Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/489

 all fetishes, who punishes with death those guilty of eating forbidden meats, possibly a reminiscence of the Christian fasts. Every prayer addressed to the fetish is clenched by a nail buried in the body of the wooden effigy, and it must sink deep and cause even a painful wound, so that the goddess pay due heed to her humble votary's supplication. So recently as 1870 human sacrifices were still made at the burial of a prince, and in 1877 a witch was burned in front of the European factories at Cabinda.

The Ba-Fyots, called by the Portuguese Cabinda or Cabenda, from the trading

station some 86 miles north of the Congo mouth, are skilful boatmen, who build the so-called palhabotes, substantial seaworthy craft, with which they carry on coast trade along the seaboard from the Gaboon to Mossamedes. Like Kroo-men, they also take temporary service in the factories or on board the European vessels. They are also excellent masons, cooks, and tailors, constituting in the southern Portuguese possessions a large part of the artisan population. It is noteworthy that amongst the Cabindas infant mortality is almost unknown, the