Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/526

 462 Custo7ns of the Lower Congo People.

the ground has to take the place of the thrower and dance for the entertainment of the others, and then sit down and try to catch some one else by jerking the ball.

6. "Nkiendi " is a game in which all the players but one run about on all fours, but face uppermost, one person alone being allowed to stand up; he is called the "ante- lope," and the others are called " hunters." They scuttle about in this ridiculous attitude, and each tries to touch or kick the "antelope" with his foot. A large court has been marked out on the ground, and the " antelope " is not allowed to go outside it. The " hunters " try to hem him up in a corner. If the antelope, to avoid being touched, runs out of the court, every one gets on their feet and chases him, and he who first pretends to cut him up with a knife becomes the " antelope " next time. A general melee ensues, every one pretending to cut him up, amid shouts of " leg for me," " head for me," and " some flesh for me." Sometimes a rule is made that there shall be no chasing beyond the court, and, if the " antelope " runs from the court, the first "hunter" who cries out "It has run out" becomes the "antelope." (Cf. Bentley, Dictionary and Grammar of the Kongo Language, p. 494.)

Among other games played are: "touch"; a kind of " hunt the slipper," boys sitting in a ring and passing a palm-nut behind them from one to the other, and the lad in the centre having to catch the boy who really has the nut, and then changing places with him ; odds and evens at cards ; counters made of old pieces of crockery, white on one side and with a part of the original pattern on the other side, are used like dice, and with this game and cards a great amount of gambling takes place; hopping the longest ; throwing in the hole ; etc. With their fingers and toes and three or four yards of string they make a large variety of cat's cradles, each one having its own name.