Fetichism in West Africa : $b forty years' observation of native customs and superstitionsNassau, Robert Hamill
Philosophy
Fetichism in West Africa : $b forty years' observation of native customs and superstitions
Nassau, Robert Hamill
Ethnology -- Africa, West; Fetishism -- Africa, West
The coast from 3° to 2° N. Lat. is called, by both natives and foreigners,
"Benita"; at 1° N., by foreigners, "Corisco," and by natives, "Benga." The
name "Corisco" was given by Spaniards to an island in the Bay of Benga
because of the brilliant coruscations of lightning so persistent in that
locality. The Benga dialect is taken as the type of all the many dialects
used from Corisco north to Benita, Bata, Batanga, and Kamerun.
From 1° N. to 3° S. is known as the "Gabun country," with the Mpongwe
dialect, typical of its many congeners, the Orungu, Nkâmi (miscalled
"Camma"), Galwa, and others.
From 3° S. to the Kongo River, at 6° S., the Loango tribe and dialect
called "Fyât" are typical; and the Kongo River represents still another
current of tribe and dialect.
In the interior, subtending the entire coast-line as above mentioned, are
the several clans of the great Fang tribe, making a fifth distinctly
different type, known by the names "Osheba," "Bulu," "Mabeya," and others.
The name "Fang" is spelled variously: by the traveller Du Chaillu, "Fañ";
by the French traveller, Count de Brazza, "Pahouin"; by their Benga
neighbors, "Pangwe"; and by the Mpongwe, "Mpañwe." These tribes all have
traditions of their having come from the far Northeast.
Before foreign slave-trade was introduced, and subsequently the ivory,
rubber, palm-oil, and mahogany trades, the occupations of the natives were
hunting, fishing, and agriculture. They subsisted on wild meats, fish,
forest fruits and nuts, and the cultivated plantains, cassava, maize,
ground-nuts, yams, eddoes, sweet potatoes, and a few other vegetables.
II. THE FAMILY.
The family is the unit in native sociology. There is the narrow circle of
relationship expressed by the word "ijawe," plural "majawe" (a derivative
of the verb "jaka" = to beget), which includes those of the immediate
family, both on the father's as well as on the mother's side (_i. e._,
blood-relatives). The wider circle expressed by the word "ikaka" (pl.
"makaka") includes those who are blood-relatives, together with those
united to them by marriage.
In giving illustrative native words I shall use the Benga dialect as
typical. All the tribes have words indicating the relationships of father,
mother, brother, sister. A nephew, while calling his own father "paia,"
calls an uncle who is older than himself "paia-utodu"; one younger than
himself he calls "paia-nděmbě." His own mother he calls "ina," and
his aunts "ina-utodu" and "ina-nděmbě," respectively, for one who is
older or younger than himself.
A cousin is called "mwana-paia-utodu," or "-nděmbě," as the case may
be, according to age. These same designations are used for both the
father's and the mother's side. A cousin's consanguinity is considered
almost the same as that of brother or sister. They cannot marry. Indeed,
all lines of consanguinity are carried farther, in prohibition of
marriage, than in civilized countries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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