Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, Volume 2Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, Volume 2
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Africa, West -- Description and travel; Congo River -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Africa, West
Zambi is the Anyambia of the Gaboon country, a vox et præterea
nihil. Dr. Livingstone ("First Expedition," p. 641), finds the
word general amongst the Balonda, or people of Lunda: with the
"Cazembes" the word is "Pambi," or "Liza," and "O Muata Cazembe"
(p. 297) mentions the proverb, "Ao Pambi e ao Mambi (the King)
nada iguala." In the "Vocabulario da lingua Cafrial" we see (p.
469) that "Murungo" means God or thunder. It is the rudimental
idea of the great Zeus, which the Greeks worked out, the God of
Æther, the eternal, omnipotent, and omniscient, "who was, who is,
and who is to come," the Unknown and Unknowable, concerning whom
St. Paul quoted Aristæus on Mars' Hill. But the African brain
naturally confused it with a something gross and material: thus
Nzambi-a-Npungu is especially the lightning god. Cariambemba is,
properly, Kadi Mpemba or Ntangwa, the being that slays mankind:
Merolla describes it as an "abominable idol;" and the word is
also applied to the owl, here as in Dahome the object of
superstition. I could trace no sign of worship paid to the sun
(Tangwa or Muinyi), but there are multitudes of minor gods,
probably deified ghosts, haunting particular places. Thus,
"Simbi" presides over villages and the "Tadi Nzazhi," or
Lightning Rock, near Boma; whilst the Yellala is the abode of an
evil being which must be propitiated by offerings. As usual
amongst Fetish worshippers, the only trace of belief in a future
state is faith in revenants--returning men or ghosts.
Each village has an idol under a little wall-less roof,
apparently an earthern pot of grease and feathers, called
Mavunga. This may be the Ovengwa of the "Camma people," a
"terrible catcher and eater of men, a vampire of the dead;
personal, whilst the Ibamba are indistinct; tall as a tree;
wandering through the woods, ever winking; whereas the Greek
immortals were known by their motionless eyelids. "Ngolo Wanga"
is a man-shaped figure of unpainted wood, kept in the hut. Every
house is stuck inside and outside with idols and fetishes,
interpreters of the Deity, each having its own jurisdiction over
lightning, wind, and rain; some act as scarecrows; others teach
magic, avert evils, preserve health and sight, protect cattle,
and command fish in the sea or river. They are in all manner of
shapes, strings of mucuna and poison-beans; carved images stuck
over with feathers and tassels; padlocks with a cowrie or a
mirror set in them; horns full of mysterious "medicine;" iron-
tipped poles; bones; birds' beaks and talons; skins of snakes and
leopards, and so forth. We shall meet them again upon our
travels.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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