Accordingly he obeyed any summons from
me with great alacrity, knowing that the interview would terminate with
a "baksheesh" (present). In this manner I succeeded in establishing
confidence, and he would frequently come uncalled to my tent and
converse upon all manner of subjects. The Latooka language is different
to the Bari, and a second interpreter was necessary; this was a sharp
lad about the same age: thus the conversation was somewhat tedious, the
medium being Bari and Latooka.
The chief Commoro (the "Lion") was one of the most clever and
common-sense savages that I had seen in these countries, and the tribe
paid far more deference to his commands than to those of his brother,
"Moy," although the latter was the superior in rank.
One day I sent for Commoro after the usual funeral dance was completed,
and, through my two young interpreters, I had a long conversation with
him on the customs of his country. I wished if possible to fathom the
origin of the extraordinary custom of exhuming the body after burial, as
I imagined that in this act some idea might be traced to a belief in the
resurrection.
Commoro was, like all his people, extremely tall. Upon entering my tent
he took his seat upon the ground, the Latookas not using stools like the
other White Nile tribes. I commenced the conversation by complimenting
him on the perfection of his wives and daughters in the dance, and on
his own agility in the performance; and inquired for whom the ceremony
had been performed.
He replied, that it was for a man who had been recently killed, but no
one of great importance, the same ceremony being observed for every
person without distinction. I asked him why those slain in battle were
allowed to remain unburied. He said, it had always been the custom, but
that he could not explain it.
"But," I replied, "why should you disturb the bones of those whom you
have already buried, and expose them on the outskirts of the town?"
"It was the custom of our forefathers," he answered, "therefore we
continue to observe it."
"Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some idea
expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is decayed?"
Commoro (loq.). - "Existence AFTER death! How can that be? Can a dead man
get out of his grave, unless we dig him out?"
"Do you think man is like a beast, that dies and is ended?"
Commoro.
