Part 16 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: RECEPTION OF THE KING OF THE ASIHRAS.]
Never in my life had I seen a man so old; never did I dream that a man could be so old, and I wondered not that his fame had spread far and wide on account of his age. He was a man with wool as white as snow, and his face was a ma.s.s of wrinkles. Every rib could be seen, for the skin was like parchment. His body was bent almost double with age, and the legs and arms were like sticks, apparently not bigger than broom-handles. His cheeks were so hollow that the skin seemed to cling to the bones. He had painted with the chalk of the Alumbi his haggard old face, red on one side and white on the other, in streaks, and, as he stood before me, I wondered as much at his appearance as he did at mine.
He carried a long stick or cane to support himself. The like I had never seen. He seemed the apparition of some man who had lived in our world a couple of hundred years.
When we had gazed at each other (he looking at me with deep little eyes for at least five minutes, and beating his kendo all the time with his palsied hand), he suddenly spoke and said, ”I have no bowels; I am like the Ovenga River--I can not be cut in two. I am also like the Niembai and Ovenga Rivers, which unite together. Thus my body is united, and nothing can divide it.”
This gibberish had some deep mystic significance. It was the regular and invariable salutation of the As.h.i.+ra kings, Olenda's predecessors, time out of mind. Each chief and important person has such a salutation, which they call _kombo_.
I will explain Olenda's kombo to you. If you had before you a map of the countries I have explored in Equatorial Africa, which are published in my larger works, you would see on it the River Ovenga. Olenda means, when he says that he can not be cut in two and is like the River Ovenga, that his body can not be divided any more than the River Ovenga can be cut in twain. The Niembai and Ovenga unite together and form one river, called Rembo; so, if his body was cut in two, it could not be separated, for, as the two rivers unite and form one, so the two parts of his body would reunite again and form one.
Then he continued, beating his kendo from time to time, ”You, the spirit, have come to see Olenda; you, the spirit, have put your feet where none like you have ever been. You are welcome.”
Here the old king's son, also a very old negro, with white wool on his head, handed over to the king two slaves, which his majesty formally presented to me, together with three goats, twenty bunches of plantains, twenty fowls, five baskets of ground-nuts, and several bunches of sugar-cane.
”This,” said he, ”is to salute you. Whatever else you want, tell me. I am the king of this country; I am older than any tree you see around you.”
I replied that slaves I did not want, but the food and other presents I would take.
Then more of the old man's children came, all old, and wrinkled, and white-headed men. They stood before me, regarding me with wonder and awe, while the people, of whom thousands were gathered from all the villages of the plain, had returned while their old king was speaking to me. They looked on in silence, and expressed their surprise in whispers.
At last the old king turned to his people and said, ”I have seen many things in my life--many wonderful things; but now I am ready to die, for I have received the moguizi spirit, from whom we receive all things. It will always be said in our nation, by those coming after us, that in the time of Olenda the spirit first appeared and dwelt among us. You are welcome (turning to me). Keep this spirit well (to his people); he will do us good.”
I was amazed; my eyes could not keep away from Olenda. I knew not that men could become so old.
Then Olenda began to beat his kendo again, invoking the spirits of his ancestors to be with him and his, and, with big body bent double, and supported by his cane, he returned to his hut, e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.n.g. ”_Ma-mo_, _ma-mo_, _ma-mo_!”
The kendo is the symbol of royalty in most of the tribes of this part of the interior of Africa. It is a rude bell of iron, furnished with a long handle, also of iron, and of the same piece, as shown in the engraving.
The sound, which at home announces the vicinity of a herd of cows or sheep, in Africa precedes the advent of the sovereign, who uses the kendo only when on visits of state or on business of importance. When not beating it they wear it on the shoulder. The bell may vary from six to eight inches in length, and the handle from twelve to fifteen inches.
When they wear the kendo they fill it with a skin, generally of an oshengui, which contains monda, or charms, to keep away the aniemba.
A nice little hut was given to me, and I was soon safely housed in it.
One of the chickens given to me by Olenda was killed, and a soup made with it. It was excellent, and did me good.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THEY ALL COME TO SEE ME.--THEY SAY I HAVE AN EVIL EYE.--As.h.i.+RA VILLAGES.--OLENDA GIVES A GREAT BALL IN MY HONOR.--BEER-HOUSES.--GOATS COMING OUT OF A MOUNTAIN ALIVE.
Several days have elapsed since my arrival at Olenda. From more than one hundred and fifty villages of the plain, the people streamed to Olenda's town to see ”the spirit.” They came in the night, slept on the ground outside the town, and in the morning crowded about me, wondering at my hair, at my clothes, at my shoes; declaring that my feet were like elephant's feet, for they did not see the toes; and they would try to get a glance at my eyes. The moment I looked at them they ran off screaming, and especially the women and children. The Africans had a great dread of my look. They believe in the _evil eye_, and often, when I would look steadily at them, my best friends, with a shudder, would beg me not to do it.
So I may say that since my arrival the time has been devoted to seeing and being seen. And I a.s.sure you it was no joke to hear that uproarious crowd and their wild shouts--to have always in my sight a crowd of people yelling at every movement I made.
I had a Yankee clock, which was an object of constant wonder to them.
They thought that there was a kind of spirit inside that made the noise, and that watched over me. Its constant ticking, day and night, was noticed, and they had an idea that the noise could never stop. At night of course the sound is louder, and this frightened them, and not one dared to come close to my hut.
Every day Olenda beats his kendo; every day he comes to get a look at me.
This As.h.i.+ra prairie seemed to be shut in on all sides by mountains, which of course were covered with forest. Fancy the forest a sea of trees, and the As.h.i.+ra Land an island. Pine-apples grew in great abundance, and thousands and thousands of them were cl.u.s.tered close together, and formed otobi (prairies) by themselves.