Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/229

 Customs of the Lower Congo People. 195

attributed to ndeinbo." ^ " Nkita " means a naturally- twisted stick or tree. Is there any connection between this and the second name for the ndembo ?

"At times "ndembo" is spoken of as being something more than a fetish ; it is said that he haunts certain woods as a demon, and I have been warned not to go into those woods, lest I too should suffer at the hands of the demon." ^

Those initiated into ndembo have new names given to them, which they retain for life. There are certain names peculiar to ndembo, and there are others never used.

The duration of the vela is very indefinite. Some- times it only runs for three or six months, and at other times for three years. It must be remembered that the ndembo is started to counteract an epidemic of sickness, and, when the epidemic has passed away, there is no longer any reason for the continued existence of the guild, and so a day for the "resurrection" is appointed by the nganga. Again, the food supply may fall off for various reasons. The epidemic having passed, the friends and relatives see no reason for continuing to take food to the vela, and thus they give a hint to the nganga to " resurrect " their folk ; or too many of the novices may be taken by the matombola, so that those outside stop the supplies and so close the place; or the relatives of the novices may after a few months get tired of travelling long journeys every day or so with heavy baskets of food and bunches of plantain, so that they wax cool and indifferent in their supplies, and the nganga takes the hint and appoints the day for the " resurrection."

Parents and relatives pay the lOO strings each for those belonging to them in the vela, and send fine cloths for them to wear, and camwood powder to redden their skins as a sign of beauty. It is announced well in advance that at a certain market the initiates, now called nganga or " knowing ones," will appear. The whole countryside

^ Bentley, Pioneering on the Congou vol. i., p. 287.