CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL AFRICAN TRIBES 



353 



that meat for the 

 Bambala is simply a 

 bonbon, much as 

 chocolates are for us. 

 Once I killed an ele- 

 phant, which the na- 

 tives were at liberty 

 to consume — b 1 o o d, 

 skin, and bones, if 

 they pleased. After 

 they had eaten as 

 much as they wanted 

 they came and asked 

 for their dinner. 



Goats and pigs are 

 slaughtered by being 

 clubbed so as not to 

 lose the blood ; but the 

 forme r are also 

 skinned alive and die 

 under the knife, which 

 is of iron, home-made, 

 and as sharp as a 

 razor. 



CANNIBALISM A COM- 

 MON PRACTICE 



Cannibalism is an 

 every-day occurrence, 

 and, according to the 

 natives themselves, 

 who display no reti- 

 cence except in the 

 presence of state offi- 

 cials, it is based on a 

 sincere liking for hu- 

 man flesh. Enemies 

 killed in war and peo- 

 ple buried alive after 

 the poison test, or dy- 

 ing as a result of it 



SHE WEARS HER BADGE OF SORROW ON HER ARMS 



Mourning in the Congo may be expressed in different ways ac- 

 cording to the tribe to which the bereaved belongs, and also according 

 to the degree of relationship to the deceased. Sometimes the whole 

 body is besmeared with clay of a certain color, sometimes only the 

 chest or the arms. It is usual for mourners to let their hair grow 

 until the period of mourning is over. 



(see text, page 342), are eaten; so, too, 

 are slaves, and farther north and near 

 the river these are killed on rare occa- 

 sions to provide a cannibal feast. In the 

 latter case the body may be buried for a 

 couple of days and a fire kept burning 

 over the grave. The flesh is consumed 

 in the ordinary way with manioc flour. 



I have never been able to trace any 

 magical or religious basis for any of these 

 customs. Vessels in which human flesh 

 has been cooked are broken and thrown 

 away, and this rather suggests some mag- 

 ical idea, but the men sav that the custom 



is only adopted to prevent women or 

 other prohibited persons from using the 

 same pot afterward. On the other hand, 

 this prohibition against using the pot sub- 

 sequently suggests that there was in the 

 past some idea of possible magical effects, 

 though women are at the present day de- 

 barred from human flesh, as they are 

 from goat's flesh, only in order that there 

 may be a larger supply for the men. 



There is only one way of abolishing 

 cannibalism in these countries, and that 

 is not by making laws against it. On one 

 occasion I gave one of my boys a tin of 



