Congo life and folklore

by John H. Weeks

After drinking the wine the Kimpovela rubbed a little of the earth wet with the oblatory wine on the forehead, temples, fore-arms, wrists, knees and insteps of each hunter; then he took each gun and drew his fingers up the butt, and reaching the barrel he snapped his fingers and handed the gun to its owner, who on taking it clapped his hands, sprang in the air, and holding the gun in front of him walked backwards a little way, facing the grave, and sat down to wait for the others. When all had finished they fired a salute and sang a song in praise of the great hunter to the rubbing, grating noise of the antelope drum. More palm-wine was drunk, and I am sure that by the time they had exhausted their wine, if they had seen an antelope not one of them was sober enough to have fired straight at it.

After these ceremonies were concluded whenever Satu and his people went hunting they either took their horns of medicine with them, each carrying his own under his belt, or they wetted the rubber stopper and rubbed the butt of their guns with a little of the moisture. This gave them accuracy of aim, or they thought so. By burning the belt of grass round their town they had secured their houses against fire, and by their charms and the visit to the grave of the renowned hunter they had ensured their future success as sportsmen; they were now consequently able to turn their attention to those parts of the bush where animals--antelopes, wild pigs and gazelles--were likely to be found.

A breezy day was chosen, and the hunters, taking their places along the portion of bush to be burned, fired the grass as soon as the night dews were dried off. Animals browsing were startled by the roar of flames, rushed bewildered before the oncoming fire, and as they ran past were shot at by the waiting hunters. While the fire was burning hawks and fish-eagles circled above the burning bush, not “to drink in the smoke,” as the natives say, but in search of any hapless rats and snakes cut off from escape by the raging fire. These birds could be seen swooping down and carrying off to their lairs such reptiles and rats as their keen, hungry eyes detected.

These bush fires have taken place annually for generations, and undoubtedly account for the scarcity of wild game on the Lower Congo, the absence of large reptiles, the shabby appearance of the trees on the open veldt--they scarcely recover from one scorching before the dries are on them and another scorching is due--and the luxuriant grass, for the burnt remains of one crop enrich the soil to bear another as stalwart as the first.

During this season it is very weird to see, night after night, great bush fires blazing in different directions. The sky is aglow with them, and you smell and breathe a smoky atmosphere for days. Bits of charred grass are carried by the winds in all directions, and the country looks dressed in black as though it were mourning with a great sorrow, and the sun, as though in sympathy with the earth, hides for days behind the clouds of ascended smoke.

During the hunts men are often wounded, and sometimes killed, by being mistaken for animals as they push through the rustling grass. Then follow recriminations, charges of intent to murder, and long law-suits that ruin the unfortunate family of the man who did not stop to look before he fired his gun. Sometimes, when a line of men is crawling through the grass tracking an animal, the trigger of a gun will catch in the stalks, the gun will explode, there will be a scream of a man in the agony of death, and the scared owner of the gun will be charged with murder, for there are no accidents in native law.

The culprit will be fortunate if the deceased is a member of a poor family, or a slave, for then he will get off with a heavy fine; but if the dead man is a person of importance his life will be forfeited, or he will be sold far away into slavery. He will be lucky if he is not shipped to St. Thomé or to Principe to work on the plantations.

During the bush-burning Satu and his men killed only three wild pigs and four gazelles; but they had a very serious quarrel with a neighbouring chief that developed into a war after the hunting season was over.

NATIVE ROPE BRIDGE.