Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/488

 400 WEST AFRICA. the dead to trees, and keep powerful fetishes, which forbid the women to eat goat or game, and command them to till the land and to obey their husbands in all things. The Ba-Lumbos still shrink from contact with the whites, still remem- bering the days of the slave-trade. Their chief industry is the preparation of salt, which they obtain from the sea- water by means of artificial heat, and export it to the Ba-Yahas, who prefer it to the European article. The Ma-Yombes of the Kwilu basin and neighbouring Portuguese territory are grouped in numerous republics or chieftaincies, some comprising a single village, others forming confederations of several communities. For centuries they have maintained direct relations with the Portuguese traders, from whom they have learnt to build houses in the European style. But the influence of the whites disappears rapidly in the direction of the east beyond the coast ranges, which have only in recent years been crossed by explorers. Here dwell the Ba- Kunyas, Ba-Kambas, and pthers, regarding whom the strangest reports were long current amongst the Ma-Yombes. Some were dwarfs, others giants, or one-armed or one-legged, or else people with tails, which when they sat down were inserted in holes in the ground. Possibly there may have been some foundation for the statement that one of their kings never rose from his couch except by the aid of two spears which pierced the breasts of two wretches daily devoted to death. In the district between the Kwilu and the Congo dwell the Ba-Fyots, or Ba- Fyorts, who claim to be much more civilised than the surrounding barbarous tribes, and who appear to form the transition between the Bantus of the Gaboon and those of the Congo. In the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth century the whole region bounded north by the Kwilu formed part of the empire of the Mfuma, or " great father," king of the Congo. But the imperial power was represented by lieutenants {muene, mani-fmna), who gradually asserted their independence. Thus were founded the kingdoms of Loango, Kakongo, and [N^goyo, which again became subdivided into autonomous territories, each with its chief, assisted by ministers and a council of elders. After the king's death, his obsequies were deferred for several years, the power during the interregnum being entrusted to the ma-homa, or " master of terror." It is related that at the last death the people were too poor to worthily celebrate the funeral rites, and that consequently he was left unburied. He is supposed still to live, the actual chiefs being officially regarded as simple delegates or viceroys. Several bear Portuguese names, and are surrounded by officials with titles and functions recalling the influence formerly exercised by the representatives of the Court of Lisbon. Even certain Christian practices have survived, such as processions headed by the crucifix, and baptism, followed however by circumcision. Nzambi, the great god or goddess of the Ba-Fyots, is mostly confounded with Sa-Manuelu, the Madonna, or with the " Earth," mother of all. The native theologians have also a sort of trinity, Nzambi, mother of the Congo, being associated with her son in the government of the universe, while a third person, Deisos, takes part in the direction of human affairs. The goddess is represented by the most venerated of