Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/533

 Customs of the Lower Congo People. 469

lines, but just a crowd of folk who shout, wave knives, and fire off guns to the sounding beat of a big drum.

13. Nkongo is a hunter's dance, for men only, to the rubbing on the back of the " Nkumbi " or antelope drum. This takes place at the grave of a great hunter. During the rub, rub of the drum the hunters circle round the grave. (See page 181 supra and Plate IX.)

"Ejieta" is the finishing-off movement in a line dance, and means to go round for a turn or two in a circle as a wind up.

Other names for dances are " Nzoko," " Manyanga," and " Ngom' a nkanu." The last is used, as its name indicates, at the talking of palavers. At big palavers the orators speak for many hours, and to give them an occasional rest there is a drum beaten, and one or two women dance, — generally only one.

Salutations, Blessings, and Curses.

When a common man goes into the presence of the king of San Salvador, he kneels on the ground, puts the palms of his hands together, rubs his two little fingers in the dirt, rubs them on his forehead, and claps his hands ; this he repeats three times. The king, to show his acceptance of the man and his homage, lays his right hand across the palm of his left, palm to palm, so that the four fingers of the right hand are well above the side of the left hand, and those four fingers he waves to and fro. Should the king not so wave his fingers, the sooner the man gets out of the king's presence, and the greater the distance he puts between the king and himself, the better it will be for his health.

When a common man salutes a chief, he performs the above action twice only, and the chief answers twice in the same way as the king.