THE BALONDO OR BALONDA AND THE ANGOLESE.
GENERAL APPEARANCE -- MODE OF GOVERNMENT -- WOMAN’S DRESS -- MANENKO
AND HER STRANGE COSTUME -- FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING -- COSTUME OF
THE MEN -- THEIR ORNAMENTS -- PECULIAR GAIT -- MODE OF SALUTATION --
CURIOSITY -- MILDNESS OF TEMPERAMENT -- AN ATTEMPT AT EXTORTION -- A
SCENE AT COURT -- BALONDA MUSIC -- MANENKO IN COMMAND -- KATEMA AND
HIS BEARER -- LOVE OF CATTLE -- FOOD OF THE BALONDA -- FISH-CATCHING
-- BALONDA ARCHITECTURE -- CEMENTING FRIENDSHIP -- RELIGION AND
IDOLS -- A WILD LEGEND -- FUNERAL CUSTOMS -- THE ANGOLESE -- THEIR
CHARACTER -- AGRICULTURE -- THE MANIOC, AND ITS USES -- MEDICINES
AND CUPPING -- SUPERSTITIONS -- MARRIAGES AND FUNERALS -- DR.
LIVINGSTONE’S SUMMARY.
We now come to a rather important tribe that lives very close to the
equator. This is called the Balondo or Balonda tribe, _i. e._ the
people who inhabit Londa-land, a very large district on the western
side of Africa. A great number of small tribes inhabit this country,
but, as they really are offshoots of the one tribe, we will treat of
them all under the common name of Balondo.
The chief ruler, or king, of the Balonda tribes is Matiamvo, a name
which is hereditary, like that of the Czar or Pharaoh. He has absolute
power of life and death, and one of them had a way of proving this
authority by occasionally running about the town and beheading every
one whom he met, until sometimes quite a heap of human heads was
collected. He said that his people were too numerous to be prosperous,
and so he took this simple method of diminishing their numbers. There
seems to be no doubt that he was insane, and his people thought so too;
but their reverence for his office was so great that he was allowed
to pursue his mad course without check, and at length died peaceably,
instead of being murdered, as might have been expected.
He was a great slave-dealer, and used to conduct the transaction in a
manner remarkable for its simplicity. When a slave-merchant came to
his town, he took all his visitor’s property, and kept him as a guest
for a week or ten days. After that time, having shown his hospitality,
he sent out a party of armed men against some populous village, killed
the headman, and gave the rest of the inhabitants to the slave merchant
in payment for his goods. Thus he enriched his treasury and thinned
his population by the same act. Indeed, he seemed always to look upon
villages as property which could be realized at any time, and had,
besides, the advantage of steadily increasing in value. If he heard of
or saw anything which he desired exceedingly, and the owner declined to
part with it, he would destroy a whole village, and offer the plunder
to the owner of the coveted property.
Still, under this régime, the people lead, as a general rule, tolerably
happy and contented lives. They are not subjected to the same despotism
as the tribes of the Southern districts, and, indeed, often refuse to
obey the orders of the chief. Once, when Katema sent to the Balobale,
a sub-tribe under his protection, and ordered them to furnish men to
carry Dr. Livingstone’s goods, they flatly refused to do so, in spite
of Katema’s threat that, if they did not obey, he would deprive them
of his countenance, and send them back to their former oppressors.
The fact is, each of the chiefs is anxious to collect round himself
as many people as possible, in order to swell his own importance, and
he does not like to do anything that might drive them away from him
into the ranks of some rival chief. Dr. Livingstone remarks, that this
disobedience is the more remarkable, as it occurs in a country where
the slave-trade is in full force, and where people may be kidnapped
and sold under any pretext that may happen to occur to the chief.
As is frequently the case with African tribes, there is considerable
variety of color among the Balondo, some being of a notably pale
chocolate hue, while others are so black as to rival the negro in
darkness of complexion. They appear to be a rather pleasing set of
men, tainted, as must be the case, with the ordinary vices of savage
life, but not morose, cruel, or treacherous, as is too often the
case. The women appear to be almost exceptionally lively, being full
of animal spirits, and spending all their leisure time, which seems
to be considerable, in chattering, weddings, funerals, and similar
amusements. Dr. Livingstone offers a suggestion that this flow of
spirits may be one reason why they are so indestructible a race, and
thinks that their total want of care is caused by the fatalism of their
religious theories, such as they are. Indeed, he draws rather a curious
conclusion from their happy and cheerful mode of life, considering
that it would be a difficulty in the way of a missionary, though why a
lively disposition and Christianity should be opposed to each other is
not easy to see.
One woman, named Manenko, afforded a curious example of mixed energy,
liveliness, and authority. She was a chief, and, though married,
retained the command in her own hands. When she first visited Dr.
Livingstone, she was a remarkably tall and fine woman of twenty or
thereabouts, and rather astonished her guest by appearing before
him in a bright coat of red ochre, and nothing else, except some
charms hung round her neck. This absence of clothing was entirely a
voluntary act on her part, as, being a chief, she might have had any
amount of clothing that she liked; but she evidently thought that her
dignity required her to outdo the generality of Balondo ladies in the
scantiness of apparel which distinguishes them.
In one part of Londa-land the women are almost wholly without clothes,
caring nothing for garments, except those of European manufacture,
which they wear with much pride. Even in this latter case the raiment
is not worn so much as a covering to the body as a kind of ornament
which shows the wealth of the wearer, for the women will purchase
calico and other stuffs at extravagant prices. They were willing to
give twenty pounds’ weight of meal and a fowl for a little strip of
calico barely two feet in length, and, having put it on, were quite
charmed with their new dress.
The fact is, they have never been accustomed to dress, and “are all
face,” the weather having no more effect on their bodies than it does
on our faces. Even the very babies are deprived of the warm fur-clad
wrapper in which the generality of African mothers carry them, and the
infant is as exposed to the weather as its mother. The Londa mother
carries her child in a very simple manner. She plaits a bark belt, some
four inches or so in width, and hangs it over one shoulder and under
the other, like the sash of a light infantry officer. The child is
partly seated on its mother’s hip, and partly supported by the belt,
which, as is evident, does not afford the least protection against the
weather. They even sleep in the same state of nudity, keeping up a fire
at night, which they say is their clothing. The women tried very hard
to move the compassionate feelings of their white visitors by holding
up their little naked babies, and begging for clothes; but it was
clear that the real destination of such clothes was for ornaments for
themselves.
As is the case with several other tribes which care little for clothes,
they decorate their heads with the greatest care, weaving their hair
into a variety of patterns, that must cost infinite trouble to make,
and scarcely less to preserve. They often employ the “buffalo-horn”
pattern, which has already been mentioned, sometimes working their
hair into two horns, and sometimes into one, which projects over the
forehead. Some of them divide the hair into a number of cords or
plaits, and allow them to hang all round the face. The most singular
method of dressing the hair is one which is positively startling at
first sight, on account of the curious resemblance which it bears
to the “nimbus” with which the heads of saints are conventionally
surrounded. The hair is dressed in plaits, as has already been
mentioned, but, instead of being allowed to hang down, each plait or
strand is drawn out in a radiating fashion, and the ends are fastened
to a hoop of light wood. When this is done, the hoop itself represents
the nimbus, and the strands of hair the radiating beams of light. (See
next page.)
The features of the Balondo women are pleasing enough, and in some
cases are even tolerably regular. The teeth are allowed to retain
their original form and whiteness; and it is a pity that so many good
countenances are disfigured by the custom of thrusting pieces of reed
through the septum of the nose.
The dress of the Balondo men is more worthy of the name than that
of the women, as it consists of a girdle round the waist, with a
softly-dressed skin of a jackal in front, and a similar skin behind.
Dr. Livingstone relates an anecdote concerning this dress, which shows
how arbitrary is the feeling of decency and its opposite. He had with
him a number of Makololo men, whose dress is similar to that of many
other tribes, and consists merely of a piece of soft hide fastened to
the girdle in front, brought under the legs, and tucked into the girdle
behind. Now this dress is much more worthy of the name than the double
skin of the Balonda. Yet the Balonda girls, themselves in a state of
almost complete nudity, were very much shocked when they found that
the Makololo men wore no back-apron. Whenever a Makololo man happened
to turn his back upon the women and girls, they laughed and jeered at
him to such an extent that he was made quite wretched by their scorn.
Had they been even moderately clad, such behavior might seem excusable,
but, when it is remembered that the dress of the despised visitor would
have furnished costumes to four or five of the women who were laughing
at him, we can but wonder at the singular hold which fashion takes of
the human mind.
[Illustration: (1.) THE MARIMBA OR AFRICAN PIANO. (See page 375.)]
[Illustration: (2.) HEADDRESSES. (See page 370.)]
The Balondo men are as fond of ornaments as their wives, and, as with
them, the decorations chiefly belong to the head and the feet. In some
places they have a fashion of dressing their hair into a conical form,
similar to that which has been already mentioned; while a man who is
fond of dress will generally show his foppery by twisting his beard
into three distinct plaits. Some of the Balondo men have a considerable
quantity of thick woolly hair, and dress it in a singular fashion. They
begin by parting it down the middle, and then forming the hair of each
side into two thick rolls, which pass between the ears and fall down
as far as the shoulders. The rest of the hair is gathered up into a
bundle, and hangs on the back of the neck.
Whenever they can afford it, the Balondo men will carry one of the
large knives which are so prevalent in this part of the continent.
Throughout the whole of Western Africa there is one type of knife,
which undergoes various modifications according to the particular
district in which it is made, and this type is as characteristic of
Western Africa as the Bechuana knife is of the southern parts. Their
curious form is almost identical with that of weapons taken from tumuli
in Europe. The sheath is always very wide, and is made with great care,
being mostly ornamental as well as useful.
Heavy rings of copper and other metals are as much in vogue as among
the Damaras; only the men prefer to wear them on their own limbs,
instead of handing them over to their wives. As wealth is mostly
carried on the person in this country, a rich Balondo man will have six
or seven great copper rings encircling his ankles, each ring weighing
two pounds or so. The gait of a rich man is therefore singularly
ungraceful, the feet being planted widely apart, so that the massive
rings should not come in contact. The peculiar gait which is caused by
the presence of the treasured rings is much admired among the Balondo,
and is studiously imitated by those who have no need to use it. A young
man, for example, who is only worth half a dozen rings weighing half
an ounce or so each, will strut about with his feet wide apart, as if
he could hardly walk for the weight of his anklets.
The ornament which is most prized is made from a large species of shell
belonging to the genus Conus. The greater part of the shell is chipped
away, and only the flat and spiral base is left. This is pierced in the
middle, and a string is passed through the middle, so that it can be
hung round the neck. Dr. Livingstone tells an anecdote which shows the
estimation in which this ornament is held. Just before his departure
the king, Shinte, came into his tent, and passed a considerable time in
examining his books, watch, and other curiosities. At last he carefully
closed the door of the tent, so that none of his people might see the
extravagance of which he was about to be guilty, and drew one of these
shells from his clothing, hung it round his host’s neck, with the
words, “There, now you _have_ a proof of my friendship.” These shells
are used, like stars and crosses in England, as emblems of rank; and
they have besides a heavy intrinsic value, costing the king at the rate
of a slave for two, or a large elephant’s tusk for five.
The very fact that they possess insignia of rank shows that they must
possess some degree of civilization; and this is also shown by the
manner in which inferiors are bound to salute those above them. If a
man of low rank should meet a superior, the former immediately drops
on his knees, picks up a little dirt, rubs it on his arms and chest,
and then claps his hands until the great man has passed. So punctilious
are they in their manner, that when Sambanza, the husband of Manenko,
was making a speech to the people of a village, he interspersed
his discourse with frequent salutations, although he was a man of
consequence himself, being the husband of the chief.
There are many gradations in the mode of saluting. Great chiefs go
through the movements of rubbing the sand, but they only make a
pretence of picking up sand. If a man desires to be very polite indeed,
he carries with him some white ashes or powdered pipe-clay in a piece
of skin, and, after kneeling in the usual manner, rubs it on his chest
and arms, the white powder being an ocular proof that the salutation
has been properly conducted. He then claps his hands, stoops forward,
lays first one cheek and then the other on the ground, and continues
his clapping for some little time. Sometimes, instead of clapping his
hands, he drums with his elbows against his ribs.
On the whole, those travellers who have passed through Londa seem to be
pleased with the character of the inhabitants. Dr. Livingstone appears
to have had but little trouble with them, except when resisting the
extortionate demands which they, like other tribes, were apt to make
for leave of passage through their country. He writes:--
“One could detect, in passing, the variety of character found among
the owners of gardens and villages. Some villages were the picture of
neatness. We entered others enveloped in a wilderness of weeds, so high
that, when sitting on an ox-back in the middle of the village, we could
only see the tops of the huts. If we entered at mid-day, the owners
would come lazily forth, pipe in hand, and leisurely puff away in
dreamy indifference. In some villages weeds were not allowed to grow;
cotton, tobacco, and different plants used as relishes, are planted
round the huts; fowls are kept in cages; and the gardens present the
pleasant spectacle of different kinds of grain and pulse at various
periods of their growth. I sometimes admired the one class, and at
times wished I could have taken the world easy, like the other.
“Every village swarms with children, who turn out to see the white man
pass, and run along with strange cries and antics; some run up trees
to get a good view--all are agile climbers through Londa. At friendly
villages they have scampered alongside our party for miles at a time.
We usually made a little hedge round our sheds; crowds of women came to
the entrance of it, with children on their backs, and pipes in their
mouths, gazing at us for hours. The men, rather than disturb them,
crawled through a hole in the hedge; and it was common to hear a man in
running off say to them, “I am going to tell my mamma to come and see
the white man’s oxen.”
According to the same authority, the Balonda do not appear to be a very
quarrelsome race, generally restricting themselves to the tongue as a
weapon, and seldom resorting to anything more actively offensive. The
only occasion on which he saw a real quarrel take place was rather a
curious one. An old woman had been steadily abusing a young man for an
hour or two, with that singular fluency of invective with which those
women seem to be gifted. He endured it patiently for some time, but
at last uttered an exclamation of anger. On which another man sprang
forward, and angrily demanded why the other had cursed his mother. They
immediately closed with each other, and a scuffle commenced, in the
course of which they contrived to tear off the whole of each other’s
clothing. The man who began the assault then picked up his clothes and
ran away, threatening to bring his gun, but he did not return, and
the old woman proceeded with her abuse of the remaining combatant. In
their quarrels the Balonda make plenty of noise, but after a while they
suddenly cease from their mutual invective, and conclude the dispute
with a hearty laugh.
Once a most flagrant attempt at extortion was made by Kawawa, a
Balonda chief who had a very bad character, and was in disfavor with
Matiamvo, the supreme chief of the Balonda. He sent a body of men to a
ferry which they had to cross, in order to prevent the boatman taking
them over the river. The canoes were removed; and as the river was
at least a hundred yards wide, and very deep, Kawawa thought he had
the strangers at his mercy, and that if the cart, the ox, the gun,
the powder, and the slave, which he required, were not forthcoming,
he could keep the strangers until they were forced to comply with his
demands. However, during the night Dr. Livingstone swam to the place
where the canoes were hidden, ferried the whole party across, replaced
the canoe, together with some beads as payment for its use, and quietly
swam to the side, on which their party were now safely landed. Kawawa
had no idea that any of the travellers could swim, and the whole party
were greatly amused at the astonishment which they knew he must feel
when he found the travellers vanished and the canoes still in their
place of concealment.
Some of the Balonda have a very clever but rather mean method of
extorting money from travellers. When they ferry a party over the
river, they purposely drop or leave in a canoe a knife or some other
object of value. They then watch to see if any one will pick it up,
and, if so, seize their victim and accuse him of the theft. They always
manage to do so just before the headman of the party has been ferried
across, and threaten to retain him as a hostage until their demand be
paid. Dr. Livingstone once fell a victim to this trick, a lad belonging
to his party having picked up a knife which was thrown down as a bait
by one of the rascally boatmen. As the lad happened to possess one
of those precious shells which have been mentioned, he was forced to
surrender it to secure his liberty. Such conduct was, however, unusual
with the Balonda, and the two great chiefs, Shinte and Katema, behaved
with the greatest kindness to the travellers. The former chief gave
them a grand reception, which exhibited many of the manners and customs
of the people.
The royal throne was placed under the shade of a spreading banian tree,
and was covered with a leopard skin. The chief had disfigured himself
with a checked jacket and a green baize kilt; but, besides these
portions of civilized costume, he wore a multitude of native ornaments,
the most conspicuous being the number of copper and iron rings round
his arms and ankles, and a sort of bead helmet adorned with a large
plume of feathers. His three pages were close to him, and behind him
sat a number of women headed by his chief wife, who was distinguished
from the others by a cap of scarlet material.
In many other parts of Africa the women would have been rigidly
excluded from a public ceremony, and at the best might have been
permitted to see it from a distance; but among the Balonda the women
take their own part in such meetings: and on the present occasion
Shinto often turned and spoke to them, as if asking their opinion.
Manenko’s husband, Sambanza, introduced the party, and did so in
the usual manner, by saluting with ashes. After him the various
subdivisions of the tribe came forward in their order, headed by its
chief man, who carried ashes with him, and saluted the king on behalf
of his company. Then came the soldiers, who dashed forward at the white
visitor in their usually impetuous manner, shaking their spears in
his face, brandishing their shields, and making all kinds of menacing
gestures, which in this country is their usual way of doing honor to a
visitor. They then turned and saluted the king, and took their places.
Next came the speeches, Sambanza marching about before Shinte, and
announcing in a stentorian voice and with measured accents the whole
history of the white men and their reasons for visiting the country.
His argument for giving the travellers leave to pass through the
territory was rather an odd one. The white man certainly said that
he had come for the purpose of opening the country for trade, making
peace among the various tribes, and teaching them a better religion
than their own. Perhaps he was telling lies; for it was not easy to
believe that a white man who had such treasures at home would take the
trouble of coming out of the sea where he lived for the mere purpose
of conferring benefits on those whom he had never seen. On the whole,
they rather thought he was not speaking the truth. But still, though he
had plenty of fire-arms, he had not attacked the Balonda; and it was
perhaps more consistent with Shinte’s character as a wise and humane
chief, that he should receive the white men kindly, and allow them to
pass on.
Between the speeches the women filled up the time by chanting a wild
and plaintive melody; and that they were allowed to take more than a
passive part in the proceedings was evident from the frequency with
which they applauded the various speeches. Music was also employed at
the reception, the instruments being the marimba, which has already
been mentioned, and drums. These latter instruments are carved from
solid blocks of wood, cut into hollow cylinders, the ends of which are
covered with antelope skin, and tightly fastened by a row of small
wooden pegs. There is no method of bracing the skins such as we use
with our drums, and when the drum-heads become slack they are tightened
by being held to the fire. These drums are played with the hand, and
not with sticks.
The most curious part of these drums is the use of a small square hole
in the side, which seems to serve the same purpose as the percussion
hole in the European instrument. Instead, however, of being left open,
it is closed with a piece of spider’s web, which allows the needful
escape of air, while it seems to have a resonant effect. The web which
is used for this purpose is taken from the egg-case of a large species
of spider. It is of a yellow color, rather larger than a crown piece in
diameter, and is of wonderful toughness and elasticity. The custom of
using spider’s web in this manner prevails through a very large portion
of Africa, and is even found in those parts of Western Africa which
have introduced many European instruments among those which belonged to
them before they had made acquaintance with civilization.
The drums and marimba are played together; and on this occasion the
performers walked round and round the enclosure, producing music
which was really not unpleasant even to European ears. The marimba is
found, with various modifications, throughout the whole of this part
of Africa. Generally the framework is straight, and in that case the
instrument is mostly placed on the ground, and the musician plays it
while in a sitting or kneeling posture. But in some places, especially
where it is to be played by the musician on the march, the framework
is curved like the tire of a cart-wheel, so that, when the instrument
is suspended in front of the performer, he can reach the highest and
lowest keys without difficulty. The illustration on page 371 represents
one of the straight-framed marimbas, and is drawn from a specimen in
Colonel Lane Fox’s collection.
After this interview Shinte always behaved very kindly to the whole
party, and, as we have already seen, invested Dr. Livingtone with the
precious shell ornament before his departure.
As to Shinte’s niece, Manenko, the female chief, she was a woman who
really deserved her rank, from her bold and energetic character. She
insisted on conducting the party in her own manner; and when they
set out, she headed the expedition in person. It happened to be a
singularly unpleasant one, the rain falling in torrents, and yet this
very energetic lady marched on at a pace that could be equalled by few
of the men, and without the slightest protection from the weather, save
the coat of red grease and a charmed necklace. When asked why she did
not wear clothes, she said that a chief ought to despise such luxuries,
and ought to set an example of fortitude to the rest of the tribe.
Nearly all the members of the expedition complained of cold, wet, and
hunger, but this indefatigable lady pressed on in the very lightest
marching order, and not until they were all thoroughly wearied would
she consent to halt for the night. Her husband, Sambanza, had to march
in her train, accompanied by a man who had instructions to beat a
drum incessantly, which he did until the perpetual rain soaked the
skin-heads so completely that they would not produce a sound. Sambanza
had then to chant all kinds of invocations to the rain, which he did,
but without any particular effect.
She knew well what was her dignity, and never allowed it to be
encroached upon. On one occasion Dr. Livingstone had presented an ox
to Shinte. Manenko heard of it, and was extremely angry that such a
gift should have been made. She said that, as she was the chief of the
party who had brought the white men, the ox was hers, and not theirs,
as long as she was in command. So she sent for the ox straightway, had
it slaughtered by her own men, and then sent Shinte a leg. The latter
chief seemed to think that she was justified in what she had done, took
the leg, and said nothing about it.
Yet she did not forget that, although she was a chief, she was a woman,
and ought therefore to perform a woman’s duties. When the party stopped
for the night in some village, Manenko was accustomed to go to the huts
and ask for some maize, which she ground and prepared with her own
hands and brought to Dr. Livingstone, as he could not eat the ordinary
country meal without being ill afterward. She was also careful to
inform him of the proper mode of approaching a Balonda town or village.
It is bad manners to pass on and enter a town without having first
sent notice to the headman. As soon as a traveller comes within sight
of the houses, he ought to halt, and send forward a messenger to state
his name, and ask for permission to enter. The headman or chief then
comes out, meets the stranger under a tree, just as Shinte received Dr.
Livingstone, giving him a welcome, and appointing him a place where he
may sleep. Before he learned this piece of etiquette, several villages
had been much alarmed by the unannounced arrival of the visitors, who
were in consequence looked upon with fear and suspicion.
Afterward, when they came to visit the great chief Katema, they found
him quite as friendly as Shinte had been. He received them much after
the same manner, being seated, and having around him a number of armed
men or guards, and about thirty women behind him. In going to or coming
from the place of council, he rode on the shoulders of a man appointed
for the purpose, and who, through dint of long practice, performed his
task with apparent ease, though he was slightly made, and Katema was a
tall and powerful man. He had a great idea of his own dignity, and made
a speech in which he compared himself with Matiamvo, saying that he
was the great Moéne, or lord, the fellow of Matiamvo.
He was very proud of a small herd of cattle, about thirty in number,
mostly white in color, and as active as antelopes. He had bred them all
himself, but had no idea of utilizing them, and was quite delighted
when told that they could be milked, and the milk used for food. It is
strange that the Balonda are not a more pastoral people, as the country
is admirably adapted for the nurture of cattle, and all those which
were possessed by Katema, or even by Matiamvo himself, were in splendid
condition. So wild were Katema’s cattle, that when the chief had
presented the party with a cow, they were obliged to stalk and shoot
it, as if it had been a buffalo. The native who shot the cow being a
bad marksman, the cow was only wounded, and dashed off into the forest,
together with the rest of the herd. Even the herdsman was afraid to go
among them, and, after two days’ hunting, the wounded cow was at last
killed by another ball.
The Balonda are not only fond of cattle, but they do their best to
improve the breed. When a number of them went with Dr. Livingstone into
Angola, they expressed much contemptuous wonder at the neglect both of
land and of domesticated animals. They themselves are always on the
look-out for better specimens than their own, and even took the trouble
of carrying some large fowls all the way from Angola to Shinte’s
village. When they saw that even the Portuguese settlers slaughtered
little cows and heifer calves, and made no use of the milk, they at
once set the white men down as an inferior race. When they heard that
the flour used by these same settlers was nearly all imported from
a foreign country, they were astonished at the neglect of a land so
suited for agriculture as Angola. “These know nothing but buying and
selling; they are not men,” was the verdict given by the so called
savages.
The food of the Balonda is mostly of a vegetable character, and
consists in a great measure of the manioc, or cassava, which grows in
great abundance. There are two varieties of this plant, namely, the
sweet and the bitter, _i. e._ the poisonous. The latter, however, is
the quicker of growth, and consequently is chiefly cultivated. In order
to prepare it for consumption, it is steeped in water for four days,
when it becomes partially rotten, the skin comes off easily, and the
poisonous matter is easily extracted. It is then dried in the sun, and
can be pounded into a sort of meal.
When this meal is cooked, it is simply stirred into boiling water, one
man holding the vessel and putting in the meal, while the other stirs
it with all his might. The natives like this simple diet very much,
but to an European it is simply detestable. It has no flavor except
that which arises from partial decomposition, and it looks exactly
like ordinary starch when ready for the laundress. It has but little
nutritive power, and however much a man may contrive to eat, he is
as hungry two hours afterward as if he had fasted. Dr. Livingstone
compares it in appearance, taste, and odor, to potato starch made from
diseased tubers. Moreover, owing to the mode of preparing it, the
cooking is exceedingly imperfect, and, in consequence, its effects upon
ordinary European digestions may be imagined.
The manioc plant is largely cultivated, and requires but little labor,
the first planting involving nearly all the trouble. In the low-lying
valleys the earth is dug with the curious Balonda hoe, which has
two handles and one blade, and is scraped into parallel beds, about
three feet wide and one foot in height, much resembling those in
which asparagus is planted in England. In these beds pieces of the
manioc stalk are planted at four feet apart. In order to save space,
ground-nuts, beans, or other plants are sown between the beds, and,
after the crop is gathered, the ground is cleared of weeds, and the
manioc is left to nurture itself. It is fit for eating in a year or
eighteen months, according to the character of the soil; but there is
no necessity for digging it at once, as it may be left in the ground
for three years before it becomes dry and bitter. When a root is dug,
the woman cuts off two or three pieces of the stalk, puts them in the
hole which she has made, and thus a new crop is begun. Not only the
root is edible, but also the leaves, which are boiled and cooked as
vegetables.
The Balonda seldom can obtain meat, and even Shinte himself, great
chief as he was, had to ask for an ox, saying that his mouth was
bitter for the want of meat. The reader may remember that when the ox
in question was given, he was very thankful for the single leg which
Manenko allowed him to receive. The people are not so fastidious in
their food as many other tribes, and they are not above eating mice and
other small animals with their tasteless porridge. They also eat fowls
and eggs, and are fond of fish, which they catch in a very ingenious
manner.
When the floods are out, many fish, especially the silurus, or mosala,
as the natives call it, spread themselves over the land. Just before
the waters retire, the Balonda construct a number of earthen banks
across the outlets, leaving only small apertures for the water to pass
through. In these apertures they fix creels or baskets, so made that
the fish are forced to enter them as they follow the retreating waters,
but, once in, they cannot get out again. Sometimes, instead of earthen
walls, they plant rows of mats stretched between sticks, which answer
the same purpose.
They also use fish traps very like our own lobster pots, and place a
bait inside in order to attract the fish. Hooks are also employed; and
in some places they descend to the practice of poisoning the water, by
which means they destroy every fish, small and great, that comes within
range of the deadly juice. The fish when taken are cleaned, split open,
and dried in the smoke, so that they can be kept for a considerable
time.
Like other Africans, the Balonda make great quantities of beer, which
has more a stupefying than an intoxicating character, those who drink
it habitually being often seen lying on their faces fast asleep. A more
intoxicating drink is a kind of mead which they make, and of which some
of them are as fond as the old Ossianic heroes. Shinte had a great idea
of the medicinal properties of this mead, and recommended it to Dr.
Livingstone when he was very ill with a fever: “Drink plenty of mead,”
said he, “and it will drive the fever out.” Probably on account of its
value as a febrifuge, Shinte took plenty of his own prescription.
They have a most elaborate code of etiquette in eating. They will not
partake of food which has been cooked by strangers, neither will they
eat it except when alone. If a party of Balonda are travelling with men
of other tribes, they always go aside to cook their food, and then come
back, clap their hands, and return thanks to the leader of the party.
Each hut has always its own fire, and, instead of kindling it at the
chief’s fire, as is the custom with the Damaras, they always light it
at once with fire produced by friction.
So careful are the Balonda in this respect, that when Dr. Livingstone
killed an ox, and offered some of the cooked meat to his party, the
Balonda would not take it, in spite of their fondness for meat, and the
very few chances which they have of obtaining it. They did, however,
accept some of the raw meat, which they took away and cooked after
their own fashion. One of them was almost absurd in the many little
fashions which he followed and probably invented. When the meat was
offered to him, he, would not take it himself, as it was below his
dignity to carry meat. Accordingly he marched home in state, with a
servant behind him carrying a few ounces of meat on a platter. Neither
would he sit on the grass beside Dr. Livingstone. “He had never sat
on the ground during the late Matiamvo’s reign, and was not going to
degrade himself at his time of life.” So he seated himself on a log of
wood, and was happy at his untarnished dignity.
One of the little sub-tribes, an offshoot of the Balonda, was
remarkable for never eating beef on principle, saying that cattle are
like human beings, and live at home like men. (There are other tribes
who will not keep cattle, because, as they rightly say, the oxen bring
enemies and war upon them. But they are always glad to eat beef when
they can get it.) This tribe seems to be unique in its abstinence.
Although they have this idea about cattle, they will eat without
compunction the flesh of most wild animals, and in many cases display
great ingenuity in hunting them. They stalk the animals through the
long grass and brushwood, disguising themselves by wearing a cap made
of the skin taken from the head of an antelope, to which the horns are
still attached. When the animal which they are pursuing begins to be
alarmed at the rustling of the boughs or shaking of the grass, they
only thrust the horned mask into view, and move it about as if it were
the head of a veritable antelope. This device quiets suspicion, and
so the hunter proceeds until he is near enough to deliver his arrow.
Some of these hunters prefer the head and neck of the jabiru, or great
African crane.
As far as is known, the Balonda are not a warlike people, though they
are in the habit of carrying arms, and have a very formidable look.
Their weapons are short knife-like swords, shields, and bows and
arrows, the latter being iron headed. The shields are made of reeds
plaited firmly together. They are square or rather oblong, in form,
measuring about five feet in length and three in width.
The architecture of the Balonda is simple, but ingenious. Every house
is surrounded with a palisade which to all appearance has no door, and
is always kept closed, so that a stranger may walk round and round it,
and never find the entrance. In one part of the palisade the stakes
are not fastened to each other, but two or three are merely stuck
into their holes in the ground. When the inhabitants of the huts wish
to enter or leave their dwellings, they simply pull up two or three
stakes, squeeze themselves through the aperture, and replace them, so
that no sign of a doorway is left. The reader may perhaps remember that
the little wooden bird-cages in which canaries are brought to England
are opened and closed in exactly the same manner, some movable bars
supplying the place of a door.
Sometimes they vary the material of their fences, and make them of
tall and comparatively slight rods fastened tightly together. Shinte’s
palace was formed after this manner, and the interior space was
decorated with clumps of trees which had been planted for the sake
of the shade which they afforded. That these trees had really been
planted, and not merely left standing, was evident from the fact that
several young trees were seen recently set, with a quantity of grass
twisted round their stems to protect them against the sun. Even the
corners of the streets were planted with sugar-canes and bananas, so
that the social system of the Balonda seems to be of rather a high
order. One petty chief, called Mozinkwa, had made the hedge of his
enclosure of green banian branches which had taken root, and so formed
a living hedge.
It is a pity that so much care and skill should be so often thrown
away. As the traveller passes through the Londa districts he often
sees deserted houses, and even villages. The fact is, that either the
husband or the chief wife has died, and the invariable custom is to
desert the locality, and never to revisit it except to make offerings
to the dead. Thus it happens that permanent localities are impossible,
because the death of a chief’s wife would cause the whole village to be
deserted, just as is the case with a house when an ordinary man dies.
This very house and garden underwent the usual lot, for Mozinkwa lost
his favorite wife, and in a few months house, garden, and hedges had
all gone to ruin.
The Balonda have a most remarkable custom of cementing friendship.
When two men agree to be special friends, they go through a singular
ceremony. The men sit opposite each other with clasped hands, and by
the side of each is a vessel of beer. Slight cuts are then made on the
clasped hands, on the pit of the stomach, on the right cheek, and on
the forehead. The point of a grass blade is then pressed against each
of these cuts, so as to take up a little of the blood, and each man
washes the grass blade in his own beer-vessel. The vessels are then
exchanged and the contents drunk, so that each imbibes the blood of
the other. They are then considered as blood relations, and are bound
to assist each other in every possible manner. While the beer is being
drunk, the friends of each of the men beat on the ground with clubs,
and bawl out certain sentences as ratification of the treaty. It is
thought correct for all the friends of each party to the contract to
drink a little of the beer. This ceremony is called “kasendi.” After
the ceremony has been completed, gifts are exchanged, and both parties
always give their most precious possessions.
Dr. Livingstone once became related to a young woman in rather a
curious manner. She had a tumor in her arm, and asked him to remove
it. As he was doing so, a little blood spirted from one of the small
arteries and entered his eye. As he was wiping it out, she hailed him
as a blood relation, and said that whenever he passed through the
country he was to send word to her, that she might wait upon him, and
cook for him. Men of different tribes often go through this ceremony,
and on the present occasion all Dr. Livingstone’s men, whether they
were Batoka, Makololo, or of other tribes, became _Molekanes_, or
friends, to the Balonda.
As to their religious belief, it is but confused and hazy, still it
exercises a kind of influence over them. They have a tolerably clear
idea of a Supreme Being, whom they call by different names according to
their dialect. The Balonda use the word Zambi, but Morimo is one name
which is understood through a very large tract of country. The Balonda
believe that Zambi rules over all other spirits and minor deities just
as their king Matiamvo rules over the greater and lesser chiefs. When
they undergo the poison ordeal, which is used as much among them as in
other tribes, they hold up their hands to heaven, and thus appeal to
the Great Spirit to judge according to right.
Among the Balonda we come for the first time among idols or fetishes,
whichever may be the correct title. One form of idol is very common
in Balonda villages, and is called by the name of a lion, though a
stranger uninitiated in its mysteries would certainly take it for
a crocodile, or at all events a lizard of some kind. It is a long
cylindrical roll of grass plastered over with clay. One end represents
the head, and is accordingly furnished with a mouth, and a couple of
cowrie shells by way of eyes. The other end tapers gradually into a
tail, and the whole is supported on four short straight legs. The
native modeller seems to have a misgiving that the imitation is not
quite so close as might be wished, and so sticks in the neck a number
of hairs from an elephant’s tail, which are supposed to represent the
mane.
These singular idols are to be seen in most Balonda villages. They are
supposed to represent the deities who have dominion over disease; and
when any inhabitant of the village is ill, his friends go to the lion
idol, and pray all night before it, beating their drums, and producing
that amount of noise which seems to be an essential accompaniment of
religious rites among Africans. Some idols may be perhaps more properly
called teraphim, as by their means the medicine men foretell future
events. These idols generally rest on a horizontal beam fastened
to two uprights--a custom which is followed in Dahomé when a human
sacrifice has been made. The medicine men tell their clients that by
their ministrations they can force the teraphim to speak, and that thus
they are acquainted with the future. They are chiefly brought into
requisition in war-time, when they are supposed to give notice of the
enemy’s approach.
These idols take various shapes. Sometimes they are intended to
represent certain animals, and sometimes are fashioned into the rude
semblance of the human head. When the superstitious native does not
care to take the trouble of carving or modelling an idol, he takes
a crooked stick, fixes it in the ground, rubs it with some strange
compound, and so his idol is completed. Trees are pressed into the
service of the heathen worshipper. Offerings of maize or manioc root
are laid on the branches, and incisions are made in the bark, some
being mere knife-cuts, and others rude outlines of the human face.
Sticks, too, are thrown on the ground in heaps, and each traveller that
passes by is supposed to throw at least one stick on the heap.
Sometimes little models of huts are made, and in them are placed pots
of medicine; and in one instance a small farmhouse was seen, and in
it was the skull of an ox by way of an idol. The offerings which are
made are generally some article of food; and some of the Balonda are so
fearful of offending the denizens of the unseen world, that whenever
they receive a present, they always offer a portion of it to the
spirits of their dead relations.
One curious legend was told to Dr. Livingstone, and is worthy of
mention, because it bears a resemblance to the old mythological story
of Latona. There is a certain lake called in Londa-land Dilolo,
respecting which the following story was told to the white visitors:--
“A female chief, called Moéne (lord) Monenga, came one evening to the
village of Mosogo, a man who lived in the vicinity, but who had gone to
hunt with his dogs. She asked for a supply of food, and Mosogo’s wife
gave her a sufficient quantity. Proceeding to another village, standing
on the spot now occupied by the water, she preferred the same demand,
and was not only refused, but, when she uttered a threat for their
niggardliness, was taunted with the question, ‘What could she do though
she were thus treated?’
“In order to show what she could do, she began a song in slow time,
and uttered her own name, ‘Monenga-wo-o.’ As she prolonged the last
note, the village, people, fowls, and dogs sank into the space now
called Dilolo. When Kasimakàte, the headman of the village, came home
and found out the catastrophe, he cast himself into the lake, and is
supposed to be in it still. The name is taken from ‘ilólo,’ despair,
because this man gave up all hope when his family was destroyed.
Monenga was put to death.”
The Balonda are certainly possessed of a greater sense of religion than
is the case with tribes which have been described. They occasionally
exhibit a feeling of reverence, which implies a religious turn of mind,
though the object toward which it may manifest itself be an unworthy
one. During Dr. Livingstone’s march through the Londa country the party
was accompanied by a medicine man belonging to the tribe which was
ruled by Manenko. The wizard in question carried his sacred implements
in a basket, and was very reverential in his manner toward them. When
near these sacred objects, he kept silence as far as possible, and, if
he were forced to speak, never raised his voice above a whisper. Once,
when a Batoka man happened to speak in his usual loud tones when close
to the basket, the doctor administered a sharp reproof, his anxious
glances at the basket showing that he was really in earnest. It so
happened that another female chief, called Nyamoana, was of the party,
and, when they had to cross a stream that passed by her own village,
she would not venture to do so until the doctor had waved his charms
over her, and she had further fortified herself by taking some in her
hands, and hanging others round her neck.
As the Balonda believe in a Supreme Being, it is evident that they also
believe in the immortality of the human spirit. Here their belief has
a sort of consistency, and opposes a curious obstacle to the efforts
of missionaries; even Dr. Livingstone being unable to make any real
impression on them. They fancy that when a Balonda man dies, he may
perhaps take the form of some animal, or he may assume his place among
the Barimo, or inferior deities, this word being merely the plural form
of Morimo. In either case the enfranchised spirit still belongs to
earth, and has no aspirations for a higher state of existence.
Nor can the missionary make any impression on their minds with regard
to the ultimate destiny of human souls. They admit the existence of
the Supreme Being; they see no objection to the doctrine that the
Maker of mankind took on Himself the humanity which He had created;
they say that they always have believed that man lives after the death
of the body; and apparently afford a good basis for instruction in
the Christian religion. But, although the teachers can advance thus
far, they are suddenly checked by the old objection that white and
black men are totally different, and that, although the spirits of
deceased white men may go into a mysterious and incomprehensible
heaven, the deceased Balonda prefer to remain near their villages which
were familiar to them in life, and to assist those who have succeeded
them in their duties. This idea may probably account for the habit of
deserting their houses after the death of any of the family.
During the funeral ceremonies a perpetual and deafening clamor is kept
up, the popular notion seeming to be, that the more noise they can
make, the greater honor is due to the deceased. Wailing is carried on
with loud piercing cries, drums are beaten, and, if fire-arms have
been introduced among them, guns are fired. These drums are not beaten
at random, but with regular measured beats. They are played all night
long, and their sound has been compared to the regular beating of a
paddle-wheel engine. Oxen are slaughtered and the flesh cooked for a
feast, and great quantities of beer and mead are drunk. The cost of a
funeral in these parts is therefore very great, and it is thought a
point of honor to expend as much wealth as can be got together for the
purpose.
The religious element is represented by a kind of idol or figure
covered with feathers, which is carried about during some parts of the
ceremony; and in some places a man, in a strange dress, covered with
feathers, dances with the mourners all night, and retires to the feast
in the early morning. He is supposed to be the representative of the
Barimo, or spirits.
The position of the grave is usually marked with certain objects. One
of these graves was covered with a huge cone of sticks laid together
like the roof of a hut, and a palisade was erected round the cone.
There was an opening on one side, in which was placed an ugly idol, and
a number of bits of cloth and strings of beads were hung around.
THE ANGOLESE.
Westward of the country which has just been described is a large
district that embraces a considerable portion of the coast, and extends
far inward. This country is well known under the name of Angola. As
this country has been held for several centuries by the Portuguese, who
have extended their settlements for six or seven hundred miles into the
interior, but few of the original manners and customs have survived,
and even those have been modified by the contact with white settlers.
As, however, Angola is a very important, as well as large country,
a short account will be given of the natives before we proceed more
northward.
The chiefs of the Angolese are elected, and the choice must be made
from certain families. In one place there are three families from
which the chief is chosen in rotation. The law of succession is rather
remarkable, the eldest brother inheriting property in preference to
the son; and if a married man dies, his children belong to his widow’s
eldest brother, who not unfrequently converts them into property by
selling them to the slave dealers. It is in this manner, as has been
well remarked, that the slave trade is supplied, rather than by war.
The inhabitants of this land, although dark, are seldom if ever black,
their color being brownish red, with a tinge of yellow; and, although
they are so close to the country inhabited by the true negroes, they
have but few of the negro traits. Their features are not those of the
negro, the nose being rather aquiline, and broad at base, their hair
woolly, but tolerably long and very abundant, and their lips moderately
thick. The hands and feet are exquisitely small, and, as Mr. Reade
observes, Angolese slaves afford a bold contrast with those who are
brought from the Congo.
Of the women the same traveller writes in terms of considerable praise,
as far as their personal appearance goes. There are girls in that
country who have such soft dark eyes, such sweet smiles, and such
graceful ways, that they involuntarily win a kind of love, only it is
that sort of semi-love which is extended to a dog, a horse, or a bird,
and has in it nothing of the intellect. They are gentle, and faithful,
and loving in their own way; but, though they can inspire a passion,
they cannot retain the love of an intellectual man.
As is the case with the Balonda, the Angolese live greatly on manioc
roots, chiefly for the same reason as the Irish peasantry live so much
on the potato, _i. e._ because its culture and cooking give very little
trouble. The preparation of the soil and planting of the shrub are the
work of slaves, the true Angolese having a very horror of hard work.
Consequently the labor is very imperfectly performed, the ground being
barely scratched by the double-handled hoe, which is used by dragging
it along the ground rather than by striking it into the earth.
The manioc is, however, a far more useful plant than the potato,
especially the “sweet” variety, which is free from the poisonous
principle. It can be eaten raw, just as it comes out of the ground,
or it can be roasted or boiled. Sometimes it is partially fermented,
then dried and ground into meal, or reduced to powder by a rasp, mixed
with sugar, and made into a sort of confectionery. The leaves can be
boiled and eaten as a vegetable, or, if they be given to goats, the
latter yield a bountiful supply of milk. The wood affords an excellent
fuel, and, when burned, it furnishes a large quantity of potash. On the
average, it takes about a year to come to perfection in Angola, and
only requires to be weeded once during that time.
The meal or roots cannot be stored, as they are liable to the attacks
of a weevil which quickly destroys them, and therefore another plan is
followed. The root is scraped like horseradish, and laid on a cloth
which is held over a vessel. Water is then poured on it, and the white
shavings are well rubbed with the hands. All the starch-globules are
thus washed out of their cells, and pass through the cloth into the
vessel below together with the water. When this mixture has been
allowed to stand for some time, the starchy matter collects in a sort
of sediment, and the water is poured away. The sediment is then
scraped out, and placed on an iron plate which is held over a fire.
The gelatinous mass is then continually stirred with a stick, and by
degrees it forms itself into little translucent globules, which are
almost exactly identical with the tapioca of commerce. The advantage of
converting the manioc-root into tapioca is, that in the latter state it
is impervious to the destructive weevil.
Some parts of Angola are low, marshy, and fever-breeding, and even
the natives feel the effects of the damp, hot, malarious climate. Of
medicine, however, they have but little idea, their two principal
remedies being cupping and charms. The former is a remedy which is
singularly popular, and is conducted in much the same way throughout
the whole of Africa south of the equator. The operator has three
implements, namely, a small horn, a knife, and a piece of wax. The horn
is cut quite level at the base, and great care is taken that the edge
be perfectly smooth. The smaller end is perforated with a very small
hole. This horn is generally tied to a string and hung round the neck
of the owner, who is usually a professional physician. The knife is
small, and shaped exactly like the little Bechuana knife shown at the
top of page 281.
When the cupping horn is to be used, the wide end is placed on the
afflicted part, and pressed down tightly, while the mouth is applied to
the small end, and the air exhausted. The operator continues to suck
for some moments, and then removes the horn, and suddenly makes three
or four gashes with the knife on the raised and reddened skin. The horn
is again applied, and when the operator has sucked out the air as far
as his lungs will allow him, he places with his tongue a small piece
of wax on the end of the horn, introduces his finger into his mouth,
presses the wax firmly on the little aperture so as to exclude the air,
and then allows the horn to remain adherent by the pressure of the
atmosphere. The blood of course runs into the horn, and in a short time
coagulates into a flat circular cake. The wax is then removed from the
end of the horn, the latter is taken off, the cake of blood put aside,
and the process repeated until the operator and patient are satisfied.
Dr. Livingstone mentions a case in which this strange predilection
for the cupping horn clearly hastened, even if it did not produce,
the death of a child. The whole story is rather a singular one, and
shows the state of religious, or rather superstitious, feeling among
the native Angolese. It so happened that a Portuguese trader died in a
village, and after his death the other traders met and disposed of his
property among themselves, each man accounting for his portion to the
relations of the deceased, who lived at Loanda, the principal town of
Angola. The generality of the natives, not understanding the nature of
written obligations, thought that the traders had simply sold the goods
and appropriated the money.
Some time afterward the child of a man who had bought some of this
property fell ill, and the mother sent for the diviner in order to
find out the cause of its ailment. After throwing his magic dice,
and working himself up to the proper pitch of ecstatic fury, the
prophet announced that the child was being killed by the spirit of the
deceased trader in revenge for his stolen property. The mother was
quite satisfied with the revelation, and wanted to give the prophet a
slave by way of a fee. The father, however, was less amenable, and, on
learning the result of the investigation, he took a friend with him to
the place where the diviner was still in his state of trance, and by
the application of two sticks to his back restored him to his senses.
Even after this the ignorant mother would not allow the child to be
treated with European medicines, but insisted on cupping it on the
cheek; and the consequence was, that in a short time the child died.
The Angolese are a marvellously superstitious people, and, so far from
having lost any of their superstitions by four centuries of connection
with the Portuguese, they seem rather to have infected their white
visitors with them. Ordeals of several kinds are in great use among
them, especially the poison ordeal, which has extended itself through
so large a portion of Africa, and slays its thousands annually. One
curious point in the Angolese ordeal is, that it is administered in one
particular spot on the banks of the river Dua, and that persons who are
accused of crime, especially of witchcraft, will travel hundreds of
miles to the sacred spot, strong in their belief that the poison tree
will do them no harm. It is hardly necessary to state that the guilt or
innocence of the person on trial depends wholly on the caprice of the
medicine man who prepares the poisonous draught, and that he may either
weaken it or substitute another material without being discovered by
these credulous people.
As, according to Balonda ideas, the spirits of the deceased are always
with their friends on earth, partaking equally in their joys and
sorrows, helping those whom they love, and thwarting those whom they
hate, they are therefore supposed to share in an ethereal sort of way
in the meals taken by their friends; and it follows that when a man
denies himself food, he is not only starving himself, but afflicting
the spirits of his ancestors. Sacrifices are a necessary result of this
idea, as is the cooking and eating of the flesh by those who offer them.
Their theory of sickness is a very simple one. They fancy that if the
spirits of the dead find that their living friends do not treat them
properly, and give them plenty to eat and drink, the best thing to do
is to take out of the world such useless allies, in order to make room
for others who will treat them better. The same idea also runs into
their propitiatory sacrifices. If one man kills another, the murderer
offers sacrifices to his victim, thinking that if when he first finds
himself a spirit, instead of a man, he is treated to an abundant feast,
he will not harbor feelings of revenge against the man who sent him
out of the world, and deprived him of all its joys and pleasures. It
is said that in some parts of the country human sacrifices are used, a
certain sect existing who kill men in order to offer their hearts to
the spirits.
Marriages among the Angolese still retain some remnant of their
original ceremonies. The bride is taken to a hut, anointed with various
charmed preparations, and then left alone while prayers are offered
for a happy marriage and plenty of male children, a large family of
sons being one of the greatest blessings that can fall to the lot
of an Angolese household. Daughters are comparatively despised, but
a woman who has never presented her husband with children of either
sex is looked upon with the greatest scorn and contempt. Her more
fortunate companions are by no means slow in expressing their opinion
of her, and in the wedding songs sung in honor of a bride are sure to
introduce a line or two reflecting upon her uselessness, and hoping
that the bride will not be so unprofitable a wife as to give neither
sons nor daughters to her husband as a recompense for the money which
he has paid for her. So bitter are these words, that the woman at whom
they were aimed has been more than once known to rush off and destroy
herself.
After several days of this performance, the bride is taken to another
hut, clothed in all the finery that she possesses or can borrow for the
occasion, led out in public, and acknowledged as a married woman. She
then goes to her husband’s dwelling, but always has a hut to herself.
Into their funeral ceremonies the Angolese contrive to introduce many
of their superstitions. Just before death the friends set up their
wailing cry (which must be very consolatory to the dying person),
and continue this outcry for a day or two almost without cessation,
accompanying themselves with a peculiar musical instrument which
produces tones of a similar character. For a day or two the survivors
are employed in gathering materials for a grand feast, in which they
expend so much of their property that they are often impoverished for
years. They even keep pigs and other animals in case some of their
friends might die, when they would be useful at the funeral. True to
the idea that the spirit of the dead partakes of the pleasures of
the living, they feast continually until all the food is expended,
interposing their revelling with songs and dances. The usual drum
beating goes on during the time, and scarcely one of the party is to
be found sober. Indeed, a man who would voluntarily remain sober would
be looked upon as despising the memory of the dead. Dr. Livingstone
mentions that a native who appeared in a state of intoxication, and was
blamed for it, remarked in a surprised tone, “Why, my mother is dead!”
They have a curious hankering after cross-roads as a place of
interment, and although the Portuguese, the real masters of the land,
have endeavored to abolish the custom, they have not yet succeeded in
doing so, even though they inflict heavy fines on those who disobeyed
them, and appointed places of public interment. Even when the interment
of the body in the cross-road itself has been prevented, the natives
have succeeded in digging the grave by the side of the path. On and
around it they plant certain species of euphorbias, and on the grave
they lay various articles, such as cooking vessels, water bottles,
pipes, and arms. These, however, are all broken and useless, being
thought equally serviceable to the dead as the perfect specimens, and
affording no temptation to thieves.
A very remarkable and striking picture of the Angolese, their
superstitions, and their country, is given by Dr. Livingstone in the
following passage:--
“When the natives turn their eyes to the future world, they have a view
cheerless enough of their own utter helplessness and hopelessness.
They fancy themselves completely in the power of the disembodied
spirits, and look upon the prospect of following them as the greatest
of misfortunes. Hence they are constantly deprecating the wrath of
departed souls, believing that, if they are appeased, there is no
other cause of death but witchcraft, which may be averted by charms.
“The whole of the colored population of Angola are sunk in these
gross superstitions, but have the opinion, notwithstanding, that they
are wiser in these matters than their white neighbors. Each tribe
has a consciousness of following its own best interests in the best
way. They are by no means destitute of that self-esteem which is so
common in other nations; yet they fear all manner of phantom, and have
half-developed ideas and traditions of something or other, they know
not what. The pleasures of animal life are ever present to their minds
as the supreme good; and, but for the innumerable invisibilities, they
might enjoy their luxurious climate as much as it is possible for man
to do.
“I have often thought, in travelling through their land, that it
presents pictures of beauty which angels might enjoy. How often have
I beheld in still mornings scenes the very essence of beauty, and
all bathed in a quiet air of delicious warmth! yet the occasional
soft motion imparted a pleasing sensation of coolness, as of a fan.
Green grassy meadows, the cattle feeding, the goats browsing, the
kids skipping; the groups of herdboys with miniature bows, arrows,
and spears; the women wending their way to the river, with water-pots
poised jauntily on their heads; men sewing under the shady banians;
and old gray-headed fathers sitting on the ground, with staff in
hand, listening to the morning gossip, while others carry trees or
branches to repair their hedges; and all this, flooded with the bright
African sunshine, and the birds singing among the branches before the
heat of the day has become intense, form pictures which can never be
forgotten.”