CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF CENTRAL AFRICAN TRIBES 



359 



sardines, telling him to give his compan- 

 ions equal shares. With tears in his eyes 

 he said that it was impossible ; he could 

 not eat sardines, for the cook had given 

 him a kissi (medicine) to prevent him, 

 and he would die if he ate them. I put 

 him at his ease by giving him a stronger 

 kissi from Europe, and to see him dis- 

 pose of those sardines was a real joy. 



To wean the Bambala and other tribes 

 from cannibalism it is necessary to give 

 them a kissi, which will prevent them 

 from eating human flesh under penalty 

 of death if they disobey. I have not the 

 slightest doubt that if some one in whom 

 they had confidence adopted this means 

 they would give up eating human flesh 

 once and for all. 



BAMBALA TRADERS ARK EXPERIENCED 

 PROFITEERS 



Among the Bambala every one is a 

 dealer in live stock, which is exchanged 

 for rubber, and this in turn is traded to 

 Europeans for salt ; the salt is exchanged 

 for slaves, the slaves sold for djimbu 

 (small shells, which serve as currency), 

 and more goats or other live stock pur- 

 chased in the country where they abound. 

 In this export trade men alone are en- 

 gaged ; in the home trade — in food and 

 pottery — women have in like manner a 

 monopoly. The natural preference of 

 chiefs and important men is for trade, 

 but they do not regard labor as smiths or 

 basket-makers degrading. 



The purchasing power of their unit of 

 value may be judged by the fact that the 

 price of a female slave ranges from 15,- 

 000 to 20,000 djimbu. A hundred djimbu 

 will purchase one fowl or one big iron 

 block or 12 ounces of salt ; an iron hoe 

 blade is worth 300 djimbu. 



The profits made in trade are enor- 

 mous. Eight thousand djimbu will pur- 

 chase ten goats, for which 250 balls of 

 rubber are obtained : these are worth ten 

 stone of salt, for which two slaves can be 

 purchased, and the two male slaves will 

 fetch 20,000 djimbu. These operations 

 take about a month, and the gross profit 

 is 150 per cent. The trader, as a rule, 

 goes in person and takes his own food. 

 He spends nothing on clothes, and the 

 question of shoe leather does not trouble 

 him. He may spend a few djimbu on 



palm-wine, but there are practically no 

 deductions from the gross profit except 

 for losses by death of stock or by rob- 

 bery. 



In Kolokoto 100 djimbu are equivalent 

 to from four to six cents, American 

 money ; in Luanu they may rise to a 

 premium of 100 per cent ; on the Eukula 

 they fall to a value of three cents. Tak- 

 ing the mean value, a man with a capital 

 of $5 makes $90 per annum, even if he 

 does not add to his capital. If he chose 

 to put all his profits into his business, he 

 would at the end of a few years be a rich 

 man, but, of course, long before attaining 

 to such a fortune he would be suppressed 

 by jealous neighbors or highwaymen. 

 Furthermore, the nature of their trade 

 does not admit of unlimited extension. 



Credit is a well-recognized thing, not 

 only from one market day to another, but 

 for longer periods, and to people resid- 

 ing at considerable distances. Interest 

 amounts, as a rule, to 400 per cent per 

 annum. 



Little anthropological research has 

 been carried out in Central Africa, and 

 the natives from inland are usually re- 

 ferred to by the people from the river- 

 side, and consequently by the Europeans, 

 as "Ngombe," which really means bush- 

 men. Their appearance is certainly such 

 as to inspire little confidence, their faces 

 being considerably disfigured by cica- 

 trices, without which no Ngombe would 

 think himself presentable. 



Not only are the Ngombe and the Bam- 

 bala tribes cannibals, but most of their 

 respective neighbors likewise, and their 

 enemies know that if they fall into un- 

 friendly hands they will be treated with 

 the utmost cruelty. 



IX THE LAXD OE THE LIP PLUG 



If I described the Ngombe as ill-look- 

 ing, what shall I say about the natives I 

 met farther up the Congo near Basoko? 

 Here the lip plug is in general use. At 

 an early age a small hole is pierced in the 

 upper lip. and this, by the insertion of 

 wooden disks of ever-increasing size, is 

 so extended that it finally measures more 

 than two inches in diameter. 



If one considers, furthermore, that 

 these people are cannibals and do not try 

 to conceal it. it is easv to understand that 



