Travelers in the heart of Africa, also, report the covenant of
“blood-brotherhood,” or of “strong-friendship,” as in vogue among
various African tribes; although, naturally retaining less of primitive
sacredness there than among Semites. The rite is, in some cases,
observed after the manner of the Syrians, by the contracting parties
tasting each other’s blood; while, in other cases, it is performed by
the inter-transfusion of blood between the two.
The first mention which I find of it, in the writings of modern
travelers in Africa, is by the lamented hero-missionary, Dr.
Livingstone. He calls the rite _Kasendi_. It was in the region of
Lake Dilolo, at the watershed between the Indian Ocean and the
Atlantic, in July, 1854, that he made blood-friendship, vicariously,
with Queen Manenko, of the Balonda tribes.[13] She was represented,
in this ceremony, by her husband, the ebony “Prince Consort”; while
Livingstone’s representative was one of his Makololo attendants.
Woman’s right to rule--when she has the right--seems to be as clearly
recognized in Central Africa, to-day, as it was in Ethiopia in the days
of Candace, or in Sheba in the days of Balkees.
Describing the ceremony, Livingstone says:[14] “It is accomplished
thus: The hands of the parties are joined (in this case Pitsane and
Sambanza were the parties engaged). Small incisions are made on the
clasped hands, on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right
cheeks and foreheads. A small quantity of blood is taken off from
these points, in both parties, by means of a stalk of grass. The blood
from one person is put into a pot of beer, and that of the second into
another; each then drinks the other’s blood, and they are supposed to
become perpetual friends, or relations. During the drinking of the
beer, some of the party continue beating the ground with short clubs,
and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The men belonging
to each [principal’s party], then finish the beer. The principals in
the performance of ‘Kasendi’ are henceforth considered blood-relations,
and are bound to disclose to each other any impending evil. If Sekeletu
[chief of Pitsane’s tribe--the Makololo--] should resolve to attack the
Balonda [Sambanza’s--or, more properly, Manenko’s--people], Pitsane
would be under obligation to give Sambanza warning to escape; and
so, on the other side. [The ceremony concluded in this case] they
now presented each other with the most valuable presents they had
to bestow. Sambanza walked off with Pitsane’s suit of green baize
faced with red, which had been made in Loanda; and Pitsane, besides
abundant supplies of food, obtained two shells [of as great value, in
regions far from the sea, ‘as the Lord Mayor’s badge is in London,’]
similar to that [one, which] I had received from Shinte [the uncle of
Manenko].”[15]
Of the binding force of this covenant, Livingstone says farther: “On
one occasion I became blood-relation to a young woman by accident. She
had a large cartilaginous tumor between the bones of the forearm, which
as it gradually enlarged, so distended the muscles as to render her
unable to work. She applied to me to excise it. I requested her to
bring her husband, if he were willing to have the operation performed;
and while removing the tumor, one of the small arteries squirted some
blood into my eye. She remarked, when I was wiping the blood out of it,
‘You were a friend before; now you are a blood-relation; and when you
pass this way always send me word, that I may cook food for you.’”[16]
Of the influence of these inter-tribal blood-friendships, in Central
Africa, Dr. Livingstone speaks most favorably. Their primitive
character is made the more probable, in view of the fact that he first
found them existing in a region where, in his opinion, the dress and
household utensils of the people are identical with those which are
represented on the monuments of ancient Egypt.[17] Although it is
within our own generation that this mode of covenanting in the region
referred to, has been made familiar to us, the rite itself is of old,
elsewhere if not, indeed, there; as other travelers following in the
track of Livingstone have noted and reported.
Commander Cameron, who, while in charge of the Livingstone Search
Expedition, was the first European traveler to cross the whole breadth
of the African continent in its central latitudes, gives several
illustrations of the observance of this rite. In June, 1874, at the
westward of Lake Tanganyika, Syde, a guide of Cameron, entered into
this covenant of blood with Pakwanya, a local chief.
“After a certain amount of palaver,” says Cameron, “Syde and Pakwanya
exchanged presents, much to the advantage of the former [for in
the East, the person of higher rank is supposed to give the more
costly gifts in any such exchange]; more especially [in this case]
as he [Syde] borrowed the beads of me and afterward forgot to repay
me. Pakwanya then performed a tune on his harmonium, or whatever
the instrument [which he had] might be called, and the business of
fraternizing was proceeded with. Pakwanya’s head man acted as his
sponsor, and one of my askari assumed the like office for Syde.
“The first operation consisted of making an incision on each of their
right wrists, just sufficient to draw blood; a little of which was
scraped off and smeared on the other’s cut; after which gunpowder
was rubbed in [thereby securing a permanent token on the arm]. The
concluding part of the ceremony was performed by Pakwanya’s sponsor
holding a sword resting on his shoulder, while he who acted [as
sponsor] for Syde went through the motions of sharpening a knife upon
it. Both sponsors meanwhile made a speech, calling down imprecations
on Pakwanya and all his relations, past, present, and future, and
prayed that their graves might be defiled by pigs if he broke the
brotherhood in word, thought, or deed. The same form having been gone
through with, [with] respect to Syde, the sponsors changing duties, the
brother-making was complete.”[18]
Concerning the origin of this rite, in this region, Cameron says: “This
custom of ‘making brothers,’ I believe to be really of Semitic origin,
and to have been introduced into Africa by the heathen Arabs before the
days of Mohammed; and this idea is strengthened by the fact that when
the first traders from Zanzibar crossed the Tanganyika, the ceremony
was unknown [so far as those traders knew] to the westward of that
lake.”[19] Cameron was, of course, unaware of the world-wide prevalence
of this rite; but his suggestion that its particular form just here
had a Semitic origin, receives support in a peculiar difference noted
between the Asiatic and the African ceremonies.
It will be remembered, that, among the Syrians, the blood of the
covenant is taken into the mouth, and the record of the covenant is
bound upon the arm. The Africans, not fully appreciating the force of
a written record, are in the habit of reversing this order, according
to Cameron’s account. Describing the rite as observed between his
men and the natives, on the Luama River, he says: “The brotherhood
business having been completed [by putting the blood from one party on
to the arm of the other], some pen and ink marks were made on a piece
of paper, which, together with a charge of powder, was put into a
kettleful of water. All hands then drank of the decoction, the natives
being told that it was a very great medicine.”[20] That was “drinking
the covenant”[21] with a vengeance; nor is it difficult to see how this
idea originated.
The gallant and adventurous Henry M. Stanley also reports this rite of
“blood-brotherhood,” or of “strong friendship,” in the story of his
romantic experiences in the wilds of Africa. On numerous occasions
the observance of this rite was a means of protection and relief to
Stanley. One of its more notable illustrations was in his compact with
“Mirambo, the warrior chief of Western Unyamwezi;”[22] whose leadership
in warfare Stanley compares to that of both Frederick the Great[23] and
Napoleon.[24]
It was during his first journey in pursuit of Livingstone, in 1871,
that Stanley first encountered the forces of Mirambo, and was worsted
in the conflict.[25] Writing of him, after his second expedition,
Stanley describes Mirambo, as “the ‘Mars of Africa,’ who since 1871 has
made his name feared by both native and foreigner from Usui to Urori,
and from Uvinza to Ugogo, a country embracing 90,000 square miles;
who, from the village chieftainship over Uyoweh, has made for himself
a name as well known as that of Mtesa throughout the eastern half of
Equatorial Africa; a household word from Nyangwé to Zanzibar, and the
theme of many a song of the bards of Unyamwezi, Ukimbu, Ukonongo,
Uzinja, and Uvinza.”[26] For a time, during his second exploring
expedition, Stanley was inclined to avoid Mirambo, but becoming
“impressed with his ubiquitous powers,”[27] he decided to meet him,
and if possible make “strong friendship” with him. They came together,
first, at Serombo, April 22, 1876. Mirambo “quite captivated” Stanley.
“He was a thorough African _gentleman_ in appearance.... A handsome,
regular-featured, mild-voiced, soft-spoken man, with what one might
call a ‘meek’ demeanor; very generous and open-handed;” his eyes having
“the steady, calm gaze of a master.”[28]
The African hero and the heroic American agreed to “make strong
friendship” with each other. Stanley thus describes the ceremony:
“Manwa Sera [Stanley’s ‘chief captain’] was requested to seal our
friendship by performing the ceremony of blood-brotherhood between
Mirambo and myself. Having caused us to sit fronting each other on
a straw-carpet, he made an incision in each of our right legs, from
which he extracted blood, and inter-changing it, he exclaimed aloud:
‘If either of you break this brotherhood now established between you,
may the lion devour him, the serpent poison him, bitterness be in his
food, his friends desert him, his gun burst in his hands and wound
him, and everything that is bad do wrong to him until death.’”[29] The
same blood now flowed in the veins of both Stanley and Mirambo. They
were friends and brothers in a sacred covenant; life for life. At the
conclusion of the covenant, they exchanged gifts; as the customary
ratification, or accompaniment, of the compact. They even vied with
each other in proofs of their unselfish fidelity, in this new covenant
of friendship.[30]
Again and again, before and after this incident, Stanley entered into
the covenant of blood-brotherhood with representative Africans; in some
instances by the opening of his own veins; at other times by allowing
one of his personal escort to bleed for him. In January, 1875, a “great
magic doctor of Vinyata” came to Stanley’s tent to pay a friendly
visit, “bringing with him a fine, fat ox as a peace offering.” After
an exchange of gifts, says Stanley, “he entreated me to go through
the process of blood-brotherhood, which I underwent with all the
ceremonious gravity of a pagan.”[31]
Three months later, in April, 1875, when Stanley found himself and his
party in the treacherous toils of Shekka, the King of Bumbireh, he made
several vain attempts to “induce Shekka, with gifts, to go through the
process of blood-brotherhood.” Stanley’s second captain, Safeni, was
the adroit, but unsuccessful, agent in the negotiations. “Go frankly
and smilingly, Safeni, up to Shekka, on the top of that hill,” said
Stanley, “and offer him these three fundo of beads, and ask him to
exchange blood with you.” But the wily king was not to be dissuaded
from his warlike purposes in that way. “Safeni returned. Shekka had
refused the pledge of peace.”[32] His desire was to take blood, if at
all, without any exchange.
After still another three months, in July, 1875, Stanley, at Refuge
Island, reports better success in securing peace and friendship through
blood-giving and blood-receiving. “Through the influence of young
Lukanjah--the cousin of the King of Ukerewé”--he says, “the natives of
the mainland had been induced to exchange their churlish disposition
for one of cordial welcome; and the process of blood-brotherhood had
been formally gone through [with], between Manwa Sera, on my part,
and Kijaju, King of Komeh, and the King of Itawagumba, on the other
part.”[33]
It was at “Kampunzu, in the district of Uvinza, where dwell the true
aborigines of the forest country,”--a people whom Stanley afterwards
found to be cannibals--that this rite was once more observed between
the explorers and the natives. “Blood-brotherhood being considered as
a pledge of good-will and peace,” says Stanley, “Frank Pocock [a young
Englishman who was an attendant of Stanley] and the chief [of Kampunzu]
went through the ordeal; and we interchanged presents”--as is the
custom in the observance of this rite.[34]
At the island of Mpika, on the Livingstone River, in December, 1876,
there was another bright episode in Stanley’s course of travel, through
this mode of sealing friendship. Disease had been making sad havoc in
Stanley’s party. He had been compelled to fight his way along through
a region of cannibals. While he was halting for a breakfast on the
river bank over against Mpika, an attack on him was preparing by the
excited inhabitants of the island. Just then his scouts captured a
native trading party of men and women who were returning to Mpika,
from inland; and to them his interpreters made clear his pacific
intentions. “By means of these people,” he says, “we succeeded in
checking the warlike demonstrations of the islanders, and in finally
persuading them to make blood-brotherhood; after which we invited
canoes to come and receive [these hostages] their friends. As they
hesitated to do so, we embarked them in our own boat, and conveyed
them across to the island. The news then spread quickly along the
whole length of the island that we were friends, and as we resumed our
journey, crowds from the shore cried out to us, ‘_Mwendé Ki-vuké-vuké_’
(‘Go in peace!’)”[35]
Once more it was at the conclusion of a bloody conflict, in the
district of Vinya-Njara, just below Mpika Island, that peace was sealed
by blood. When practical victory was on Stanley’s side, at the cost
of four of his men killed, and thirteen more of them wounded, then
he sought this means of amity. “With the aid of our interpreters,”
he says, “we communicated our terms, viz., that we would occupy
Vinya-Njara, and retain all the canoes unless they made peace. We also
informed them that we had one prisoner, who would be surrendered to
them if they availed themselves of our offer of peace: that we had
suffered heavily, and they had also suffered; that war was an evil
which wise men avoided; that if they came with two canoes with their
chiefs, two canoes with our chiefs should meet them in mid-stream,
and make blood-brotherhood; and that on that condition some of their
canoes should be restored, and we would purchase the rest.” The natives
took time for the considering of this proposition, and then accepted
it. “On the 22nd of December, the ceremony of blood-brotherhood
having been formally concluded, in mid-river, between Safeni and the
chief of Vinya-Njara,” continues Stanley, “our captive, and fifteen
canoes, were returned, and twenty-three canoes were retained by
us for a satisfactory equivalent; and thus our desperate struggle
terminated.”[36]
On the Livingstone, just below the Equator, in February, 1877,
Stanley’s party was facing starvation, having been for some time
“unable to purchase food, or indeed [to] approach a settlement for any
amicable purpose.” The explorers came to look at “each other as fated
victims of protracted famine, or [of] the rage of savages, like those
of Mangala.” “We continued our journey,” goes on the record, “though
grievously hungry, past Bwena and Inguba, doing our utmost to induce
the staring fishermen to communicate with us; without any success. They
became at once officiously busy with guns, and dangerously active. We
arrived at Ikengo, and as we were almost despairing, we proceeded to a
small island opposite this settlement, and prepared to encamp. Soon a
canoe with seven men came dashing across, and we prepared our moneys
for exhibition. They unhesitatingly advanced, and ran their canoe
alongside of us. We were rapturously joyful, and returned them a most
cordial welcome, as the act was a most auspicious sign of confidence.
We were liberal, and the natives fearlessly accepted our presents;
and from this giving of gifts we proceeded to seal this incipient
friendship with our blood, with all due ceremony.”[37] And by this
transfusion of blood, the starving were re-vivified, and the despairing
were given hope.
Twice, again, within a few weeks after this experience, there was
a call on Stanley of blood for blood, in friendship’s compact. The
people of Chumbiri welcomed the travelers. “They readily subscribed
to all the requirements of friendship, blood-brotherhood, and an
exchange of a few small gifts.”[38] Itsi, the king of Ntamo, with
several of his elders and a showy escort, came out to meet Stanley;
and there was a friendly greeting on both sides. “They then broached
the subject of blood-brotherhood. We were willing,” says Stanley, “but
they wished to defer the ceremony until they had first shown their
friendly feelings to us.” Thereupon gifts were exchanged, and the
king indicated his preference for a “big goat” of Stanley’s, as his
benefaction--which, after some parleying, was transferred to him. Then
came the covenant-rite. “The treaty with Itsi,” says Stanley, “was
exceedingly ceremonious, and involved the exchange of charms. Itsi
transferred to me for my protection through life, a small gourdful of a
curious powder, which had rather a saline taste; and I delivered over
to him, as the white man’s charm against all evil, a half-ounce vial
of magnesia; further, a small scratch in Frank’s arm, and another in
Itsi’s arm, supplied blood sufficient to unite us in one, and [by an]
indivisible bond of fraternity.”[39]
Four years after this experience of blood-covenanting, by proxy, with
young Itsi, Stanley found himself again at Ntamo, or across the river
from it; this time in the interest of the International Association of
the Congo. Being short of food, he had sent out a party of foragers,
and was waiting their return with interest. “During the absence of
the food-hunters,” he says, “we heard the drums of Ntamo, and [we]
followed with interested eyes the departure of two large canoes from
the landing-place, their ascent to the place opposite, and their final
crossing over towards us. Then we knew that Ngalyema of Ntamo had
condescended to come and visit us. As soon as he arrived I recognized
him as the Itsi with whom, in 1877, I had made blood-brotherhood [by
proxy]. During the four years that had elapsed, he had become a great
man.... He was now about thirty-four years old, of well-built form,
proud in his bearing, covetous and grasping in disposition, and,
like all other lawless barbarians, prone to be cruel and sanguinary
whenever he might safely vent his evil humor. Superstition had found
in him an apt and docile pupil, and fetishism held him as one of its
most abject slaves. This was the man in whose hands the destinies of
the Association Internationale du Congo were held, and upon whose
graciousness depended our only hope of being able to effect a peaceful
lodgment on the Upper Congo.” A pagan African was an African pagan,
even while the blood-brother of a European Christian. Yet, the tie of
blood-covenanting was the strongest tie known in Central Africa. Frank
Pocock, whose covenant-blood flowed in Itsi’s veins, was dead;[40] yet
for his sake his master, Stanley, was welcomed by Itsi as a brother;
and in true Eastern fashion he was invited to prove anew his continuing
faith by a fresh series of love-showing gifts. “My brother being the
supreme lord of Ntamo, as well as the deepest-voiced and most arrogant
rogue among the whole tribe,” says Stanley, “first demanded the two
asses [which Stanley had with him], then a large mirror, which was
succeeded by a splendid gold-embroidered coat, jewelry, glass clasps,
long brass chains, a figured table-cloth, fifteen other pieces of fine
cloth, and a japanned tin box with a ‘Chubb’ lock. Finally, gratified
by such liberality, Ngalyema surrendered to me his sceptre, which
consisted of a long staff, banded profusely with brass, and decorated
with coils of brass wire, which was to be carried by me and shown to
all men that I was the brother of Ngalyema [or, Itsi] of Ntamo!”[41]
Some time after this, when trouble arose between Stanley and Ngalyema,
the former suggested that perhaps it would be better to cancel their
brotherhood. “‘No, no, no,’ cried Ngalyema, anxiously; ‘our brotherhood
cannot be broken; our blood is now one.’” Yet at this time Stanley’s
brotherhood with Ngalyema was only by the blood of his deceased
retainer, Frank Pocock.
More commonly, the rite of blood-friendship among the African tribes
seems to be by the inter-transfusion of blood; but the ancient Syrian
method is by no means unknown on that continent. Stanley tells of
one crisis of hunger, among the cannibals of Rubunga, when the
hostility of the natives on the river bank was averted by a shrewd
display of proffered trinkets from the boats of the expedition. “We
raised our anchor,” he says, “and with two strokes of the oars had
run our boat ashore; and, snatching a string or two of cowries [or
shell-money], I sprang on land, followed by the coxswain Uledi, and
in a second I had seized the skinny hand of the old chief, and was
pressing it hard for joy. Warm-hearted Uledi, who the moment before
was breathing furious hate of all savages, and of the procrastinating
old chief in particular, embraced him with a filial warmth. Young
Saywa, and Murabo, and Shumari, prompt as tinder upon all occasions,
grasped the lesser chiefs’ hands, and devoted themselves with smiles
and jovial frank bearing to conquer the last remnants of savage
sullenness, and succeeded so well that, in an incredible short time,
the blood-brotherhood ceremony between the suddenly formed friends was
solemnly entered into, and the irrevocable pact of peace and good will
had been accomplished.”[42]
Apparently unaware of the method of the ancient Semitic rite, here
found in a degraded form, Stanley seems surprised at the mutual tasting
of blood between the contracting friends, in this instance. He says:
“Blood-brotherhood was a beastly cannibalistic ceremony with these
people, yet much sought after,--whether for the satisfaction of their
thirst for blood, or that it involved an interchange of gifts, of which
they must needs reap the most benefit. After an incision was made
in each arm, both brothers bent their heads, and the aborigine was
observed to suck with the greatest fervor; whether for love of blood or
excess of friendship, it would be difficult to say.”[43]
During his latest visit to Africa, in the Congo region, Stanley
had many another occasion to enter into the covenant of blood with
native chiefs, or to rest on that covenant as before consummated. His
every description of the rite itself has its value, as illustrating
the varying forms and the essential unity of the ceremony of
blood-covenanting, the world over.
A reference has already been made[44] to Stanley’s meeting, on this
expedition, with Ngalyema, who, under the name of Itsi, had entered
into blood-brotherhood with Frank Pocock, four years before. That
brotherhood by proxy had several severe strains, in the progress of
negotiations between Stanley and Ngalyema; and after some eight months
of these varying experiences, it was urgently pressed on Stanley by the
chiefs of Kintamo (which is another name for Ntamo), that he should
personally covenant by blood with Ngalyema, and so put an end to all
danger of conflict between them. To this Stanley assented, and the
record of the transaction is given accordingly, under date of April
9, 1882: “Brotherhood with Ngalyema was performed. We crossed arms;
an incision was made in each arm; some salt was placed on the wound,
and then a mutual rubbing took place, while the great fetish man of
Kintamo pronounced an inconceivable number of curses on my head if ever
I proved false. Susi [Livingstone’s head man, now with Stanley], not
to be outdone by him, solicited the gods to visit unheard-of atrocious
vengeances on Ngalyema if he dared to make the slightest breach in
the sacred brotherhood which made him and Bula Matari[45] one and
indivisible for ever.”[46]
In June, 1883, Stanley visited, by invitation, Mangombo, the chief of
Irebu, on the Upper Congo, and became his blood-brother. Describing
his landing at this “Venice of the Congo,” he says: “Mangombo, with
a curious long staff, a fathom and a half in length, having a small
spade of brass at one end, much resembling a baker’s cake-spade, stood
in front. He was a man probably sixty years old, but active and by no
means aged-looking, and he waited to greet me.... Generally the first
day of acquaintance with the Congo river tribes is devoted to chatting,
sounding one another’s principles, and getting at one another’s ideas.
The chief entertains his guest with gifts of food, goats, beer, fish,
&c.; then, on the next day, commences business and reciprocal exchange
of gifts. So it was at Irebu. Mangombo gave four hairy thin-tailed
sheep, ten glorious bunches of bananas, two great pots of beer,
and the usual accompaniments of small stores. The next day we made
blood-brotherhood. The fetish-man pricked each of our right arms,
pressed the blood out; then, with a pinch of scrapings from my gun
stock, a little salt, a few dusty scrapings from a long pod, dropped
over the wounded arms, ... the black and white arms were mutually
rubbed together [for the inter-transfusion of the flowing blood]. The
fetish-man took the long pod in his hand, and slightly touched our
necks, our heads, our arms, and our legs, muttering rapidly his litany
of incantations. What was left of the medicine Mangombo and I carefully
folded in a banana leaf [Was this the ‘house of the amulet?’[47]], and
we bore it reverently between us to a banana grove close by, and buried
the dust out of sight. Mangombo, now my brother, by solemn interchange
of blood,--consecrated to my service, as I was devoted in the sacred
fetish bond to his service,--revealed his trouble, and implored my
aid.”[48]
Yet again, Stanley “made friendship” with the Bakuti, at Wangata,
“after the customary forms of blood-brotherhood”;[49] similarly with
two chiefs, Iuka and Mungawa, at Lukolela;[50] with Miyongo of
Usindi;[51] and with the chiefs of Bolombo;[52] of Yambinga,[53] of
Mokulu,[54] of Irungu,[55] of Upoto,[56] of Uranga;[57] and so all
along his course of travel. One of the fullest and most picturesque of
his descriptions of this rite, is in connection with its observance
with a son of the great chief of the Bangala, at Iboko; and the main
details of that description are worthy of reproduction here.
The Bangala, or “the Ashantees of the Livingstone River,” as Stanley
characterizes them, are a strong and a superior people, and they
fought fiercely against Stanley, when he was passing their country
in 1877.[58] “The senior chief, Mata Bwyki (lord of many guns), was
[now, in October, 1883,] an old grey-haired man,” says Stanley,
“of Herculean stature and breadth of shoulder, with a large square
face, and an altogether massive head, out of which his solitary eye
seemed to glare with penetrative power. I should judge him to be
six feet, two inches, in height. He had a strong, sonorous voice,
which, when lifted to speak to his tribe, was heard clearly several
hundred yards off. He was now probably between seventy-five and eighty
years old.... He was not the tallest man, nor the best looking, nor
the sweetest-dispositioned man, I had met in all Africa; but if the
completeness and perfection of the human figure, combining size with
strength, and proportion of body, limbs, and head, with an expression
of power in the face, be considered, he must have been at one time the
grandest type of physical manhood to be found in Equatorial Africa. As
he stood before us on this day, we thought of him as an ancient Milo,
an aged Hercules, an old Samson--a really grand looking old man. At his
side were seven tall sons, by different mothers, and although they were
stalwart men and boys, the whitened crown of Mata Bwyki’s head rose by
a couple of inches above the highest head.”
Nearly two thousand persons assembled, at Iboko, to witness the
“palaver” that must precede a decision to enter into “strong
friendship.” At the place of meeting, “mats of split rattan were
spread in a large semicircle around a row of curved and box stools,
for the principal chiefs. In the centre of the line, opposite this,
was left a space for myself and people,” continues Stanley. “We had
first to undergo the process of steady and silent examination from
nearly two thousand pairs of eyes. Then, after Yumbila, the guide,
had detailed in his own manner, who we were, and what was our mission
up the great river; how we had built towns at many places, and made
blood-brotherhood with the chiefs of great districts, such as Irebu,
Ukuti, Usindi, Ngombé, Lukolela, Bolobo, Mswata, and Kintamo, he urged
upon them the pleasure it would be to me to make a like compact, sealed
with blood, with the great chiefs of populous Iboko. He pictured the
benefits likely to accrue to Iboko, and Mata Bwyki in particular, if
a bond of brotherhood was made between two chiefs like Mata Bwyki and
Tandelay, [Stanley,] or as he was known, Bula Matari.”
There was no prompt response to Stanley’s request for strong friendship
with the Bangala. There were prejudices to be removed, and old memories
to be overborne; and Yumbila’s eloquence and tact were put to their
severest test, in the endeavor to bring about a state of feeling that
would make the covenant of blood a possibility here. But the triumph
was won. “A forked palm branch was brought,” says Stanley. “Kokoro, the
heir [of Mata Bwyki], came forward, seized it, and kneeled before me;
as, drawing out his short falchion, he cried, ‘Hold the other branch,
Bula Matari!’ I obeyed him, and lifting his hand he cleaved the branch
in two. ‘Thus,’ he said, ‘I declare my wish to be your brother.’
“Then a fetish-man came forward with his lancets, long pod, pinch
of salt, and fresh green banana leaf. He held the staff of Kokoro’s
sword-bladed spear, while one of my rifles was brought from the
steamer. The shaft of the spear and the stock of the rifle were then
scraped on the leaf, a pinch of salt was dropped on the wood, and
finally a little dust from the long pod was scraped on the curious
mixture. Then, our arms were crossed,--the white arm over the brown
arm,--and an incision was made in each; and over the blood was dropped
a few grains of the dusty compound; and the white arm was rubbed over
the brown arm [in the intermingling of blood].”
“Now Mata Bwyki lifted his mighty form, and with his long giant’s staff
drove back the compressed crowd, clearing a wide circle, and then
roaring out in his most magnificent style, leonine in its lung-force,
kingly in its effect: ‘People of Iboko! You by the river side, and you
of inland. Men of the Bangala, listen to the words of Mata Bwyki. You
see Tandelay before you. His other name is Bula Matari. He is the man
with the many canoes, and has brought back strange smoke-boats. He has
come to see Mata Bwyki. He has asked Mata Bwyki to be his friend. Mata
Bwyki has taken him by the hand, and has become his blood-brother.
Tandelay belongs to Iboko now. He has become this day one of the
Bangala. O, Iboko! listen to the voice of Mata Bwyki.’ (I thought they
must have been incurably deaf, not to have heard that voice). ‘Bula
Matari and Mata Bwyki are one to-day. We have joined hands. Hurt not
Bula Matari’s people; steal not from them; offend them not. Bring food
and sell to him at a fair price, gently, kindly, and in peace; for he
is my brother. Hear you, ye people of Iboko--you by the river side, and
you of the interior?’
“‘We hear, Mata Bwyki!’ shouted the multitude.”[59] And the ceremony
was ended.
A little later than this, Stanley, or Tandelay, or Bula Matari, as the
natives called him, was at Bumba, and there again he exchanged blood
in friendship. “Myombi, the chief,” he says, “was easily persuaded
by Yumbila to make blood-brotherhood with me; and for the fiftieth
time my poor arm was scarified, and my blood shed for the cause of
civilization. Probably one thousand people of both sexes looked on the
scene, wonderingly and strangely. A young branch of a palm was cut,
twisted, and a knot tied at each end; the knots were dipped in wood
ashes, and then seized and held by each of us, while the medicine-man
practised his blood-letting art, and lanced us both, until Myombi
winced with pain; after which the knotted branch was severed; and,
in some incomprehensible manner, I had become united forever to my
fiftieth brother; to whom I was under the obligation of defending [him]
against all foes until death.”[60]
The blood of a fair proportion of all the first families of Equatorial
Africa now courses in Stanley’s veins; and if ever there was an
American citizen who could appropriate to himself preeminently the
national motto, “E pluribus unum,” Stanley is the man.
The root-idea of this rite of blood-friendship seems to include the
belief, that the blood is the life of a living being; not merely that
the blood is _essential_ to life, but that, in a peculiar sense, it
_is_ life; that it actually vivifies by its presence; and that by its
passing from one organism to another it carries and imparts life.
The inter-commingling of the blood of two organisms is, therefore,
according to this view, equivalent to the inter-commingling of the
lives, of the personalities, of the natures, thus brought together; so
that there is, thereby and thenceforward, one life in the two bodies,
a common life between the two friends: a thought which Aristotle
recognizes in his citation of the ancient “proverb”: “One soul [in two
bodies],”[61] a proverb which has not lost its currency in any of the
centuries.
That the blood can retain its vivifying power whether passing into
another by way of the lips or by way of the veins, is, on the face of
it, no less plausible, than that the administering of stimulants,
tonics, nutriments, nervines, or anæsthetics, hypodermically, may be
equally potent, in certain cases, with the more common and normal
method of seeking assimilation by the process of digestion. That
the blood of the living has a peculiar vivifying force, in its
transference from one organism to another, is one of the clearly proven
re-disclosures of modern medical science; and this transference of
blood has been made to advantage by way of the veins, of the stomach,
of the intestines, of the tissue, and even of the lungs--through
dry-spraying.[62]