AMONG CONGO CANNIBALS [Illustration: BOLOKI MAN AND HIS WIFE Notice the cicatrice on the man’s forehead and on the woman’s stomach. The brass ring round her neck in some cases weighs as much as 28 lbs. In her hand she is holding a paddle. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AMONG CONGO CANNIBALS EXPERIENCES, IMPRESSIONS, AND ADVENTURES DURING A THIRTY YEARS’ SOJOURN AMONGST THE BOLOKI AND OTHER CONGO TRIBES WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THEIR CURIOUS HABITS, CUSTOMS RELIGION, & LAWS BY JOHN H. WEEKS CORRESPONDENT TO THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AND TO THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY AUTHOR OF “CONGO LIFE AND FOLK-LORE,” &C. &C. WITH 54 ILLUSTRATIONS & A MAP PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD. 1913 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE The object of the author throughout these pages has been to give an account of his experiences among the Boloki (or Bangala), and a description of the manners, habits, customs, etc., of this interesting people amidst whom he lived in closest intimacy as a missionary. The author went to the Congo in 1881, hence his residence in what has been aptly called “Darkest Africa” covers a period of thirty years—fifteen of which were spent in other parts of the Congo, and fifteen amongst the Boloki people. These pages, however, are not a record of missionary life and work, but a description of primitive life and native organizations, of African mythology, superstition, and witchcraft, and of barbarities that are the natural outcome of the native’s view of life. The writer, from the very first days of his life amongst the Boloki folk, kept extensive and careful notes of all that he saw and heard around him. The anthropology and folk-lore of the people have always been interesting subjects to him; and while reducing the language to writing, a task which demanded a clear understanding of the various words in use and the customs which they often describe, he was gaining an insight into the native life and mode of thought only vouchsafed to those who have won the confidence of a savage people, and are living in close and sympathetic touch with them.