Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/46

 NOTES ON SOME CUSTOMS OF THE LOWER CONGO PEOPLE.

BY THE REV. JOHN H. WEEKS, 27 YEARS BAPTIST MISSIONARY ON THE CONGO.

(Continued from vol. xix, p. 437.)

custom of "eating the goat" has arisen out of slave-keeping. A slave badly treated by his master runs off to another, who will, he thinks, treat him more kindly. On arrival before the chief, he says: "I have come to you because my master does many bad things to me. Will you accept of me?" If the chief listens to him, he kills a goat, and they eat it together. This is a sign that the chief has accepted him. Guns are fired, and the people shout "Nkombo! Nkombo!" (Goat! Goat!). On the next market day the chief takes him and shows him on the market as one who has eaten his goat, and is no longer a slave. The old master must accept the ordinary market value of his former slave. He is not allowed to take him again, or to buy him for any amount of money. He is not the slave of the chief who has given him the goat. He is practically a free man. He takes his name from the ceremony of eating the goat, and is henceforth called Nkombo (Goat). This is a very beneficent custom, as it restrains slave-holders from ill-treating their slaves. These "goats" are very highly appreciated by chiefs, as they generally become very faithful followers of those with whom they have eaten the goat. Some