Niam-niam handicraft.
| 1. Wooden signal drum. | 6. Carved head for the neck of | 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Wooden dishes. |
| 2 and 3. Mandolins. | a mandolin. | 14. Mungala-board. |
| 4. Bedstead. | 7. Carved signal-pipe. | 15. Wooden stool. |
| 5. Iron bell. | 8. Wooden dog-bell. |
As every Niam-niam soldier carries a lance, trumbash, and dagger, the manufacture of these weapons necessarily employs a large number of smiths, who vie with each other in producing the greatest variety of form. The dagger is worn in a sheath of skin attached to the girdle. The lance-tips differ from those of the Bongo in having a hastate shape, to use once more the botanical term which distinguishes the folia hastata from the folia lanceolata. Every weapon bears so decidedly the stamp of its nationality that its origin is discoverable at a glance. All the lances, knives, and dagger-blades are distinguished by blood-grooves, which are not to be observed upon the corresponding weapons of either the Bongo or Dyoor.
GREETINGS.
Mutual greetings among the Niam-niam may be said to be almost stereotyped in phrase. Any one meeting another on the way would be sure to say “muiyette;” but if they were indoors, they would salute each other by saying “mookenote” or “mookenow.” Their expression for farewell is “minahpatiroh;” and when, under any suspicious circumstances, they wish to give assurance of a friendly intention, they make use of the expression “badya, badya, muie” (friend, good friend, come hither). They always extend their right hands on meeting, and join them in such a way that the two middle fingers crack again; and while they are shaking hands they nod at each other with a strange movement, which to our Western ideas looks like a gesture of repulse. The women, ever retiring in their habits, are not accustomed to be greeted on the road by any with whom they are not previously intimate.
No wooing in this country is dependent, as elsewhere in Africa, upon a payment exacted from the suitor by the father of the intended bride. When a man resolves upon matrimony, the ordinary rule would be for him to apply to the reigning prince, or to the sub-chieftain, who would at once endeavour to procure him such a wife as might appear suitable. In spite of the prosaic and matter-of-fact proceeding, and notwithstanding the unlimited polygamy which prevails throughout the land, the marriage-bond loses nothing of the sacredness of its liabilities, and unfaithfulness is generally punished with immediate death. A family of children is reckoned as the best evidence and seal of conjugal affection, and to be the mother of many children is always recognised as a claim to distinction and honour. It is one of the fine traits of this people that they exhibit a deep and consistent affection for their wives, and I shall have occasion in a future chapter to refer to some touching instances of this feature in their character.
The festivities that are observed on the occasion of a marriage are on a very limited scale. There is a simple procession of the bride, who is conducted to the home of her future lord by the chieftain, accompanied by musicians, minstrels, and jesters.[7] A feast ensues, at which all partake in common, although, as a general rule, the women are accustomed to eat alone in their own huts. The domestic duties of a housewife consist mainly in cultivating the homestead, preparing the daily meals, painting her husband’s body, and dressing his hair. In this genial climate children require comparatively little care or attention, infants being carried about everywhere in a kind of band or scarf.
The Niam-niam have one recreation which is common to nearly the whole of Africa. A game, known by the Nubians as “mungala,” is constantly played by all the people of the entire Gazelle districts, and although perhaps it is not known by the Monbuttoo, it is quite naturalised among all the negroes as far as the West Coast. It is singular that this pastime should be so familiar to the Mohammedan Nubians, who only within the last twenty years have had any intercourse at all with the negroes of the south; but in all likelihood they received it in the same way as the guitar,[8] as a legacy from their original home in Central Africa. The Peulhs devote many successive hours to the amusement, which requires a considerable facility in ready reckoning; they call it “wuri.” The game is played likewise by the Foolahs, the Yolofs, and the Mandingo, on the Senegal. It is found again among the Kadje, between the Tsad and the Benwe. The recurrence of an object even trivial as this is an evidence, in its degree, indirect and collateral, of the essential unity that underlies all African nations.
GAME OF MUNGALA.
The “mungala” itself[9] is a long piece of wood, in which two parallel rows of holes are scooped out. Nubian boards have sixteen holes, the Niam-niam have eighteen. Each player has about two dozen stones, and the skill of the game consists in adroitly transferring the stones from one hole to another. In default of a board the game is frequently played upon the bare ground, in which little cavities are made for the purpose.