Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/484

 893 WEST AFEICA. The practice of cannibalism, on which the unanimous testimony of the first explorers leaves no room for doubt, appears to have been abandoned in the neigh- bourhood of the coast. In the interior, prisoners of war are still eaten, but the banquet partakes of a religious character, being enjoyed in a sacred hut far from the eyes of women and children, the object being to acquire the courage of the enemy by devouring him. Wizards are also said to be consumed in the same way, and on many occasions slaves would appear to be immolated and passed from village to village for solemn feasts. Among certain tribes, the old alone are privileged to touch human flesh, which is fetish for all others. Thus the custom seems to be gradually falling into abeyance, the Fans being compelled, like other conquerors, to modify their usages when they come in contact with different populations and become subject to new conditions of existence. Formerly hunters, they have now mostly taken to trade, husbandry, and fluvial navigation. Of all the Gaboon antl Ogoway peoples, the Fans are the most energetic and industrious. They are skilled forgers and ingenious armourers, who have dis- covered the art of making ebony crossbows, with which they hunt apes and antelopes, that would be scared by the report of firearms. They arc also famous potters, and in the neighbourhood of the whites have become the best gardeners, so that they are now the hope of the colony. Those of the Komo district, still in a transition state between the nomad hunting and settled agricultural life, take care always to provide themselves with two stations, far removed one from the other. They have a riverain settlement well situated for trade, but exposed to the attacks of warlike flotillas, and a village in the forest affording a refuge when warned in time by the tam-tam or the ivory trumpet of a threatening danger. The riverain hamlet may be destroyed, but the other remains, and in that are preserved all their valuables. All villages are disposed so as to guard against sudden surprise, and sentinels are always stationed at both ends of the street. In the centre stands the palaver house, where the warriors assemble to deliberate, all capable of bearing arms having the right to make their voice heard in the assembly. In the hilly region about the Ogoway, IN^yanga, and Kv/ilu headstreams, dwell the A-Shangos, akin to the Okandos and A-Shiras of the Ngunie and Rembo basins. According to Du Chaillu, although darker than their neighbours, the A-Shiras are amongst the finest and most intelligent peoples in Africa. But they are rapidly decreasing, partly through the fearful ravages of small-pox, partly through their depraved taste for the use of liamba. From the A-Shira territory comes this pernicious drug, which with alngn, or "brandy," is the great " civilising medium " throughout the Gaboon and Ogoway lands. The A-Bongos, Ma-Yombes, and Ba-Fyots. Scattered amongst the A-Shango forests, and farther east towards the great river, are the frail leafy huts of the pigmy A-Bongos (Obongo), a shy, timid people living on roots, berries, and game. They are the 0-Koas (A-Koas), v