WILD BUSH TRIBES OF TROPICAL AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 26

WILD BUSH TRIBES OF TROPICAL AFRICA.

Out of his experiences during a twelve years’ sojourn among the wild primitive bush people of West Central Africa, Mr G. Cyril Claridge has produced a remarkable book (‘‘Wild Bush Tribes of Tropical Africa,” Seeley, Service, Ltd.) He has made a close study on the spot of the life and language of the people of the Ba-Congo of JNorthern Angola, and as such it throws valuable light on one of the darker places of the Dark Continent. —The Negro’s Insurance.— The lot of women in this country is that of a beast of burden. Polygamy is the negro’s insurance against bad luck ‘.‘A husband’s view of the compact is threefold—the price he paid for the woman, her ability to work, and her

capacity to bear children. It is a common saying that a man remembers where he met his wife, not because of a sentiment or feeling, but on account of the money he paid for her. He recalls his wedding-day with the 6ame brain cells with which he trades at a market. “From a financial point of view marriage is a safe investment for the native. If circumstances demand it, a man who has bought a woman has thereby purchased a right to all her marriageable sisters i n turn. To what extent a man' would exercise this right it is difficult to say, but in theory he could go on as long as there remained an eligible girl in the family. —No extra charge.— “When his wife dies, the negro expects those who provided her will also supply him with another, without extra charge. A man, in view of his approaching death, may leave his wife to his neixt-of-kin. We have known old widows left to boys who have not known what to do with them. Should he die intestate, she may chose a relative of the deceased, but cannot chose outside his family. An arrangement may be made for her to return to her people, in which case the money paid for her by the dead man must be refunded to his executors. ’ ’ Formerly the penalty for adultery was death to the co-respondent:— “In those days it was the custom of kings and chiefs, who set the fashion, periodically to question their wives as to their faithfulness. A lie was punishable by death. The women were terrified into confession by the fearsome fetishes which their inquisitors held over them. To the question, ‘Have you been faithful?’ the answer should he, ‘Not so much as a tobacco leaf, or a touch on the shoulder.’ King Alvaro Nsingankanga executed Mbundu Amfumu for giving a leaf of tobacco to one of his wives, though he had gone no further than placing the leaf on a stone, at a respectful distance from thewoman.” Drugs as Charms. — The necromantic instinct is so rooted in these people that even drugs and lotions of European manufacture are regarded more as charms than as physic or liniments : “A nasal fetish is more to them than a nasal douche. They think more of something to tie round the throat than they do of something to gargle in it. “Those who venture to acquaint themselves with new medicaments will ask for a mjxture, and either apply the bottle to some part of the body, just as it is, or put it in a secure pla'-e where they keep it as long as possible without touching it, as a charm for whatever they imagine it to he good for. They soon learn that a cascara tabloid has its appointed place in therapeutics, but they do not so soon learn that it has missed its effectiveness when bored, threaded and hung round the neck like a locket.” Writing of fetishes and fetishism, Mr Claridge tells an amusing story about Mungo Park, the famous African traveller. When he escaped from the Arabs of Central Africa he was succoured by an old man when almost dying from hunger and exposure. The old man asked him for a saphie—a charm to hang round the neck : “Mungo Park wrote the Lord’s Prayer on a board both sides from top to bottom, which he handed to his heathen Benefactor as a saphie. Recognising that he could not wear the board round his neck, the old Ethiopian got a calabash of water and carefully washed the Lord’s Prayer from the hoard into the vessel. After saying a little ritual over it, he drank the powerful draught; then, to ensure he lost not a word, syllable, or letter, he licked the board both sides all over from top to bottom, to protect him from wicked men. That is fetishism.” —Wisdom of Pleading Guilty.— There are some terrible stories of native priestcraft and witchcraft, hut the following has some humour : “At Kingulu lived a woman who had the misfortune to lose several of her babies by death in a very short time. It meant, according to native mentality, that somebody in the family had bewitched them. To put a stop to it they called in the witch priest. He put the blame on a male relative who strongly protested his innocence. He was condemned to death. Tho priest then reverted to a favourite trick. He told the accused that if he would confess and give his mbangala—a club given with a promise not to bewitch any more people—he would not allow the men to kill, him. The man was in a fix. He knew he was innocent, but to insist upon it meant they would kill him. To say he was guilty would be to lie, but it would save his life to do so. The man chose to save his life. In doing so he paid the priest the compliment he wanted. For henceforth no one could doubt the priest’s ability to detect witches. The club was a token of the accused man’s promise. It was placed in the woman's house, overthe doorway, to be kept for the purpose of clubbing him should he again lie caught ‘eating’ (destroying) other people’s babies.” —Cheating a Charlatan.— But one priest caught a Tartar. A very cunning native who knew no fear told his wives and friends how he was going to put one of these charlatans to the test. Then he sent for the priest “When he heard that he was coming he got two large fruit kernels, stuck one in each cheek to make facial swelling, sat down on an old fire heap, literally in sackcloth and ashes, and looked his worst. His wives were gathered around him in an attitude of mystified--sympathy, whilst his friends behaved in a manner of profound concern.” • The priest soon got'to work, danced, and enchanted, and when the moment came when the witch was to be disclosed, he did not hesitate:— “What the priest knew well was that the ‘bewitched’ man was a bully, and that he had recently ill-treated one of his sisters, for which, it was known, she entertained a spite against him. The priest took this as his cue. The sister was there; so, with dramatic effect the priest accused her. That was the time when there should have

been an orthodox hubbub, but there was an ominous silence, much to the chagrin of the professional. Then came the climax. Jumping to his feet, the man took the kernels from his mouth and threateningly made for the priest with ‘You scoundrel! Out you go, or I'll .’ but he had vanished.”