STRANGE CUSTOMS OF SAVAGE RULERS. 279 



The civil judges sat under trees, each having a large staff in 

 his hand as an insignium of office. Incorruptible they were not, but 

 still no one ever appealed against their decisions, and it is said never 

 even complained of their injustice ; but this is not in human nature, 

 and must only mean that no one was ever heard to do so in public, 

 and that for very special private reasons of his own. 



As in more civilized nations, war is the great parent of taxa- 

 tion, the king being obliged to maintain a large standing army, and 

 to keep it in good humor by constant largesses, for a large standing 

 army is much like fire — a useful servant, but a terrible master. 



The army is divided into regiments, each acting under the 

 immediate command of the chief in whose district they live, and 

 they are armed, in a most miscellaneous fashion, with any weapons 

 they can procure. In these times the trade guns are the most valued 

 weapons, but the native swords, bows and arrows, spears, and 

 knives, still form the staple of their equipment. As to uniform, 

 they have no idea of it, and do not even distinguish the men of 

 the different regiments, as do the Kaffirs of Southern Africa. 



THE RELIGION OF THE CONGO NEGRO. 



The ancient religion of the Congo Negro is simply polytheism, 

 which they have suffered to degenerate into fetishism. There is 

 one monotheistic sect, but they have gained very little by their 

 religion, which is in fact merely a negation of many deities, with- 

 out the least understanding of the one whom they profess to wor- 

 ship — a deity to whom they attribute the worst vices that can 

 degrade human nature. 



The fetish men or priests are as important here as the mara- 

 bouts among the Mandingoes, and the chief of them, who goes by 

 the name of Chitome, is scarcely less honored than the king, who 

 finds himself obliged to seek the favor of this spiritual potentate, 

 while the common people look on him as scarcely less than a god. 

 He is maintained by a sort of tithe, consisting of the first-fruits of 

 the harvest, which are brought to him with great ceremony, and 

 are offered with solemn chants. The Congo men fully believe that 



