New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1884-03-12
An African Funeral.

j
neg we stopped at a village called tam.
ba, near the point where the Congo
begins to narrow down from a breadth
of nine or ten miles to q few hundred
yards. Here, at Itamba, we found the
people just about to proceed to the OBJ
sequies of a dead fellow-townsman, 1T
old man, apparently of some socia
standing. The chief and his subjects
were in some perplexiiy. OF late years
it has become ''de rigueur,' since guns
were introduced into the upper Congo
regions, TO fire salute over the body
of a defunct person, especially if it be
of any distinction; and the inhaDi. ants
OF the village, possessing only one pitt
full old flint lock among them, and that
terribly out OF repair, were hesitatine
when we arrived at to what course they
should pursue-whether they shOulC
charge and fire this one dilapidateC
gun and risk its bursting, Or whether
the deceased should be allowed TO wenc
his way to the land of spirits unhonorec
and unsaluted. Seeing their perp!exity
Lieut.. Orban volunteered to fire rounc
of twenty cartridges from his swim
chester. The chief and people were
delighted. Could there be greater honor
for the deceased than to receive hi:
farewell salute at the hands Of q white
man, with his wonderful gun, from
Mputo-the mysterious region beyonc
the seattle nknown-perhaps HEAVIER
itself? (for are not these white mel
sons of heavenly So thought the ole
chief, as he led us to see the corpse
With an earnest, pleading tone he took
our hands in his and said: "Oh. yol
who are going home, and he pointed
to the pale and peaceful sky-''you will
send him back to us, will you mott
You will tell him his hut is waiting fol
him, his wives will prepare his manioe
white as cotton cloth, and there shall be
Malafu in plenty, and a goat killed
You will send him back, will vol
not? This expression Of feeling quite
took us by surprise. Ordinarily thu
African chief is so stolid, so thoroughly
material, that one never expects from
him anything like sentiment or poetica
ideas. We tried us gently as possible
he appealed to both Of us in his distress
to explain ut once our utter inability
to reanimate this hideous corpse witt
the breath of life, and to encourage hin
with vague hopes that all was not il
vain, but he shook his aged, grizzleo
head sadly at the confession of our pow
erlessness face to face with death. Tho
body OF the dead man had been previ
ously smoked and dried overa slow fire
so that the flesh, except upon the hands
was shrunken and reduced to "a leathery
covering round the gaunt bones. Tho
face had been gaudily painted witt
scarlet, yellow, and white pigments
and the whole body was encrusted will
the red dye of the camwood tree
Round the nose and mouth was wrap
ped band of cloth, and gay-patterne(
cotton swathed the body. For som,
reason the hands were plump and wei
covered with flesh. as if in life. The
dead man had been placed in his grave
in sitting posture, many layers O
native cloth lying under him, and ready
to cover him up on the top were pie:
of cotton stuffs received in trade from
the far-of coast, and representing tt
these natives considerable amount O.
wealth. In the vague half determined
notions which the people here have con
ceived as to u future existence, every
thing in the spirit world is supposed te
be pale copy of things existing on tn.
earth, 80 that for this reason they pu
cloth, vessels of pottery, and, in the
case of chief, dead slaves into the
graves, in order that the deceased AIRY
ing in the land of shades may not ap
pear unprovided with the necessary
means of making q fresh start in q new
life. The grave in which this man was
buried had been dug in q hut, and The
head of the corpse was not more thar
two feet below the surface. We coul.
not ascertain whether the hut, or rather
house-for it was a substantial building
of poles and thatch-Would be aban.
doned or not. fancy not, as it is only
in the case of chief that this is done
and the man that was dead, although
rich and influential, was, after all only
the favorite slave of the chief. In this vii.
lage many skulls were stuck on top Of
the houses. They were those of mis-.
doors who had been slain by the fetish
man for their crimes, and their skulls
were thus exposed for the admonition
of others. Out of mere fun we asked il
they would sell us some, knowing the
horror that these people have OF parting
with any human remains, and expect
ing a decided refusal. 10 our surprise,
however, they Immediately asked a
certain price, which was afterward re-
duced to three brass rods for each skull,
at which rate three were soon bought,
and more might probably have been pro.
cured if we had cared to stop and bar
GAIN Correspondence London Iele-
graph.