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Congo life and folklore

Chapter 47: INDEX (TO PART I)
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About This Book

The narrative is framed through the journey of a brass rod used as local currency, which passes among owners and serves to present riverine travel, village life, funerary rites, witch‑finding ordeals, and everyday customs observed by a Baptist missionary. Part I records encounters, omens, disputes, games, market exchange and the challenges faced by missionaries confronting entrenched superstitions, while Part II collects thirty-three native tales told round evening fires, including animal fables, riddles, and moral parables. The combined account mixes ethnographic description, personal anecdote, and retold folklore to portray social beliefs, ritual practice, and the cultural obstacles to religious change.

INDEX
(TO PART I)

A

  • Alphabet, native learning the, 254
  • Attempts by natives to rid themselves of sickness and death, 283, 284
  • Attendants on the King, 145

B

  • Bakula takes a fancy to me, 25;
    • his character, 25;
    • his charms, 35;
    • tells good stories, 39;
    • questions the visitors, 59;
    • strikes at the white man, 65;
    • goes with Satu on a visit, 74;
    • is cut in a drunken row, 99;
    • wound dressed by white teacher, 100;
    • belauds the chief, 105;
    • shakes hands with the teacher, 107;
    • tells his name to his white friend, 111;
    • is astonished at the teaching, 112;
    • accompanies an embassy, 131;
    • goes to see the white man, 133;
    • sees the King of Congo, 137;
    • learns about the King’s Court, 145;
    • sees the station at work, 148;
    • afraid to go into school, 152;
    • sees a witch-doctor performing, 158;
    • attends the white teacher during the Sunday work, 162;
    • exposure of a witch-doctor, 166;
    • returns to his town, 171;
    • begins to lose faith in fetishes, 197;
    • charged with stealing, 241;
    • repudiates charms and “medicine men,” 241;
    • cloth found in his house, 243;
    • refuses to bribe the nganga, 246;
    • is burnt by the boiling oil, 248;
    • runs away to mission station, 250;
    • learns the alphabet, 254;
    • turned out of a town, 258;
    • prays for the people, 259;
    • convicted of sin, 260;
    • joins the Church, 264;
    • returns to his town, 265;
    • starts a school, 268;
    • school-house destroyed, 272;
    • accused of witchcraft, 289;
    • is guarded through the night, 290;
    • takes the ordeal, 291;
    • murdered, 291;
    • is buried by Tumbu, 292
  • Baobab bark juice rubbed on by witch-doctor, 248
  • Baptismal service, 331
  • Bartering for native produce, 235
  • Betrothal bonds, releasing from, 179;
    • customs connected with, 186
  • Brass rod, made in factory, 1;
    • shipped to Congo, 2;
    • travels up river, 6;
    • sold for rubber and ivory, 12;
    • travels overland, 13;
    • Bakula takes a fancy to it, 25;
    • Tumbu takes it from Bakula’s corpse, 293;
    • Tumbu buries it, 294;
    • Mikula discovers and wears it, 295
  • Burial, christian, 201
  • Bush-burning, 194;
    • guarding a town before the bush is burnt, 195;
    • laws relating to, 203;
    • Dimbula breaks the law, 203

C

  • Candidates for membership, 319, 321, 329
  • Charms, sacrifices to, 26, 36, 70;
    • various purposes of, 35
  • Chief’s house, 22
  • Chief dies, 23;
    • orgy at funeral of, 24;
    • bearers struggle with corpse, 31;
    • buried at sunset, 31;
    • barbarity of a, 163;
    • way of dealing with a, 273
  • Christianity a blessing to women, 310
  • Christmas festival, 327
  • Church accounts, 334, 336;
  • Collections at services, 299, 309, 312, 316
  • Communion services, 298, 300, 338
  • Comparisons--old life and new, 297, 301, 310, 316, 317
  • Congo River, its width, 7;
    • its current, 7, 11;
    • fishing in the, 8
  • Conservatism of the Congo people, 267
  • Conundrums, various, 9, 124, 125
  • Corpse, fighting for, 218

D

  • Dance called Sala, 103
  • Dangers of the road, 229, 231, 317
  • Deacons, election of, 332;
  • Death, natives attempt to free themselves of, 283, 284
  • Deficit wiped out, 334
  • Devil’s Cauldron, 11
  • Diagnosing by native “doctor,” 275
  • Dimbula breaks the rules about bush-burning, 203;
    • insults Satu, 204;
    • is boastful, 205;
    • accepts the bullet, 213;
    • sues for peace, 220;
    • pays indemnity, 221
  • Drums, electrical effect of, 103
  • Drunken bouts, 30, 99

F

  • Fighting, mode of, 217
  • Fines imposed are shared, 226
  • Forest town of spirits, 31, 32
  • Funeral orgy, 30

G

  • Games, native, “Antelope” game, 76;
    • with the drum Sala, 103;
    • make-believe games, 114;
    • “Biti” and needle, 115;
    • with canna seeds, 116;
    • hoop, 118;
    • mbele (or knife), 119;
    • various, 121
  • Generosity of native Christians, 316, 334, 336
  • Gifts at a funeral, 27
  • Gin and rum, 13
  • Goat! Goat! or redeeming a slave, 191
  • Governing, 223;
    • making a new law, 224
  • Greetings, 232

H

  • Harvest home! 338
  • Harvest thanksgiving, 309, 312
  • Houses, 34
  • Hunters take blood of Antelope to the great hunter, 207
  • Hunting, 194;
    • charm for, 197;
    • visit to great hunter, 198

I

  • Interpreter to Trader, 235

J

  • Journey begins, my overland, 12

K

  • King of Congo murders his mother, 106
  • King of Congo, 131;
    • calls the embassy, 134;
    • his courtyard, 135;
    • his palace, 136;
    • is pleased with the presents, 137;
    • his name, 137;
    • size of, 138;
    • goes to dinner with the white man, 139;
    • eats a large dinner, 141;
    • sees magic lantern, 143;
    • his Majesty’s Court, 145;
    • told to go to St. Catherine, 167
  • Kroo boys, their work on steamer, 3;
    • their curious names, 4;
    • give white men names, 4, 7;
    • boy tries to steal me, 5;
    • carries me out of the store, 5

L

  • Law, making a new, 224;
    • peculiarity of native laws, 225;
    • fines imposed for breaking a law are shared, 226
  • Leopard, ceremony after killing a, 176
  • Life, petty and mean native, 58

M

  • Markets, 227;
    • risks of attending, 229
  • Marriage, Christian, 307;
    • releasing a niece from, 179;
    • sham struggle at, 189;
    • money, paying, 182, 187;
    • feast at, 189;
    • promises, 189
  • Martyrs for the cause, 305, 306
  • Mavakala, accused of witchcraft, 52;
    • denies his guilt, 52;
    • reason of the false charge, 53;
    • takes the ordeal, 55;
    • vomits it, 56;
    • other tests forced on him, 56;
    • is murdered, 57;
    • carcass left on hilltop, 57
  • “Medicine man,” makes fetish for white man, 13;
    • visited by Satu, 20;
    • makes a charm for Satu, 21;
    • fails to cure Satu’s brother, 22;
    • searches for the witch, 49;
    • mode of procedure, 51;
    • accuses Mavakala of witchcraft, 52;
    • makes a luck fetish, 69;
    • rubs out evil spirits, 158;
    • exposure of, 166;
    • makes a hunting charm, 197;
    • makes a war fetish and charms, 214;
    • performs peace rites, 221;
    • makes trading charm, 251;
    • asks Bakula for a bribe, 247;
    • is fooled by school-boys, 263;
    • models of diagnosingdiagnosing, 275;
    • various kinds of, 274, 277, 280, 281
  • Mikula finds the brass rod, 275;
    • takes services, 297;
    • conducts a funeral, 201;
    • his marriage, 307;
    • receives the gifts, 309;
    • talks to an inquirer, 320.
  • Mission station, working of, 148;
    • buying food, 149;
    • best way of bartering for goods, 150;
    • school, 151;
    • repairing, 153;
    • boys’ work in the garden, 154;
    • rules on a, 155;
    • talk with the boys, 156;
    • Saturday’s work, 157;
    • Sunday’s work--Sunday school, 159;
    • service, 161;
    • visit to a town, 162;
    • talk with the King, 164;
    • employments, 257
  • Missionary meeting, native, 335
  • Missionary, their talk about, 17;
    • is coming, 60;
    • driven from the town, 66;
    • is defended by Tonzeka, 93-97;
    • dresses the wounds, 100;
    • converses with Satu and his followers, 107-110;
    • native name for, 90;
    • visits Bakula, 270
  • Mother of Bakula falls ill, 274

N

  • Names given to Kroo boys, 4;
    • white men, 4;
    • missionaries, 90
  • Ndoki, an evil bewitching spirit, 22, 23, 278, 281, 282, 283
  • Nkwiya, spirit that can leave a person and travel without the body, 232, 281

O

  • Omens, kicking the foot, 19, 85;
    • snake on the road, 74;
    • cutting ordeal bark, 55
  • Out-station work, 296;
    • Sunday at an, 297;
    • Communion at an, 298

P

  • Pawn, redeeming a, 178
  • Peace, ceremony of making, 220
  • Pictures, native learns to look at, 255
  • Plaited-Beard warns my companions against white men, 16;
    • angers the people against the coming white man, 60;
    • abuses a visitor, 62;
    • accompanies Satu, 74;
    • kicks his foot and returns to his town, 85;
    • is sent on an embassy, 131;
    • refuses to meet the white man, 172;
    • is not successful in hunting, 208;
    • accuses Bakula, 208;
    • reinvigorates his charm, 210;
    • is made Nenkondo, 224;
    • his crockery is broken, 239;
    • charges Bakula with stealing, 241;
    • submits to the ordeal, 247;
    • guards Bakula during the night, 290
  • Prohibition of luck-giver, 71
  • Proverbs, 33, 39
  • Pudding, way to eat, 38

R

  • Redeeming a pawn, 178;
  • Riddles, various, 9, 124, 125
  • Ridge-pole, taking of chief’s, 219
  • Road, dangers of the, 229, 231, 316
  • Rules of the road, 234

S

  • Sacrifices to charms, 26, 36, 70
  • St. Catherine fails to help the King, 167
  • Satu knocks his toes, 19;
    • bad omen, 20;
    • visits “medicine man,” 20;
    • arrives just in time to see his dying brother, 22;
    • arranges burial of his brother, 23;
    • receives the mourners, 26,
      • and their gifts, 27;
    • stops a serious quarrel, 63;
    • orders a luck fetish, 69;
    • goes to visit a chief, 73;
    • his toilet and dress, 86;
    • visits the white man, 106;
    • a long talk, 107-110;
    • afraid of witchcraft, 111;
    • a title falls to him, 131;
    • sends embassy to King, 131;
    • receives his title, 173;
    • redeems his brother, 178;
    • releases his niece from a hateful marriage, 179;
    • his quarrel with Dimbula, 203;
    • demands an apology, 205;
    • goes to war, 212;
    • accused of bewitching a slave, 219;
    • helps Bakula, 242
  • Selfishness, heathen, 317
  • Sickness, attempt to clear country of, 283, 284
  • Smoking a chief, 273
  • Superstitions about white men:
    • buying bodies, 16;
    • get cloth from the sea, 17;
    • wickedness of white teachers, 17, 18;
    • a luck-fowl dies, 271

T

  • Teachers, need for native, 300;
    • teaching, 303
  • Title falls to Satu, 131;
    • ceremony of giving the, 174
  • Titles of King’s attendants, 145
  • Toilet before meals, 28;
    • before entering a town, 86
  • Tolls for bridges, 234
  • Tonzeka receives Satu, 87;
    • gives him good entertainment, 90;
    • how to settle a palaver, 91;
    • defends the white teacher, 93-97;
    • is disturbed by the teaching, 95;
    • takes Satu to the white teacher, 106
  • Trade goods taken for rubber, ivory, etc., 13
  • Trading, 230;
    • fetish for helping, 231;
    • arrival of traders, 234
  • Treatment of native chief, 273
  • Tumbu sold for food, 43;
    • tells a story, 43;
    • wounded, 217;
    • witnesses for Bakula, 244;
    • tries to comfort Bakula, 249;
    • buries Bakula, 292;
    • takes meme from his friend’s body, 293

V

  • Visitors arrive, 59;
    • abused by Plaited-Beard, 62

W

  • War fetish is made, 214
  • Wardrobes, variegated, 87
  • Welcomed to the station, 303, 311
  • White men, native talk about, 13
  • White man’s fetish, 13;
    • puts weight under scale, 14;
    • buys banana for rubber, 14;
    • cheats in paying out beads, 14;
    • is rubbed with cow-itch, 15;
    • wants to steal ivory trumpets but is shaved, 32;
    • accused of being dirty, 62;
    • why they live under the sea, 108;
    • will steal our country, 172
  • White woman take services, 314
  • Witch-doctors, names of--
    • Kimbaji-mbaji = to-morrow, 21
    • Ngang’a Ngombo = witch-finder, 50, 288
    • Ngol’a nkasa = giver of the ordeal, 55;
    • ngang’a zumbi = luck-giver, 69;
    • ngang’a nkongo = giver of hunting skill, 194, 210
    • Kimpovela, one who speaks on behalf of others, 198
    • Nganga of war, 214
    • Nganga of peace, 221
    • Ngang’a mpungu = giver of trading and general good luck, 231
    • Nganga who gives oil ordeal, 246
    • Nganga to destroy evil spirit, 363
    • Nganga a wuka = healer, 274
    • Nganga a moko, 277
    • Nganga with traps, 280
    • Nganga a bitodi who spoke to spirits, 281
    • Nganga various, 284
  • Women regarded as inferior, 30, 38;
    • condition bettered by Christianity, 310;
    • white woman takes services, 314