CHAPTER XXIII
WITCHCRAFT PROCEEDINGS OF THE BAKALAIS—TWO OF THE CLASS "BEWITCHED"—A NEGRO ALBINO—THE IDOL MAKAMBO—HER DREAD APPEARANCE—RETURN TO CAMP—MONKEYS OVERRUN THE CAMP—I DRIVE THEM OFF—ESCAPE OF NDOVA—HIS UNEXPECTED RETURN
The Bakalais, like all the people of the great forest, were very superstitious, and believed in witchcraft. I found that the people had moved only a few months before, and that they had abandoned their former village on this account. Two men had been "bewitched," and had died within a day of each other, and this was the cause of the people moving away. When I arrived, they were holding a great council to find out who the sorcerers and witches were, and whether they lived in their village or in some others.
At sunset the children ceased to play, and the village became quiet. There arose in the air one of those mournful, heart-piercing chants,—a long, sustained wail of anguish and sorrow. Tears rolled down the cheeks of the women. "We shall never see Anguilsi any more, we shall never see Obindji any more," they sang over and over. These were the names of the two men who had died. They sang for about half an hour. After a while I saw the people leading about through the dim light what I thought to be a naked white man. I could not believe my eyes, but as he came near me I kept cool and did not show my astonishment. When he came in front of me I recognized the man to be a negro albino, for his features, though his skin was white, were those of a negro. His hair was woolly, his eyes pinkish.
Later in the evening, an idol, called Makambo, was brought out into the street, to remain there all night. It represented a woman, and was of the size of life. She had cloven feet; her eyes and tongue were of copper; she wore bracelets around her arms and rings of copper around her ankles. She had around her neck a necklace of leopard's claws, and as a pendant wore the canine of a leopard also. The skin of a snake was wound around her legs.
That night nobody came out in the street, and nobody talked in the village, for fear of displeasing Makambo. The people expected her to talk to them that night and to give some advice. The medicine man or the chief of the village interprets to the people what the idol says.
Makambo was very much venerated, and during the night food was put before her. In the morning the people said that Makambo had nodded her head and smiled, showing that she was pleased with the offering of game she had received. But we did not wait to learn the result of the witchcraft proceedings, and leaving the Bakalai we found our way back to our camp.