Had I Not Observed A Similar State Of
Affairs Regarding Sasabonsum, A Totally Different Kind Of Spirit On
The Windward Coast, I Should Have Had Even Greater Trouble Than I
Had, In Finding A Key To What Seemed At First A Mass Of Conflicting
Details Regarding This Important Spirit O Mbuiri.
There is one other very important point in M'pongwe Fetish; and that
is that the souls of men exist
Before birth as well as after death.
This is indeed, as far as I have been able to find out, a doctrine
universally held by the West African tribes, but among the M'pongwe
there is this modification in it, which agrees strangely well with
the idea I found regarding reincarnated diseases, existent among the
Okyon tribes (pure negroes). The malevolent minor spirits are
capable of being born with, what we will call, a man's soul, as well
as going in with the man's soul during sleep. For example, an Olaga
may be born with a man and that man will thereby be born mad; he may
at any period of his life, given certain conditions, become
possessed by an evil spirit, Onlogho Abambo, Injembe, Nkandada, and
become mad, or ill; but if he is born mad, or sickly, one of the
evil spirits such as an Olaga or an Obambo, the soul of a man that
has not been buried properly, has been born with him.
The rest of the M'pongwe Fetish is on broad lines common to other
tribes, so I relegate it to the general collection of notes on
Fetish. M'pongwe jurisprudence is founded on the same ideas as
those on which West African jurisprudence at large is founded, but
it is so elaborated that it would be desecration to sketch it. It
requires a massive monograph.
CHAPTER VII. ON THE WAY FROM KANGWE TO LAKE NCOVI.
In which the voyager goes for bush again and wanders into a new lake
and a new river.
July 22nd, 1895. - Left Kangwe. The four Ajumba {170} did not turn
up early in the morning as had been arranged, but arrived about
eight, in pouring rain, so decided to wait until two o'clock, which
will give us time to reach their town of Arevooma before nightfall,
and may perhaps give us a chance of arriving there dry. At two we
start. We go down river on the Kangwe side of Lembarene Island,
make a pause in front of the Igalwa slave town, which is on the
Island and nearly opposite the Fan town of Fula on the mainland
bank, our motive being to get stores of yam and plantain - and
magnificent specimens of both we get - and then, when our canoe is
laden with them to an extent that would get us into trouble under
the Act if it ran here, off we go again. Every canoe we meet shouts
us a greeting, and asks where we are going, and we say "Rembwe" - and
they say "What! Rembwe!" - and we say "Yes, Rembwe," and paddle on.
I lay among the luggage for about an hour, not taking much interest
in the Rembwe or anything else, save my own headache; but this soon
lifted, and I was able to take notice, just before we reached the
Ajumba's town, called Arevooma.
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