The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-07-24
THE ORDER OF THE TALL HAT.
An African Potentate Whose Authority
Depends on Possessing n High Tile.

having occupied the same quarters to-
gether at Leopoldville in 1888. What
a change in this Station at Bolobo since
l first saw it in 1888! There had been
much trouble between whites and ma
tives then. and the Station-houses had
been burned to the ground; even now
the grounds were encircled by a high
stout palisade. Nice, well-kept houses
and stores had been built. There
were also focks of goats and sheep,
good poultry-yards full of fowls and
ducks, and immense plantations of
sweet potatoes, maize, and peanuts,
and gardens of vegetables. What was
more important still. the relations
with the formerly unfriendly and hos
tile natives were now of most salts
factory nature in every way.
The villagers of all the surrounding
country were constantly visiting the
Station and exchanging presents.
Markets had been re-established for
the sale of food. pottery, and native
produce. and long-standing feuds be-
tween the different tribes were AMIGA
bly, settled by the happy Intervention
of Liebrechts. 1t is such as he who are
required to gain the confidence of the
African savage, men with a keen sense
of justice, and the will to enforce it.
My life at Bolobo was n happy one.
LiebrechtS and l spent our time in Wis
iting the different chiefs. superintend-
ing Station matters. and making little
excursions into the interior in search
of guinea-fowl. cartridges. ducks, or
the more formidable buffalo of the
plain.
Formerly, Ibaka was the most pow
erful chief of Bolobo district. His
name was mentioned by the natives of
the surrounding villages with great
deal of reverential awe. But his vii
lage had become disunited; each of his
sons was at enmity with him, and
Manga, Gatula, Lingenji. Nkoe, Ngai
Utsaka, the chiefs of the neighboring
territory, being keen traders, had OBJ
tanned numbers of fighting men, and
Ibaka's word, which at one time COM
manded instant obedience, was now
but little regarded. His title of chief
of Bolobo was of small value; he had
lost all influence. During my stay at
Bolobo many a time he applied to us
for assistance against his neighbors,
and on several occasions he arrived at
our gate in full flight, chased by his
own sons, armed with heavy sticks,
who sought by this method of per-
suasion, to make their father agree to
an immediate and complete division of
the little wealth he still possessed, or
to gain his consent to any other eX-
tortionate demand that might have
suggested itself to their inventive
minds.
Poor old Ibaba was a well-meaning
fellow, and very favorably disposed to-
ward the white men. He was, indeed,
anxious to be on friendly footing
with his white neighbors, but the other
villagers were jealous of him, and
talked him into tritling but irritating
acts of arrogance against tie Station,
which resulted few months before
my arrival, in little war between
Ibaka and Liebrecht who was in COM
mand of the Station. As a punish
ishment for his aggressiveness, Ibaka's
town was burned to the ground.
There is an institution among these
people which cannot be more correct
ly described than by terming it the
Order of the Tall Hat" There is in
each district chief who has proved by
warlike success that he of all the
chiefs, is the most powerful. A pub
lie acknowledgment is made of this
fact, and the elected individual is car
ried around on mems shoulders through
the different villages the bearer pro-
claiming to all that he is the Mokunje
Monene (Big Chief, and that in flu
ture all tribal disputes are to be sub
mitted to his Judgment Upon his
return to the village, amidst dancing
and singing and general feasting and
Joy, the Fetishman, or charm doctor,
places on the chiefs head tall hat.
resembling the stovepipe' of civilized
countries, but which is built with a
brim at the crown and not at the
base. This hat is hereafter worn on
all great occasions. and the weareT
retains it until his death. when new
candidate is elected. In times gone by
Ibaka had received the honors of cleo
ton to this proud order. but unfor-
tunately. during the trouble with
Liebrechts the towering emblem of pc
culiar distinction was burned. A sym
pathiZlng white man, travelling through
the country. heard of The old chiefs
hatless condition, and presented him
with red opera-hat OF exaggerated
construction, which had probably in
years past formed Il prominent feature
in pantomime or burlesque, or had
been used with great effect by some
comic singer or wandering minstrel.
The possession of this truly wonder
full creation of the theatrical cos
tuner made Ibaka a proud and happy
man. His delight in his new decora.
ton would have been unalloyed were
1t not for haunting fear that some
one might steal it, He kept it when
not in use, in our Station house, and
called for it only on state occasions
and big public drinking in
sisted on his continual care of this
valuable acquisition, and would place
it on the side of his head for him. and
impress upon him the necessity of
wearing it in that position, as we
white men were very particular about
such details. Old Ibaka was intensely
superstitious. and was constantly with
the Fetis Imam, who was kept busy man
ufacturing new charms to protect him
against imaginary evils. The poor
old chief was easily gulled. and would
accept from anybody anything that
had the semblance of a charm.
One day Ibaka arrived back from
some prolonged native festival. The
old fellow bore evidence of having
taken more than his share of the strong
wine. He had worn the red opera-hat
on this occasion, and he now brought
it to the Station to see it returned 10 "A
place of safe-keeping. Upon closing
1t up noticed Il mysterious little pack
age, aud was informed that it was
monkandd MON JaRga Cetisi letter.. 1t
was, in fact. a Mohamniedan prayer,
given to him by one OF oar boats crew.
as a safeguard against all forms of
death. 1t struck me that rel opera
hat with Il Mohammedan PRAYER pinned
in it was. indeed. a strange find" in
the uiids OF Central Africa.-E. j.
Glare, IN S!. Nich3teS.