The strangest thing in connection with the Fans, next to their hideous cannibalism, is their constant encroachments upon the land westward. Year by year they have been advancing nearer to the sea. Town after town has been settled by them on the banks of the Gaboon river. In fact, they seem to be a conquering race, driving every other tribe before them.
The colour of these people is dark brown rather than black. They feed much upon manioc and the plantain. They have also two or three kinds of yams, splendid sugar-cane, and squashes, all of which they cultivate with considerable success. Manioc seemed to be the favourite food. Enormous quantities of squashes are raised, chiefly for the seeds, which, when pounded and prepared in their fashion, are much prized by them, and I confess I relished this food myself. At a certain season, when the squash is ripe, their villages seem covered with the seeds, which everybody spreads out to dry. When dried they are packed in leaves, and placed over the fireplaces in the smoke, to keep off an insect which also feeds upon them. They are all suspended by a cord, for, besides being infested by insects, they are subject to the depredations of mice and rats, both of which are fond of them.
The process of preparation is very tedious. A portion of the seeds is boiled, and each seed is divested of its skin; then the mass of pulp is put into a rude wooden mortar and pounded, a vegetable oil being mixed with it before it is cooked.
While on the subject of the food of the cannibals, I ought to mention that they do not sell the bodies of their chiefs, kings, or great men; these receive burial, and remain undisturbed. It is probable also that they do not eat the corpses of people who die of special diseases.
NET-HUNTING.
CHAPTER XI.
JOURNEY TO YOONGOOLAPAY—HUNTING WITH NETS—THE TERRIBLE BASHIKONAY ANTS.