4 Riddles and conundrums (p. [9]) were called ngwala; ta e ngwala = to pour out or ask a riddle; twasa e ngwala = to fetch a riddle here, i. e. give us a riddle; nua e ngwala = give us the answer, or, lit., to drink the riddle.
Ngwala also means spirits, rum, gin, from a corruption and a shortening of the Portuguese word aguardente = gwaladente = ngwala. The “r” is always turned into “l,” and the “g” takes the nasal “n” before it. It is very probable that they pun on the double meaning of the word ngwala = riddle, and gin. Hence the usual form of asking a conundrum is--
Ngwala yeye = here is gin, i. e. here is a riddle.
Ta e ngwala = pour out the gin, i. e. state the riddle (or twasa e ngwala = bring the gin here).
If those asked cannot give the answer, they say--
Nua e ngwala = drink the gin, i. e. give us the answer yourself, as we cannot guess it.
The natives of the Lower Congo are very fond of this pastime, but one needs to understand the customs, language, and surroundings to properly appreciate the conundrums; consequently only a few almost self-evident ones, or those easily explained, are put in the text.
5 It was a fetish (p. [12]).--The early traders on the Congo placed in their large stores a fetish to deter the natives from robbing them. It was generally a large, gaudily-coloured, hideous image put on the top shelf opposite the door, from which position it was supposed to dominate and guard the contents of the whole building. Many traders called their store “the fetish” because of the presence of this ugly figure in it.
This fetish exercised little, if any, deterrent power over the natives for two reasons: (1) No witch-doctor would waste good “medicine,” procured with difficulty, on making a fetish powerful for a mere white man, and the natives knew this; and (2) supposing the witch-doctor put proper “medicine” into the fetish, yet it needed periodic reinvigorating at the hands of the witch-doctor, otherwise it became weak and useless; and it would also require a sacrifice, certainly not less frequently than once a month, of either a large fowl or a goat, or it would become sulky and not act on behalf of its owner. Now I never heard of a white man renewing the energy of his fetish by paying a witch-doctor to palaver over it at stated intervals, nor did I ever hear of a white man offering a sacrifice to the fetish in his store; therefore while the trader was relying on his fetish to guard his goods, his native servants and workpeople were laughing at it as an ineffective carved figure.
6 In the sea there is a hole (p. [17]).--Water sprites are supposed to make the trade cloth, and as it is so finely woven the natives think that these particular sprites have only one eye, i. e. that the visual power of two eyes is focussed in one that it may see to do such fine work.