Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/586

 484 WEST APRICA. branclies of large forest-trees. These woodlands also afford shelter to myriads of grey parrots, which at sunset rise in dense clouds above the Lu-Bilash, the Sankuru, and Lu-Kenye. The Lu-Lua, the Kassui, and their various headstreams chiefly water the territory of the Ka-Lunda, a numerous nation bearing the same name and perhaps belonging to the same stock as the populations occupying the southern shores of Lake Moero. The Ka-Lunda of the Kassai region are the dominant people in the kingdom governed by the Muata Yamvo, and their name is sometimes given to this state, which is the most extensive in the whole of Central Africa. West of the Lu-Bilash they occupy all the territory about the sources of the Lu-Lua and Kassai as far as the Zambese ; under the name of Ba-Lua they inhabit the districts where the Lu-Lua emerges on the plains from the narrow upland valleys, and beyond the Kassai they also hold a great part of the intermediate zone between the elevated plateau and the low- lying tracts. The Ka-Lunda are a taller and stronger race of Negroes than those of the Portuguese possessions on the west coast. Their complexion is also lighter and their lips less tumid ; but the nobles have the practice of compressing the heads of their children in such a way as to give a monstrous shape to the posterior part of the skull. Far less industrious than the Ba-Songe, the Ka-Lunda are to a large extent dependent on their neighbours for the various utensils and other objects of which they stand in need. From the Kiokos of the south-west they obtain woven goods and ironware ; from the southern and south-eastern tribes copper goods, and in some places they have even no salt, for which they are obliged to substitute the ashes of certain alkaline herbs. Next to those of the Yua-Twa pigmies, their hovels are the most wretched in appearance in the whole of the interior of the continent, being little better than mere heaps of hay usually not more than 8 or 10 feet high. The Ka-Lunda are hospitable, and of a kindly, peaceful disposition, at least in districts not visited by the foreign traders, from whom the people learn the arts of duplicity, falsehood, and chicanery. In the neighbourhood of the royal residence, idleness and parasitic habits also tend to demoralise the natives, for the Muata Yamvo's state is a veritable feudal empire, in which all the vassal lords are bound to pay tribute. The various rnonas, and nmenes — that is, chiefs — render homage to the Muata, or sovereign, paying him contributions derived from the imposts levied on their respective subjects. These imposts, however, are not fixed, but vary according to the resources of the different provinces. Thus one will offer an elephant's tusk, an animal taken in the chase, or a lion's or a leopard's skin ; another fruits, manioc, corn, cloth, or salt, and so on. Nor are there any clearly defined periods for raising these contributions, so much depending on the distances from the capital, the rivers or swamps to be crossed, the commencement and duration of the rainy season, and suchlike circumstances. Usually the caravans of the more remote vassals present themselves at the royal court once a year, while the chiefs of neighbouring tribes, being more under the effective control of the supreme