The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1910-08-11
African Traveller Investigates
a Hidden and Heretofore
Little Known People.
ANGoNIs LOVE FLY CAKE
They Will Not Steal From One An.
other, but Esteem Those Who Take
From Others-Steeped in
Superstition.

clan, mucn given 10 HBHIinB, put auoue
q hundred years ago they set forth,
travelling northward through Africa,
killing and e~nslaving, and are now
settled near the shores of Lake Nyas-
ga. OF course, it was only h men
who went forth. but as they journeyed
10 their new land, killing the tribes In
possession, they married the women OF
the defeated races. The children
learned to speak in the language OF
their mothers, and SO today, though
The Angonis dress and fight after the
manner Of the Zulus, the language they
speak is hat Of the races that their
fathers and grandfathers defeated.
Although the women are not allowed
70 eat with the men, they are at full
Jberty to get drunk with them. AS
there is not much in the way of house,
hold duties to occupy them, h wom-
en- concern themselves with brewing
D headachy kind Of beer. The great
Est compliment that can be paid to an
Angoni oma is to tell her that her
beer will make a man drunk quicker
than the beverage manufactured by
any Of her neighbors. This liquor Is
called pombe, and in the initial stages
Of brewing is thick and sticky. Some
times an ardent Angoni will stick his
arm into the jar, and when he pulls 1t
out smeared with the treaclelike con-
coction his companions, without hest
:ation will dash forward and begin
ticking his arm clean.
The Angonis are not at all fastfdious
about what they eat. They have a
peculiar food which, for want or a
better name, may be called fly cake.
Along the shores of Lake Nyassa may
be seen what at first sight looks like
wreaths Of smoke; in reality, however.
hey are columns of small flies. When
,ver the natives see n of these pill
ars they q oward 1t, beat down
| he insects and have them made n
| cakes. Sometimes the wind blows the
| flies from the lake to the shore, where
hey settle in millions pom h low
shrubs. The women gather them In
baskets. pound them up with native
aour and make a cake, which has the
aavor OF fish. 1t Is not agreeable to
he European palate. though h native
considers 1t a great dainty.
The Angonis are hospitable and lazy.
| When. there is no fighting to be done
| he chief occupation of the men is
ounging about explaining to n an
| ,ther what fine fellows they are. 1t Ia
| dangerous for a visitor to enter q
| village without permission; he must
| stand at the entrance till that Is Sc
.ured. No Angoni thinks of entering
1 house without making some noise to
Indicate his approach, so that no one
an insult to sit down opposite any
door.
When at peace the Angoni men Us
ually go about with a sheet Of cotton
thrown over the left shoulder. but with
the right arm and shoulder left bare
When on a fighting expedition they
wear a sort of kilt Of cats tails. while
-. e1.sNo-. aro cfYrnly In thntr hnfr
Their weapon is the assegai, the shaft
Of which is usually decorated with
goats hair. Each warrior carries q
shield of cowhide or antelope, exactly
after the manner Of his Zulu ancestors
Like most savage races, they delight
in personal adornment; they have
.nklets Of hide. armlets made from the
horn Of an elephants foot and neck
aces Of beads.
The Angoni young man loves to have
his hair plated, with palm fiber stream
ing at the end Of each plat. The young
fellow who can have eight or 10 OF
these piaits sticking out from his head
giving his Uranium the appear
snes Of Ssa.S AN en aansiSers and S,ms s1,
II the enslaved tribes-the Tongas-al.
ways knock out the upper front teeth
because they say 1t makes them like
oxen and unlike zebras, which fol
some reason they detest. Suspended
rom the neck of an Angoni is some.
lines to be seen an article which look:
Yuty for a handkerchief. being used FOL
scraping the Precipitation from tn
forehead and body after a long tramp
Eavesdropping n thieving are tn,
.wo cardinal sins among the Angoni
Though they will raid a neighborinl
tribe and steal women and ivory ant
cattle, they never think Of thievint
from one another. The Angonis are 81
willing to share everything In common
that the man who steals when he cal
have for the mere asking Is considered
capable of the most villainous deeds.
Drinking mauve Is not the only or.
Zeal resorted to to discover or ties
guilt. Rev. II. Rowley Of the Univer,
titles Mission to central Africa gives
vivid accout Of a trial by d~ivinatioi
which he witnessed in an Anyanji vii
age one Of the conquered tribes living
In Angoniland.
some O had been stolen from tn,
garden OF one Of the villagers. TIL,
owner complained to the chief, VIII,
called In a famous medicine man livini
near. The people assembled round
large fig tree. and the magician frs
Of all produced two sticks about tn
size Of an ordinary broom handle
These, after certain mysterious manip
llations and offerings Of unintelligibl
gibberish. he delivered with much cere
mony to four young men, two beinI
appointed TO each stick. Then fror
his goatskin bag he brought forth
zebra tail which he CAV to anothe
young man and after that a calabas
filed with peas which he delivered I
the boy.
The medicine man rolled himsel
about in hideous fashion and chante
an unearthly incarnation. Then cam
the man with the zebra tail followe
by the boy with the calabash, movin
first Of all slowly round the men wit
the sticks, but presently quickenin
their steps and shaking the tail an
calabash over the heads of the site
tholders.
Ere long the spell worked. The me
with their stc,,. -era subject to spas
modic e,yitchings of the arms and leg.
These Increased rapidly till they wer
nearly In commissions. They foame
at the n.outh and their eyes SCENE
starting from their heads. The me
seemed scarcely able to hold the stick,
which took a rotary motion at first, an
whirled the holders round and roun
luke mad things. Then headlong the
dashed off into tho bush. through grns