HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



and remarkable in demonstrating the extraordinary 

 beliefs and superstitions which prevail among the people 

 of the Congo. Pieces of native clay pottery, short 

 lengths of cane with numerous incisions and land shells 

 are placed in little heaps over the graves, sometimes a 

 small pile of food may be seen near at hand and a few 

 chicken feathers are stuck in the ground, while perhaps 

 over all there hangs from a long pole the skin of a pariah 

 dog, civet cat, leopard, or other animal. Any earthly 

 possessions which the deceased had treasured, such as 

 armlets, a solitary arrow-head, a sitting stool, stones, 

 and shells, are often strewn over the little grave. Now 

 and then we would pass the grave of some departed 

 mortal close to the path, and our carriers would give it 

 a wide berth. 



In that land of sunshine with its tall waving grass, 

 nodding palms, and vast forests, there is something fresh 

 at every turn, but of all sights the one that affects one 

 most is the performance of the last rites at a native 

 burial, the strange and abhorrent obsequies peculiar to 

 the savages in that great land of mystery. In the village 

 the women wail and moan, wringing their hands in 

 mournful agony. Sometimes the body preparatory to 

 being rolled in bales of bark or grass matting is propped 

 up against a pile of stones or sticks with its knees drawn 

 up to its head in sitting posture. A wild dance is per- 

 formed in the light of day, or if the ceremony takes 

 place at night, fires set around the corpse light it up with 

 their dancing flames. It is smeared with charcoal ashes, 

 or camwood powder, mixed with palm oil, or it is covered 

 with a red pigment with white streaks on the forehead, 

 all sorts of armlets and anklets are on the wrists and 

 feet, crockery, pieces of wood gaudily streaked with red 

 and white pigments lie strewn around. 



Streams of perspiration flow down the painted bodies 

 of the wild dancers. Now and again the proceedings 



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