposed to foretell the results of any enterprise about to be undertaken. In 1567, the Jaga Ngonga Kahanga, of Shela, having been advised by his soothsayers that he would suffer defeat in a war he was about to enter upon against the Portuguese, declined the arbitration of the sword, and submitted voluntarily. The body of the victim is cooked with the flesh of a cow, a goat, a yellow dog, a cock and a pigeon, and this mess is devoured (ceremoniously) by the Jaga and hismakotas(councillors).

109The handle of this switch contains a potent medicine, which protects the owner against death.

110Casengula, called Kissengula, p. 86, was perhaps a trombash, forsangulameans to kill at a long range (Bentley).

111The Jagas are still buried sitting, and wives are sacrificed (Capello and Ivens,From Benguella to the Territory of the Iacca, vol. i, p. 330). In Ngois, likewise, the dead are occasionally buried in a sitting posture (Bastian, vol. i, p. 82). For a full account of a funeral, see Dennett’sFolklore, p. 11.

112These feasts are intended to secure the goodwill of the deceased, so that he may not injure the living. Human beings are occasionally sacrificed, in addition to goats and fowls.

113João Rodrigues Coutinho received his appointment as Governor at Madrid, on January 30, 1601 (see Appendix).

114Ndemba, in Quissama, a territory famous for its salt mines, the chief of which was the Caculo Caquimone Casonga (Cadornega, 1702). In 1783, when P. M. Pinheiro de Lacerda invaded Quissama, a Caculo Caquimone still held the mines of Ndemba.Kakulu, the elder of twins, a title.

115Outaba seems to be a misprint forlibata(village). Tombo is on the north bank of the Coanza, almost due south of Loanda.

116Songa, on the Coanza, below Muchima, a village in the territory of the Caculo Caquimone Casonga.

117Machimba I believe to be Muchima or Muxima, whilst (according to Cadornega) a chief Cavao occupied a district above Lake Quizua and below Massangano.

118According to theCatalogo dos Governadores, p. 356, the Governor died in Quissama. He was succeeded by his captain-major, Manuel Cerveira Pereira, and it was he who, on August 10, 1603, defeated Cafuxe, in the bloody battle to which reference is made in the text. Battell’s Angoykayongo is undoubtedly identical with theAgoacaiongoof an anonymous account of theEstablimentos e Resgates Portuguezes(1607), published by L. Cordeira. He was a Christian chief; and a captain-major, with a detachment of cavalry, was stationed at his village to keep Quissama in order.

119See note, p.27.

120Queen Elizabeth died April 3, 1603; but peace with Spain was only concluded on August 19, 1604.

121João de Araujo e Azevedo was the officer left in command at Cambambe.

122That is S. Salvador.

123Ngongo, according to Cavazzi (p. 521), is a place on the road from Sundi to Batta, where Girolamo da Montesarchio destroyed the heathen images. This place possibly corresponds to the modern Gongo, a station on the Stanley Pool Railway. Cadornega has a Gongo de Bata, which figures on Dapper’s map as Congo de Bata, and lies to the west of the Mbanza of Bata. It is impossible to tell which of these places was visited by Battell; possibly he passed through both.

124The Mbanza or chief town of Mbata, or Batta, still exists in 8° S., long. 15° E. Bentley (Pioneering, vol. ii, p. 404) passed through it, and discovered a huge wooden cross, a relic of the ancient missionaries.

125D. Manuel Cerveira Pereira had assumed government at the beginning of 1603, and three years would conveniently carry us to 1606. The “new” Governor, D. Manuel Pereira Forjaz, was, however, only nominated on August 2, 1607.

126See note, p.11.

127Nkoko, a large grey antelope.

128Impalanca,Palanga, orMpalanga, an antelope (Hippotragus equinus).

129This is an electric silurus callednsõmbo, plur.sinsombo, by the natives. Fishermen dread its electrical discharges, but value its flesh (Pechuel-Loesche,Die Loango Expedition, vol. iii, p. 282). This fish, Mr. Dennett tells me, is the “xina” (taboo) of women, generally speaking, which may account for the word becoming a generic name for fish, as in Unyamwezi, Ugogo, and other countries, if vocabularies can be trusted.

130See note, p.21.

131This is Red Point, or Ponta Vermelha, where there is a grove of palms.

132Kabinda, 5° 31´ S., on a fine bay.

133The river Kakongo, or Chiloango, enters the sea in lat. 5° 9´ S. to the north of Landana. It is a very considerable river, and its waters discolour the sea for seven miles.

134Mbale, according to Bentley, is the coast region between the Congo and Ambrisette; but on Pigafetta’s map (1591) a town, Monbales, is shown to the south-east of the chief place of Sonho (Sonyo).

135Pinda, or Mpinda, in Sonyo, is below the Mbanza of Sonyo, which on modern maps figures as St. Antonio.

136The Luiza Loango, or Massábi, river enters the sea in lat. 5° 1´ S. Its depth across the bar is only 2 ft., but once within, it presents a fair waterway for over a hundred miles. Kaia is about ten miles up it.

137The Golfo das Almadias, or Canoe Bay, as described by Battell, corresponds to Black Point Bay, 4° 48´ S., the inner bay of which, less than half a mile across, had become all but silted up by 1884.

138No logwood is found in Loango, and Purchas points out in a note (post, p. 82), that Battell’s dyewood must be Red Sanders (Pterocarpus tinctorius), thetaculaof Angola, and identical with thetavilaof D. Lopez (Ficalho,Plantas uteis, p. 207). Pechuel-Loesche (Loango Exp., vol. iii, p. 190), on the other hand, states that the dye known astaculais camwood (Baphia nitida, Afz.), and Bentley (Dict. of the Kongo Language), who calls the dyenkula, is of the same opinion. Another red dye is obtained from theNjilla sonde(Pterocarpus erinaceus, Poir.).

139Nlunga(Bentley) ormalungu(Cordeira da Matta) is the native word for bracelet.

140The Maloango (ma, a contraction ofmaniormwanu, son;mfumu, chief) or king is selected by the Mamboma (see p. 59) and the princes, and must be a nephew (sister’s son) of his predecessor. On his election he takes the title ofNganga nvumbu(Nganga, priest;nvumbu, benevolent spirit, breath), but only proceeds to that of Maloango when rich enough to summon the whole country to a great feast, when declaration is made for the first time officially of the death of the former Maloango, and he is buried. As these festivities are very expensive, they are often deferred for years, and many aNganga nvumbuhas died without even troubling about the higher title. The successors of the Maloango Njimbi of Loango, of Battell’s time, according to Mr. Dennett, have been: 1. Maloango Tati of Kondi; 2. Mani Puati of Chibanga; 3. Mani Yambi; 4. Man’anombo; 5. Mani Makosso Matukila of Kondi; 6. Mani Makosso Manombo; 7. Mani Makosso Masonga; 8. Mani Puati. Nos. 3 to 8 never assumed the title of Maloango. Mani Puati very much disgusted the people with his cruelty (he had killed his own daughter because she refused to cohabit with him); and when the French, in 1898, called upon the Mamboma and the princes to produce a Maloango, they ignored the existence of Puati, and elected his nephew, Mani Luemba. This list, however, is evidently imperfect.

141Mr. Dennett, whose long residence at Loango and thorough knowledge of the languages entitle him to speak with authority, finds this passage unintelligible, but ventures to suggest the following:—Baliani(my companion)ampembe(white)mpolo(face),muenyeye(Boio, the undergroundnkishni),ke zinga(not live long)!Freely translated, it would mean “My companion, the white face, has risen from underground, and will not live long.” This is a curious greeting, but it fairly represents native ideas: for the white man, as long as he keeps to his ship (supposed to rise from the bottom of the ocean), is believed to live long; whilst, once he comes to stay ashore, he is condemned to an early death.

Baliani(my companion)ampembe(white)mpolo(face),muenyeye(Boio, the undergroundnkishni),ke zinga(not live long)!

Freely translated, it would mean “My companion, the white face, has risen from underground, and will not live long.” This is a curious greeting, but it fairly represents native ideas: for the white man, as long as he keeps to his ship (supposed to rise from the bottom of the ocean), is believed to live long; whilst, once he comes to stay ashore, he is condemned to an early death.

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