37 Roasted plantain (p. [149]).--As a rule, bananas were eaten ripe and raw, and plantain green and roasted. Peel a nice large plantain, drop it in the hot ashes, turn it from side to side until done, scrape off the ash-dirt, then split it, rub in some butter and salt, and with a very little imagination you have a hot roll.
38 Portugal, Holland, or England (p. [156]).--In the long ago, Portugal was the only white man’s country known to the natives, and it is just possible that Mputu (native name for all white countries) is a corruption and a shortening of Portugal. There were more Portuguese traders in Congo than from any other country; next after them were the Dutch or Hollandaise, and lastly, in numbers, the English, who at that time were only known as missionaries. The natives consequently thought that Portugal was a larger and more populous place than the other countries, then Holland the next in size, and lastly England, hence their discussion.
39 Stretched out the legs in front of a chief (p. [163]).--To stretch out the legs (and show the soles of one’s feet) before any one was regarded as extremely rude, and a mark of disrespect which was resented by him who had the power. To act so unceremoniously before a king or great chief was punished by fines, floggings, and sometimes death. It was worse than a man keeping on his hat in the presence of royalty.
40 Rob them of their country and make them slaves (p. [172]).--These fears were constantly expressed in the early and middle eighties by both King and people. The following is the true history of how one treaty was made with a native king--
In 1884, a copy of Le Mouvement Geographique fell into my hands, and in it was a letter that was said to have been sent by Dom Pedro V, King of Congo, to the King of Portugal. In it the former acknowledged the latter as his liege lord and used every expression of fealty, loyalty, and submission. I remember that the letter was, at the time, put forward as a proof of the righteousness of the Portuguese claim to the Congo; and it certainly helped them in gaining a part of what is now called Portuguese Congo.
Having occasion to speak with the King about that time, I asked him if he had written the said letter, and I gave him a translation of it. The old man was sitting in a high-back, embossed, leather chair, and rising from it, he said, “My brother, the King of Portugal, sent me this chair, and I sent him a letter thanking him for his gift, and that is the only letter I ever signed my mark to or ordered to be sent.” He had signed away his country in saying “thank you for a chair.”
Attached to the letter were the names of the head Portuguese Roman Catholic priest, a Portuguese trader, and a French trader, as witnesses to the King’s mark. Shortly after reading this letter I met M. D----, the French trader, and told him I had just seen the said letter. I reminded him of its date, and asked, “Why was not I requested to sign this letter, for all the other white men in San Salvador signed it, and I was here on that date? Am I not a white man?”
M. D---- answered, “We did not ask you to witness the King’s mark because we felt sure you would not do it until the King thoroughly understood the real purport of the letter.”
I thanked M. D---- for his estimate of my character, and gave him my view of the manner in which they had deceived and defrauded the King.
The King thought he was saying: Thank you for a few presents sent him by a brother sovereign; but he was signing away his territory to another power, and in this way he and his people were defrauded of their true rights. They have every reason to hate white men for robbing them of their country and reducing them to slavery.