After a fight, in which some of the enemy are killed, only the men meet to engage in the bonkani dance. The men dance with their spears and knives, and any goats, sheep, dogs, or fowls that approach the dancers are instantly speared, cooked, and eaten. As a man beats the drum one after another of the dancers advances, and in a solo tells of his exploits during the late fight, which exploits are more often in the imagination than on the field of battle; but they vie with one another in “drawing the long bow” on such occasions.
At times they use the following divination to ascertain the results of a proposed fight: A saucepan of marsh or forest water is procured and some “medicine” is put into it. The saucepan is placed on the fire, to which none but the operators have access, and then, after due time, they say to this likato (saucepan of water with “medicine” in it), “Will they kill us in the fight?” If the water boils up and fills the saucepan, then it is an omen that some of them will be killed, so they abandon the war; but if the water keeps low they ask, “Shall we kill some of them in the fight?” Then if the water rises in the saucepan it is an omen that some of the enemy will be killed, and the war is prosecuted; but if the water does not boil over it indicates that they will not kill any of the enemy, consequently the proposed fight is dropped. This test is applied several times before it is considered satisfactory.
I have seen natives fight both on the Lower and Upper Congo. On the Lower Congo flint-lock guns are used, and do almost as much harm to the firer as to the one fired at. Through being so flimsily made a heavy charge of gunpowder will often cause the old gas-pipe barrels to explode, and a large number of our hospital accidents are from guns bursting in hunting and fighting. The firer holds the butt of his gun against the palm of his right hand, consequently when the gun jerks in firing, the bullet goes anywhere but at the object aimed at unless that object is very near. I have known over two hundred men fire at about thirty for a whole day and only one man was wounded in the ankle by a spent slug. Their guns will not carry far, and they stand at long distances from one another and fire.
On the other hand, the Boloki, relying as he does on his fighting spear, runs in to throw it, and many wounds are inflicted in a very short time. On the Lower Congo a person is seldom killed in a fight with guns; but among the Boloki there is never a fight between town and town without several deaths.
CHAPTER XVI
HUNTING
Scarcity of animal life—Bush-burning—Game in ancient times—No bush-burning on Upper Congo—Scarcity of game—Absence of prairie lands—Large forests—Division of an animal—Mode of preserving meat—Omen of success or failure—Taboo on trap makers—Fetishing hunting-dog—Spears used for some animals—String nets for others.
Those parts of the Congo with which I am acquainted are not teeming with animal life, so far as my experience goes. I cannot claim the rôle of an ardent sportsman, yet I carried my gun many a weary mile in search of supplies for my table, nor did I often return unsuccessful.
The natives, both on the Upper and Lower Congo, give much time to hunting, and are fairly successful when there is game about. Undoubtedly the annual grass-burning on the Lower Congo has gradually and surely reduced the game, so that a party of hunters does not now bring home an antelope once in two months, although they might be out almost every day. In August, September, and early October hundreds of miles of bush are burnt to the ground. Every town has its own “bush,” and after burning a circle round their town to secure it against fire when the “bush” is blazing before a rushing wind, the town-folk arrange to fire one “patch of bush” after another, until the whole country is black with charred grass stumps. When a patch is burnt it is surrounded by the chief and his men owning it, and they shoot down the antelopes, bush-pigs, palm-rats, gazelles, etc., as they rush by in terror from the oncoming flames. This annual bush-burning has been going on for generations, and accounts for the scarcity of animal life on the Lower Congo.
In a book[[31]] I have before me there are evidences that animal life was very prolific at the time of the narrator’s visit to the Kingdom of Congo. He gives various accounts of the mode of hunting then followed on the Lower Congo, but does not mention any bush-burning, so apparently this mode of hunting came into vogue at a later date. He also speaks of the lion and zebra as being plentiful; these now, however, are never seen on the Lower Congo. He mentions the tiger (?) as being very numerous and fierce; but as he gives the native name—engoi—we know that he is speaking of the leopard, which is regarded still as a royal beast, and is always spoken of as mfumu (lord).