CHARACTER OF THE NEGRO--FETISH--CUSTOMS--ARMS AND WAR--DRESS--ZOMBO
TRIBE--BURIAL--INSANITY.
The language, customs, and habits of the Mussurongo, Ambriz, and
Mushicongo tribes are very similar, and are distinguished in many
particulars from those of the natives of the district of Loanda, who
speak the Bunda language. This is not astonishing, when we consider
that Loanda has been constantly occupied by the white race since its
discovery, and that this intercourse has necessarily modified their
character to a certain extent. The former tribes are, however, still
almost in their primitive or natural condition, and should be studied
or described apart and before continuing the description of the country
south of about 8°, their limit in latitude.
I believe that it is very difficult to understand correctly the
character of the negro race in Africa, and that it requires long
intercourse with, and living amongst them, to get behind the scenes, as
it were, and learn their manner of thought or reasoning, and in what
way it influences their life and actions.
In the first instance, it is not easy to dispossess oneself of the
prejudices both against and in favour of the negro. It is so natural
to judge him by our own standard, and as we should wish him to be;--so
easy to think of him as agreeing with the preconceived idea that he is
just like one of ourselves, but simply in a state of innocent darkness,
and that we have only to show him the way for him to become civilized
at once.
It is very disagreeable to find in the negro an entirely new and
different state of things to that we had fondly imagined, and to have
to throw overboard our cherished theories and confess our ignorance and
that we have been entirely mistaken; but the truth must be told, and
we shall have to run counter to the self-satisfied wisdom of the great
number of people who judge from not always wilfully false reports, but
from hasty or superficial descriptions or tales that agree with their
foregone conclusions, and whose benevolent feelings and sympathy for
the negro are therefore established upon baseless grounds.
It is not my intention to deprecate any efforts for the benefit of the
negro race, but simply to show that the good seed in Africa _will_ fall
on bare and barren ground, and where weeds _will_ rise and choke it;
and I must warn philanthropy that its bounty is less productive of good
results on the negro of tropical Africa than perhaps on any other race.
It is heartrending to see money, lives, and efforts squandered and
wasted under the misguided idea of raising the negro to a position
which, from his mental constitution, he cannot possibly attain, whilst
so many of our own race are doomed from innocent infancy to grow up
among us to a future of misery and vice, and when we know that the
charity so lavishly shown to the negro and almost completely wasted
would enable many of these poor children to become good and useful
members of society. Let us, by all means, bring in the frozen vipers,
and feed the famished wolves and the hungry vultures, but do not let
us expect that because we have done so they will change into harmless
snakes, noble dogs, or innocent doves, or neglect to succour the lambs
and sheep of our own flock.
I cannot help thinking that so long as (in a rich country like England)
we read of poor creatures perishing from starvation on doorsteps and
in garrets, more care should be taken of our starving poor at home and
less charity showered upon the negro, who has growing close to his hut
all he wants to sustain life in almost absolute laziness.
The character of the negro is principally distinguished not so much by
the presence of positively bad, as by the absence of good qualities,
and of feelings and emotions that we can hardly understand or realize
to be wanting in human nature. It is hardly correct to describe the
negro intellect as debased and sunken, but rather as belonging to
an arrested stage. There is nothing inconsistent in this; it is,
on the contrary, perfectly consistent with what we have seen to be
their physical nature. It would be very singular indeed if a peculiar
adaptation for resisting so perfectly the malignant influences of
the climate of tropical Africa, the result of an inferior physical
organization, was unaccompanied by a corresponding inferiority of
mental constitution. It is only on the theory of “Natural Selection,
or the survival of the fittest” to resist the baneful influence of
the climate through successive and thousands of generations--the
“fittest” being those of greatest physical insensibility--that the
present fever-resisting, miasma-proof negro has been produced, and his
character can only be explained in the corresponding and accompanying
retardation or arrest of development of his intellect.
The negro knows not love, affection, or jealousy. Male animals and
birds are tender and loving to their females; cats show their affection
by delicious purring noises and by licking; horses by neighing and
pawing; cocks by calling their hens to any food they may find;
parroquets, pigeons, and other birds, by scratching one another’s polls
and billing and cooing; monkeys by nestling together and hunting for
inconvenient parasites on each other’s bodies; but in all the long
years I have been in Africa I have never seen a negro manifest the
least tenderness for or to a negress. I have never seen a negro, even
when inebriated, kiss a girl or ever attempt to take the least liberty,
or show by any look or action the desire to do so. I have never seen a
negro put his arm round a woman’s waist, or give or receive any caress
whatever that would indicate the slightest loving regard or affection
on either side. They have no words or expressions in their language
indicative of affection or love. Their passion is purely of an animal
description, unaccompanied by the least sympathetic affections of love
or endearment. It is not astonishing, therefore, that jealousy should
hardly exist; the greatest breach of conduct on the part of a married
woman is but little thought of. The husband, by their laws, can at
most return his wife to her father, who has to refund the present he
received on her marriage; but this extreme penalty is seldom resorted
to, fining the paramour being considered a sufficient satisfaction. The
fine is generally a pig, and rum or other drink, with which a feast is
celebrated by all parties. The woman is not punished in any way, nor
does any disgrace attach to her conduct. Adultery on the part of the
husband is not considered an offence at all, and is not even resented
by the wives.
It might be imagined that this lax state of things would lead to much
immorality: but such is not the case, as from their utter want of love
and appreciation of female beauty or charms, they are quite satisfied
and content with any woman possessing even the greatest amount of the
hideous ugliness with which nature has so bountifully provided them.
Even for their offspring they have but little love beyond that which
is implanted in all animals for their young. Mothers are very rarely
indeed seen playing with or fondling their babies: as for kissing them,
or children their mothers, such a thing is not even thought of. At the
same time I have never seen a woman grossly neglect or abandon her
child, though they think nothing of laying them down to sleep anywhere
in the sun, where they soon become covered with flies; but as this does
not appear to hurt or inconvenience them in the least, it can hardly be
termed neglect.
The negro is not cruelly inclined; that is to say, he will not inflict
pain for any pleasure it may cause him, or for revenge, but at the same
time he has not the slightest idea of mercy, pity, or compassion for
suffering. A fellow-creature, or animal, writhing in pain or torture,
is to him a sight highly provocative of merriment and enjoyment. I have
seen a number of blacks at Loanda, men, women, and children, stand
round, roaring with laughter at seeing a poor mongrel dog that had been
run over by a cart, twist and roll about in agony on the ground, where
it was yelping piteously, till a white man put it out of its misery.
An animal that does not belong to them, might die a thousand times of
hunger and thirst before they would think of stirring a foot to give
it either food or drink, and I have already described how even their
own animals are left to fare and shift as best they can on their own
resources, and their surprise that my wife should feed some little
chickens that did not belong to her, at a town on the road to Bembe.
In the houses it is necessary to see for oneself that all the animals
are regularly fed and watered every day, or they would quickly die
of neglect. We cannot, therefore, be surprised to find the negro so
completely devoid of vindictive feelings as he is. He may be thrashed
to within an inch of his life, and not only recover in a marvellously
short space of time, but bear no malice whatever, either at the time
or afterwards. In Angola, the attempt to take a white man’s life by
his slaves, for ill treatment or cruelty to them, is extremely rare.
If any amount of bad treatment is not resented, no benefit or good,
however great, done to a negro, is appreciated or recognised by him:
such a thing as gratitude is quite unknown to him; he will express
the greatest delight at receiving a present or any benefit, but it
is not from thankfulness; he only exhibits the pleasure he feels at
having obtained it without an effort on his part. He cannot be called
ungrateful exactly, because that would imply a certain amount of
appreciation for favours conferred, which he does not feel. In the same
way his constant want of truth, and his invariable dishonesty are the
result, not so much of a vicious disposition, as of the impossibility
to understand that there is anything wrong in being either a liar or a
thief: that they are not vicious thieves is shown by the few concerted
robberies practised by them, and the comparative safety of property in
general; their thieving, as a rule, is more of a petty and pilfering
description, in which, as might be expected, they are very cunning
indeed.
To sum up the negro character, it is deficient in the passions, and in
their corresponding virtues, and the life of the negro in his primitive
condition, apparently so peaceful and innocent, is not that of an
unsophisticated state of existence, but is due to what may be described
as an organically rudimentary form of mind, and consequently capable of
but little development to a higher type; mere peaceable, vegetarian,
prolific human rabbits and guinea pigs, in fact; they may be tamed and
taught to read and write, sing psalms, and other tricks, but negroes
they must remain to the end of the chapter. The negro has no idea of
a Creator or of a future existence; neither does he adore the sun nor
any other object, idol, or image. His whole belief is in evil spirits,
and in charms or “fetishes:” these “fetishes” can be employed for evil
as well as to counteract the bad effect of other malign “fetishes” or
spirits. Even the natives of Portuguese Angola, who have received the
idea of God or Creator from the white men, will not allow that the
same Power rules over both races, but that the God of the white man
is another, and different from the God of the black man; as one old
negro that I was once arguing with expressed it, “Your God taught you
to make gunpowder and guns, but ours never did,” and it is perfectly
established in their minds that in consequence of our belonging to
another and more powerful God, their “fetishes” are unavailing either
for good or evil, to the white man; our ridiculing their belief in
“fetish” only serves to make them believe the more in it.
In almost every large town there is a “fetish house” under the care of
a “fetish man.” This house is generally in the form of a diminutive
square hut, with mud walls, painted white, and these covered with
figures of men and beasts in red and black colours. The spirit is
supposed to reside in this habitation, and is believed to watch over
the safety of the town: the hut also contains the stock-in-trade of
the “fetish man.” These “fetish men” are consulted in all cases of
sickness or death, as also to work charms in favour of, and against
every imaginable thing; for luck, health, rain, good crops, fecundity;
against all illness, storms, fire, surf, and misfortunes and calamities
of every kind. No death is attributed to natural causes, it is always
ascribed to the person or animal having been “fetished” by some spirit
or living person, and the “fetish man” is consulted to find out, and if
the latter, the culprit is fined, sold into slavery or executed, or has
to take “casca,” to prove his innocence. The “fetish man” also prepares
the charms against sickness, &c., with which every man, woman, and
child, as well as their huts and plantations, is provided.
These charms are of many kinds, and are worn round the neck and waist,
or suspended from the shoulder. A short bit of wood with a carved head,
with a couple of beads, cowries, or brass tacks for eyes, and contained
in a little pouch, with the head left sticking out, and hung by a
string round the neck, is a very common form. A pouch stuffed full of
fowls’ dung, feathers, and “tacula,” is also a favourite “fetish.” A
bundle of rags or shreds of cotton cloth of all kinds, black with filth
and perspiration, is often seen suspended from the shoulder or hung
in their huts. The large flat seed of the “Entada gigantea” is also
a common “fetish” to hang from the neck. A couple of iron bells like
the “Engongui” described in page 203 but very much smaller, and with a
small bit of iron as a clapper inside, are often hung from the neck
or waist. Small antelopes’ horns, empty or filled with various kinds
of filth, are also suspended round the neck for charms. Children are
never seen without a string tied round the waist, with or without some
beads strung on it, and the ends hanging down in front. The land shells
(_Achatina Welwitschii_ and _Zebrina_) are filled with fowls’ dung and
feathers, “tacula,” &c., and stuck on a stick in the plantations and
salt pits, to protect them from thieves; also the gourd-like pods or
fruit of the baobab tree, likewise filled with various kinds of filth,
and painted on the outside white and red, with “pemba” (a white talcose
earth from the decomposition of mica and mica schist) and “tacula.”
A great “fetish” in childbirth and infancy is made in the shape of a
little pouch about two inches long and the thickness of the middle
finger, very prettily woven of fine grass; these are filled with fowls’
dung and “tacula,” and a couple are placed in a small vessel containing
water; the father of the child squeezes the pouches in the water, much
in the manner that a washerwoman does her blue-bag, till it becomes
coloured by the dirt and dye in the pouch; he then sprinkles the
mother and newly-born child with the dirty water, and ties one of the
pouches round the mother’s neck, and the other round the child’s. If
this be not done, the blacks believe that the mother and child would
quickly die;--the pouches are not taken off till the child can walk.
Another great “fetish” in childbirth is a large bunch of a round hollow
seed like a large marble, which is hung round the mother’s neck, and
not taken off till the child is weaned, generally in twelve moons, or a
year’s time.
Hung in the huts, and outside over the doors are all kinds of
“fetishes,” and in the towns and about the huts are various figures,
generally roughly carved in wood, and sometimes made of clay, but
always coloured red, black, and white. The finest “fetishes” are
made by the Mussurongos on the Congo River. Plate IV. represents one
obtained at Boma. Some of these large “fetishes” have a wide-spread
reputation, and the “fetish men” to whom they belong are often sent
for from long distances to work some charm or cure with them. I have
constantly met them carrying these great ugly figures, and accompanied
by two or three attendants beating drums and chanting a dismal song as
they go along.
On the coast there are several “fetish men” who are believed to have
power over the surf, and their aid is always invoked by the natives
when it lasts long, or is so strong as to prevent them going out in
their canoes to fish. There is a celebrated one at Musserra, and I
have often seen him on the high cliff or point going through his
incantations to allay the heavy surf; he has a special dress for
the occasion, it being almost covered with shells and sea-weed; he
is called the “Mother of the Water,” and his power is held in great
dread by the natives. No white man can go to the Granite Pillar at
Musserra without having propitiated him by a present. This one,
however, being half idiotic, is a poor harmless black, but others are
not so, and render themselves very troublesome to the white traders by
working mischief against them amongst the natives. A young Englishman
established at Ambrizzette, although well known to them for many
years, having been formerly engaged amongst them in the slave trade,
was obliged to escape from there for a time, in consequence of an
epidemic of small-pox being ascribed by the “fetish men” as having been
introduced into the country by him, in a jar!
Others take advantage of the dread the natives have of spirits, to
commit robberies. One at Bembe robbed several houses during the absence
of the white owners, by mewing like a cat, when, such was the fear of
the blacks, that they instantly lay on the ground, face downwards,
and covered their heads till he had gone away; meantime he had coolly
walked in and helped himself to whatever he pleased;--in this way he
went off with a trunk full of clothes from the doctor’s house, the
servants not daring to lift up their heads as soon as they heard the
mewing approaching, in the firm belief that they would be instantly
struck dead if they even saw him. I heard this man mewing in the high
grass behind my house one night, when I instantly fired a charge of
small shot in the direction of the noise, and I did not hear him again
till a few days after, when, having been captured by a Portuguese
soldier whilst attempting to rob his hut, he was tied on a gun at the
fort, and by a tremendous thrashing made to mew in earnest. All the
blacks in the place went to see him punished, jeering at him, and
telling him the white man’s “fetish” was stronger than his.
The negroes have great confidence in the power of “fetishes” to protect
their houses, &c., from fire or other misfortune, and an instance that
I witnessed at Bembe proves their blind faith in them. The Cabinda
negroes who were working as washer-boys, &c., lived apart from the
other natives, as they always do, in a little town or collection of
huts by themselves; one afternoon one of these huts caught fire, and
such was their belief in their “Manipanzos” as they call their “fetish”
figures, to preserve the huts from fire, that they did nothing either
to put it out, or to prevent the flames spreading; in a very short
time the town was consumed, and the Cabindas lost the whole of their
property; they ran about like madmen, throwing up their arms and crying
out, and abusing the “Endochi” (their name for Endoqui) in Cabinda who
had cheated them with useless “fetishes,” and vowed vengeance on him
when they should return to their country.
The Mussurongo, Ambriz, and Mushicongo negroes, are much afraid of
going about at night, unless there is moonlight; if one is sent with a
message on a dark night, he always takes one or two more with him for
protection, for fear of spirits.
As already noticed, when speaking of the present want of power of the
King of Congo, there are no very great chiefs in the country from the
River Congo to the district of Loanda, the most important or powerful
being the King of N’Bamba and the “Dembo Ambuilla,” or King of Encoge.
Every town has its own king and council, generally of ten or twelve of
the oldest men, who are called “Macotas,” and who together administer
the laws, settle disputes, &c. A king has no power by himself, the
natives simply reverencing him as being invested with the “fetish” of
chief, and he receives very little tribute from the natives of his own
town; the fines and penalties levied he has also to divide with the
“Macotas.”
In all the tribes of Angola that I am acquainted with, the office of
king descends from uncle to nephew (or in want of nephew, to niece),
but by the sister’s side, as, from what we call morals being but little
understood by them, the paternity of any child is liable to very great
doubt; but as a black once explained to me, “there is no doubt that my
sister and myself came from the same mother, and there is no doubt,
therefore, that my sister’s child must be my nephew.” This necessity
for a positive or certain descent is very curious, as no record is kept
of their pedigree or history.
The only division of time being into moons or months, and into dry and
wet seasons, and no record of any kind being kept, blacks are quite
unable to estimate their own age; servants keep an account of the
months they are in service by tying a knot on a string for every moon.
Every king has a stick of office; this is in form like a straight,
thick, smooth walking-stick, generally made of ebony, or of other wood
dyed black, almost always plain, but sometimes carved with various
patterns and ornamented with brass tacks, or inlaid with different
designs in brass or tin plate. These sticks are always sent with
a messenger from the king, and serve to authenticate the message.
The principal insignia of the king’s office is the cap, which is
hereditary. It resembles a short nightcap, and is made of fine fibre,
generally that of the wild pineapple leaf, and some are beautifully
woven with raised patterns. The king never wears it in the usual way,
but on any occasion of ceremony it is carried on the head doubled in
four. The “Macotas” also use the same kind of cap, but worn properly on
the head, and, like the king, only on occasions of ceremony.
When a white man, travelling, stops to rest for meals, or to sleep at a
town, it is usual for the king and “Macotas” to give him a ceremonious
reception, for which the king dresses himself in his best, and when
they are all assembled they send word to say that they are ready to
make their compliments. The meeting is generally in front of the king’s
hut, or else under the largest tree in the town (usually a baobab),
where ceremonials have taken place from time immemorial. The king only
is seated, another seat being placed at a little distance in front
for the traveller. All the hammock-boys and servants belonging to the
latter attend and squat behind him; on the king’s side is generally
the whole available population of the town, for whom the occasion is
an excitement, the front rows squatting on the ground, and the rest
standing crowded together in a circle. The traveller’s retinue first
begin by clapping hands to the king and “Macotas.” This is performed
in a peculiar manner by hollowing both palms, as in the action of
filling them with water, and then bringing them together crosswise,
when a much louder and deeper sound is produced than by clapping the
hands in the ordinary manner. The king returns the salute by extending
the left hand before him horizontally, with the palm towards him, and
placing the back of the right hand flat in the palm of the left, and
the fingers projecting over it are then waved quickly in succession in
that position. (Plate V., figs. 5, 6.) This is the universal manner of
greeting in Angola between an inferior and superior of high rank; when
the difference is not so great, as children to their parents, slaves
to their masters, ordinary natives to their “Macotas,” &c., both clap
their hands, but the inferior has to do it first, and both squat down
for a moment to do it. A powerful king answers a salute by simply
lifting his right hand, and waving his first and second finger only.
The king then speaks to one of the “Macotas” who can best translate
his speech to the white man, welcoming him to the town, and inquiring
after his health; the traveller then calls one of his attendants to
act as interpreter, and returns the compliments, and makes the king
a present of a few handkerchiefs and beads for his wives, but the
ceremonial is not considered complete without the traveller presenting
a bottle or a drink of wine or rum, which the king first partakes of,
and then passes to the “Macotas;”--the white man then shakes hands with
the king and takes his leave, the king always sending him some little
present, generally a fowl or pig, for which, however, another present
equal to its value is expected. It is not considered etiquette for the
king to speak Portuguese on these occasions, however well he may know
or understand it, but always to use his native language, and employ an
interpreter; the white man must also employ an interpreter to translate
his speech.
Besides rubbing the forehead on the ground to a powerful king, which
I have described as practised to the King of Congo, the blacks have
another way of rendering homage; this is by rubbing the fingers of both
hands on the ground, and transferring the dust that adheres to them to
the eyebrows, ears, and cheeks.
The appearance of some of the kings dressed in their fine clothes is
very ridiculous. A red or blue baize cloak thrown over the shoulders
is considered the correct thing, particularly over an old uniform of
any kind, with the more gold lace on it the better. The old King of
Quirillo, on the road to Bembe, was as amusing a figure as any I have
seen. He always used to appear in a woman’s brightly-coloured chintz
gown, with a short red cloak over his shoulders, and a great brass
cavalry helmet on his head, his black wrinkled face in a broad grin of
satisfaction at the admiration that his brilliant costume appeared to
excite among the natives.
The blacks in this part of the country are armed with flint muskets,
of which many thousands are annually passed in trade on the coast.
They like the heavy pattern of gun, unlike the natives to the south,
who will only have very light flimsy Liege-made guns. They are fond of
ornamenting the stock with brass tacks;--I have seen the whole of the
woodwork of some of their muskets completely covered with them. They
have no idea of using them properly, generally firing them from the
side without any regard to aim or the distance that they can carry.
Their manner of loading them I have already described.
These natives are arrant cowards, and in their so-called wars or
disputes between one town and another they seldom resort to firearms
to settle their differences. If one man is killed or wounded it is
considered a very great war indeed, although a great deal of powder
may have been burnt in mutual defiance at a safe distance. The
Portuguese were engaged in war on several occasions on the road to
Bembe, and punished, by burning, a number of towns where robberies
had been committed, and where, from the thickness of the bush and
forest, the ridiculously small force at their command would have been
quickly massacred, had not the natives been such craven cowards,
and so incapable of using their firearms. A shot from a six-pounder
gun, by which a king and seven other blacks were killed--swept off a
path where they were standing in file at what they considered a safe
distance--contributed more than anything else to restore peace on the
road.
The boats that used to navigate the River Congo were formerly armed
with a small carronade, to protect themselves from any attack by the
piratical Mussurongos on that river. One of these carronades falling
into the hands of those blacks was by them sold to a town in the
interior. The natives of this became involved in a dispute with those
of a powerful neighbouring town, who proceeded to attack it. The
natives of the former town, who depended on the carronade as their
principal means of defence, placed it on the path, loaded to the muzzle
with powder and stones, and laying a long train of powder to it awaited
the advance of the enemy; when it appeared in sight the train was
fired, and the inhabitants took to their heels. The assailing army,
hearing such a terrific report, paused to consider, and prudently
decided to return to their town. Next day they sent proposals of peace
to the little town, saying that as the latter had such a big “fetish,”
they could not think of making war any more.
The Mussurongo and Ambriz blacks knock out the two middle front teeth
in the upper jaw on arriving at the age of puberty. The Mushicongos
are distinguished from them by having all their front teeth, top
and bottom, chipped into points, which gives them a very curious
appearance. These tribes, like all blacks, have magnificent sets of
teeth, and the great care they take to keep them beautifully clean
is most singular, considering their generally dirty habits and want
of cleanliness. A negro’s first care in the morning is to rinse out
his mouth, generally using his forefinger to rub his teeth; the big
mouthful of water with which they wash their mouths is always squirted
out afterwards in a thin stream on their hands, to wash them with,
this being about the extent of their ablutions. Many use a bit of cane
switch or soft stick with the end beaten into a brush of fibres to
clean their teeth with, this brush being often carried suspended from
a piece of string round their necks. After every meal they always wash
their mouths and teeth, and I have seen them dip their forefinger into
the clean sharp sand of a river, and use it vigorously as tooth-powder.
Polygamy is of course an established institution among the natives of
Angola, and the number of wives that a black may keep is only regulated
by his means to maintain them. This applies to free blacks, the wives
or married women being all free. A free man may also keep as many
slaves and concubines as he can clothe.
There is no ceremony of marriage amongst the Mussurongo, Ambriz, or
Mushicongo blacks, except mutual consent, but the bridegroom has to
make his father-in-law a present of from two to three pieces of cloth
and some bottles of rum. He has, besides, to provide a feast to which
all the relatives of both families are invited, and in which a pig is
an indispensable element, and as much rum or other drink as his means
will allow. The bride’s trousseau is also provided by him, but this,
among the poorer Mushicongos, very often only consists of a couple of
handkerchiefs or a fathom of cotton cloth. In many cases the bride is
delivered over naked to the bridegroom. He has to provide her with
clothing, baskets, hoe, pipe, pots for cooking, wooden platters, &c.,
and a separate hut with sleeping-mat for each wife; in return for
this the wives have to cook and cultivate the plantations and to keep
themselves and the husband in food. Should he be unable to supply a
wife with the customary clothing, &c., she can leave him and return to
her parents, in which case he loses her, and the amount he gave for her
as well.
The dress of the blacks near the coast is, as might be expected, not so
scanty as those farther inland. The men wear a waistcloth reaching to
the knees, tied round the waist with a strip of red baize, and those
who can afford it fringe the ends of the cloth, which are allowed
to hang nearly to, and in some cases to trail on, the ground. The
women sew together two widths of cotton cloth, which is worn wrapped
round the body, covering it from under the arm-pits to the knees, and
tied in the same manner round the waist with a strip of baize;--the
top-end being tucked in, secures the cloth under the arms over the
breast, but when travelling or working in the fields, they allow the
top width to fall down on their hips, and leave the upper part of the
body exposed. In the poorer towns the men only wear a small waistcloth
of cotton cloth or matting; the women also wear a short waistcloth,
and a handkerchief folded diagonally and tied tightly under the
arms, with the ends hanging over and partly concealing the breasts.
Girls and young women generally wear a single handkerchief tied by a
string round their hips, the ends of the handkerchief not meeting at
the side, leaving one thigh exposed. Children run about stark naked,
or with a piece of string tied round the waist and the ends hanging
down in front. Their covering at night is only the waistcloth or mat,
which is generally long enough to cover them from head to foot. These
mats are made from the cuticle of the leaves of a dwarf palm, which is
peeled off when green and dried in the sun. It is only very few of the
richer folks who have a baize cloth or other covering for their bodies
at night. As might be expected, they are very glad to get cast-off
garments, and they will wear any article of clothing however ragged
it may be. One of my boys, to whom I had given an old shirt without
a back, fastened it on by lacing it up behind with a string, and the
contrast presented by his shiny black back and his clean shirt front,
collar, and sleeves, was most comical. Another hammock-boy made his
appearance in a wide-awake, blue silk tie, pair of slippers, and the
body-part of an old pair of white duck-trousers I had given him, the
legs of which he had cut off to make a present of to his brother. The
cotton umbrellas they receive in barter from the traders, each segment
of which is a different bright colour, when old are taken off the ribs,
the hole at the top is enlarged to pass the head through, and they are
then worn on the shoulders like a cape.
The coast tribes do not interfere with nature in the development of
the female figure, but the Mushicongos object to prominent breasts,
and girls tie a string tightly round the chest to reduce the growing
breasts to the perfectly flat shape in fashion;--the appearance of some
of the old negresses with their breasts hanging low and flat in front
is very disgusting.
The blacks have a great admiration for a white woman’s costume, and
I shall never forget an old “Capata’s” description of a Portuguese
officer’s wife that he had seen at Ambriz, or his imitation of her slim
waist and flowing dress. I told him I would send him a thin-waisted
wife from England if he promised to put away the three he then had; he
refused then, but next day came to me and said that, having considered
my offer, he would accept it!
The Mussurongo, but not the Ambriz or Mushicongo men, wear ankle-rings
made of brass (European make), or of tin, made by themselves from
bar-tin obtained in trade from the white men. The women of the three
tribes are very fond of wearing rings both on their arms and legs;
these are sometimes made in one piece of thin brass wire wound loosely
round the arm or leg, but a number of separate rings, about the size
of ordinary rings on curtain-rods, is most esteemed, and they must be
solid; they are not appreciated if hollow. Some of the richer women
wear as many as twenty of these rings on each leg and arm, the weight
rendering them almost unable to move, but six or eight is a very usual
number to wear on each limb. It must not be understood that this is the
universal custom, as it is only the wives of the kings or “Macotas” who
can afford these ornaments.
These three tribes generally keep their heads shaved, or else only
allow their hair to grow very short, and cut or shave it into
various patterns, sometimes very complicated in character. Where
razors or scissors are scarce, I have seen blacks shave heads with
a piece of glass split from the bottom of an ordinary bottle, the
operator stretching the skin of the scalp tightly towards him with
the thumb of the left hand, while he scrapes away from him with the
sharp edge of the wedge-shaped piece of glass in his right. Did they
not keep their woolly heads so free from hair, great would be the
production of a certain obnoxious insect, under the combined influence
of dirt and heat. Amongst the Mushicongos the chiefs’ wives and
other more aristocratic ladies allow their hair to grow into a huge
worsted-looking bush or mop, which is carefully combed straight up and
out, and of course swarms with insect inhabitants. A very curious plan
is adopted to entrap them:--a number of little flask-shaped gourds,
about the size of an ordinary pear, are strung through their necks
on a string, which is tied round the greasy forehead; a little loose
cotton-wool is stuffed into each, and the open narrow ends stick into
the bush of hair; they are taken off each morning, the cotton-wool
is pulled out, and the little innocents that have crawled into it are
crunched on the ground with a stone; the wool is replaced, and they are
again hung round the back of the head as before. These traps in fact
act in the same way as the little pots turned upside down and filled
with hay, which our gardeners employ to capture earwigs on dahlias.
Hunting them by hand is of course very much in vogue, and I was once
greatly amused at the way the chase was carried on on a woman’s head
at a town called Sangue, near Bembe. She was sitting on a low stool,
and two girls were busily turning over her hair and collecting the
lively specimens, which, as they were caught, were pinched to prevent
their crawling, and placed in the open palm of a child’s hand, who
also stood in the group. My curiosity was excited as to the reason of
the specimens being thus carefully preserved, and on asking one of my
hammock-boys, he told me “that is for the payment”--they are afterwards
counted, and the girls get a glass bead for every one they have caught.
I thought that a bead each was rather high pay for the work, and told
him so; his answer was, “If you had a hundred on your head, would you
not give a hundred beads to have them caught?” and I was obliged to
confess that I should consider it a cheap riddance.
The Zombo and other natives farther to the interior, who come to the
coast with ivory, &c., seldom shave their heads: the common lot let
their hair grow anyhow, without apparently ever combing it out--a
confused mass of wool, dirt, and palm oil--so that it gives them a
wild appearance; others comb it straight up, letting it grow about six
inches long, and ornament the front with a cock’s feather or a red
flower, or sometimes stick two or three brass tacks in it; others shave
their heads all round, leaving the hair in the middle to grow upright,
but the most usual manner is to plait their hair in little strings all
over the head; some twist and plait these strings again round the head,
ending at the top in a round knob, so that they look exactly as if they
had a basket on their heads.
Any malformation with which a child may be born is considered a
“fetish” by the negroes in Angola. A very short or sunken neck is
thought a very great fetish indeed. I saw two blacks in the Bembe
country who seemed to have no necks at all.
Albinos are not at all uncommon, and very repulsive looking creatures
they are, with their dirty white, scabby, shrunken skins. Blacks
with six fingers and toes are often seen, and are also considered as
“fetish.”
Women bear children with the greatest facility. In every town there are
one or more old women who act as midwives, and I was informed that very
few deaths indeed occur from childbirth, and in a very short time after
the mothers may be seen about.
A very striking instance of the ease with which women go through this
trial, happened to my knowledge whilst I was at Benguella. Senhor
Conceição, the agent of the copper mine I was exploring there, had
occasion to send up a number of poles to the mine, which was about six
miles inland. He called his slaves together early one morning and told
them that all who were able to carry poles should take up one and go
off to the mine with it;--these wooden poles weighing about thirty to
forty pounds each. About twenty of the slaves in the yard shouldered
one, and away they went, merrily singing together. Amongst them was a
woman near her confinement, who need not have gone with her companions
if she had chosen to remain behind. After breakfast we proceeded to
the mine, and on arriving at a place about four miles off we noticed
a few of the poles on the ground, but none of the bearers near; our
hammock-boys shouted for them, thinking they had perhaps gone into the
bush and laid down to sleep, leaving their loads on the road. A woman
came out of a thicket and explained that the pregnant woman’s time
had arrived, and that the child had just been born. Senhor Conceição
ordered the women to remain with her till we should arrive at the mine,
when he would send bearers with a hammock, blanket, wine, &c., to carry
her back. After some time they returned, saying that she and the other
women had gone! and when we reached Benguella in the evening, Senhora
Conceição described to us her surprise at seeing the women return
carrying green boughs, singing merrily, and accompanying the woman
bearing her new-born baby in her arms, she having walked back all the
way, not caring to wait for the hammock!
An allowance of grog was served out, and a “batuco,” or dance, was held
by all the slaves in honour of the event, whilst the woman coolly sat
on a stone in their midst, nursing her baby as if nothing had happened.
The burial of kings, or head men, and their wives in this part of
Angola is very singular. When the person dies, a shallow pit is dug
in the floor of the hut in which he or she died, just deep enough to
contain the body. This, which is seldom more than skin and bone, is
placed naked in the trench on its back, and then covered with a thin
layer of earth. On this three fires are lighted and kept burning for
a whole moon or month, the hot ashes being constantly spread over the
whole grave. At the end of this time, the body is usually sufficiently
baked or dried: it is then taken out and placed on its back on an open
framework of sticks, and fires kept burning under it till the body is
thoroughly smoke-dried. During the whole time the body is being dried,
the hut in which the operation is performed is always full of people,
the women keeping up a dismal crying day and night, particularly the
latter;--I have often been annoyed and had my rest disturbed by their
monotonous and unceasing howl on these occasions.
At the pretty town of Lambo I was obliged one night to leave and
bivouac at some distance under a baobab, to escape the noise kept up
over the dead body of one of the king’s wives, which was undergoing
the last process of drying over a fire; I looked into the hut and saw
a naked bloated body stiff and black on the frame, over a good fire,
where, as one of my hammock-boys told me, it would take long in drying,
as she was “so fat and made so much dripping.” The stench from the body
and the number of blacks in the hut was something indescribable.
When the body is completely desiccated it is wrapped in cloth and
stuck upright in a corner of the hut, where it remains until it is
buried, sometimes two years after. The reason for this is, that all
the relations of the deceased must be present at the final ceremony,
when the body is wrapped in as many yards of cloth as they can possibly
afford, some of the kings being rolled in several hundred yards of
different cloth. On the occasion of the burial a “wake” or feast
consisting of “batuco,” or dancing, with firing of guns and consumption
of drink, roast pig, and other food, is held for the whole night.
It is believed that the spirit of the dead person will haunt the town
where he died, and commit mischief if the “wake” is not held.
About Ambriz, and on the coast, it is the fashion to place boots or
shoes on the feet of free men when they are buried, and old boots and
shoes are considered a great gift from the whites for this purpose. The
body is generally buried in the same hut occupied by the person during
life. In some few places they have a regular burial ground, the graves,
generally simple mounds, being ornamented with broken crockery and
bottles. The natives have great veneration for their dead, and I found
it impossible to obtain a dried body as a specimen, although I offered
a high price for one.
Very little ceremony is used in burying blacks found dead, who do not
belong to the town in or near which they have died; the wrists and
knees are tied together and a pole passed through, and they are then
carried by two men and buried outside, anywhere;--if the corpse is that
of a man, his staff and “mutete” are laid on the grave; if a woman, a
basket is placed on it. (Plate XII.)
Their mourning is simple and inexpensive; a few ground-nuts are roasted
in a crock till they are nearly burnt, and being very oily are then
readily ground into a perfectly black paste. This, according to the
relationship with the deceased, is either rubbed over the whole, or
only part of the face and head; in some cases this painting is a
complicated affair, being in various devices all over the shaven head
and face, and takes some time and pains to effect; and to prevent
its being rubbed off at night by the cloth with which they cover
themselves, they place a basket kind of mask on their faces. (Plate
IV.) This mask is also employed to keep off the cloth from the face and
prevent the mosquitoes from biting through.
Circumcision is a universal custom among the blacks of Angola. They
have no reason for this custom other than that it would be “fetish” not
to perform it, and in some of the tribes they cannot marry without.
The operation is only performed in a certain “moon” (June), the one
after the last of the rainy season, and on a number of boys at a time.
For this purpose a large barracoon is built, generally on a hill and at
some little distance from any town. There the boys live for a “moon” or
month under the care of the “fetish man” or doctor, and employ their
time in beating drums and singing a wild kind of chant, and in hunting
rats in the fields immediately the grass is burnt down. The boys’ food
is taken up daily by the men of the towns, women not being allowed
to approach the barracoon during the time: the path leading to it is
marked where it joins the main path by one or two large figures made
either of clay or straw, or smaller ones roughly carved of wood, and
always of a very indecent character. At the end of the month the boys
return to their towns, wearing a head-dress of feathers, singing and
beating drums, and preceded by the “fetish man.”
Insanity exists, though rarely, among blacks. I have only seen several
natural born idiots, but I have been informed by the natives that they
have violent madmen amongst them, whom they are obliged to tie up, and
sometimes even kill; and I have been assured that some lunatics roam
about wild and naked in the forest, living on roots, sometimes entering
the towns when hard pressed by hunger, to pick up dirt and garbage, or
pull up the mandioca roots in the plantations. This can only be in this
part of the country, where the larger carnivora are scarce, or with the
exception of the hyena, almost entirely absent.