QUENGUEZA ORDERS ILOGO TO BE CONSULTED ABOUT HIS ILLNESS.--WHAT
THE PEOPLE THINK OF ILOGO.--A NOCTURNAL SEANCE.--SONG TO
ILOGO.--A FEMALE MEDIUM.--WHAT ILOGO SAID.
What a strange village Goumbi is! It is well that I am the friend of
King Quengueza. The people are so superstitious. We had hardly got over
the affair of witchcraft when the people declared they must find some
means of ascertaining the cause of the king's sufferings. Quengueza had
sent word himself that his people must try to find out from _Ilogo_ why
he was sick, and what he must do for his recovery.
Ilogo is believed by the people to be a spirit living in the moon--a
mighty spirit, who looks down upon the inhabitants of the earth--a
spirit to whom the black man can talk. "Yes," they said, "Ilogo's face
can be seen; look at it." Then they pointed out to me the spots on the
moon which we can see with our naked eye. These spots were the
indistinct features of the spirit.
One fine evening, at full moon (for, to consult Ilogo, the moon must be
full, or nearly so), the women of the village assembled in front of the
king's house. Clustered close together, and seated on the ground, with
their faces turned toward the moon, they sang songs. They were
surrounded by the men of the village. I shall not soon forget that wild
scene. The sky was clear and beautiful; the moon shone in its
brightness, eclipsing by its light that of the stars, except those of
the first magnitude; the air was calm and serene, and the shadows of the
tall trees upon the earth appeared like queer phantoms.
[Illustration: THE SONGS TO ILOGO.]
The songs of the women were to and in praise of Ilogo, the spirit that
lived in ogouayli (the moon). Presently a woman seated herself in the
centre of the circle of singers and began a solo, gazing steadfastly at
the moon, the people every now and then singing in chorus with her. She
was to be inspired by the spirit Ilogo to utter prophecies.
At last she gave up singing, for she could not get into a trance. Then
another woman took her place, in the midst of the most vociferous
singing that could be done by human lips. After a while the second woman
gave place to a third--a little woman, wiry and nervous. She seated
herself like the others, and looked steadily at the moon, crying out
that she could see Ilogo, and then the singing redoubled in fury. The
excitement of the people had at that time become very great; the drums
beat furiously, the drummers using all their strength, until covered
with perspiration; the outsiders shouted madly, and seemed to be almost
out of their senses, for their faces were wrinkled in nervous
excitement, their eyes perfectly wild, and the contortions they made
with their bodies indescribable.
The excitement was now intense, and the noise horrible. The songs to
Ilogo were not for a moment discontinued, but the pitch of their voices
was so great and so hoarse that the words at last seemed to come with
difficulty. The medium, the women, and the men all sang with one accord:
"Ilogo, we ask thee,
Tell who has bewitched the king!
Ilogo, we ask thee,
What shall we do to cure the king?
The forests are thine, Ilogo!
The rivers are thine, Ilogo!
The moon is thine!
O moon! O moon! O moon!
Thou art the home of Ilogo!
Shall the king die? O Ilogo!
O Ilogo! O moon! O moon!"
These words were repeated over and over, the people getting more
terribly excited as they went on. The woman who was the medium, and who
had been singing violently, looked toward the moon, and began to
tremble. Her nerves twitched, her face was contorted, her muscles
swelled, and at last her limbs straightened out. At this time the
wildest of all wild excitement possessed the people. I myself looked on
with intense curiosity. She fell on her back on the ground, insensible,
her face turned up to the moon. She looked as if she had died in a fit.
The song to Ilogo continued with more noise than ever; but at last
comparative quiet followed, compelled, I believe, by sheer exhaustion
from excitement. But the people were all gazing intently on the woman's
face.
I shall not forget that scene by moonlight, nor the corpse-like face of
that woman, so still and calm. How wild it all looked! The woman, who
lay apparently dead before the savages, was expected at this time to see
things in the world of Ilogo--that is to say, the moon--to see the great
spirit Ilogo himself; and, as she lay insensible, she was supposed to be
holding intercourse with him. Then, after she had conversed with the
great spirit Ilogo, she would awake, and tell the people all she saw and
all that Ilogo had said to her.
For my part, I thought she really was dead. I approached her, and
touched her pulse. It was weak, but there was life. After about half an
hour of insensibility she came to her senses, but she was much
prostrated. She seated herself without rising, looking round as if
stupefied. She remained quite silent for a while, and then began to
speak.
"I have seen Ilogo, I have spoken to Ilogo. Ilogo has told me that
Quengueza, our king, shall not die; that Quengueza is going to live a
long time; that Quengueza was not bewitched, and that a remedy prepared
from such a plant (I forget the name) would cure him. Then," she added,
"I went to sleep, and when I awoke Ilogo was gone, and now I find myself
in the midst of you."
The people then quietly separated, as by that time it was late, and all
retired to their huts, I myself going to mine, thinking of the wild
scene I had just witnessed, and feeling that, the longer I remained in
that strange country, the more strange the customs of the people
appeared to me. Soon all became silent, and nothing but the barking of
the watchful little native dogs broke the stillness of the night. The
moon continued to shine over that village, the inhabitants of which had
run so wild with superstition.