In Darkest Africa. The Pigmies (Batwa) and their (Bambuba) Neighbours
In attempting to describe some of the tribes that we have come in contact
with round Mboga, I feel the first place should be given to the Pigmies,
for although they are the smallest of all folk, yet they are one of the
most ancient peoples of history. Not only do they appear in the pages
of the Greek historian, Herodotus, but to-day their representatives may
be traced on the Pyramids. Beyond these bare facts of their existence
nothing was definitely known about them until the late Sir Henry Stanley
penetrated their forest home on his search for Emin Pasha, and startled
the civilised world by his marvellous accounts of these legendary folk.
Judging from their present conditions of life it is impossible to believe
that they have made any advance, physically or morally, during the
hundreds of years that have passed by since first they were known to the
outside world.
[Illustration: THE FOUR PIGMIES IN KABAROLE.]
Their home is one vast, impenetrable forest which extends about one
hundred and twenty miles north to south and nearly two hundred miles
east to west; without intermission its vegetation has assumed abnormal
proportions; out of dense, tangled undergrowth the trees have forced
their way, and, as if to find breathing space and shake themselves free
of the crush and their tiresome parasites, have reached a gigantic
height. But the rubber plants, ivy, and creepers have proved equal to the
task, and pushed their way up the tree trunks, have crawled along from
branch to branch, until only glimpses of sunshine and sky appear through
the thick foliage.
Doubtless this obscurity and the seclusion of their environment have
acted as a narcotic on the development of the people.
Although small of stature they are by no means dwarfs, for their little
bodies of four feet to four feet eight inches are perfectly proportioned.
A very close view shows them to be covered with an almost imperceptible
downy hair; on the arms this meets at the elbow as in monkeys. It may
be due to their habit of sitting with arms crossed round their neck
while the rain constantly drips down upon them through the trees. Their
features are not prepossessing—in fact they are really ugly; a very broad
bridgeless nose and two wide protruding lips appropriate as much space as
the face can spare.
They possess no permanent homes, but are constantly on the move, never
spending more than three to five days at one spot. They burrow among
the thick undergrowth, and make clearings round the trees in order to
erect their tiny grass huts, which are built in less than an hour,
with saplings stuck round in a circle and tied at the top; grass and
leaves are then thrown over as roofing. Very few adopt any clothing.
Each man travels about with a bow and quiver of poisoned arrows in
order that he may keep the family supplied in food. Although peaceable
among themselves, there is no civil cohesion among the pigmies. They
recognise no king or chief; each man is perfectly free to control his own
household. There are no class distinctions; but the best huntsman will
have the largest following because with his spoils he is able to effect
exchanges with the near neighbours of the tribe—the Bambuba, a sturdy,
thick-set race varying in height from four feet eight inches to five
feet, who live on the north-east fringe of the Forest.
[Illustration: THE BA-AMBAS: NEAREST NEIGHBOURS TO THE PIGMIES.]
Necessity has never taught the pigmies to make fires. They are dependent
on wood ashes from the Bambuba folk, which they carry about tied up in
leaves, in which the fire smoulders for hours and is kindled into flame
with a little gentle blowing. The Bambuba have learned to produce fire
by means of igniting two little bits of stick by friction. They also
make tiny torches of three or four thin twigs tied together by fibre;
these are dipped into rubber juice freshly drawn away from the plant;
then on the point of the torch is placed resin, which moderates the rate
of combustion. One of these torches will keep burning for two to three
hours. The pigmies do not cultivate the ground; they are exclusively
a tribe of huntsmen who travel about in search of their prey. Their
remarkable agility enables them to spring from branch to branch when
watching the track of an animal. Often they are obliged to follow an
elephant for hours before this forest monarch succumbs to the poisoned
dart that has lodged itself in its tough skin; then as the huge animal
rolls over like a thunderbolt falling, the little pigmies jump down
from the trees, stand on the carcase, and draw out of a crude leather
sheath their knives which have handles made of animals’ bones; they then
commence cutting up the joints. Some of these will be carried off to
the agricultural Bambuba tribe, who give potatoes, Indian corn, knives,
or arrows for the meat. The rest is taken up into the trees and dried,
after which it is either roasted or eaten raw. Although all their meat
is poisoned they do not attempt to purify it, and the blood is regarded
as a special delicacy. They do not, however, suffer any ill-effects, for
the poison is said to have lost its power when once it has acted. The
pigmies are regarded by the neighbouring tribes in very much the same
way as the wild pigs, inevitable plunderers. At night they creep up to
the potato patches, under cover of the long grass, and carry off their
booty into the copse. No one dares to venture on revenge; indeed the
surrounding tribes stand in terror of the little people because of their
wonderful powers of self-concealment and deftness with their bows.
A pigmy rarely possesses more than one wife, and never more than two. A
man purchases her with poison or fowls—a woman is valued at eighty to one
hundred chickens. The wives are treated kindly and with consideration;
only when a husband is provoked by abuse does he attempt to subdue his
fractious helpmate by a sound beating.
A pigmy baby is the funniest little atom imaginable. A woman once brought
to me her infant of three months; it was her first, and she evidently
regarded it as an exceptional beauty. It was about the size of a sixpenny
doll. I did not venture to touch it for fear of hurting it.
Having only reached the outskirts of the Congo Forest we never had
an opportunity of seeing the pigmies at home. Those we have met and
conversed with are women and boys that were stolen some years ago, and
now have no desire to go back to the forest. At Mboga we found seven
under Christian instruction, one of whom had been baptised. In Kabarole
there are two pigmy girls and one lad learning to read besides Blasiyo,
who was the first of his tribe to be baptised.
[Illustration: BLASIYO, FIRST BAPTISED PIGMY.]
He was my first God-child, the first of these wee and ancient people to
step forth from their physical and spiritual darkness and before the
listening Host of Heaven declare his belief in God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost, his faith for salvation, for salvation in
Christ’s sacrifice, and his desire to never be ashamed “to fight under
the banner of the Cross.” He is a quaint little figure, with a high sense
of his own importance, and is quite able to stand his ground alone when
assailed by his taller companions. Work is a great trouble to him, but
he is always ready for tricks and games. Football is his speciality,
and he never misses a chance of squeezing his way into the game, even
when the men’s team is on the ground. In order that he might have a game
with his friends whenever he could shirk his work, he invented a very
ingenious football of a goat skin stuffed with dried banana leaves. While
learning to read we took him on our staff of boys, not that he did much
work, but in order that we might try and instil clean and industrious
habits into him. His duties were to help the cook by feeding the fire
with fuel and keeping clean the pots and pans, but when he knew his
master and mistress were at lunch, he would run away from his post, and
fetch a large ivory warhorn; then, taking up his position outside the
dining-room window, would blow for all he was worth. He accompanied the
blasts with weird, swaying movements that gradually developed into wild
dancing, and transformed the little figure into a veritable imp or gnome.
His idea was that this entertainment would quite justify his act of
truancy; and he reasoned that if he could get his master and mistress to
laugh their anger would be dead, for laughter drives out wrath. When he
came to us, cleanliness was not a strong point with him, and he was for
the time being quite debarred from playing football on account of being
crippled with jiggers—an irritating, infinitesimal insect that bores in
under the surface skin of the feet, and if allowed to remain there sets
up mortification. The fact of their being there did not trouble him in
the least, but his inability to kick the football drove him to get them
extracted. A message one day was brought in that a man wished to see me
on business. Going out on to our verandah I found a powerful, muscular
figure dressed in a colobus monkey skin. He told me that his name was
Mbeba, which means “a rat,” and that he had been sent by the pigmy to
contract for his jiggers. His fee would be five hundred cowrie shells,
which was a big price, but it would be a long job. I felt it was an offer
to close on, and did not in the least regret my investment of sevenpence
halfpenny when the pigmy proudly emerged from a ten days’ operation with
his unshapely little feet considerably battered, but in sound kicking
order.
Each week it was our custom to give round to our boys fifty or hundred
cowrie shells for pocket money. These generally went to purchase pencils,
or exercise books, or were carefully put by till sufficient were
collected to buy a sheep or goat. But Blasiyo was never able to save a
shell, for his great ambition was to ride about on a horse like the king,
and as this was an impossibility he hired the tallest available man to
run him up and down the roads on his shoulder for payment of shells.
One day a loud altercation was going on in our courtyard, and I was
called out to arbitrate between Blasiyo and his two-legged steed. The
man’s grievance was that he had agreed to ride the pigmy round our
courtyard for five shells, and now he was refused payment. Blasiyo
listened until he had finished presenting his case; then, when called on
to give his defence, declared the man had not fulfilled his contract, for
he had cut off all the corners. He was told to pay down three shells, and
these he produced from under his tongue! When he had learned to read,
he was very anxious to exhibit his wonderful intelligence, and asked
that he might have a class in the reading school. Accordingly he was
enrolled as a teacher. With an air of great importance he used to strut
into school and take up his position among his scholars, some twelve to
twenty men, whom he had asked to be allowed to teach in preference to
boys. One day while going the round of the school to take the register I
found Blasiyo’s class in rebellion. The reason was that the teacher had
brought with him a little cane and whacked them all round because they
did not pay him due respect. “Without respect,” said he, “progress is
impossible.”
[Illustration: A GROUP OF PIGMY WOMEN.]
For several obvious reasons it will be impossible to send teachers to
the pigmies under present circumstances. While they continue constantly
moving about they cannot be satisfactorily reached; and no European or
native of another tribe could live in the semi-obscurity of the dense
forest, or exist solely on poisoned meat. The only hope of effectually
reaching them is to teach and train those who are living outside among
other people; for there is every reason to hope that some from among them
might be found who will in the future be ready to go back to their old
forest home and carry the torchlight of Truth to their own kith and kin.
Meanwhile it is a cause of great rejoicing that already some of these
strange tiny folk have been baptised into Christ Jesus, of whom the whole
family in heaven and earth was named.
THE BAHUKU.
In a strip of forest lying between the Semliki River and the Congo
Forest, and within four hours of Mboga, lives a savage tribe known as the
Bahuku. Among all the distinct races to be found on the western slopes
of the Semliki Plain, these people undoubtedly are the most degraded
and void of intelligence. Like the Ba-amba, many of the men allow their
heads to remain unshorn: when the hair has reached to the nape of the
neck they twist it into thin strands with goat’s fat, which is frequently
mixed with a quantity of red earth. This gives them quite a terrifying
appearance. They live in circular huts composed of closely-packed poles,
with roofs of grass and leaves. They have no means of digging up the
soil, but their method of cultivating is to cut down the grass and
shrubs, to fell the trees, and sow their crops of Indian corn, beans and
sweet potatoes among the stubble and roots.
A Muhuku may have any number of wives, but is obliged to build a separate
house for each, as the women are very quarrelsome among themselves. If
any favouritism is shown for one wife the others make no attempt to
conceal their jealousy, and sometimes poison or spear the unfortunate
woman. The custom of procuring a wife is to take her in exchange for
a sister, cousin, or any other available female relation. When these
fail, goats will be taken as a substitute. By the former method a
woman is free to leave her husband and marry another if she wishes,
but purchase by goats is binding on her; she has become her husband’s
property absolutely. Should she run away and return to her people they
are immediately suspected of bribing or stealing her. The injured husband
then sounds the warhorn, and a sharp encounter with spears and knives
takes place between the two families. When the victor has succeeded in
driving off his antagonists he claims the bodies of the slain, which are
taken to his home and feasted upon in honour of the occasion.
The warhorns of the Bahuku are regarded by them as family heirlooms, and
have been handed down from their distant ancestors. They are formed out
of small elephant tusks, which have been scooped out and shaved down to
within two or three inches of the mouthpiece. Strips of elephant hide
or lizard skin are sometimes neatly fitted round part of the horn and
sewn with gut. The centre part of the instrument, which has become much
discoloured by time, is decorated with various curious designs. These
probably were intended for hieroglyphic writing or distinguishing family
marks, but their significance, if ever there really was any, is quite
unknown to the present generations. The Bahuku are very loth to part with
these horns for fear of offending the spirits of their forefathers. A
few, however, were willing to risk their displeasures when they saw the
skinny little goats we sent out as purchase money.
[Illustration: THE BAHUKU: CANNIBAL RACE.]
Human flesh is regarded as a luxury among them, besides corpse-eating.
The upper class buy from the peasants their dead for two to six goats.
The bodies that are not sold for food are buried with a very prolonged
ceremony. A deep hole is digged and the corpse is placed in a sitting
posture with the hands crossed on the chest. It is then covered over with
earth as far as the neck; the head is left exposed for six days, during
which time the friends come and bestow on it their farewell glances. Then
the burial is completed and the grave is carefully swept and guarded day
and night until the family removes to another place.
Their religion is a form of fetishism. Tiny devil temples are built
among the long grass away from the homes of the peoples so that the evil
spirits may be kept at a safe distance. Only the men and old women are
allowed to visit these little grass temples to take offerings of food
or to practice divination. The men take with them a horn in order to
acquaint their wives with the time of their worship.
Several from among these people came and visited us during our stay in
Mboga, and although they were quite friendly, they expressed no wish for
a teacher to be sent to them. Indeed, their minds seemed so unutterably
void that they appeared incapable of receiving any new impression.
BABIRA AND BALEGA.
A few years ago, before European rule was established over the country,
Mboga could scarcely have been a desirable quarter in which to find
oneself shut up. The Bahuku, on the west, then practised cannibalism
without any restraint, and captured anyone who ventured near their domain.
Then, while the vindictive little pigmies and half-tamed Bambuba enclosed
it on the south and west, two powerful and savage tribes joined hands and
claimed the district running north, right along to the western shores of
the Albert Lake. These Babira and Balega people are very closely allied
in features and customs, but the former are numerically very inferior.
These have a peculiar practice, which I believe to be unique among
Central African tribes, that is, the women bore a hole in their top lip
and gradually increasing this until it is able to enclose a disc of wood
two and even three inches in diameter. A Mubira woman came to call on us
whose disc measured two and five-eight inches across. The size of the
wood inserted proclaims the rank of the person. Peasants are only allowed
to wear pieces of stick the same dimension as a match. The weight of the
wood causes the lip to fall down over the mouth, and, in order to eat,
it is necessary to lift up this shutter with one hand while the other
conveys the food to the mouth. Frequently the lip breaks under the strain
put upon it, in which case the disconnected ends are carried back and
tied to the ear.
While the Balega do not adopt this inhuman custom of their neighbours,
they have not reached to their degree of civilisation in introducing
clothing. The Balega women still groan under the weight of pounds of
thick brass wire wound round their arms and legs. This is supplemented by
a prodigious amount of beads.
[Illustration: A MUBIRA LADY: AN AFTERNOON CALLER.]
[Illustration: A NATIVE OF BALEGA: The first to be baptised of his race.]
Until brought under Belgian rule these people refused to recognise
allegiance to any power. Nominally they were under Bunyoro, for the
King of that country years ago went across and laid waste the whole
district plundering their sheep, cattle, and women. This was repeated by
successive kinds till the people were compelled to yield to the claims
of the Bunyoro. But their submission was compulsory and not permanent,
so that when Bunyoro was troubled with civil war and outside foes the
Balega ceased to be controlled by them. But the Bunyoro are very proud of
a legend that relates how their King Ndohura, who conquered the Balega,
while fighting them broke his stick and from it sprung up the Forest of
Kirare. Returning from the war the same King is said to have slipped on a
rock, and his footprint is to be seen to this day.
These people are very clannish and insular. Children remain under their
mothers’ roof until they marry. If, like the “old woman,” they lived in a
shoe, the mother would need a fairly roomy one, for often her offspring
number twenty to thirty. As a man possesses many wives he has a lively
time trying to keep his children in hand. When the sons marry they bring
their wives and build close to the old homestead, and generally continue
to recognise the authority of their father, and no other.
They believe in an evil spirit called Nyakasana, for whom they build a
little grass temple in the court yard of their houses. They always offer
to him the first-fruits of their potato, Indian corn and millet crops,
and when they kill a goat for meat or entrap an antelope they take to
their little temple a portion of the flesh, before tasting it themselves.
The spirits of the dead have constantly to be propitiated by gifts of
food and live stock. These are carefully kept apart, and when any member
of the family is taken ill, the offerings to the dead are brought in, so
that the sick person shall look on them and recover.
During our stay at Mboga, the first man from the Balega tribe was
baptised, and since then several teachers have gone to them from
Bunyoro and found a great willingness and desire among the people for
instruction.
Thus gradually the Light is dawning on “Darkest Africa.”
“Arise shine, for the light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross
darkness the people but the glory of the Lord shall arise upon thee....
And the Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of
Thy rising.” Isaiah.