Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/235

 Customs of the Lower Congo People. 199

when he recovers consciousness he is in the ' home.' He finds his fellow nkimba wearing a crinoline of palm frondlets, their bodies whitened with pipe-clay. No one is allowed to speak the local dialect, a made-up language of their own being spoken. The novice who ventures to speak anything else is soundly beaten. The secret language is fairly well developed ; many of the words are modifications of Kongo words, others are very different. The grammatical rules of Kongo are closely followed. An nkimba friend at Stanley Pool, finding that I knew some words, enabled me to complete a list of about 200. He was far from home, so ventured to break the rule of the guild ; had it been known, it would have cost him his life, for the secret is very closely kept. Five words, and a sentence, will suffice for an example of the character of the secret language.

ENGLISH.

KONGO.

NKIMBA.

a feather

lusala

lusambwa

to give

vajia

jana

to go

kwenda

diomva

animal fit for food

nibizi

nkubuzi

maize

masa

nzimvu (perhaps from

English. Fetch us some water to drink.

ngemvo, 'the beard

Kongo. Bon£ maza twanua kweto.

of maize').

Nkimba. Diafila ngolumwa tutefa kubwefo.

" Only males are admitted to the guild. They live apart for a period varying from six months to two years, and in this time learn thoroughly the secret language. They always wear their distinctive dress and paint. In the day time they wander in the woods and jungle; they are supposed to dig for roots, and to learn the botany of charms and spells. Sometimes they hang about the main roads and molest passengers, beating them with their sticks; so when their strange trill call is heard, every one runs away and hides. They are much feared by the uninitiated, and in the early days of our transport were a trouble to our carriers. If they catch any one, there must be no resistance to robbery, or a severe beating and heavy fine would result. At night they rush yelling about the town and neighbourhood, pretending to hunt witches, and woe betide the common native caught outside his house.