CHAPTER XY. 

 THE EQUATORIAL AND NILOTIC NEGROES. 



a. THE BANTU OF THE FRENCH CONGO. 



WESTERN" Equatorial Africa, between the basins of the Congo and the Niger, comprising the 

 regions of the Ogowe, the Gabun, and the Cameroous, was probably once inhabited ouly br 

 Bantu Negroes. In the Protectorate of the Frencli Congo the main Bantu tribes are the 

 Ashira, Okanda, Apingi, Apoiio, Ishogo, and the Ashango, whose numbers have now been 

 reduced by the invasion of the Fans, a people of doubtful negroid affinities. 



The tribes in this area belong to what Miss Kingsley calls the Mpongwe school of fetish, 

 in which the main idea is by the aid of charms to secure increased material prosperity. 



THE ASHIRA. 



The Ashira, Okanda, Apingi, and Apono are closely allied tribes or sections of one great 

 nation occupying the upper basin of the Ngunie River, one of the tributaries of the Ogowe. 

 The Ashira live the nearest to the coast, and have been rapidly adopting the customs of the 

 coast tribes. Their original grass-cloth garments have been superseded by thin cotton-cloths, 

 which rapidly become dirty and ragged. 

 Their main food is the plantain, which is 

 grown in plantations of great extent: du 

 Chaillu estimated that one at the village 

 of Angouka contained some 30,000 trees. 

 Each tree bears a bunch which ranges 

 in weight up to 120 Ibs. The general 

 customs of the tribe are the same as 

 those subsequently discovered among the 

 Okanda and Apono, who live farther inland, 

 and have doubtless preserved the primitive 

 systems less altered. But owing to their 

 closer intercourse with the coast tribes 

 the western Ashira are less shy, and more 

 is known of their religious beliefs. They, 

 of course, believe in fetish, and their 

 firm faith in immortality is shown by 

 their burial customs. The cemeteries are 

 just outside the villages, and the body 

 is placed in a sitting posture on the 

 ground. In the case of a chief who died 

 while Paul du Chaillu was crossing the 

 district, the body was wrapped in a 

 European coat and placed beside an 

 umbrella, both of which articles had been 

 begged from du Chaillu. In addition 

 there was a chest containing plates, jugs, 



A CONGO MAN IN NATIVE CANOE. 



337 



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