Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/485

 Traditions of the Jnii^auda and Jhishongo. 451

speaking, he ruled over the l^angeiuli and Budya Mbanga only; while his vassal, called Nyini'atende, rided over a portion of the Bangongo proper. These were all included in the first band. They crossed the Sankuru near its mouth and established themselves between it anJ the Kasai. The other band crossed the Lubefu and settled along the left bank of the Sankuru, between it and the Lubefu. The first band remained for many years in their settlements. At length they quarrelled among themselves, owing to differences of dialect and mutual jealousies. On the eve of war between the Bangongo and the others, the Nyimi and Nyim'atende agreed to decide the differences which should arise between any of their subjects by each throwing a hatchet into the Sankuru. The party whose hatchet sank was to be deemed in the wrong. The Nyim'atende was too clever for the Nyimi. Instead of an iron hatchet he devised a hatchet of wood covered only with a thin plating of iron. When it was thrown into the water it always floated, and the Bangongo disputant in consequence was always victorious. But on one occasion an im- portant dispute arose. At that time the daughter of the Nyim'atende was married to Lukengu, the then N\-imi. She determined to secure the victory for her husband. So^ having possessed herself of the Bangendi hatchet, she con- trived an opportunity of secretly exchanging it for that of the Bangongo under the pretext of a visit to her father. The result was that the Bangendi this time triumphed ; and the humiliated Nyim'atende migrated with all his subjects to their present settlements beyond the Lubudi.

Mr. Torday now attempts to identify the country of origin of the Bushongo. The information obtained from various sources, he says, agrees in stating that it was very far away to the north-north-west, and that in course of the migration four great rivers were crossed. Moreover, we know that at the time of the migration the people went naked, fed on millet and spoke quite a different language from that spoken