TALES OF AFRICA

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 107, 9 November 1938, Page 4

TALES OF AFRICA

' WHITE MAN’S MAGIC i BELGIAN CONGO CAMEOS DEATH OF CHIEFTAIN PORTUGUESE OUT OF LUCK Tales of the .Belgian Congo and contacts with the savage African.' tribes during the years unmeciiateiy following- the Great War provided Uisoornc itotarians at their weekly luncheon, with unusually interesting topics for discussion, states the I’.B. Herald. The speaker was Air. J. Ronaidson, a. visitor from British West Africa, wlioi sketched briefly a few incidents in his experience while associated with the Belgian colony in an official capacity. On his arrival in tho Congo, shortly after the war, he stated, he landed at Matadi, on the coast, and was facet! with a rail journey to Thysville and on to Kinshasa, the latter being a port on the Congo River whence he began, with his party, a long journey up-river to Stanleyville. The train between Matadi and Kinshasa provided' a. good introduction to Congo transportation, for it was

fuelled with wood, and at frequent intervals had to stop for re-fuelling, the whole journey taking two full days from early morning until/late in the evening.

By river steamer from Kinshasa, the journey to Stanleyville took six weeks at that time, and covered the whole navigable length of the Congo. The river, while wide—up to a maximum of 22 miles, was not very deep, and abounded with galne which at that timq knew nothing of the perils of mankind. First Contact With Natives.

Mr. Ronaldson and his companions knew nothing of the native languages, and picked up enough to go on by listening to the women, who followed chattering every step they took ashore. Eventually, in not too long a time, they acquired a working knowledge .of Bangala, which served them with most of the tribes.

The Bangalas they found to be big men, fond of a scrap, and Jiving in close contact with the Budjas, equally fight-able and always ready to accommodate the.m. These natives treated Mr. Ronaldson and his companions well, and they experienced no trouble of any kind. A party of Portuguese who went into their country to trade, however, fell into trouble quickly, and three of them were “chopped”—killed and eaten—by Mongas who Jived further down-river. Safe in Cannibal Stronghold! One. member of Mr. Ronaldson’s

party had an unenviable experience when, navigating a canoe with an outboard motor, he lost the use of his engine through water in the petrol, and finally got ashore among thesevery Mongas shortly after they had “chopped” the Portuguese. He was discovered later, unharmed! but decidedly frightened! / In moving about the country, Mr. Ronaldson encountered the Lumami tribe, one of which was to hold criminal trials when things lacked excitement.

The witch-doctors took leading parts, and the suspected criminals had little chance of escaping the rough justice of the chief. Mir, Ronaldson displayed to his audience a- witch-doctor’s bowl, a wooden object so carved that the weight bias caused it to come upright when rolled on the ground. With this bowl as a tliief-finder; the witch doctor had no difficulty in awing his native audience, whose knowledge of bias was nil. After the ceremony, Air'. Ronaldson secured the bowl, as a memento of the occasion. Doubtless it had previously cost many innocent lives. .

Six Girls for Company. In another territory, he came into contact with a tribe which had been associated with white men for 12 years, and was regarded as fairly well in hand. That appearances were deceptive was -proved by an experience which, but for the good offices of his personal hoy, would have cost) liijn bis life. On a Saturday night, he said, ho

had dressed down a village chief for the kind of labour he was providing for Government works. Next 'morning the-chief was dead, and when Air. Ronaldson went- to the village, lie was met with deep suspicion and a reversion to purely savage ceremony. Thu chief’s body was lying in his hut, and grouped* round it were the six girls who* were to bo killed and buried with him to give him company in the spirit land. Not understanding the dialect which he heard used, Air. Ronaldson did not attack any personal importance to the outcries in the village, nor clid he regard as suspicious the sight of three men lying under some trees, apparently asleep.

Arrows in the Bolster. His personal boy found- out, however, that Air. Roiualdsoii was suspected of having caused the death of the chief by the white man’s* magic, and ft was the intervention of this boy tliat saved liis life, first by refusing to let him,, go back to the village, and secondly by insisting on his sleeping out o-f his bed, which was made up with a bolster to present an appearance of being slept in.

* During the first night two arrows, with which flic natives are expert marksmen, were shot through the window into tho bolster, and each © 7 night thereafter until the moon reached the full, further efforts were made to kill the white man. The method did not vary, fortunately, and AH. Ronaldson, sleeping in another part of

the room, suffered no injury. Suspected Accomplices Buried Alive. The rage of the natives died down at the lull of the moon, .which in the native mind signifies the commencement of a new iife for each individual, anu wipes out old scores. He then found, said Mr. Ronaidson, that* the three men whom lie had seen apparently asleep under trees were supposed to be his accomplices. They were bound ready for burial alive, being thrown into graves and covered, except for their faces, over which bamboo tubes of Gin. diameter were placed, so that < they might breathe and thus need not die too quickly !

A military patrol which he had summoned arrived too late to do any, good, and went off again without arresting anyone, said Mr. lionaldson. The attitude of the Belgian commander of the patrol was shown by his final remark, which was to the effect that in 12 months every Englishman would be out of the country.

Mr. Itonaldson’s brief address included also some interesting references to Sierra Leone, whence he transferred after his Congo service.