Chi! Chi!" Says A., "This Is Worthless,
There Are No Seeds." "Ai, Ai," Says B., "Never Were There So Many
Seeds In A Bunch Of Lhiamba," Etc.
It is used smoked, like the
ganja of India, not like the preparation bhang, and the way the
Africans in the Congo used it was a very quaint one.
They would
hollow out a little hole in the ground, making a little dome over
it; then in went a few hemp-tops; and on to them a few stones made
red hot in a fire. Then the dome was closed up and a reed stuck
through it. Then one man after another would go and draw up into
his lungs as much smoke as he could with one prolonged deep
inspiration; and then go apart and cough in a hard, hacking
distressing way for ten minutes at a time, and then back to the reed
for another pull. In addition to the worry of hearing their coughs,
the lhiamba gives you trouble with the men, for it spoils their
tempers, making them moody and fractious, and prone to quarrel with
each other; and when they get an excessive dose of it their society
is more terrifying than tolerable. I once came across three men who
had got into this state and a fourth man who had not, but was of the
party. They fought with him, and broke his head, and then we
proceeded on our way, one gentleman taking flying leaps at some
places, climbing up trees now and again, and embedding himself in
the bush alongside the path "because of the pools of moving blood on
it." ("If they had not kept moving," he said as he sat where he
fell - "he could have managed it") - the others having grand times
with various creatures, which, judging from their description of
them, I was truly thankful were not there. The men's state of mind,
however, soon cleared; and I must say this was the only time I came
across this lhiamba giving such strong effects; usually the men just
cough with that racking cough that lets you know what they have been
up to, and quarrel for a short time. When, however, a whiff of
lhiamba is taken by them in the morning before starting on a march,
the effect seems to be good, enabling them to get over the ground
easily and to endure a long march without being exhausted. But a
small tot of rum is better for them by far. Many other intoxicants
made from bush are known to and used by the witch doctors.
You may say: - Well! if it is not the polygamy and not the drink
that makes the West African as useless as he now is as a developer,
or a means of developing the country, what is it? In my opinion, it
is the sort of instruction he has received, not that this
instruction is necessarily bad in itself, but bad from being
unsuited to the sort of man to whom it has been given.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 345 of 371
Words from 180850 to 181360
of 194943
