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
A French gunboat a few years before had ascended it for one hundred and
thirty miles to Lembarene, the head of the Ogowe Delta, and had attached
it to France. Two English traders and one German had built trading-houses
at that one-hundred-and-thirty-mile limit, and traversed the river with
small steam launches in their rubber trade. Besides these three, I was the
only other white resident. They were living in the Galwa tribe, cognate in
language with the Mpongwe. I settled at a one-hundred-and-fifty-mile
limit, in the Akele tribe (cognate with the Benga), building my house at a
place called Belambila.
Two years later I abandoned that spot, came down to Lembarene, and built
on Kângwe Hill. There I learned the Mpongwe dialect. I remained there
until 1880, successful with school and church, and travelling by boat and
canoe thousands of miles in the many branches of the Ogowe, through its
Delta, and in the lake country of Lakes Onange and Azyingo. In 1880 I took
a second furlough to the United States, remaining eighteen months, and
returning at the close of 1881.
My prosperous and comfortable station at Kângwe was occupied by a new man,
and I resumed my old _rôle_ of pioneer. I travelled up the Ogowe, one
hundred and fifty miles beyond Lembarene, ascending and descending the
wild waters of its cataracts, and settled at Talaguga, a noted rock near
which was subsequently established the French military post, Njoli, at the
two-hundred-mile limit of the course of the river. There I was alone with
Mrs. Nassau, my nearest white neighbors the two French officers five miles
up river at the post, and my successors at Kângwe, seventy miles down
river. The inhabitants were wild cannibal Fang, just recently emerged from
the interior forest. It was a splendid field for original investigation,
and I applied myself to the Fang dialect.
I remained at Talaguga until 1891, when I took a third furlough to the
United States, and stayed through 1892, during which time the Mission
Board transferred my entire Ogowe work, with its two stations and four
churches and successful schools, to the French Paris Evangelical Society.
In March, 1893, at the request of the Rev. Frank F. Ellinwood, D.D.,
LL.D., I wrote and read, before the American Society of Comparative
Religions, a forty-minute essay on Bantu Theology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account