SUPERSTITIONS OF KING MOMBO—VISITS TO THE HOUSE OF HIS IDOLS AND HIS
ANCESTORS—A STRANGE MEAL FOLLOWED BY A STRANGE DANCE.
Poor King Mombo was, you will see, excessively superstitious. He was
often unhappy on that account. He was thinking almost all the time that
some of his relations wanted to bewitch him in order to inherit his
wealth, which was composed chiefly of wives and slaves. He wore what he
firmly believed to be most potent “mondahs,” charms against witchcraft
and evil spirits. He had a little idol, having the shape of a woman,
called Makaylay, which he always carried with him wherever he went. At
night he kept her by his side.
He was also a great believer in dreams, for these foretold to him what
was to happen, and forewarned him of dangers to come. Often after
something had taken place he would say to his people that he had had a
dream in which the spirits of his ancestors came to him and told him of
what was about to happen. He was most particular about his food. His
forbidden food was buffalo meat, and no amount of gifts on my part could
have tempted him to eat buffalo.
Here and there throughout the village were sacred houses, where spirits
came to dwell during the night, while others had been built for idols.
One day King Mombo and I entered the house of Abamboo, one of the
wandering spirits in which they believe. The face of the king showed
that he was inspired with deep reverence. A little fire was burning. On
one side was a bed for Abamboo to sleep on when he came to visit the
village at night.
“Abamboo is a spirit which can send to men a great deal of evil,” said
Mombo. “We have to do a great many things to propitiate his good will.
He lives in many places, especially among the skeletons of the dead. He
walks through the country, and if he is angry at any one he causes him
to fall sick, and often condemns him to die. We cook food for him. We
give him game, plantain, and sugar-cane, which we deposit in the
forest.”
Next we entered the house where Pangeo and his wife Aleha dwelt. Pangeo
was about two feet high. His tongue was of iron, sharp-pointed and came
out about two inches from his mouth. His eyes were of iron; his legs
were short and he had a very big stomach; his body was painted of
different colors.
Aleha was of the same size. Her eyes were made of pieces of
looking-glass. She wore enormous earrings of brass, had bracelets of
brass, and her ankles were adorned with brass rings. She wore a necklace
of cowry shells. King Mombo stood in awe before the idol; he spoke to
Pangeo and told him how much he loved him, and then spoke to Aleha,
saying the same to her.
After that, we entered the house of Makambi and Abiala. Makambi was a
big idol, about three feet high. He wore a feather headdress and held a
spear in his hand which he was ready to throw; his eyes were carved and
painted red.
Abiala, his wife, held a pistol in her hand—which she had taken from her
husband, as Mombo said to me in a whisper.
The king stood before Makambi and Abiala and told them how much he loved
them—as he had done to Pangeo and Aleha. “You know I love you both,” he
added in a loud voice. “I bring to you the products of the hunt and of
the earth. Take good care of me—watch over me.”
After leaving the house of Makambi and Abiala, King Mombo returned to
his house and I to mine.
The head wife of King Mombo was called Ogandaga; she was dressed with
three strings of beads round her waist, and wore over thirty heavy brass
rings on each of her legs. She it was who cooked the food of the king.
Often Mombo would walk in the street when it was quite dark, and talk
about me to his people, and say how much he loved me. Then he would
shout aloud, so that all his people could hear: “Chally the Oguizi, I
love you. I am your friend. All I have is yours—my slaves are yours—my
plantations are yours—my wives are yours—my daughters, my sons, and my
nephews are yours. You can say to them ‘Follow me,’ and they will all
follow you. Oguizi, all my people love you.” And when the people heard
this, they would shout “Yo—yo.” (“That is so, that is so.”)
Not far from King Mombo’s sleeping-house, and back of it, was a strange
little building which was called the Alumbi house. Every time I saw the
king enter this place he came out of it with his body painted with ochre
of different colors, and his face always looked very thoughtful. When
inside I could hear him making loud invocations. One day he came out
more daubed than I had ever seen him before. His body was covered with
white, red, and yellow. I thought he looked savage and awful.
My curiosity became very much aroused in regard to the Alumbi house. One
day, as King Mombo came out of it I went up to him and said: “King, show
me the inside of the Alumbi house.”
After hearing my words, he looked at me, as if trying to read my
thoughts. He remained silent for a little while, and then said: “Oguizi,
you can go inside and see for yourself, and I will accompany you.” He
opened the door; we entered, and he shut the door behind us.
What a strange and unexpected sight met my eyes! Along the walls were
large cakes of colored clay. These were black, white, and of different
shades of yellow and red. Upon each stood the skull of a man which
seemed to look at me and say: “What are you doing in our abode? You do
not belong to our race.” Mombo marked his body with the ochre of two of
the cakes, muttering words I could not understand. Then he said to me in
a whisper: “The skulls you see here are those of my kinsmen. They were
great and valiant men in their day. It is the custom in our country when
a man much greater than all other men dies to cut his head off after his
death and then put it on a cake of clay and let it decay there. Then the
mass of ochre is kneaded together and dyed and the skull is always kept
on the cake that belongs to it. Oh, Oguizi, these skulls belonged to
great forefathers of mine. They were never afraid of war. Here on the
cake of white clay is the skull of Olenga-Yombee. He died a very old
man, and when young he was the greatest warrior of his time. He founded
our clan and our tribe. He was the most dreaded by our enemies of all
their foes. He burned many villages. His people believed all he said,
for he was wise. He had many wives and many slaves, and his ‘oyana’
[idol] granted him all he asked. He lived about three hundred rainy
seasons ago. At that time our tribe was much further inland, towards the
country where the sun rises.”
Then, pointing out to me a cake of a deep yellow color, he said:
“Oguizi, the skull there is that of Jombouay. He led us through the
forest and had many wars, for our ancestors had to fight many tribes who
opposed them before coming to this part of the forest where we are now
settled.”
When he had finished telling the history of the men whose skulls were
before me, he said: “Oguizi, the spirits of these men are hovering in
the air above us; when I invoke them to protect me and our clan and
tribe, they come round us and protect us. They have saved my life many
times.”
Then we left the Alumbi house. That evening Mombo walked in the street
of the village and invoked the spirits of his ancestors, calling each by
name. He invoked especially the spirits of Olenga-Yombee and of
Jombouay, saying to them: “Look at the Oguizi; you never saw him during
your lives. But Mombo, your kinsman, has him in his village.”
The following day King Mombo came to me and said: “Oguizi I want you to
eat with me to-morrow—I will have the fattest of my goats killed and
some chickens. These will be cooked in fresh palm oil that has just been
made.” “I will,” I replied. Then he called Ogandaga, his head wife, and
said to her: “Prepare a meal for to-morrow. Have the fat goat killed and
also a few chickens, for the Oguizi and I are going to eat together.”
When I had accepted the invitation we separated, the king looking
happier than usual.
Little did I know what King Mombo intended to do, and why he had invited
me to eat with him, and his reasons for doing so. I will however recount
to you now what I was told afterwards.
The following day, while Ogandaga was cooking our dinner, Mombo went
into the Alumbi house and took in his hands the skull of his great
ancestor, Olenga-Yombee, and said: “Olenga-Yombee, my great beloved
ancestor, see that I make the great Oguizi love me.” Then he scraped
with a knife a little of the forehead of the skull. The scrapings fell
into a small wooden bowl which he had taken with him. He replaced the
skull on its own cake of ochre, and went to where his wife was cooking,
and told her to go and fetch a bag that was in his sleeping-house. When
she had gone he put the scrapings of the skull of Olenga-Yombee into the
pot which contained the goat’s meat, stirred it with the wooden spoon
that was near by, and went away.
After a while Ogandaga told us that the meal was ready. The bottom of a
canoe put on two mortars made our table; baskets on which were large
leaves were our plates, and cocoanuts cut in two were our glasses; our
fingers were to be our forks. According to the custom of the country,
Ogandaga tasted of every dish before our eyes, and drank of the water
that was in the jug before we did, and then bade us eat and drink.
The king and I sat down opposite each other. Then he gave me some of the
meat of the goat which had been served in a wooden dish used for the
first time. As soon as he saw that I had eaten all I had on my plate he
seemed overjoyed, for now he was sure I would love him.
Then he invoked in a loud voice the spirit of his great ancestor,
Olenga-Yombee, and called upon him to make me love him.
[Illustration: “_The king and I sat down opposite each other_”]
There is a belief amongst the people that after the scraped skull is in
the body it turns into the blood of that ancestor, which then becomes
part of your own blood. Hence you must love the person who is a
descendant of the man to whom the skull belonged.
The whole population of the village was present while we were eating,
and shouted: “Great is Mombo, the friend of the Oguizi!”
After our meal the king disappeared and went into the Alumbi house. When
he came out, his appearance had quite changed. Now his body was painted
in different colors. He was covered with “mondahs,” or charms. He was
chewing some of the clay which dyed his lips yellow. Then taking my two
hands, he blew the ochre from his mouth upon them until they were
entirely covered with it, and invoked the spirits of his ancestors,
Kombé-Ratenon-Olenda and Olenga-Yombee, to be my friends, and watch over
me.
That night there was a great dance. Singing and dancing went on
together. At times women danced alone, and moved the muscles of their
bodies in most ridiculous fashion. At other times men and women danced
and sang together. The noise was very great, for there were over twenty
tomtoms beating at the same time.