THE BANTU OF THE FRENCH CONGO 



339 



Like all West African Negroes, 

 they believe in fetishes, and have a 

 fetish-hut in the centre of the village 

 beside a sacred fig-tree. This tree is 

 planted at the foundation of the 

 village; when it dies, the site is aban- 

 doned and a new village founded else- 

 where. The language of the Ishogo is 

 distinct from that of their neighbours 

 the Ashira, but is the same as that 

 of the Apingi. 



THE APONO. 



The Apono are the most inland 

 members of the Ashira group. They 

 are close neighbours of the Ishogo. 

 They seem to have retained more of 

 the primitive characters of the tribe 

 than their western allies. Like most 

 of the adjacent Negroes, they orna- 

 ment the body with a system of scar- 

 tattooing, their peculiar tribal mark 

 being a lozenge-shaped group of nine 

 prominences the size of peas, placed 

 between the eyebrows. The villages 

 of the Apono are large, well planned, 

 and clean. The people are brave and 

 warlike, and at the same time they 

 are industrious. They dig and smelt 

 nodules of iron ore, and work the 

 metal into spear-heads, triangular 

 arrow-points, and curved sword-blades. 

 Their spears have long, lance-shaped heads, and are used for thrusting and not throwing. The 

 arrow-heads are poisoned and loosely attached to the shaft, so that the latter falls off, while the 

 barb remains in the body. The chief weapon of defence is a round shield made of wicker-work. 



Like the other sections of the Ashira, the Apono weave grass-cloth for clothing, and twist 

 their hair into elaborate horn-like or tower-like projections. They are mainly agricultural, and 

 have large groves of plantains, lime-trees, and palms. Their domestic animals include the 

 goat, fowl, and pig. They prepare great quantities of palm wine, and while the supply lasts 

 they habitually get drunk and are very quarrelsome, and their dancing and drinking festivals 

 are described as scenes of wild uproar. 



THE APINGI. 



The Apingi are a smaller and less sturdy race and are lighter in colour than the Apono. 

 They pull out two of the upper incisor teeth, and file the others and the lower incisors to 

 points; but the custom is said to be slowly dying out. They have the same habits as the 

 Ashira, but are less industrious. Their methods in surgery, according to du Chaillu, are drastic; 

 he describes an operation on a woman who was suffering from leprosy and lumbago. In order 

 to cure the latter disease the woman's back was cut in many places with a knife, and quantities 

 of lime juice and pounded cayenne pepper vigorously rubbed into the wound. It is recorded 

 that the patient screamed, but not that she was cured. In another case an effort was made 



Photo by Mr. Ernest Gedge] [Ludborough,. 



WYAKI AND HIS BROTHER CHIEF, KIKUYU. 



