After leaving the house of Makambi and Abiala, King Mombo returned to his house and I to mine.
The head wife of King Mombo was called Ogandaga; she was dressed with three strings of beads round her waist, and wore over thirty heavy brass rings on each of her legs. She it was who cooked the food of the king.
Often Mombo would walk in the street when it was quite dark, and talk about me to his people, and say how much he loved me. Then he would shout aloud, so that all his people could hear: “Chally the Oguizi, I love you. I am your friend. All I have is yours—my slaves are yours—my plantations are yours—my wives are yours—my daughters, my sons, and my nephews are yours. You can say to them ‘Follow me,’ and they will all follow you. Oguizi, all my people love you.” And when the people heard this, they would shout “Yo—yo.” (“That is so, that is so.”)
Not far from King Mombo’s sleeping-house, and back of it, was a strange little building which was called the Alumbi house. Every time I saw the king enter this place he came out of it with his body painted with ochre of different colors, and his face always looked very thoughtful. When inside I could hear him making loud invocations. One day he came out more daubed than I had ever seen him before. His body was covered with white, red, and yellow. I thought he looked savage and awful.
My curiosity became very much aroused in regard to the Alumbi house. One day, as King Mombo came out of it I went up to him and said: “King, show me the inside of the Alumbi house.”
After hearing my words, he looked at me, as if trying to read my thoughts. He remained silent for a little while, and then said: “Oguizi, you can go inside and see for yourself, and I will accompany you.” He opened the door; we entered, and he shut the door behind us.
What a strange and unexpected sight met my eyes! Along the walls were large cakes of colored clay. These were black, white, and of different shades of yellow and red. Upon each stood the skull of a man which seemed to look at me and say: “What are you doing in our abode? You do not belong to our race.” Mombo marked his body with the ochre of two of the cakes, muttering words I could not understand. Then he said to me in a whisper: “The skulls you see here are those of my kinsmen. They were great and valiant men in their day. It is the custom in our country when a man much greater than all other men dies to cut his head off after his death and then put it on a cake of clay and let it decay there. Then the mass of ochre is kneaded together and dyed and the skull is always kept on the cake that belongs to it. Oh, Oguizi, these skulls belonged to great forefathers of mine. They were never afraid of war. Here on the cake of white clay is the skull of Olenga-Yombee. He died a very old man, and when young he was the greatest warrior of his time. He founded our clan and our tribe. He was the most dreaded by our enemies of all their foes. He burned many villages. His people believed all he said, for he was wise. He had many wives and many slaves, and his ‘oyana’ [idol] granted him all he asked. He lived about three hundred rainy seasons ago. At that time our tribe was much further inland, towards the country where the sun rises.”
Then, pointing out to me a cake of a deep yellow color, he said: “Oguizi, the skull there is that of Jombouay. He led us through the forest and had many wars, for our ancestors had to fight many tribes who opposed them before coming to this part of the forest where we are now settled.”
When he had finished telling the history of the men whose skulls were before me, he said: “Oguizi, the spirits of these men are hovering in the air above us; when I invoke them to protect me and our clan and tribe, they come round us and protect us. They have saved my life many times.”
Then we left the Alumbi house. That evening Mombo walked in the street of the village and invoked the spirits of his ancestors, calling each by name. He invoked especially the spirits of Olenga-Yombee and of Jombouay, saying to them: “Look at the Oguizi; you never saw him during your lives. But Mombo, your kinsman, has him in his village.”