The Two Head Men Had On Old French Military Coats In
Rags; But They Were Quite Satisfied With Their Appearance, And
Evidently Felt Through Them In Touch With European Culture, For They
Lectured To The Others On The Habits And Customs Of The White Man
With Great Self-Confidence And Superiority.
The majority of the
village had a slight acquaintance already with this interesting
animal, being, I found, Adoomas.
They had made a settlement on
Kembe Island some two years or so ago. Then the Fans came and
attacked them, and killed and ate several. The Adoomas left and
fled to the French authority at Njole and remained under its
guarding shadow until the French came up and chastised the Fans and
burnt their village; and the Adoomas - when things had quieted down
again and the Fans had gone off to build themselves a new village
for their burnt one - came back to Kembe Island and their plantain
patch. They had only done this a few months before my arrival and
had not had time to rebuild, hence the dilapidated state of the
village. They are, I am told, a Congo region tribe, whose country
lies south-west of Franceville, and, as I have already said, are the
tribe used by the French authorities to take convoys up and down the
Ogowe to Franceville, more to keep this route open than for
transport purposes; the rapids rendering it impracticable to take
heavy stores this way, and making it a thirty-six days' journey from
Njole with good luck.
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