CENTRAL AFRICAN GONG-LANGUAGES

74 A. C O M P A R A T IV E S T U D YN e k e s reports that the talking-gong of the Yaumlepeople is used as a means of communicating with thespirit worhl :Doch die Trommelstimme durchdringt auch das... Toten-reich. Er... « spricht » mit dem Toten (67, p. 78) (l).There is little evidence that the tribes of the Yakusuarea use the gongs to speak » witli the spirit world. Theonly example of messages! which seem to be sent directlyto t lie spirit s is that which is beaten out by the Lokele onthe approach of rain :bolemba olóqgó laloóla lókoki .... bad spirit, son of the spittingsnake whose poison remainsvirulent,óyékesé óyékesédo not. come down (repeated).kondâbauki kondanyeU nyoqgo ... to the clods, to the ground for.fsó bato bâoki ..........we men of the village,kosimélâ komlândâkow ill go inside the house.yatümbé elundii likoloThe gong-signals used in connection with the secretceremony rites are of interest in this connection becausethese ceremonies (libeli among the Kele; ekarjga amongthe Mbole) are supposed to be controlled by the spirits.In the Mbole (Yaamba) call to the eka^ga rites, there isa reference to the practice fo making the novices « runthe gauntlet » between two rows of elders armed withwhips (cf. M i l l m a n , 63 and R o u v r o y , 81) fortolóme twabalimó ófimbo ..............ltttle men of the spirits with whips.(!) Westerman (104) gives some very interesting drum-phrases whichare beaten out as direct communications with the spirit world by thenon-Bantu Ewe people.The gong is used to address the spirits in other parts of the world.Thus Karsten reports that the Jibaro tribe of South America believethe slit-gong to be a means of communication with the spirit-world(48, p. 110). The gong itself is supposed by this tribe to represent thespirit which appears in the form of the Anaconda snake. Bateson (4,p. 286) states that the central Iatmul of New Guinea regard the gongsand the spirits as fundamentally the same.