Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/454

 376 WEST AEEICA. the Ba-Farami at the foot and in the valleys of the mountain range named from them ; the Ba-Kundu in the plains stretching north of the Cameroons Mountain ; the Ba-Mbuku on the western slope of the same mountain ; the Ba-Long and Mufundu in the Mungo basin ; the Dwallas, Abos, Wuris, and Budumans of the Cameroons River, and farther south the Bassas, Ba-Kokos, Ba-Nokos, Ba-Pukos, and Ibeas. Several of these tribes are at constant war with each other, and through mutual fear some remain separated by uninhabited borderlands. In the western districts the best-known nation are the Ba-Kwiri, who have settlements about the Victoria and Bimbia factories, and whose territory has to be traversed to reach the mountain. Traditionally they came from the east, and are noted for the great disparity between the size and complexion of the sexes, most of the women being remarkably short and of lighter colour than the men. The "Brushmen," for such is the meaning of the tribal name, are grouped in about sixty separate clans of bravQ warriors and daring hunters. They are lively and intelligent, displaying singular oratorical power in the popular assemblies, in which all married men take part, and which are presided over by a responsible "king." At the evening gatherings they sing impromptu songs, and give proof of consider- able musical talent. Paternal and filial love are sometimes carried to excess, cases being mentioned of madness or suicide through grief at the loss of a child. The feeling of solidarity is even extended from the family group to the whole com- munity, the hunter freely sharing the produce of the chase with all his neigh- bours, the brandy-bottle earned by a workman quickly going the round of his friends. On the other hand, the law of blood for blood is pitilessly enforced even in the case of accidental homicide, and sorcery carries off even more victims than the vendetta. Charges of witchcraft are at times so frequent that whole villages have to be abandoned, and the Isle of Ambas, in the inlet of the same name, near Victoria, has been depopulated, most of the inhabitants having poisoned each other off with their everlasting ordeals, and the few survivors ending by dreading the very air they breathe. Each Mo-Kwiri has his life regulated beforehand by the tribal code of magic. No chief can approach the sea under pain of death ; no woman dare eat an egg or a chicken, and in many places to touch mutton except on feast-days is a capital offence. Peligion is a mere system of ancestry worship. At a king's death tradition requires the sacrifice of a captive, whose body was formerly shared, like the funeral baked meats, between the dead and the living. Good and evil spirits rule over the earth, those of the forests and the sea being held in special awe. For the Cameroon highlanders, the " Seat of the Gods " is itself a god, "half stone, half man," who wraps himself in a white snowy mantle whenever anj^ serious event is pending over his subjects. The Ba-Kundus of the northern slopes far excel the Ba-Kwiri in the industrial arts, although apparently not their superiors in natural intelligence. Their dwellings are not mere hovels of branches and reeds, like those of the coast villages, but real stone houses, properly cemented, and sometimes even decorated with rude frescoes representing men and animals. The "palaces " of the kings