558 



PYCJ^rilvS AND rOUKST NKGIKJKS 



African fetish, tliuiigli in alnid^t all ca-es their origin is that (if ancestor- 

 \vorslii|i or a renienihraure (if dead ]iersons — a reniemlivance which rapidly 

 becomes identified with the individualit \' of the de[iaited, and so becomes 

 a little gdd, to which jiravevs may be addressed and libations offered. 



The lirKiii.s met with among these forest ti'ilie^ are usually of the West 

 African type, that is to say, little more' tlian hoUowcil sections of tree-trunks 

 witli lizard, goat , antelope, or other skin tight Iv strained over each end of 

 the hollow tulle. Their iinisicul i iist rinaei'ils an- rough h'res and nrere 

 li(iw-string>, which are ]ila\ed bv the perfoi'mcr holding (ine end et the 

 string lietween his lips and drumming on it with his fingers. 



The>e trifles varv mucli in ajipearance, especiabv amongst the I'abira. 

 ( )ne meets with t\pes that are low, degraded, and simian side liy side with 

 tall, nice-looking Negroes, though there is little, if any, eyidence here of recent 

 Jlamitic immigration or mixture. In many indiyiduals amongst these tribes 

 the h.ing-liodied, short-legged ty]ie already described in relation to the Lendu 

 appears as though it hail lieen at one time a distinct race that had inhaliitcd 

 this north-eastern corner of the Congo Forest. This short-legged type I 

 should identify with the ape-like Negroes described at tlje commencement 

 of this chapter. The forest, presumalily, was first inliabited b\' the Pygmies 

 and this [irognathous, hairdy-legged type of Negro. Tlien, at a not yery 

 distant period, it was inyaded from the north b\- Bantu races and other 

 Negroes of more pleasing ap[iearance allied to the N\am-Nyam and Nilotic 



309. BA.iMl;.l (IV THE ttf;sTKH.\ FI,.\XKS UK 111 Kh.NZdKI 



