The moon, as its light begins to appear above the horizon, is said to be kicking out with its legs, and when it shows itself above the sky-line it is then unstuck from the earth. Sunset is called either the sun has become black, or the sun has entered, or when the fowls go to roost; and the Pleiades are spoken of as a crowd of young women; and the bright star Venus as it draws near the moon is named the wife of the moon.

When you desire to warn a person you tell him to throw his eyes about, and a person who frowns is said to tie his eyebrows. A conceited person who wants the whole path to himself is scornfully asked, “Did you plant the earth?” (i.e. Did you create the world?), as though it were a pumpkin over which he had sole rights of ownership. A lad who gives an impertinent answer is described as having a sharp mouth, while one who is not good at repartee is looked upon as having no mouth at all.

A person who frequently reverts to the cause of a quarrel, or a woman who is constantly nagging, has a word applied to her which means the bubbling up of boiling water; and one who does not contribute his share to the general talk around the evening fire is likened to the useless fibrous core of a cassava root, only fit to be thrown away; while a person who answers a question not addressed to him is picking up something before it is lost.

The native word for an umbrella means a large bat. When the eyes are dimmed from any cause they are said to be covered with cobwebs; and a man suffering from hunger says, “My waist is stuck to my back”; i.e. I am so empty of food that there is nothing to keep the front of the stomach from sticking to the backbone. A foolish, credulous person is likened to a squirrel constantly nodding its head in assent to everything that is said. To become conscious of someone behind looking at you is expressed in the phrase: to feel the back heavy. The Congo crow has a broad white band round its neck, and when the river is dark with the reflection of the frowning storm-clouds above, and the wind is blowing up-river, covering the water with white-crested waves, such waves are called by the natives a flock of crows.

CHAPTER IV
EARLY DAYS AT MONSEMBE

Building our house—Armed natives—Their ruse to discover our strength—The reason of their proffered help—A tribal war—Cannibal feast—Taunt us with being cowards and women—We defend some visitors—Blood-brotherhood—Inquisitive Congo boys—Medicine and “books”—Mental powers of Congo lads—Native view of women.

We were about a fortnight erecting the framework of our house and finishing the walls; and then it took us over two months to collect and dry local materials for the roof; but in the meantime we made doors and windows, and cut a large number of nine-inch blocks for paving the floor. I thought that these blocks would raise us above the damp earth, and would also help to keep away some of the insect and reptile pests that invade a house built on the ground. We did not square the blocks, but simply laid them evenly bedded in puddled clay; and with some native mats spread over them they formed a fairly comfortable floor. The blocks lasted for more than three years, by which time they began to rot at the bottom and sink; but they served their purpose, and then became useful as firewood.

The house that we ran up so quickly was 40 feet long by 18 feet wide. This gave us each a bed-sitting-room 15 feet by 18 feet, a store-room 10 feet by 12 feet, and a six-foot passage communicating between the two principal rooms, and into this passage the front doors opened. In the front of the house we built a large open porch 14 feet by 14 feet, which served the purpose of dining, drawing and reception-room. Thus we had a large airy house, rain, wind, and sun-tight, which undoubtedly greatly conduced to health and comfort during the building of more permanent dwellings in anticipation of the coming of our wives.

At that time the natives never moved many yards from their houses without three or four spears in their hands, ugly knives in their sheaths, and shields on their arms. Armed in this manner they would frequently congregate on the bank, and, shading their eyes with their hands, they would look earnestly down the river; and then coming to us they would say, “White men, the people in the lower towns are coming up to fight you; get out your guns ready and we will help you.”