The story of the Congo Free State

by Henry Wellington Wack

Some Tribal Traits.

The Musserongés are difficult of approach. Not only do they hold themselves severely aloof from the white man, they are also very shy and guarded in their intercourse with other native tribes, and are never known to combine with any of them, even when threatened by a common enemy. They are tall, strong, and better-looking than most members of the Negro race, though this commendation must not be taken for a certificate of beauty. They file their teeth to a point, or cut them square, or into semicircles, their object being to provide themselves thereby with a weapon for use as a last resort in a fight, when they literally throw themselves upon their enemies and seize them by the throat with their fangs, as a bulldog might do. They wear their hair short, and indulge in the practice of tattooing, for purposes of ornament, but not to any great extent. Strange to say, the women are taller and stronger than the men, which may perhaps be explained by the fact that all the work of the tribe, except hunting and fishing, falls to their share.

The Kakongos and Mayombés are less intensely distrustful, but the Baoilis are markedly hostile to the white man. They have been known to refuse to barter oysters—their principal diet, of which they frequently have supplies largely exceeding their requirements—for European commodities which it has been certain that they ardently desired to possess.

Women Beating Rice, Uelle.

Modes et Robes à la Congo.

All these four tribes are of cleanly habits; and their practice of bathing daily, when the proximity of a river or lake puts it in their power to do so, may put to shame some of the inhabitants of great cities. The forest tribes, to whom cleanliness by water is impossible, smear their bodies with palm oil and a kind of red ochre, which they afterwards scrape off. The original costume of a few leaves, or an exceedingly small apron made from fibrous bark, for women, and a loincloth of the same material for men, has yielded to the superior attraction of common cotton goods, which now reach them from far-away Manchester or Saxony. These stuffs, ornamented by large patterns in flaming reds or yellows, delight the eye and rejoice the heart of the Congolese maid and matron, while such of the men as desire to stand well with the gentler (?) sex will also condescend to use them. No time and skill are devoted to making a garment. A piece of the gaudy stuff wound in loose folds around the loins suffices both for men and women. In every tribe, children of both sexes are entirely nude until they reach the age of puberty. In at least one tribe, neither men nor women wear any covering. In a few tribes it is customary for the women to remain nude until they are married. Some women denote their married state by covering their breasts with strange ornaments, while others secure this object by elaborately dressing their hair, which they build up to a great height by aid of palm fibre and gum. Both men and women, of whatever tribe, ornament themselves with just as many collars, bangles, and anklets as they can obtain. Without exception, the possession of a few strings of coloured beads is to them a source of great happiness. They gaze upon such treasures with delight and guard them with jealous care. Some of their customs are very peculiar. Men and women will not eat together. A man guilty of eating in company of his wives would be hopelessly disgraced. In time past they have eaten one another, and would doubtless do so again should existing restraint be removed, but they may not eat together. After their separate repast, the sexes mingle again freely, and both engage in smoking their long-stemmed pipes.

Congo Pigmies.

All the males of the Congo Pigmies seen by Sir Harry Johnston were circumcised, and all in both sexes had their upper incisor teeth and canines sharpened to a point. In their forest homes they go naked, both men and women; but in presence of strangers the men usually don a small covering of genet, monkey, or antelope skin, or a wisp of bark-cloth, and the women leaves or bark-cloth.

The Pigmies [says Johnston] have practically no religion, and no trace of spirit- or ancestor-worship. They have some idea that thunder, lightning, and rain are the manifestations of a Power or Entity in the heavens, but a bad Power, and when (reluctantly) induced to talk on the subject, they shake their heads and clack their tongues in disapproval, for the mysterious Something in the heavens occasionally slays their comrades with his fire [lightning]. They have little or no belief in a life after death, but sometimes think vaguely that their dead relations live again in the form of the red bushpig, whose strange bristles are among the few brightly coloured objects that attract their attention. They have no settled government or hereditary chief, merely clustering round an able hunter or cunning fighter, and accepting him as law-giver for the time. Marriage is only the purchase of a girl from her father. Women generally give birth to their offspring in the forest, severing the navel string with their teeth, and burying the placenta in the ground. The dead are usually buried in dug graves, and if men of importance, food, tobacco, and weapons are buried with the corpse.