NATIVE EDUCATION
Precociousness of the children—Teaching the tribal mark—Knowledge of
astronomy—Divisions of night and day—Education—Paddling and
canoeing—Swimming—Fishing—Hunting—Blacksmithing—The girls
learned farming—Cooking—Hair-dressing—Mat and saucepan
making—Charms—Taboos—First-fruits—First teeth—No moral
training—Great liars and thieves—Capable of truth and honesty.
There were no schools to attend until the white men went to live in
their district; but the lads accompanied their fathers and elders and
learned by imitation, by listening to the talk on the road, in the canoe
and around the camp fire, and by special instruction. Most lads of 14 or
15 knew the names of the innumerable fish in their river and creeks,
their habits, and the best mode of catching them. They also knew the
names and habitat of most bush animals, either by experience or repute;
the names of the birds, insects, trees, plants, etc., were all well
known to them and easily distinguished. The village life was so open, so
lacking in privacy, that almost every function of the body was performed
without any attempts at secrecy, hence observant young eyes drank in all
that came within the purview of their vision, and boys and girls of a
tender age were precocious in their knowledge of those matters which are
left to a much later period in civilized countries.
Tattooing was begun in earliest childhood by the parents, but not more
than sufficient to show that the child belonged to the tribe. Later on
the boys and girls were urged to cut their own tattoos, and were taught
to bear the pain unwhimperingly. I have seen boys and girls sitting by
the river’s edge summoning up the necessary courage to make the
incisions, and when they failed to do so they were ridiculed by the
others until at last they would run the knife, by the aid of a bit of
looking-glass or the reflection in the river, along the old lines in the
forehead. At the age of 18 or 20 the person—man or woman—who wished to
be thought fashionable would work away every week or so, cutting the
flesh deeper and putting wads in the cuts to cause the flesh to stand
up, until they had a veritable _likwala_, or cock’s comb, which would be
the envy of those who had not attained to such a fine decoration.
There was another pain they were taught to bear patiently, and that was
the chiselling of the upper incisors to V-shaped points. Some only had
two cut, while others had all the upper incisors done. This operation
was supposed to improve their appearance. I said once to a native, “Your
teeth are like a dog’s,” and his quick retort was, “Well, your teeth are
like a bat’s.” I suppose he preferred being like a dog, to having teeth
like a bat. They paid two brass rods for cutting the teeth, and two
brass rods every time they bit the operator. The eyelashes also were
pulled out as an aid to beauty.
They picked up a little astronomy from their elders. Venus was called
“wife of the moon”; a shooting star was “fetish fire”; a cluster of
stars (Pleiades) was a “crowd of young women”; the “Milky Way” was “the
road of floods and drought.” Both on the Lower and Upper River the
natives connect the “Milky Way” with the abundance and scarcity of
rains; they say that when the “Milky Way” is bright, clear, and well
seen there will be plenty of rain. Three bright stars in Orion’s belt
were named the “three paddlers”; and the five stars near each other in
Orion were regarded as the “bundle of thunder or lightning.” In the
constellation Lepus there is a set of five stars thus :*:, and these
were said to resemble a man—the top star being the head, the two lower
stars the hands, and the two bottom stars the feet. When this set of
stars, called _kole_, reached the meridian the natives did more planting
than at any other season. This _kole_ was so well recognized by the
natives that we used the word as an equivalent for our word year.
There is a legend that the moon was once a python and made a road for
itself on the earth. Some adventurous trappers, however, snared it, but
on noticing there was no more moonlight they let it go, whereupon it
sprang into the sky and never again returned to earth. When there is no
moon, some say that the python has gone on a long journey, and others
that it dies every month. There is much shouting and gesticulating on
the appearance of a new moon; and those who have enjoyed good health ask
that it may be continued, and those who have been sick ascribe their
complaint to the coming of the new moon, and ask it to take away bad
health and give them good health in its place.
Here, as on the Lower Congo, many believe that the sun returns from the
west to the east during the night to be ready to rise in the morning.
They were taught that the stars were a species of large fire-flies that
formerly existed on the earth, but have now gone into space, and that
the comets are signs that a great chief has recently died.
Another thing necessary to the young Congo boy was to teach him, not the
movements of the clock’s hands, but the crowing of the cocks, the notes
of the _nkuku-mpembe_ (name of a bird), and the movements of the sun: 2
a.m. was “the lying fowl”; 3 a.m. “the lying bird”—because they falsely
heralded the dawn which was not due until later; 4 a.m. was “the first
fowl”; 4 to 5 a.m. “the sun is near”; 5.30 to 6 a.m. “the dawning”; 6
a.m. “the sun is come”; 6.15 to 7 a.m. “the first sun”; 12 noon “the
meridian”; 6 p.m. “when the fowls go in,” or “the sun enters”; 11 to 12
p.m. “one set of ribs,” or “one side of a person,” and means that about
that time a person turns from lying on one side over on to the other.
For all these and many other divisions of the day there were special
names or phrases. Then there was a system of counting, and an elaborate
mode of stating numbers with the fingers[15] which I must enter into
more fully under another heading; suffice it to say that he had to learn
to count from one up to ten thousand, and any amount beyond that up to
one hundred thousand he had no difficulty in expressing after he had
once mastered the system.
Footnote 15:
See Appendix, Note 3, on Boloki method of counting.
The length of time that a child remained under the tutelage of his
father depended largely on the character of both, and the strength of
will each possessed. There were no bachelor houses in the villages,
consequently male and female children belonging to the same mother were
brought up together in her house until such times as the boys were old
enough to build a house for themselves, if they cared so to do. There
was no age limit. I have known big lads sleep in their mothers’ houses;
and I have know smallish lads of energy and initiative combine to build
a hut for themselves of which they were very proud.
From his very boyhood the Boloki was a keen trader. He accompanied his
father on all trading journeys as soon as he was able to beat time with
a stick in the bows of the canoe, or handle a paddle. In the village he
learned the value of different articles, and nothing delighted him more
than exchanging what he did not want for something that he needed. While
his father was bartering he would eagerly listen, and thus learn how to
praise his own goods, and disparage in depreciatory terms the articles
which he desired to purchase, so as to lower their prices. Before an
article could be exchanged with profit to himself he had many things to
learn—the first cost of the article, the time spent in hawking it, the
payment and keep of those who helped to paddle him from place to place
in search of a buyer—or he would find himself poorer at the end of his
trading expedition than he was at the beginning. This was no small part
of the lad’s education.
The boy, as a part of his training, had to learn to handle his paddle
with agility, gracefulness, and accuracy. There were clumsy paddlers who
were the butt of their companions’ ridicule, but there were others who
so swung their paddles as to excite the admiration of the onlookers. As
a child his father gave him a toy paddle and taught him how to
back-water, to steer, and to move his paddle in unison with others. Nor
was this all, for there were over fifty words and phrases he had to
learn dealing with canoeing. There were the words for canoes of
different sizes and shapes, from the large canoe that would take fifty
paddles and a heavy cargo to the shallow marsh canoe that would skim
over the surface of a six-inch pool. There were the names for the
various parts of the canoe—stern, bows, middle, sides, etc.; for
beaching, launching, steering, turning sharp round corners, or guiding
the canoe to a landing-place. There were names for a patch on a canoe,
for the usable part of a broken canoe, for the haft and blade of his
paddle, and for their various sizes. These and many other things about
canoes he had to know before his education was completed.
The Boloki boys, living near the river as they did, learned to be good
swimmers. They started swimming at so early an age that they regarded it
as a natural action as much as walking. Canoes were often upset in the
storms or turned over by a hippopotamus, therefore it was necessary for
a lad to know how to save himself. The hand-over-hand stroke was most
common, and they kicked out with the legs. They trod the water very
well; but they always dived feet first, never head first. When a canoe
was upset they were very dexterous in turning it over, bailing it out,
putting their possessions (such as were floating) back into the canoe,
catching their paddles, and then climbing into their frail canoe again
without upsetting it. This I have seen them do repeatedly, and often
sent out a canoe to help them, but before it arrived they would be
sitting in their canoe smiling. The girls learned both to swim and
paddle; but the same skill in either accomplishment was not expected of
them as of the boys.
The boys went with their fathers on fishing and hunting expeditions.
They were taught how to make the various fish-traps and nets, and the
best places to put them in the river, creeks, or pools, and also how to
bait and cast the hook. There were curious kinds of traps to make that
would allow the fish to enter, but rigidly bar their exit; long
fish-fences for closing up the mouths of creeks, or run for forty yards
by the river bank; nets to be woven, which when cast with the right sort
of twist would entangle the unwary fish. They had to learn to watch the
river for the best time for setting the traps and fixing the fences.
They had to remember to address their father and the other fishermen as
_Mwele_,[16] for if the water-spirits heard their proper names they
would turn aside the fish from the nets, and they would have ill-luck in
their expedition. There were the names of a score of traps, nets, and
modes of fishing to keep in mind.
Footnote 16:
This name is given to all fishermen while fishing, and just as they
leave the river with their catch, or bad luck will follow.
In hunting there was much knowledge to be gained, for not only were the
habits of the different animals to be thoroughly understood, but also
the proper charms to be used, and the necessary ceremonies to be
observed to counteract the adverse influences of the bush-spirits who
were always on the prowl to render their hunting futile. For
hippopotami, elephants, and antelopes, spring-traps were made and placed
in the proper tracks. Occasionally holes were dug and sharpened sticks
and iron prongs were fixed upright in them, and then the holes were
covered very lightly with sticks, leaves, etc. (I often shudder, even
now after many years, at the narrow escape I once had while hunting from
falling into one of these traps.) For hunting crocodiles and bush-pigs
spears were most commonly used, and the lads learned to throw them with
force and accuracy. I have seen lads stand at a distance of from 60 to
80 feet and put spear after spear, with great precision, into an upright
plantain stalk not more than 5 inches in diameter.
If the lad had a blacksmith or a witch-doctor as a relative, then these
professions were opened to him. The former commanded respect because of
his skill and usefulness; but the profession of the latter was not only
very lucrative, but gained the respectful fear of the people, for did he
not control those evil spirits that were always troubling the folk? And
again, a witch-doctor was never charged with witchcraft, hence the lad
would know in learning the tricks of that trade he would never have to
undergo the ordeal, and might, if he were cunning enough, live on the
best of the land.
The girl in the course of her education went as a child with her mother
to the farm, and with her small hoe helped her mother to weed, and as
she grew older she would hoe and plant. There were the various kinds of
cassava to learn, and their characteristics and appearances; the best
time of the year for planting according to the position of the _kole_ in
the sky, and the best sort of soil, and when it was unprofitable to
plant an old farm, and better to start a new one.
The girl had also to learn the sundry ways of cooking cassava—for there
were several—all entailing much time and thought. The modes of boiling,
steaming, grilling, smoking, or baking fish and meats. She had to become
expert in making up tasty messes with leaves and palm-oil, caterpillars,
palm maggots, etc. She should know how to shave the head, comb out and
plait hair, massage the skin, and decorate the face and body with
various pigments and camwood powder, for these would be expected of her
by her future husband. She had to learn to make her own dresses from
palm-frond fibre, and if she desired to be “chic,” then she must dye
them to the fashionable colour. If she wanted extra pocket-money, then
she might master the mysteries of papyrus mat, and saucepan making, or
even turn her hand to the art of basket-making. The more she knew of
these various accomplishments the better chance she had of securing the
man she wanted for a husband.
What a mass of information the girl collected about fetishes, charms,
and medicine men! The proper charms to protect her farm produce, to ward
off the evil eye from casting bad luck on her farming; the right charms
to keep her in good health, and render her attractive to the village
lads. She had to store her mind with a knowledge of the best charms to
use to allure her lover to her side, to preserve her during pregnancy,
to ward off sickness from her child, to retain her position as the
favourite wife, and to keep away those many evil spirits that seemed to
hem her in on every side. Both boys and girls had to remember the family
totems, and the family and personal taboos; what they should do and eat,
and what it was necessary for them to avoid doing and eating. Then there
were the first-fruits of the fish they caught, the animals they killed,
the foods they planted, and the various articles they made which had to
be given to their parents or nearest relatives, otherwise bad luck would
follow them. The first teeth that came out had to be carefully hidden,
for if they were found by anyone no other teeth would come in their
place.
Although there was much physical training to make them efficient in
hunting, fishing, farming, etc., and much mental training to gain a full
knowledge of all that boys and girls should know, yet there was no moral
training. From early age to puberty boys and girls had free access to
each other. Public reprobation was only visited upon those who committed
a wrong so clumsily as to be found out. I have heard them speak
admiringly of one who, while working for a white man, robbed him so
cleverly as not to be discovered, and such a one would bring back to his
town the proceeds of his robbery and boastfully describe how he
committed it; on the other hand, I have heard them call the unsuccessful
thief a “fool,” not bad nor wicked, but _elema_ = stupid, fool, etc. We
could not discover any words for virtuous or vicious; a person either
had “good ways” or “bad ways,” but these referred more to the presence
or absence of rudeness, disrespect to superiors, or greediness, than to
any moral or immoral qualities. For lying and stealing a child was not
punished unless the lie or the theft inconvenienced the parent in some
way. As a result of the lack of any moral training while young we found
both men and women most unblushing liars and thieves. I have seen the
tail of a fish sticking out of a man’s cloth, and he asseverating with
many oaths that he had neither touched nor seen the fish, until the
fisherman who had been robbed pointed to the fish-tail sticking out well
in view beyond the thief’s cloth; and when convicted he laughingly said,
“I don’t know how the fish got there.” Yet they were capable of telling
the truth and being honest, as I discovered later.
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