70 AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS. men had been busy all the dry season cutting down trees and, clearing the woods, so that in the wet season the women might plant their manioc, plantains, etc. The clearing of ground is the men's work among these people. The women have the sole care of the planting. He said that they had had very little to eat; had been obliged to beg food of the neighboring tribes, and half the time had nothing to eat but the nut of a kind of palm, of which they also make a kind of wine. This nut is very bitter; I could never eat it. It is shaped like an egg, with rounded ends. To prepare it it is divested of its husk and soaked in water for twenty-four hours, when it loses in part its exceedingly bitter taste, and becomes tolerably palatable to a hungry man. Sometimes hunger presses them to eat the nut without soaking it-I have been compelled to do so-and it is then excessively disagreeable. I saw at once that it would not do for me to stay long with Mbene, for I could not live as these people do; and of my own stores, though I had a few crackers and sea-biscuit left, these would not last long, and ought to be kept for possible sickness. The negro tribes of this region are half the time in a state of starvation by their utter improvidence. They seem unable to cope with want, even with so fertile a country as theirs to help them. Such encampments as this of Mbene's are common among all the tribes. Their agricultural operations are of the rudest kind, and, from the necessity of seeking out the most fertile soil as well as from general habit, they prefer to go to a distance from their villages to clear and plant the ground. They never plant two successive years in the same place, and have, therefore, much labor in clearing the ground every time. And, after all, it is not uncommon for a village to lose all the fruits of its labors by the incursions of a herd of elephants, who trample down what they do not eat up. This happens especially to plantain plantations. The encampment is called an olako, this word signifying also a new site for a village or any place of temporary sojourn. An olako is a romantic scene to look at, particularly in the night, when every family has its fire, near which its beds are made under the shades before described. But hunger spoils the prettiest romance: and I would have given up the camp willingly for a good roast fowl or a sufficient supply of bread. I told Mbene that as his place had no food to offer I must go farther; explained to him my objects; and finally it was agreed that his brother Ncomo should accompany me with a party as far as the Fan tribe. So much was settled without difficulty; but still several weeks passed ere my company was ready to start. Meantime I made myself as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. The king's wives supplied me with mats for my bed, and under these I put dry leaves enough to make a soft couch. On each side of the bed I built a fire to keep off the musquitoes, which were very troublesome, and thus I tried to sleep at night. My weary days were spent in hunting. I ought to add that, with usual African hospitality, my kingly friend offered me a wife on my arrival at his place. This is the common custom when the negroes wish to pay respect to their guests, and they can not understand why white men should decline what they consider a mere matter of course. I endeavored to explain to Mbene and his wives what our own customs were in regard to marriage; but neither men nor women seemed to understand or appreciate the Christian idea of marriage. The musquitoes penetrated through the smoke of my fires, and bit me so that I could scarce sleep on the first night after my arrival, and, to make matters yet more unpleasant, the rain poured on me through a leaky place in my leafy shelter, so that I arose next morning wet, sore, hungry, but withal feeling unusually well. I went to make arrangements with Ncomo for an early start. Found that his women had gone out to beg food for their trip. Mbene gave me a chicken for my dinner-an unusual luxury. But I had to shoot my fowl before eating it. The natives build no perches for their poultry, and the consequence is that the chickens fly to roost in the topmost branches of the trees, where they are safe from predatory attacks of all kinds, either by their owners or by wild beasts. When I declined Mbene's offer of a "wife," he said, "Oh well, she can at any rate wait on you and cook for you;" and so I am lucky enough to have a good cook. The negroes use a good deal of pepper in their cooking, which I think healthy for this climate; otherwise my chicken-soup was good enough, and, with the addition of some plantain boiled, and some remains of the goat which had been given to me yesterday, I made a very good dinnerprobably the last I shall get for a good many days, unless we are unusually lucky and kill some deer or elephant on our road. 122 72 "MBENE'S WHITE MAN.” CHAPTER VI. Hold of a Traveler on the Natives. Fruits. - The Mbondemo. - Their Towns. -Houses.-Morals of War.-Condition of Women.-Women as Bearers.-The Hills. A Caravan.-Mutiny.-Rapids of the Ntambounay.-Summit of the Sierra.-Contemplations interrupted by a Serpent.-The first Gorilla.—Appearance in Motion.-Famine in the Camp.-Native Stories of the Gorilla.-Superstitious Notions about the Animal.-Lifelessness of the Forest.-A Bee-hive. TO-DAY (August 20th) I sent back Dayoko's men, and am now in Mbene's power and at his mercy. He is a very good fellow, and I feel myself quite safe among his rough but kindly people. I have found it the best way to trust the people I travel among. They seem to take it as a compliment, and they are proud to have a white man among them. Even if a chief were inclined to murder, it would not be profitable in such a case, for the exhibition of his white visitor among the neighboring tribes does more to give him respect and prestige than his murder would. They speak of me now as "Mbene's white man." Before I was "Dayoko's white man." The title has comfort and safety in it, for it would be a great insult to Mbene for any stranger to molest his white man, and it is to his own honor to feed him as well as he can. Of course, one must have tact enough to satisfy the chief with occasional little presents, given him generally in private so that his people may not beg from him, and given, also, not as though you wished to conciliate-for it will not do to show any symptoms of fear however much cause there may be—but apparently as friendly gifts. This is the only safe way to get ahead in this country, and I never found a chief whose "white man" I was for the time but would help and further my plans and journeys. Dayoko's men are to return to Mbene's camp in three months to look for me, and I have to be back, if possible, by that time. The women have brought in a supply of the bitter palm-seeds and of other fruits, mostly more palatable than that bitter abomination, but unfortunately not so plentiful. Among these is a MBONDEMO SQUATTERS. 73 round nut the bigness of a large walnut, containing three or four oily kernels, each of the size of a peanut; when these were roasted they were not disagreeable. And there was a remarkably magnificent fruit which I never saw before, resembling in general shape a bunch of grapes, each grape olive-shaped, and the whole of a bright scarlet color. It was really a splendid sight to see these glowing bunches hanging from the trunks of the trees which bear them. The seed is larger than that of the olive; the skin not so thick as that; and the pulp is quite juicy and of a pleasant flavor. The Mbondemo tribe is allied to the Mbisho, Mbiki, Mbousha, Ibouay, Acoa, and Shekiani tribes. The speech of all these tribes is nearly alike. They can all understand each other. Also they have the same general customs and superstitions, and the same nomadic habits. The Mbondemo live or have their towns in the mountains of the interior east of Cape Lopez, and in that tract of country which extends from north of the Muni to the Moondah River. Since I first knew Mbene he had moved his village twice, his present removal making the third. I asked what reasons moved him to these changes. The first time, he said, a man had died there, and the place was "not good" after that. The second time he was forced to move because they had cut down all the palmtrees, and could get no more mimbo (palm wine), a beverage of which they are excessively fond, though they take no pains to preserve the trees out of the soft tops of which it is made. But these are very plentiful all over the country; and it seems easier for them to move than to take care of the trees surrounding their settlements, useful as they are to them; for they furnish not only the wine they love, but the very bitter nut I mentioned before, which often keeps them from starvation; while of its trunk, split up, they make the sides of their houses. A country which has plenty of palm-trees, plenty of game, a good river, and plenty of fish, is the ideal region of a Mbondemo settler or squatter. The Mbondemo villages differ materially in their arrangements from those of the sea-shore tribes I have already described. The houses are mostly of uniform size, generally from twelve to fifteen feet long, and eight or ten feet wide. They are built on both sides of a long and tolerably wide street, and invariably join each other. 74 A MBONDEMO INTERIOR. The chief's house and the palaver-house are larger than the others. The ends of the street are barricaded with stout sticks or palisades, and at night the doors or gates of the village are firmly closed, and persons approaching, if they can not explain their intentions, are remorselessly shot down or speared. The houses have no windows, and doors only on the side toward the street; and when the door of the street is locked, the village is, in fact, a fortress. As an additional protection, however, they often cut down thorny brushwood and block up the surrounding approaches; and, also, they always locate the village on the top of the highest hill they can find in the region where for the time being they squat. All this shows-what is the truth-that they are a quarrelsome, though not a brave race. They are continually in hot-water with their neighbors, and never know when they are to be attacked. Interiorly the Mbondemo house is divided by a bark partition into two rooms; one the kitchen, where also every body sits or lies down on the ground about the fire; the other the sleeping apartment. This last is perfectly dark; and here are stowed their provisions and all their riches. To ascertain how large a family any Mbondemo householder has, you have only to count the lit tle doors which open into the various sleeping apartments: "So many doors so many wives," it was explained to me. The houses are made of bark and a kind of jointless bamboo, which is got from the trunk of a particular palm. The strips are tied to posts set firmly into the ground, with rope made from the vines of the forest. The roofing is made of matting. The houses are neither so large, so substantially built, nor so good-looking as those of the Mpongwe. To-day (21st) my men have been getting ready their guns for enemies or game. The tribes of Africa have so many petty causes of quarrel, that they are always in danger of a fight. They are so bound together by ridiculous superstitions of witchcraft, and by the entangling alliances of polygamy, and greatly also by their want of good faith in trade, that no man can say where or why an enemy is waiting for his life. I have already spoken of the system of intermarriages by which a chief gains in power and friends. But there are other means of securing allies. For instance, two tribes are anxious for a fight, but one needs more force. This weakling sends one of its men |