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10 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
Maniluemba is humpbacked and short in stature, but he possesses a rather fine Jewish
cast of face; and he is a bit of a dandy evidently, for the ends of his moustaches were
strung through the hollow centres of two amber beads. In the middle of his forehead,
from his hair to his nose, ran a line in red chalk, flanked on each side by a white one;
while from his ears to his eyes similar marks nearly completed his fetish toilet. On
either car he had placed a white chalk mark, while a string with a charm attached to it
was worn as a kind of necklace. He wore a waistcoat and an overcoat with a velvet
collar, while a fancy cloth hung on his belt around his waist, and in front of this
his nkanda ndéci (a skin). 4
I placed my offerings before him and congratulated him upon his election, and (while
his people chased fowls) we had a long and interesting talk, and I took his photograph.
Then he gave me his pipe to smoke, and shook me by the hand, until his heavy marriage
bracelet fairly rattled against his bony wrist; and as I was leaving he presented me with
the result of his people's hunt, namely, three fowls, and bade me go in peace.
Upon my return journey, after passing the town of Ximoko, I came to a place in the
grassy plain marked by the sacred tree Nkumbi (Pl. II). Here the Maluango elect is
received by the princes upon his first official entrance upon the sacred ground (Xibila)
set apart as the residence of the Kings of Luango. 5
The place where this tree rears its stately head in lonely glory is called Xibindu bindu
Xibukulu lu mpilo. Xinkumba means a maiden, and the natives tell me the place, and the
tree Nkumbi, takes its name from the fact of some royal maiden having arrived at
womanhood there. Man and woman together may not cross this Xibindu (valley); the
man must go first, and when he is well across the woman may follow him. At Boa Vista
there is another such Xibindu, and should a man and a woman cross these places
together, they will be punished by having no children. So much for the tree at the
entrance of the sacred ground. As we leave it upon the road to Lubu (Maluango's burialplace)
there stands a Nsexi tree, once a market tree, beneath whose scanty shade the
corpse of the defunct Maluango is placed, awaiting the meeting of the people, whose
duty it is to carry it to Lubu for burial. Here the little valley is called Xibindu bindu ku
Ximonika na Buali, the valley of the last look at Buali (Maluango's town). As we neared
Luango we were struck by the great beauty of a deep valley that runs from the foot of
the steep cliff upon which we stood, away to the sea. This valley is called Bulu Nzimbu
Xikoko (the valley of the fly and the mosquito hand in hand), and from out its
makes to escape from the net when caught.("Lemba means, to cease. The rites of Lembe are those which refer
to the marriage of - woman who swears to die with her husband, or rather to cease to live at the same time
that he does."-Letter of the author's to Miss Kingsley, quoted in West African Studies, p. 193.)
4
There are two kinds of skins worn in this way by the Bavili: nkanda ndéci, a wild cat-skin, and xingola
xinyundu, the otter-skin. Those who wear these skins are considered to-day very well to do people; there is
one thing about them that they must always bear in mind, and that is, when they take them off not to pull
them downwards, but to take care to pull them upwards between the belt and the cloth; otherwise they will
have no children
5
Xi=ci, quality of, or earth; bila, to meet or to heap up. I could not find any lombi in Maluango's xibila, but the
meaning of the word XIBILA is very suggestive, i.e., sacred grove
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