KING MOMBO’S PLANTATION—WORK OF THE SLAVES IN CLEARING AND
CULTIVATING THE FOREST—STRANGE VILLAGE OF THE SLAVES—HOUSES OF
THE SPIRITS—REGUNDO’S ACCOUNT OF WITCHCRAFT AND ITS
PUNISHMENT—OVENGUA.
In the midst of this forest, far away from their master, lived these
slaves of King Mombo, and none tried to escape, because they were sure
to be caught by the people of some other tribes, and become the slaves
of their captors, and having a good master they knew that it was better
for them to be under his protection.
The plantains or cassava or manioc fields were scattered all over the
forest. One day, as Regundo and I were seated together, he said, “I am
an old man. I rule over the slaves of King Mombo, and tell them what to
do on the plantation. My wife and I are Apinjis, and I remember that we
passed through several tribes coming down a big river, changing masters
at different times until we came to King Mombo. But that was long ago;
many rainy seasons have passed away since, for I was then a boy and now
I am gray-headed.”
The slaves had a great deal to do to clear the forest. These clearings
were in large patches. In some the trees had been cut and burned and
only the huge trunks were standing. Thousands of plantain trees had been
planted. In some patches or fields the plantain trees were large and
bore heavy bunches, some bunches weighing over one hundred and fifty
pounds each. In other patches the plantain trees were on the point of
bearing; in others the trees were smaller. In a word, the plantations or
patches were so arranged as to bear fruit all the year round. The
plantain tree, like the banana tree, bears only one bunch and then dies.
During its life several shoots spring from the ground from the base of
the trunk, and these are transplanted and in time bear fruit. No two
crops are gathered on the same spot, for the bunches become quite small.
So new parts of the forest have to be constantly cleared for new
plantations.
There were also large fields of cassava or manioc. The manioc yields a
large return. It is cultivated by cuttings, and one little stem is stuck
carelessly into the ground, and produces in a season two or three large
roots of the size of a yam. The natives boil the roots. When taken from
the ground, they are very poisonous and have to be laid in running
streams from three to five days before being eaten. Near the dwellings
were large patches of ginger, of sweet potatoes, of yams, Indian corn,
tobacco, peanuts, and wild hemp which the natives smoke. The ground in
many places was covered with squashes and gourds of different sizes and
shapes. There were vines running in every direction. The gourds were
used as water vessels, or to hold palm oil and other kinds of vegetable
oils made from the nuts of the forest.
These fields were cultivated by the women. Numerous lime trees, covered
with limes of different sizes were to be seen in different directions.
There were many plants covered with small red peppers.
Almost every day one or two canoes were loaded with the products of the
plantations, and with game, and were despatched to King Mombo.
Not far from Regundo’s house was the sacred or holy tree. It was a kind
of india-rubber tree, which had grown to its present size from a cutting
Regundo had planted years before. The people believed that as long as
the tree flourished the place where they lived was a good one for their
settlement; but if the tree were to die it would be a sign that the spot
had become unlucky, and that witchcraft had taken possession of the
place. If the cutting when planted dies, it is an omen that the place
chosen will not be a lucky one and in that case the place is abandoned
at once.
As usual on such occasions, a powerful charm or “mondah” had been buried
by the medicine doctor, with many incantations to keep witchcraft away
from the settlement.
“The ‘mondah’ that is buried there,” said Regundo, “was made of three
skulls of chimpanzees, five heads of monkeys, three heads of snakes, one
leopard’s skull, the talons of several eagles, and charms made by the
medicine doctor, of which nobody but he knew the composition. Under the
gate or arch through which you passed when you came, another powerful
‘mondah’ was buried by another great medicine-man, who had come from a
far country and had been sold to King Mombo. He is now dead, but the
power of the ‘mondah’ he made, and which is buried there, is very
great.”
Regundo had implicit faith in the powers of these two “mondahs” under
the arch and by the india-rubber tree, for he and his wife had always
been well since he had settled on that spot.
Not far from Regundo’s house were several little houses, standing by
themselves, and not big enough for human beings to live in. Calling
Regundo, I asked him what these houses were for? He answered with a
great deal of solemnity—“The nearest one to us, which is also the
largest, is the house of Okookoo, a great spirit; the second is that of
Abamboo, called also Jockoo by some of the slaves; the third one is that
of Mbuiri, another spirit; and the fourth is the great and powerful idol
Makambi, who watches over us and often talks to us during the night.”
On our way back to his house Regundo said: “Oguizi, we all dread
Ovengua.”
“Who is Ovengua, and to what tribe does he belong?” I asked.
“Oh,” replied Regundo, “if he were a man I should not be afraid of him,
for I am afraid of no man when I have my gun with me. He is a spirit,
and we dread him very much. He is a great catcher of men. He wanders
incessantly through the forest, seeking always to kill men. We never see
again those who are caught by him. By day he lives in a dark cavern, but
at night he roams freely, and sometimes even gets into the body of a
man, and beats and kills all those who come out in the dark. When
Ovengua gets into the body of a man, that man must be killed and his
body burned to ashes—not a single piece of bone must remain, lest a new
Ovengua arise from it. When a bad man dies, the bones of his body leave
the place where he was left, one by one, and become an Ovengua. There is
much witchcraft in our land, Oguizi. You have seen slaves of many
different countries here; witchcraft is in their country also. There is
witchcraft in all the countries inhabited by the black man.”
Then, after a pause, he added: “Wizards and witches are the worst kind
of people, for they bewitch men and women and cause them no end of
sickness and trouble, and make them die. The spirit of witchcraft goes
into the body of a man or woman, sometimes against his will; but often
envy and hatred cause men and women to become wizards and witches. These
are so cunning that they carry out their evil designs unknown to the
people for months, nay, even for years, and keep on killing and giving
bad luck to people without detection. They smile and appear friendly to
those they want to bewitch, so they may not be suspected. When
witchcraft enters people and gets possession of them, it gives them the
greatest power for evil and they can do all they wish. They can make one
have a long and painful illness, or make one die suddenly. They can also
give one bad luck in hunting and fishing, they can bewitch your food and
water and the road upon which you pass. Through witchcraft people
sometimes appear in the eyes of other people to be animals or birds.”
Then he shouted, with fierceness in his eyes, “Yes, our medicine doctors
can find out wizards and witches after they have drunk the ‘mboundou.’”
“What is the ‘mboundou?’” I asked Regundo, though I had of course
learned about it at the village of King Mombo.
“It is a tree,” he answered, “that Aniambie, the good spirit, has given
to us poor black men to enable us to discover those who possess the
power of witchcraft. Our doctors drink the ‘mboundou’ without dying, and
when they are under the influence of it, they have the power of
divination, and find out who the sorcerers are. Then those accused of
witchcraft appeal to the ‘mboundou’ to prove their innocence, and they
drink it in presence of the people and of the doctor, who drinks it from
the same bowl. If the accused falters and falls to the ground, he is a
sorcerer, and we kill him and put him on a road where the bashikouay ant
is, or we tie him to a tree and make cuts in different parts of his
body, and fill these cuts with those little red peppers that are so
strong, or we burn him slowly, or we cut him to pieces as soon as he
falls.”
“But,” I said, “Regundo, this is terribly wicked, to make poor creatures
die by being eaten slowly by the bashikouay ants, or from the fearful
tortures of red peppers in their wounds, or by slow burning. If I were
present, I think I would take ‘Bulldog’ with me and shoot the
perpetrators of such deeds.”
“But,” Regundo replied, with much animation, “no punishment is big
enough for wizards and witches. Our land is full of them. Still,” he
added, as if to soften my displeasure and sorrow at such a story,
“Oguizi, wizards and witches are almost always sold to the people of
other tribes instead of being killed.”