Chapter V
A Funeral Orgy
Satu becomes chief--Preparations for the funeral feast--My box is opened--I become a neck ornament--Bakula, my new owner, is smart, but superstitious--The mourners assemble and present their gifts--The toilet before eating--Drunkenness and quarrelling--Corpse is carried to the grave--A white man wants to steal the ivory trumpets--He is shaved and sent about his business.
As the deceased chief was a very great man it was necessary to postpone his burial for a month or two until fitting arrangements for a grand funeral could be conveniently made, otherwise his spirit would not be satisfied, and trouble would follow.[[10]] Moreover, if the chief had been hurriedly buried like an ordinary man, the whole countryside would have accused the family of meanness and selfishness in wanting to keep the dead man’s wealth for themselves. Therefore the body was dried, wrapped in a cloth and placed in a hut built for the purpose.
Satu sent to all the markets day after day for miles round, buying up every goat, sheep and pig that was offered for sale. Having collected a large number of animals he then began to send out invitations to the funeral ceremonies. It was decided that on the eighth nkandu[[11]] market day the rites should begin. All messengers sent to chiefs with an invitation had to take with them one or two goats, according to the chief’s importance, “to feed them and their followers on the journey” to the mourning town.
At the commencement of these preparations my box, in which I had travelled so far, was opened, and I should have been sent with many other brass rods to the markets in exchange for goats or pigs; but a lad took a fancy to me, and begged to give an old brass rod in my place. My new master, whose name was Bakula, turned over my two ends, and, hooking them together, he wore me round his neck as an ornament, and as he polished me brightly every day I was well able to see all that happened about me.
My new owner was a free-born lad of high spirits, alertness and agility, quick at all games, successful in all kinds of sports; but like many of his seniors, held the women and girls in great contempt except when he wanted a favour, and then he could cajole and flatter them until their eyes sparkled with pleasure and they became his slaves. He was, however, very superstitious, had many charms tied about his person, and regarded the “medicine men” with great awe and admiration. Bakula quite believed that his success in hunting, his smartness at games, and his general good fortune were entirely due to his charms and the regularity with which he made sacrifices to them.
The appointed day for the funeral was drawing nigh, so the preparations were pushed on apace. Large quantities of cassava flour[[12]] were prepared and an immense number of kwanga[[13]] loaves were bought at the different markets, and demijohns and calabashes of palm-wine were ordered for the three days’ feasting that were to precede the interment.
The eventful day at last dawned, and during the morning and early afternoon chiefs with retinues of wives, followers and slaves were constantly arriving. They came from all quarters and entered the town by all the roads leading to it. Bakula seemed to be ubiquitous, for he greeted most of the chiefs as they entered the town, and led them to where Satu was sitting in state to receive his guests. Those of humble origin knelt before Satu and paid homage to him; those of exalted position received homage from him; and those who were his equals sat down on a mat, and solemnly, they and Satu, clapped their hands at each other.
Every chief, head man, and invited guest brought a gift of cloth “to wind round the corpse,” and as soon as the salutations were over the cloth was presented, piece by piece, to Satu. The present was supposed to be in proportion to the giver’s social position. A chief who on account of his importance had received two goats with his invitation would be expected to give three times the value of the goats in cloth, and if he fell short of this he was considered mean; but if he went beyond it he was regarded as a generous, wealthy man, and his name would be in the mouths of all the mourners, and he could strut about puffed out with pride.
This cloth, though given ostensibly “to wind round the dead chief,” was really used to defray the expenses of the feast; and happy was the family which had no crushing debt left at the close of such festivities. Satu carefully noted the value of every gift, and although he could not write, yet at the close of the day he could have told from his well-trained memory the number and quality of every piece of cloth given by any chief.