THE CANNIBALS OF BELGIAN KONGO 



971 



when judged by the standard of civihzed 

 peoples. 



Cicatrization is practiced by all the 

 tribes ; in some by the men only, in others 

 by the women only. The tribal mark 

 of one tribe consists in a series of con- 

 centric circles on each temple. The in- 

 cisor teeth are all filed to a point, and 

 from this circumstance the Basongo 

 Meno have received the tribal name 

 which they now bear, meaning "People 

 with filed teeth." 



The cannibal Bankutus remove the 

 upper incisors. Their dress consists of 

 a pleated skirt, which does not quite meet 

 on the right thigh ; but the women in the 

 south wear a hide girdle with a deep 

 fringe of palm-fiber string. Among this 

 tribe the slaves are compelled to wear a 

 special dress, which is, in fact, the ordi- 

 nary costume of the Akela, to which 

 tribe most of them belong. 



The Bankutu are great cannibals, as 

 far as the male members of the tribe 

 are concerned, and the victims are al- 

 ways slaves. In fact, all slaves are ulti- 

 mately eaten, since it is believed that if a 

 slave were buried his ghost would kill 

 his master. 



Their chief weapon is the bow, and 

 poison is used on the arrows ; shields 

 are now obsolete. Property descends in 

 the male line, but there are indications 

 that at one time relationship was con- 

 sidered stronger on the female side. 

 One of the most interesting points among 

 this tribe is their use of a conventional 

 throwing-knife as currency. The Ba- 

 songo Meno also use this form of cur- 

 rency, obtaining it from the Bankutu, 

 who are the manufacturers. The Ban- 

 kutu are almost the only tribe of this 

 region who have been successful up to 

 the present in resisting the advance of 

 the white man. This fact is due to their 

 skill in forest warfare. 



It is difficult to give a description of 

 Bankutu warfare without falling into the 

 style of the literature which so success- 

 fully educates the future Bill Sykes. It 

 will suffice to say that the way leading 

 to their village is defended by poisoned 

 spikes hidden by leaves ; that they use 

 bows and arrows set like traps in the 

 form of primitive spring guns, and are 



quite ready, if a white man is expected, 

 to bait such traps with a live baby, being 

 sure that the European will be unable to 

 resist the temptation to pick up an ap- 

 parently abandoned child. The poison 

 they use is absolutely deadly. We were 

 most inhospitably received by them, but 

 no violence was attempted toward us, 

 although we had no escort. When we 

 reached Kole we were criticised for 

 crossing such a country without an 

 armed force. Our reason for taking this 

 risk was that, had we had troops with 

 us, we should have never seen the na- 

 tives at all, and most likely should have 

 been ambushed. 



Only a few score miles from the canni- 

 bal country we found peace and secu- 

 rity reigning everywhere. The endless 

 plantations, clean villages, and well-kept 

 houses made an impression of general 

 prosperity. Of course, equal credit for 

 this must be given to the character of 

 the population ; the Batetela is an ex- 

 cellent agriculturist and stock - breeder 

 and very industrious. He is the least 

 conservative of all negroes I know ; any 

 innovation will tempt him. Rice, Mada- 

 gascar potatoes, and fruit trees imported 

 by the white man are found in every 

 village. We were received in all of these 

 with the greatest hospitality, and in one 

 village the chief presented us with 500 

 huge rations for our 50 carriers. 



The people are scantily clothed, but 

 this is, of course, of great advantage in 

 their hunting expeditions. The havoc of 

 sleeping sickness is greatly limited by the 

 native custom of isolating cases of this 

 disease in the forest. Several of the 

 villages are assuming the proportions of 

 towns. The native pattern of hut is dis- 

 carded, and plaster-thatched houses, laid 

 out in neat and regular streets, have 

 taken their place. The neatness and 

 cleanliness of these villages are most re- 

 markable. 



An interesting feature of Batetela 

 psychology lies in the fact that suicide 

 appears not to be uncommon and is re- 

 garded as an act of courage. Descent 

 is reckoned in the male line, and children 

 are considered as more closely akin to 

 the father's family. 



