1. It may interest those who would read further on the folklore of the Lower Congo people that in Folk-Lore (the Journal of the Folk-Lore Society) for 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911 more detailed articles will be found, which were furnished by the writer.
7. Most white men are known to the natives by native names.
28. It is the custom for a man to give his wife at least one new cloth every year.
37. Equal to saying: “I am shooting at the gnats that are eating up the turnips.”
38. The “forks” cut on upright posts to hold the cross poles are called in Congo meno, i. e. teeth.
39. The mortar is used for pounding maize, dried cassava, plantains, etc. To the native familiar with the whole process it was a good conundrum.
40. Katendi Katendwa nzala o makanda mamene, i. e. Katendi’s finger-nails must not be cut, or his clan will die out: in other words, he must fight to the last, and not submit to humiliations.
41. The whole present was worth about £10 at that time.
50. Revs. T. J. Comber, John Hartland, W. H. Bentley, and H. E. Crudgington.
58. Cloth made from pine-apple or palm fibre.
66. See Chapter VII.
68. C. J. Harris, in his introduction to Uncle Remus and His Sayings (Ward, Lock and Co., 6d. edition) mentions Prof. J. W. Powell, of the Smithsonian Institute, and Herbert H. Smith as having found similar stories “in a number of languages, and in various modified forms.” The former among the North American Indians, and the latter among the South American Indians, and one in particular he has traced to India, and as far east as Siam. I would refer the reader to that Introduction for further details.
69. It is said there are no true gazelles in Africa, whether that is so or not I have found it convenient to translate the Congo word nsexi uniformly as gazelle. The nsexi is about eighteen inches high, of slight body, thin legs, whitey-brown stomach, and brownish-grey back, small, sharp-pointed horns, small head, and large pathetic eyes. The nsexi is very agile, and I suppose that the slaves from the Congo finding no such animal in their new home in America, used the rabbit as a substitute--also there are no leopards there, so they transferred his gullibility to the fox, wolf and bear.
70. Driver-ant = Nsongonia. Small-ant = Mfitete.
71. Musical instrument like a marimba.
72. Names of market days.
73. The creditor would live at the expense of the debtor, hence the Hawk’s desire to get rid of the Frog.
74. The natives regard the Chameleon as a great dancer, because while standing still it has a peculiar movement, something like a native dancing.
75. The powder is made by grinding two pieces of the camwood together. The red paste resulting from the friction is dried, pounded and put into a cloth, and after a person has bathed, and rubbed himself (or herself) with oil the cloth is dabbed on the body, and the fine dust comes out and over the body. The camwood powder is greatly valued as a cosmetic.
76. The tree in the story is the nsafu (canuniensis) the fruit of which is date shape, but the tree is like a plum in shape, etc.
77. A very large and clever rat.
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Italicized words from the local language are assumed to be from the Kikongo (kg) lexicon.
Endnote 24, which merely cross-references endnote 19, is not referred to directly anywhere in the text.
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original.
| 82.26 | [“]Next morning the Wine-gatherer | Added. |
| 163 | Mbumb[u/a]’s record | Replaced. |
| 395.6 | [“]and you will be the tenth.” | Added. |
| 396.8 | [“]but where is the money?” | Added. |
| 466.3 | models of diagno[s]ing | Inserted. |
| 467.27 | takes [me] from his friend’s body | sic |