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11 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
depths Xama Ngonzola, the evil rainbow-snake, rises, as I shall describe in the chapter
on OMENS. The numbu tree is this valley's sacred tree. In a very few years all traces of
these trees and places may be lost, so that we have been fortunate in visiting them while
they still remain intact.
On another occasion after trying very hard to get a photograph of a muamba-trce, and
finding it impossible on account of the density of the bush, we left Mambuku's town
about ten o'clock in the morning, and found our way to Buali, expecting to find
MANILUEMBA installed in state. We found him dressed in a loose cloth hung around his
waist, the iron chain BICIMBO slung over his shoulder; he was sitting on a very shaky
chair in front of a crowd of men and women, all seated on the ground and wearing
wreaths of palm-leaves over their shoulders. 6 These were Nganga Mpunzi and his
people, who were "jamming" about the pay they were to receive for clearing the sacred
ground. This is the office of the priest Mpunzi (Mpu=hat or crown, Nzi=he that
produces); he is the crowner, or, as it were, the creator of kings.
It seemed that having arrived and been received by the princes at the nkumbitree,
Maluango had now to await the visits of the Bakici baci; i.e., the representatives of
all the different families owning sacred ground within his kingdom. These people were
described to me as the "eyes" of the people. Each one of these had to visit Maniluemba
and receive a present from him, before NGANGA MPUNZI and his people could come
and cut the grass and prepare a place where NGANGA NVUMBA, the king-elect, could
erect his dwelling (shimbec). Until all these ceremonies were over Maniluemba was not
allowed to live within a shimbec. Thus the sacrifice the old man was making was no
imaginary one, for, as will be remembered, he was very comfortably housed and
surrounded in his village NDEMBUANO.
The place about to be cleared was pointed out to us, and we were told that it was there
that the late Maluango Prati had lived. I noticed two Baobabs, a NUMBU and an NFUMA
(silk cotton tree) upon this ground.
As soon as Maluango caught sight of me he left the palaver and came to offer me his
chair. Then he sat beside me and asked me if I had lunched. I answered, No; so he
gracefully offered me all he could, namely, four pieces of miaka or prepared mandioca.
While this was being roasted he told me that this was the last ceremony in connection
with his accession, except that of receiving the congratulations and submission of all his
petty princes. These, he said, he would send for as soon as he was settled. On that
occasion he would declare that Maluango Prati had been buried, and crown himself as
Maluango, and reinvest his chiefs with their caps of office.
6 The lembekmbe, wreath or rather sash of palm-leaves, also worn by the king elect, gives us the idea of the
coming marriage of MANILUEMBA to his new duties as king. The plant or bush-string with which the two ends
of the lembelembe are tied together is called mobula. Nganga Mpunzi's sacred plant is the mobula; his
fetish lembelembe; his xina, that he must not eat together with other people, and that his food must not be
cooked by an unmarried person
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