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101 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett CHAPTER XIII. SACRED TREES Nkasa trees.-Sacred trees and the Bakici Baci.-Muema and other trees.-Secret Societies.- The Formula. -Maluango's Lesson. SACRED TREES AND HERBS. I HAVE gathered sufficient evidence to convince myself that each grove has a tree sacred to it, but all these trees are not NKICI-CI. For instance I am told that the silk cotton NFUMA tree is NKICI to the grove XIVUMA, but the NFUMA tree is not NKICI-CI. Then some trees appear to be sacred to more than one grove, as for instance the NKUMBI tree, apparently sacred to MPUNGU and also to NYIMINA, and the NUMBU tree sacred to NYAMBI, BUKULU and others. My informants however differ so on this subject that in the following study I shall leave out all mention of the groves, and simply give the list of the twenty-four trees and herbs that are BAKICI-BACI, without bringing them in each instance into connection with the philosophy. You must not conclude that in giving you this list of the sacred trees and herbs of the Bavili, I have exhausted their stock of medicine trees and shrubs. There are many other well-known plants and trees that have to do with medicine and NDONGOISM (fetish), but they are not BAKICI-BACI, or as we should say, sacred powers. MISENGO, MAKAKATA, XUMU, MVUTU, LUSINGO, all enter generally into fetish as medicines. Then there is the great tree NKASA, the powdered bark of which is given to people accused of witchcraft and the MBUNDU CITU. We are naturally left in wonder that two such members of the vegetable kingdom are not sacred, the BAVILI however say they are not, and we must be guided by them in this matter whatever the result may be. There are no Nkasa trees near to Luango; that is to say, we must go for a walk of some twelve miles to find one. On one occasion we left Luango early in the morning, determined to photograph a few Nkasa and other "sacred" trees, as we thought them at the time. We arrived at Ximoko, or Buku li Buali, the town of Mambuku Prati, the nephew of Maniluemba the Maluango-elect. Maluango had now left the town in which we first met him and come to Buali, his capital: and meanwhile on the road we heard that we should not find Mambuku at home. "He had gone to see Maluango," was the only answer to our question. "What has he gone there for?" No answer. Thus when we arrived, the front door of the "little palace" Mambuku had been good enough to build as a chamber for his guests was locked. We walked in therefore through the opening at the back. Then we plied Mambuku's mother with various questions (his wives were within the enclosure called Lumbu, already described). It then appeared that the mother was suffering from an evil spirit that had already troubled her in one of her legs, and had now commenced to swell her fingers up. She showed us the hand to prove that there was no humbug about the palaver. Moreover, www.globalgrey.co.uk
102 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett that same morning very early Makawso had got up and gone outside his shimbec in one direction, while his wife went into the grass in the other direction. Makawso was then, he said, suddenly attracted by the terrible cries of his wife. He rushed -to her assistance, and the leopard that had already seized her by the throat ran away. The poor woman was in a fearful state, but they hoped to save her life. Mambuku, as the father of his people, had gone to consult the great priest NGANGA NVUMBA, or Maluango. After breakfast, I said I would start to find the Nkasatree which a small boy said he thought he knew of As we passed through another town the boy said we had better ask the women to guide us, for they generally knew where these trees were owing to the clearings made for them by their husbands for their plantations. So I asked them, and they laughed and giggled, the silly things, and said they would follow us, as they were going into the woods to gather the leaves of the fubu, it being nearly the time for matmaking. Down we dived into a wooded valley, and when we had reached the bottom we stopped to talk to some natives who were busy collecting palm-wine. Did they know of the whereabouts of an Nkasa-tree? "Yes." "Would the spokesman guide us to it? He was busy, but the direction in which we were going would not take us to one. I called upon the small boy for an explanation. The boy and the native discussed the question, and the men and the women laughed. The women then went on their way jabbering. The tree the boy wished to show me was not an Nkasa-tree. I then asked the speaker to neglect his business for a consideration, and lead us to the tree he knew of. He growled, but at last was persuaded to accompany us, and we went back by the road we had come. Our guide was in a hurry and ran; we ran after him. Then he dived into the wood and we followed him. Then he said he would have to find the tree, and he left us, and, alas! we saw him no more. Then we followed a path which led us out of that wood, and when we once more got into the open we saw one of our party (who they said was a fool) reclining upon the grass resting. He said he knew where an Nkasa-tree existed. "Why, then, had he not taken us to it straightaway? Was it far?" "No." "Then let us be off." Finally, about an hour's walk brought us to a clearing in the wood, where women were about to plant Indian corn and mandioca. By straining our necks and standing on the half-dried trunk of one of the felled trees which lay around us we caught sight of a few of the top branches of the Nkasa-tree, which we photographed. Then entering the dark wood we examined the trunk. The tree measured some twelve feet in circumference, www.globalgrey.co.uk
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