There is another view of death held by the Boloki folk, and expressed in the phrase awi na likundu, which means that the person died by his own witchcraft, or he (or she) tried to kill someone else by witchcraft, and the other person’s protective charms, etc., were too strong, and it has resulted in the bewitcher’s own death. The word likundu literally means smartness, craftiness, skill, occult power, being too clever.
The witch-doctor decides the matter, for he holds a kind of post-mortem on the corpse, and if the arteries near the liver are empty, then the man died as a result of his own witchcraft. If one artery only is empty, that counts for nothing and is disregarded, but if four or five are empty the witch-doctor says: “That,” pointing to one, “is the secret power by which he so skilfully made canoes, or worked at his smithing” (according as the man was a canoe maker or blacksmith); “that one is the power by which he was successful in fishing” (or hunting, and so on); “and that other one is the power by which he bewitched people, hence someone with stronger occult power has overcome and killed him, or he has died by his own witchcraft.”
If only one artery is empty, that is allowable, as a man must have skill to do ordinary things like other folk, but if several are empty, then he had more than his share of cleverness, or occult power, and no one pities him in his death.
The following is an illustration of the wide-reaching effects of witchcraft among the natives of Africa: Some years ago the steamer Matadi was lying off the English Trading House at Boma, and one night the whole town was aroused by a terrific explosion. It was found on investigation that the gunpowder on board the s.s. Matadi had exploded, and two or three white people and forty “Kroo boys” (men engaged on the Kroo coast to work the cargo) were killed. During the inquiry that followed it came out that the “Kroo boys,” while searching the hold with a naked light, had accidentally set fire to the powder. Many months afterwards we heard incidentally from other “Kroo boys” that a big witch palaver had been held in the Kroo country and over fifty people had been done to death for bewitching the “Kroo boys” to death on the s.s. Matadi by causing the explosion of the gunpowder by their witchcraft. The Kroo coast is many hundreds of miles from the Congo, and the probability is that not one of those who died by the ordeal in the Kroo country had ever been in Congoland.
Relatives attend the sick and nurse them faithfully; and it is a sign of true friendship to visit a sick acquaintance, or to send regularly and inquire after his health. The women are so fond of attending the sick, i.e. sitting in the house, suggesting charms, remedies, etc., and giving advice, that they often neglect their farm work and various duties.
When a man of any importance dies, those who are expert in the art of decorating corpses attend and decorate the body with coloured pigments, beads, cowry shells, and fine cloth; and the artists charge two brass rods per person to view the body. The family supply the cloths, pigments—arnotta dye, chalk, red camwood powder, blue and yellow earths, beads, shells, bottles, and looking-glasses. The figure is often fixed in a sitting position with a bottle in one hand, as though drinking, and a looking-glass in the other, as though he were admiring his decorations. They aim at posing the figure in as natural a position as possible, but the effect is ghastly on a civilized mind.
The artists give their time and skill to the family for a small fee, and take as their perquisites the brass rods paid to view the picturesque (?) corpse. The side of the house is removed
A Method of Beheading on the Upper Congo
This scene was arranged for the photo. In the real thing a sapling is pulled over and the rope tied, so that when the sapling is released it springs up and draws the neck of the victim taut.
to give more light on the body, and the wall removed forms, with several mats, the screen enclosing the decorated corpse. People come from miles around to view the sight, and the more original the pose the richer the harvest of brass rods gathered by the lucky artists. The pigments and barter goods on a decorated body cost approximately 1000 brass rods, or about £3, a very large sum for these people, but from their point of view it is worth the expenditure, for by giving the deceased such a fine send-off to the nether regions they give no excuse to his spirit to trouble them later with diseases and misfortune.