Angola and the River Congo, vol. 1

by Joachim John Monteiro

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.