98 
The Minor Tribes 
the bell, the gong, the rattle, and the instru¬ 
ments played before idols by more advanced 
peoples. It is a piece of wood, hour-glass-shaped 
but flat, and some six inches and a half long ; 
the girth of the waist is five inches, and about 
three more round the ends. The wood is cut 
away, leaving rude and uneven raised bands hori¬ 
zontally striped with white, black, and red. Two 
brass wires are stretched across the upper and 
lower breadth, and each is provided with a ring or 
hinge holding four or five strips of wire acting as 
clappers. 
This “ wicker-work rattle to drive the devil out ” 
(M. du Chaillu, chap, xxvi.) is called by the 
Mpongwe “ Soke,” and serves only, like that of the 
Dahomans and the Ashantis (Bowdich, 364) for 
dancing and merriment. The South American 
Maraca was the sole object of worship known to 
the Tupi or Brazilian “ Indians.” 1 
The beliefs and superstitions popularly attributed 
to the Mpongwe are these. They are not without 
that which we call a First Cause, and they name it 
Anyambia, which missionary philologists consider 
a contraction of Aninla, spirit (?), and Mbia, good. 
M. du Chaillu everywhere confounds Anyam- 
1 See part ii. chap. xxii. “ Hans Stade,” translated by Mr. 
Albert Tootal, annotated by myself, and published by the Hak¬ 
luyt Society, 1874. 
