CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL AFRICAN TRIBES 



345 



himself willing to take poison to prove 

 his innocence. 



The poison, which is derived from the 

 bark of a native tree (Erythrophlmim 

 guineense), is usually ground fine and 

 mixed to a thick paste, from which are 

 made five small loaves, and these are ad- 

 ministered one after the other to the de- 

 fendant. During the next fifteen min- 

 utes, if it is a case of witchcraft, the by- 

 standers call on Moloki (the evil prin- 

 ciple) to come out. 



The poison usually acts very quickly; 

 it may kill the accused or cause purging 

 or vomiting. The last-named effect alone 

 is regarded as a proof of innocence. In 

 the second case the prisoner is compelled 

 to dig a hole. He is then given a fowl to 

 eat and enough palm-wine to make him 

 quite intoxicated. After this he is laid in 

 the hole, or possibly goes and lays him- 

 self down, and is then buried alive in or- 

 der to prevent Moloki escaping with his 

 last breath. A large fire is kept alight on 

 the grave for two days, and then the 

 body is exhumed and eaten. 



An innocent man is carried round the 

 village, decorated with beads, and his ac- 

 cuser pays a pig as compensation for the 

 false charge. 



the: bambala idea of immortality 



After a death from natural causes, 

 women lament for several days, and guns 

 are fired to keep off Moloki. The body is 

 at first deserted by every one, but later it 

 is laid out, painted with white clay, ex- 

 posed for several days, and finally 

 wrapped in cloths and buried with the 

 feet to the east. The funeral is attended 

 by near relations and idlers generally. A 

 goat is killed and half of it buried, the 

 rest being eaten. Pots are broken on the 

 grave and a semicircular hut is set up 

 over it. 



During the mourning which follows, the 

 village is deserted, and the inhabitants 

 sleep for a time in the open. The hair is 

 allowed to grow, and cut only when para- 

 sites accumulate to an intolerable extent. 



After death the soul is supposed to 

 wander about, and if the grave is neg- 

 lected it disturbs and may even cause the 

 death of its relatives. Otherwise it takes 

 the form of an animal ; if a chief, of a 



large beast, but it may also wander about 

 in the air. ' 



a race: of tall, well-built people 



In color the Bambala are very dark 

 brown, the hair is absolutely black, and 

 the eye a greenish black with a yellow 

 cornea. The face is not of the ordinary 

 negro type, but much more refined ; thick 

 lips, for example, are quite exceptional, 

 and only a small proportion have flat 

 noses. 



The northern Bambala are strongly 

 built and tall, but, as we proceed south- 

 ward, with increasing scarcity of food 

 comes a slighter type, which also seems 

 to be lighter in color. The hands and 

 feet are small, and, like those of all col- 

 ored people, yellow on the palms and 

 soles. They pick up objects with their 

 feet with great dexterity. 



In the north the women are not very 

 good-looking, but farther to the south, 

 where the males approximate a feminine 

 type, there are real beauties among the 

 softer sex. 



Both sexes wear practically the same 

 dress — a strip of palm-cloth of its natural 

 color, about a yard in length and half a 

 yard in width, worn round the waist in 

 front and falling to the middle of the hips 

 behind. Sometimes a girdle of similar 

 cloth is added or a roll of grass colored 

 with red clay, and the women, like many 

 other Bantu tribes, wear a string of beads 

 under their cloth. Men wear skin aprons 

 occasionally on which the hair is left. 

 The garments are sewn with native-made 

 iron needles and palm fiber thread. 



BAMBALA FASHIONS IN HAIR-DRESSING 



The head is partially shaved, and the 

 bare portion is painted with soot and 

 palm-oil. Hair is allowed to grow on the 

 top of the head in the form of a cap, and 

 in old age a piece of palm-cloth, dyed red, 

 may be added to cover a bald spot or 

 white hairs. As a special decoration, a 

 man who has slain a great enemy wrap^ 

 the bones of the victim's fingers in a cloth 

 and wears them on his head : this is sup- 

 posed to have magical virtue. 



There is another fashion of hair-dress- 

 ing, which consists in leaving the hair at 

 the back of the head only and making it 

 up into tresses with soot and palm-oil. 



