File:A voice from the Congo - comprising stories, anecdotes, and descriptive notes (1910) (14596923520).jpg

Identifier: voicefromcongoco00ward (find matches)
Title: A voice from the Congo : comprising stories, anecdotes, and descriptive notes
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919
Subjects: Ward, Herbert, 1863-1919 Africa, Central -- Description and travel Africa, Central -- Social life and customs
Publisher: New York : Charles Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: University of Connecticut Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Connecticut Libraries

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happened to be the day of a great native market which was to be held on an adjacent hill crest—the village was almost deserted. The only distinct sounds were the occasional wail of an infant and the snarling of pariah dogs as they prowled about in search of food. Snatches of a conversation which was being carried on by two women, suggested that something was about to happen. The day was bright and clear. In the distance I could distinguish a large dark crowd of natives gathered on the hill top. A gentle breeze was blowing from that direction, conveying an indistinct murmur, and drawing nearer I could hear the rising and falling inflections of hundreds of excited voices. In the centre of the marketplace, Lubaki the Nganga Nkissi had been buried in a hole, fromw hich his head was alone visible. The village executioner, a muscular native, was bidden forward by the chief. He carried in his arms a large rock, weighing at least a hundred weight. At a give nword, the great stone fell upon Lubakis head.
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Witch rattle, Bangala In the collection of the Author THE FUNERAL OF AN AFRICAN CHIEF Official duties necessitated my visiting the district of Bolobo, a flourishing and densely populated series of native villages situated on the south bank of the great Congo River, about six hundred miles from the Atlantic coast. The natives of Bolobo, like most other primitive Africans, are keen traders, dealing mostly in natural produce and using cloth, ivory, iron, and slaves as mediums of currency. Although not cannibals, they are notoriously cruel, frequently torturing their slaves in most barbarous and inhuman fashions. In appearance, the people of Bolobo represent a somewhat higher form than usual, of the negro Bantu type. They are notoriously avaricious, and are known to be the richest and most successful traders of the Middle Congo. Some few days before my arrival the great chief of Bolobo had died, and I found the district in a state of wild excitement, for on the particular day of my visit the body o

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