Africana; or, the heart of heathen Africa, Volume 1 (of 2)

1. PEOPLE.

People came from kapilimtiya [an unsteady (soft) stone][16]. There came forth two, a man and a woman, and they married and had children. Then there was seen another man who was sick, being a leper, who had come from kapilimtiya. The sick man sent the woman to draw water, then he opened a bag and took out maize and millet. On this earth there was no grass,[17] and he said, “You two may sleep in a cave”. The sick man died, and the other man put an offering on the ground[18] saying, “You have left us here, now give us grass”. So grass grew and trees; and his children grew and had children; hence the tribe of the Yao.

2. THE SUN.

It came to pass that two men went to the hunting-field and arrived at a cave. One said, “Here is heat!” The other said, “Is this fire?” He said, “I don’t know, come and help me to search”. They began to search in the cave. One peered and saw the sun[19] in the cave. Then he said, “Look! look!” his companion said, “Come, let us run away”. The other said, “I will look,” and he went into the cave and put away a stone, then the sun burned him and he died. His companion said, “Please, please, don’t burn me” (by this time the grass was on fire). The stone being thus removed, the sun went on high.

3. THE MOON.

Out here there lived Machelenga, and he said, “I want a firefly to make a lamp of”. A great man said, “Come, I’ll shew you a good fire”. And he said, “It is a good fire this”—it was just the moon. Then he took the moon and put it in a pot. And he said, “My children, don’t take off the cover of this, it contains my fire. I go to the garden.”[20] So he went to the garden. The children then went to fetch the fire, then there was light with a brightness! And he said, “My fire has come out, they have brought it out of the pot”: and he said to them, “My children, where is the fire?” And they said, “We—no”.[21] And he said, “Don’t meddle with the place where I have put my fire”. And they said, “We understand”. Another day he said, “Good-bye,[22] let me go down to the garden,” and he staid for the night at the garden.[23] One of the children then took the moon, which burned him, and flew away to settle right on the top of the hill.[24] The father awoke and looked out and said, “Outside there is light,” and he ran and said, “But now, see! is not my fire gone? Seek ladders, take it thence.” So they climbed the mountain; though they tried thus to go to fetch it they failed. The child fell down a precipice. The father next tried to climb, then the moon flew, going up to the clouds, and he said, “Now it is gone, it is settled in the clouds. Now my enemies will see quite well, because you have taken out my fire.”

His wife said, “Your moon has killed my child for me; I do not want to see the moon”. She went to another country, she looked on high and the moon was still there, and she was weary and said, “Dig a pit for me,” and they dug a pit. Then the woman went in and the man covered it over. The woman died in the pit.

Yonder moon was the fire of Machelenga.[25]

4. STARS.

It came to pass that the children of Mkwilima[25] said, “We will go to play,” and they arrived at the sands, and found many stones, and they threw them at each other. Their father said, “My children, do not strike each other, stones will pain you”. Then a stone was thrown, and one child was struck on the head and fell; and the stone ran away and leapt forth and became fixed on high. People looked, and behold! the stone was visible, and Mkwilima said, “My children, there I told you, behold the stone that killed your companion, behold! now it is on high”. When the rain fell particles of it kept floating filling the heavens everywhere.[26]

5. [27]CLOUDS.

Mwangalika sent his son, and said, “In this country there is sun now. Please, please go and burn with fire.” Then the fire smoked, and Mwangalika said, “Now I want the smoke to be clouds, that my children may stay in the shade;” then it went on high.

6. [27]WIND.

A great man had a daughter, and she said, “Father, in this country I am hot, I sweat”.

Then her father said, “Come here, my child, I have pity, I will blow with my breath,” so he blew, and thence came wind.

7. RAIN OR LIGHTNING.

The lightning (rain, ula)[28] flashed and killed a man, then it ran on high, and they said, “Please, please, rain but you have killed people”. The rain said, “Now I am sorry, I have done wrong, but I want to send water that you may drink at the mourning”, and the people said, “Yes, let us consent”. The water of the rain then descended.

8. THE BOW OF THE LIGHTNING.

The bow of the lightning came from on high and struck a hill, then came Mtanga, and said, “My bow for killing meat”. The chief at that land said, “Let us see you killing”. He picked up an arrow, threw on high and killed four stars, and said, “I have killed this meat, let me give you to eat”. He said, “Give me that I may look at it”. He received it and looked, and there was just a flash-flashing. He said, “The meat of my shooting you cannot eat. That comes from on high. But watch what I shall do in the eating of it.” He boiled water, and filled a great pot, and picked up the stars and put them in the pot and stirred them, and then they actually found cooked flesh. He said, “Taste it now”: when he ate it he found it sweet like honey.

He said, “Lend me, friend, the bow that I may shoot”; but he was killed by his shooting. Mtanga (12) then said, “My bow is dreadful”. When Mtanga went away, it was not seen where he went, and he put up his bow on high.

9. MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS.

Mtanga came to the Yao country, and he said, “This country is bad because it is without a hill”. The inhabitants said, “What will you do?” and he said, “I will press out mountains”. They said, “How will you press them out?” He said, “I will press them out at night”. They said, “Come, let us sleep in the houses”. At night then passed Mtanga, and came to make a mountain spring forth. Then he took away his leg when he had pressed out one mountain, and went and pressed out another.

In the morning when people arose, they found that mountains were standing forth (in one place a mountain sprung up, in another place a mountain sprung up). He said, “When you thought of me, you supposed I told a lie. I am from ‘God,’[29] Chitowe sent me. This country I have now made right.”

He then said, “I will now press forth water, let us dig a river,” then he brought down rain, and the water flowed in the river.

In the beginning[30] this country was all a plain, and Mtanga put it right: there was no water and he pressed it forth.

10. COOKING POTS AND MORTARS.

Long ago ‘God’ said, “My children, I gave you food”. He gave them also a piece of iron[31] ore. Then he said, “Draw water, boil it on the fire”. Then he said, “This is a cooking pot”. The iron ore was lost, and ‘God’ sent Namawelenga, and he said, “Now I want to dig clay,” and they manufactured cooking-pots.

People used to roast (their corn), and there came a woman and she brought a short piece of wood. She said, “I am hungry, I want porridge”. They refused at the village, saying, “At our home, no; there is no porridge”. She said, “There is maize”. They said, “We have much maize”. Then she brought out her small reed and said, “Give me maize”; and she put it in her (piece of) wood and set to pounding. When she pounded she said, “Well, this is called a mortar, now pound and eat”.

11. HOES, KNIVES AND AXES.

People hoed with wood[32] and there came a certain man who said, “I have pity, let me give you things-to-hoe-with”. They said, “Give us”. He said, “Bring fire,” and they brought fire, and he took iron ore and put on the fire. They collected much fire, and pieces of ore were melted, and they took a stone and beat it, and it was smelted to make a hoe.

Knives and axes came together. People said, “We sleep outside,” and there came a man and gave them; he said, “With this axe cut trees, take the knife, dig down, use it as a pick, and put in your posts”.[33]

12. BASKETS.

He said, “Where do you put your food?” They said, “We put it on the ground,” and he said, “But seek for the mneche,” (a soft tree), and they sought for it and prepared it (there were no bamboos then). He said, “Take now your maize, put it in the baskets”. When they found bamboos then they plaited them: then were made things for holding their goods.

13. CLOTHING.

There were some that did not wear clothes, and a certain man came and stript off bark, and the males wore it. Then he produced a hammer from his bag, and said, “Cut down a mjombo tree,” and he stript it. Then he set to hammering, and beat out the juice, and put the bark in the sun to dry. Then he took it and said, “Try to put it on,” and the females clothed themselves. Bark-cloth then abounded in this land.

14. DEATH.

This country was one where people did not die, and there came a woman that could not walk. People lived without sleep, and the woman said “sleep,” and two persons slept, then she caught one by the nostrils, and the other continued to breathe, and she said, “Arise,” the one arose and the other died. She said, “I am sorry, I have done wrong, I caught one by the nostrils, he can not breathe, now mourn” (for him). Then the people mourned, and continued three days. Afterwards they said, “Carry him away, dig a grave and bury him,” and they buried him.

People then discovered sleep; death and sleep are one word; they are of one family.

The woman that could not walk wrought mischief.

15. MORTALITY,[34] THE CHAMELEON (NALWII) AND THE SALAMANDER (MLALU).

The chameleon was sent to the graves to say, “When people die they may return” (to their homes). He went off and was passing along the road. Afterwards the salamander was called to go to the graves, and say, “When people die they must not return”. The salamander ran and arrived quickly (while the chameleon was still on the way), and said, “When people die they must not return”. Next morning the chameleon appeared. He said, “When people die, they may return”. Those at the grave said, “No, the salamander came and he told us the truth”. Then he (the chameleon) went back to report at the village (from which he was sent), and said, “The salamander was first. He gave the order, ‘When people die they must not return’.” Those at the village said, “How silly! You were stupid, O chameleon, you should have made haste.”

16. OFFERINGS.

A person hoed his field (lit. food), and there came a blind man and said, “You do not eat your corn, what prevents you?” He said, “The corn is without an offering”.[35] The blind man said, “I can give the offering”. Then he put his arm in his bag, and took out of it flour, and the man that hoed said, “Do it yourself, give an offering that you may see with your eyes”. The blind man said, “Please, please, I want to see, help me, O mother!” Then his blindness went away and he saw. Then the man that hoed the garden said, “Now you are able to see”. Then the farmer plucked five maize cobs, and said, “Please, please, a blind man told me about the offering, I now want that my maize may be abundant”. So the Yao when their child dies say, “Please, please, I give this offering for you which a blind man gave us”; the sick then have health. In this way the Yao continue (to exist).

17. BOWS AND GUNS.

There was a man with three children, one was mad, and he bit, and his father caught him and put him in a slave-stick. Then he said, “Father, I want you to cut wood for me,” and he cut the wood. And he said, “Father, now I want a nail” (the iron pin of the slave-stick), and he brought a nail and gave him. In the same way he brought strips of bark, and he (the son) bent the wood with the cords. His father loosed him and he ran to the bush and returned at night and pierced his mother with the nail. She said, “My husband, my son whom you loosed has pierced me—pierced me with a bow” (something bent). These people then sought bows, and carried pieces of iron, and sought that madman; but he died in the bush. The people remained with the bow.

Here there were no guns, then came the people of Misiri[36] and gave to a man (who lived) long ago. The gun came with the people of Misiri.

18. CANNIBALISM.

There was a certain man, Malyawandu,[37] and an appetite for meat came (to him), and his wife cooked porridge with vegetables for a relish. He said, “No, I don’t want to eat vegetables”. So she killed a fowl for him, but he refused and said, “Look for a knife for me,” and he cut himself on the leg and roasted for himself on the fire. And she said, “My husband eating this meat alone!”[38] He said, “Delicious meat”. The man then died of that wound. And the woman said, “I will look at the flesh of my husband, I will eat it”.

Her children said, “Mother eating father!” and she said, “Come! taste”. One child received it and ate, and said, “Give me more”. It told its friends that human flesh was delicious. Then they began to kill each other.

At present they say, “We must not eat people”. Those that eat people are cannibals (§ 106, 107).

19. MEDICINE.

A certain man was sick; he said, “I shall dig up moles”. Then he found a root which was in a hole, he struck it with the hoe, and took it away from the tree and placed it so.[39] Then he killed two moles, and another mole ran away. Then the sick man sat down there to look, and it returned and carried the root and chewed it and spat on the other moles that were dead and they got life. The sick man then said, “Is this medicine? Those dead moles have risen again.” The mole said, “This is medicine, do you take it when you are sick, chew it that you may have health”. Then he went away to the village and chewed it and had health. Then others said, “Give your friends that they may have health”. Then medicine abounded in this land.

20. FLEAS.

People died and went to the graves and became ‘Itowe,’ and ‘God’ came and said, “You Itowe come all here,” and they came all round. Then he gave them little bags, and said, “You go abroad with these and give people”. They all received them. Some had a bag of fleas, and others of seeds, &c., &c. When they came abroad here then people refused the bag of fleas, but wanted the bag of seeds. So they gave the seeds and returned, but on the way they opened the other bags and threw the fleas away.

21. FISHES.

There was a woman, and she took bark-cloth and tore off a long strip and put on as a loin-cloth, and said, “Now let us go to the stream and bathe”. (In the waters there were no fishes.) The woman had untied her loin-cloth, and she said, “Give me my loin-cloth to wash”. As she was washing it the water took the loin-cloth from her, and she said, “My companions, my loin-cloth is lost”. Her companions said, “Sit down, let us go to seek it, that you may wear your clothes”. The woman then sat at the water naked; then she saw it coming, it having become a fish. And she said, “I have seen wonderful things; I saw my loin-cloth like an animal”. Then they took it, and saw that it was a fish, and they took a knife and opened it at the breast. Then they found inside the eggs of fish (nat. idiom), and threw them into the water, and they brought forth many fishes.

22. BIRDS.

There was a man that had two children, and they said, “We want a bow”. Their father made them a bow. And he said, “Don’t go throwing at each other”. One stood like this, and took a grass wand, threw it at his companion, and struck him in the eyes, and he died. His father then ran, “My son, you have killed your brother”; and he took the grass, and it said, “Your son threw me; I have killed a man. Now I don’t want to stay here below,” and it flew and lighted on a tree, and became a bird. And this is the origin of birds.

23. ELEPHANTS.

The elephants lived along with men, and the children took them out to eat grass in the plain. Then an elephant killed one child, and another ran saying, “Father, father, an elephant has killed my companion”. His father said, “Well, I want to go and kill it”. And he carried his bow and arrows and went to shoot it, and he shot it, and it died. The others then ran away, saying, “We have done wrong; now our master is killing us”. So they ran away to the bush, and people kept encountering them and shooting them, saying, “You killed a person at the village”. Hence there was enmity against them.

24. LIONS.

The lion was a cat dwelling with people. Then it sprung to catch a fowl The next day it sprang to scratch the baby. Then its master said, “I will kill you,” so it ran away to the bush. Whereupon it was at enmity with people.

25. THE SERPENT.

There was a man that hoed a garden and planted cassava, and took bark-cloth and twisted, and took thorns and put through this bark-cloth, and said, “Bark-cloth, I place you in my garden; bite those that come to steal”. So he went to hang the bark-cloth[40] in his garden. Then came a thief and took hold of a cassava plant, and the thorns pierced him, and that lad said, “War”. It said, “My master left me in the garden, saying, ‘If people steal cassava, bite them’.” The person died. Then came the man and said, “Bark-cloth, you have bitten a lad; you have a bad heart”. Then it went away in the bush, and when it saw people it bit them. Hence came the serpent.

26. BABOONS.[41]

A woman bare three children, but the children stole from the owner of the country, and he killed two. Then the woman ran away, and the other child went away. Her friends said, “Cut your hair”.[42] She said, “No, the chief killed my children”. And she said on seeing the maize of others, “That maize is ours”. On her running away hair grew on all her body. That fur of the baboons was the hair of the head, those legs were arms.

27. OTHER ACCOUNTS.

Some tell one way, others another way—telling and telling.

Heavenly Bodies.—‘God’ made the stars and the moon and the sun likewise. All things in this world were made by ‘God’. The sun gave way to fierceness, and said, “Let me shine and destroy people”. God refused, and took rain and cooled down the sun.

Wind.—‘God’ placed a spinning-top on the summit of a mountain, hence the wind.

Rain.—People who died became ‘God,’ and they said, “Come, let us give our children rain”. Others refused, and said, “Come, let us make pots and fill them with water”. And they said, “Come, let us break another pot; let us give our children rain”.[43]

Animals.—At first the lion was a man; a man died and became a lion. So of the elephant.

28. ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF MAN.

At first there were not people but ‘God’ and beasts. There was a Chameleon, and he wove his fish-trap; when he had woven it, he went to snare in the river. The day after he went to take it out, and he found fishes therein. He took his fishes to the village to eat them. Again in the morning he went early and found that otters had entered the trap and eaten the fishes, and he said: “To-day I have bad luck. I just found that the otters had eaten my fishes. I do not know whether to-morrow I shall find they have eaten them again.” Then he departed to the village, empty, without fishes, and he went to sleep. When it was dawn, he went early again, and found man, male and female, entered into the trap.

He said, “To-day have entered things that are unknown. I wonder whether I should take them.” Mlungu (‘God’) was staying down here, before he went away to heaven. And he said, “Father, behold what I have brought to-day”. And He (‘God’) said, “Place them there, they will grow”. Man then grew, both male and female. But his father said, “Gather the people together, and call your master”. ‘God’ was called, and he came and said, “Now, Chameleon, where have you brought these from?” He said, “But they entered my trap”. Then Mlungu said, “Wait till I call my people,” and he went calling all the beasts of the earth and all the birds. They assembled. When they came, their Master said, “We have called you for those curious beings that the Chameleon went to bring in his trap”. All the beasts said, “We have heard”. (They had not a word to say.)

“Now let us go to our home.” So the beasts all went to their homes. And Mlungu said, “Now good-bye, let me go home”.

The day after they actually saw these people (the new creatures) making fire[44] (by friction). When they made fire, they set it a blazing, and found a buffalo and killed and roasted it on the fire, and it was cooked. And they kept eating all the beasts in this way. Again Mlungu came, saying, “Chameleon, I told you that you introduced puzzling beings on the earth here. See now my people are finished. Now how shall I act?” They actually saw the bush at their verandah burning with fire. Now the Chameleon ran away, and Mlungu ran away. The Chameleon ran for a tree. Mlungu was on the ground, and he said, “I cannot climb a tree”. Then Mlungu set off and went to call the spider. The spider went on high and returned again, and said, “I have gone on high nicely,” and he said, “you now, Mlungu, go on high”. Mlungu then went with the spider on high. And he said, “When they die, let them come on high here”.

(On this, the lightning when it came down destroyed a tree because the Chameleon ran to a tree.)

And behold, men on dying go on high in order to be slaves of ‘God,’ the reason being that they ate his people here below.[45]

29. NTEMBE, THE BROTHER OF THE “SPIRIT”.

Ntembe came to the mysteries; and people said, “A great one has come, let us go to see him”. They found him sitting on a stone and he said, “Have these people come”—(he spoke through his nose so). They said, “Yes, we thought we should go and see the great Ntembe the owner of this land”. He said, “You are welcome, I have come myself, I have come to teach the mysteries”. Then came a serpent and he twisted it round his head, and when people passed they were bitten and died. And people complained saying, “The serpent will destroy us all”. ‘God’ came saying, “You have a bad heart, you are killing (my) children”. He said, “Take them away and dwell with them, I Ntembe am here”. ‘God’ then took the children and went on high with them, and they were happy. Ntembe then became a mountain.[46]

30. THE THREE WOMEN.

There were three Women with their children, and they went to the water. When they reached it, one of them was cheated by her companions who said, “Throw your child into the water, we have thrown our children into the water”. But they had hidden their children under a tree. So their companion threw her child into the water, and a crocodile swallowed it (but did not kill it). Then her companions began to laugh at her and said, “You have thrown your child into the water! We were only cheating you.” Then she wept and said, “Why did you cheat me?” Her companions went to the village to tell her mother, and said, “Your daughter has thrown her child into the water”. When her mother heard them she said, “Can it be true!” Her companions said, “Yes”. So her mother wept in great sorrow.

But her daughter climbed a tree and said, “I want to go on high,” and the tree grew much and reached upwards. She met many leopards and they asked the girl and said, “Where are you going”? The girl said, “I want my child; my companions cheated me and said, ‘Throw your child into the water. We threw ours into the water.’” The leopards said, “Indeed!” and they showed her the way, saying, “You will come to the Nsenzi who will show you the way again”. So the girl went on and met the Nsenzi and they asked, “Girl, where are you going”? The girl replied, “I want my child, my companions cheated me saying, ‘Throw your child in the water’”. Then the Nsenzi showed her the way and said, “Go, there you will meet the Mazomba” (large fishes?). The Mazomba said, “What do you want, my girl”. The girl said, “I want (to know) the way”. The Mazomba said, “Where to”? The girl said, “The way to Mlungu (God)”. The Mazomba said, “Well, be strong in your heart”. The girl said, “Yes, Masters, I understand”.

Then she came to the village of Mulungu and Mulungu asked the girl, “What do you want”? The girl said, “Master! I want my child. My comrades cheated me saying, ‘Throw your child into the water,’ I threw it in, and a crocodile swallowed it”.

Then Mulungu called the crocodile and the crocodile came. Mulungu[47] said, “Give up the child,” and it delivered it up. The girl received the child and went down[48] to her mother. When her mother saw that her daughter brought the child she was much delighted and gave her much cloth and a good house.

When her companions saw that she had fetched her child they asked her, “How did you fetch your child?” Their companion said, “I went to Mulungu”. When her companions heard that she fetched it from Mulungu, then they threw their children in the water, and also climbed the tree, which grew quickly, quickly.

Then they met the Leopards. The Leopards asked, “Where are you going”? But the girls were obstinate and said, “We don’t want you to question us. No.” The Leopards left them, and they went on and met with the Nsenzi who said, “Well, where are you going”? But the girls began to abuse them. They went on and came to the Mazomba. The Mazomba said, “Well, where are you going”? The girls said, “We don’t want you to ask us”.

Then they came to Mulungu. Mulungu said, “What do you want”? The girls said, “We have thrown our children into the water.” But Mulungu said, “What was the reason of that”? The girls hid (the matter) and said, “Nothing”. But Mulungu said, “It is false. You cheated your companion, saying, ‘Throw your child into the water,’ and now you tell me a lie.”

Then Mulungu took a bottle of lightning, and said, “Your children are in here”. The girls took the bottle, and the bottle made a report like a gun. The girls both (lit. all) died.