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47 At the Back of the Black Man's Mind By R. E. Dennett
TRANSLATION.
1. There is no man so tall or equal to me.
2. Index-finger:
I am the one that follows.
3. 3rd Finger:
How much do you gain by being taller and stronger?
4. Little Finger: a very old man, they say, the primeval
What do you all gain by being tall? I am thy chief
5. The Thumb:
For this reason I who am not your equal am by myself, for this I left you (on account of
constant strife).
THE KAKONGO VERSION.
The first two lines are the same.
3. Ayi nguli, ayi muna, tate, ximbixi nubakac?
4. Nsambixi nkotala ku nkwandi tata i nguli?
5. Lu naungu. lu inu i yaka na mundonga, inu.
TRANSLATION:
1. There is no man equal or as tall as I am.
2. I come after thee.
3. And what do you gain by it, Mother and Father?
4. Why does he raise the question (of?) his Father and Mother?
5. Your one apart is your slave.
The Kabinda woman who gave me the Kakongo version explained that the little finger
claimed to be the chief (or the first?) because the little finger and the "tragus" of the ear
were the first parts of a child in conception to be formed.
The Bavili use beads also to count with (BILABU or the blue glass beads); LABU as père
Visseg tells us is the most subtle part of fire.
Thus (to-day rarely but) twenty years ago generally if you watched the Bavili counting
you would notice that when he counted one he would put two beads on the ground, two,
two more, and so on until he had counted four, when he would place two apart. These
he would amass, and then place two beads on one side, so that when he had counted
eight he would have two heaps of ten each plus four beads or 24 in all. These he would
amass again and place one on one side (25 or one generation) so that when he had
counted forty he really had 80 + 16 + 4 = 100.
Now the word for ten is Kumi (from KUMA to cause, to reason) and ten is the square
root of KAMA, a word meaning (the royal wife and) 100.
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