Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

I was told that very little wild honey or wax was found, and that a bird was known to the natives that showed them where the wild bees’ nests were. They called it “solé,” and described it as having a white bar across its tail, and making its nest of the hair of different animals which it collected for the purpose.

The Mucelis have a curious custom which I have not heard of as existing in any other tribe, namely, that on the death of the great “sobas” of Ambuin and Sanga, all fires in the kingdom must be put out, and relighted by the succeeding “soba” from fire struck by rubbing two sticks together.

Their laws, principally those relating to the protection of property, are very strict, slavery being the punishment for even trifling robberies, such as a cob of growing indian-corn, or an egg. Oddly enough, they have the same custom of the “lent rat” as in Cambambe, and the punishment if it is not returned entire is a heavy fine, or in default slavery.

To show the extent of some beliefs in Angola amongst tribes far apart, speaking different languages, and having not the slightest communication with each other, I may mention that amongst the Mushicongos a certain field-mouse is believed to drop down dead if it crosses at the point where one path is intersected by another, and I found this absurd idea entertained exactly in the same manner in the Celis country. I presented a skin of this mouse to the British Museum. It is nearest to the Mus Gambianus in the same collection.

Some of the natives from the interior of Novo Redondo had the most extraordinary way of wearing their hair of any I have seen in Africa; amongst other curious fancies the most usual and striking was that of fashioning it into the exact resemblance of a large Roman helmet with a projecting round horn in front. The custom of wearing a great thickness of strings of flat beads made of shell, and called “dongos,” is universal. They are also worn by the Mundombes, or natives of Benguella, and are mostly made in the Celis country. They are made from the shell of the Achatina monetaria, Morelet, which is broken and chipped into little round pieces about the size of a fourpenny bit, and these are strung on a string. The labour and time taken in their manufacture may be imagined, as it takes several yards of these flat beads coiled round the neck to make a proper necklace, about the thickness of a man’s arm. This once put on is never taken off again during life, and becomes a filthy mass of dirt, grease, and perspiration. The women also wear these strings or “Quirandas” (weighing sometimes as much as 20 to 30 lbs.) round the waist, and they pass as money in the country.

From Novo Redondo I returned overland to Benguella, fording the River Quicombo, at the mouth of which the Portuguese have a small detachment, and where a few traders are established. This river is broad, but shallow where I crossed it, about six miles from the sea.

The road was generally good and not far from the sea. It passed along and across several ravines, in which I noticed a great quantity of the castor-oil plant growing most luxuriantly.

Late in the evening I arrived at the edge of the valley of the River Egito, at the mouth of which is situated the Portuguese station of Egito. It was getting dark, and there was a steep and long hillside to descend, and some distance to go afterwards before reaching the house of the “chefe,” whose guest I was to be. I therefore determined to make snug for the night under a great baobab growing close to a wall of rock, and my carriers were clearing a space from leaves and branches for my bed and mosquito curtain, when one of them was stung in the foot by a scorpion.

These poisonous creatures are extremely abundant in the whole of the district of Benguella, and cases are constantly occurring of persons being stung by them. In some places hardly a stone or piece of wood can be lifted from the ground without finding one or more scorpions under it. They are of all sizes, up to six and seven inches long. Their sting is rarely fatal, except to old people or persons in a bad state of health. The effects of the sting are, however, very extraordinary; in severe cases it appears to paralyse all the muscles of the body, sometimes with much pain, in others with little or none.

The black stung on the occasion I am describing complained of a good deal of pain during the night, but only after some hours, or I might have thought of burning the part with a hot iron at first; his comrades applied hot oil to his foot, but in the morning he had lost the use of his legs completely. I had to put him into my hammock and have him carried to Egito. Here I remained with my friend the “chefe” for four days, and the wounded black was laid in the sun every day to keep him warm, the usual custom in such cases, a sensation of cold always accompanying the subsequent stages of a scorpion bite. On the fourth day he had acquired so much use of his limbs that he could drag himself in a sitting position on the ground to a sunny corner, still complaining of cold, but his appetite seemed good.