Chapter XII: Native Games and Pastimes

Make-believe games--“Biti” and needle--Game with canna seeds--Hoop
game--“Mbele,” or Knife game--The story of “The Four Wonders,” or a
puzzle story--Conundrums--“The Adventures of the Twins.”

After the first novelty of our visit had passed away the women and girls went daily, with dull regularity, to the farms; but only those men who were obliged went to the markets for trading purposes, or to the forests for building materials for their houses. The men and lads who were able postponed, out of respect to their visitors, all those occupations that would not suffer from delay, and gave themselves to games, asking conundrums, and telling stories to entertain their visitors.

The children had their make-believe housekeeping, cooking, trading and marketing; the older ones their mimic wars, their mock hunts and their pretended palavers. The small girls had their sticks, or pieces of cassava roots, to represent dolls,[36] and they played with them as such, carrying them tied by old rags to their backs, or on their hips as their mothers had carried the children themselves when babies.

Footnote 36:

See note 31, p. 350.

The small boys procured gourds, old tins, reeds and small drums, and imitated a band, and they made about as much music by their efforts as their elders discoursed from ivory trumpets and well-made drums. With bits of sticks, reeds and grass they made toy houses with mud walls; and with pieces of broken saucepans, old tins and any odds and ends they could borrow from their mothers’ houses, they furnished themselves with the necessary articles for their pretend-game of housekeeping, receiving visits from each other, and inviting one another to their make-believe feasts. The older and more active lads played at hockey, on which they expended a great amount of boisterous, if unskilful, energy; and the quieter ones were very expert in using their fingers and toes in making cat’s cradles of many and intricate designs.

Bakula was always selected to find the needle because of his quick ear, whenever the following game was played with _biti_ and needle: The players were divided into two sides, which we will call A and B. All the players had a musical instrument called a _biti_, which is a kind of _marimba_. Side A sent out one of its men, and secreted a needle in his absence in full view of side B, which the one sent out had to find guided only by side B playing simultaneously an agreed-upon note. Side B decided what the guiding note should be.

On the return of the needle-seeker, side B began to play their _biti_, and when the needle-seeker approached near the hiding-place of the needle, the guiding note was played, and as he receded from it the guiding note was left out of the tune.

The needle-seeker had not only to find the needle, but also to name the guiding note. If he found the needle, it counted one game to his side, and either he or another on side A went out again. When he failed in his search then it counted one game to side B, and one on that side went out.

Of course the _biti_ players tried to hide the guiding note by playing rapidly, and covering it with variations on the other metal reeds. A quick ear to catch the repetition, or the absence of a particular note was necessary for this game.

One day Bakula stopped to watch the following game that was being played by some lads. The beautiful, round, black seeds of the canna plant, which grows wild in most parts of Congo, are called _loso_, and that is also the name of the game. These seeds are about the size of peas.

The players are divided into two sides, which for clearness we will call A and B, and they form a circle as they sit on the ground. Side A plays first, and the thrower takes about twenty seeds in each hand. He throws them out from his hands alternately, counting, as he throws, one, two, three, and so on up to ten, and the rest he throws helter-skelter over the cleared space in front of him, yet in such a way as not to disarrange the positions of the first ten seeds thrown; but he tries to do it as indifferently as he possibly can.

Now before beginning to throw the seeds, side A has agreed among themselves that seed number _five_ shall be the playing seed; so the seeds having been thrown, one lad on the side A withdraws out of sight and hearing. Then if side B has spotted the playing seed _five_, they pick it up and say: “That is the seed, and its number is _five_.” That counts as one game to them. If, however, they have not spotted the right seed and pick up the wrong one, then a lad on side A touches the right seed, and the one who left the circle is called back and picks up the seed that was touched by the player on his side. That then counts as one game to them--to side A. Any touching or picking up of the wrong seed by a player is counted as a game to the other side.

Supposing that side A says that seed _five_, which side B touched, is not the playing seed, then side B removes it, and one on side A to carry on the cheat touches, say, seed _eight_, then the lad who left is recalled and, of course, he finds seed _five_ is gone, and should he try to help the cheating by picking up another seed he must declare its number, and there is every probability that he will not by chance pick up seed _eight_, and also declare the same number as the boy who touched it.

To find out the right seed and number the opponents have to watch the throwing for any hesitation at a particular number, or to see if a seed is purposely thrown to one side; they have to listen for any emphasis on a particular number, and also watch the eyes of their opponents to see if they are all looking towards one particular seed.

Again, the lad who leaves the circle must carry away with him a clear plan of how the seeds lay, so that he may be sure of picking up the right one, as any blunder made counts as a game to the other side.

The boys of the town had another game of which they were very fond. It was played with a hoop, and each player had a string two or three yards long and weighted at each end. Sides were arranged which had to take their stand in “towns” from twenty to twenty-five yards apart. The hoop is trundled from side A towards side B, and as it approaches side B all the players on that side throw their weighted strings (or toy bolases) at it so as to entangle it, and the boy whose “bolas” entangles the hoop picks up one end of his string and swings the hoop round and round his head as he walks with it towards side A. Should he deposit it in their town without dropping the hoop from the bolas, it counts one game to side B. If the hoop is either not entangled, or drops while being whirled, the game counts to the other side, _i. e._ to side A. Sometimes the winner is challenged to whirl the hoop near the ground and to jump over it while spinning without its touching the ground.

If two or more strings entangle the hoop, then the boys owning those strings must carry the hoop between them. The hoop must on no consideration be touched by the hands of those on side B, unless no string entangles it, when it is thrown back to side A and counts as one game to them. After a set of twenty games the other side trundles the hoop. A modification is made in the game by throwing the hoop in the air.

The next game that I observed, and the last that I shall describe, is called _Mbele_ (or Knife). It is played either by the hands and arms, or feet and legs, or by moving the knees only. The players form a line, and the first lad in the line is called “King.” The “King” when he begins the game faces the lad who stood next to him, and throws out both his hands, draws them back to his breast, waves them in front of himself parallel with his breast, and after making several feints he shoots out one hand. If the lad standing in opposition to him is able to meet the “thrust” three times by throwing out the corresponding hand, the “King” has to take his place at the bottom of the line. If, however, no one in the line is able to meet the “thrust” after three tries, then the last lad in the line is called a “slave,” and stands out of the game.

The “King,” who is generally an expert player, will sometimes go up and down the line until all the players are “slaves” and he wins. Should the “King” be out in going down the line, then when all become “slaves” to another he has the privilege of winning them back, if he can, from the last one in by playing him.

There are many modifications in the game. The movements are very rapid and cause a great amount of amusement, and help to train the eyes and render the limbs very supple.

Among other games played were “touch,” a kind of “hunt the slipper,” with a palm-nut as the “slipper”; “tipit” was also played by the boys sitting in a ring and passing a palm-nut from one to another, and the lad in the centre had to catch the boy who really had the nut and they changed places. Hopping the longest on one leg, throwing into a hole, and backgammon were also in vogue at times. A popular game with small boys was to hide a canna seed in one of five little heaps of dirt, and the opponent had to sweep away the four heaps that did not contain the seed and leave untouched the one heap that hid it. Each success counted as a game to the winner, and every failure as a game to the other side.

A never-ending source of amusement for dark nights when they gathered round their fires in the streets, or for cold, rainy nights when they sat in their houses was to be found in their puzzle stories and conundrums. In nearly every town and village were expert story-tellers and propounders of riddles, who were deservedly the recipients of much local praise and fame for their voluntary efforts to entertain their neighbours.

Tonzeka’s town was no exception. Almost every evening, after the meal was over, one or other of these skilled reciters would be called on for a story.

One evening the following wonderful deeds were related, and aroused a great amount of discussion. I must preface this story by saying: The Congo natives think that anything wonderful, anything out of the ordinary injures their social and domestic life, or, as they say, “spoils their country,” and is consequently to be condemned and punished. Hence the appeal in this story from one to another to decide who had performed the most extraordinary feat, and was, therefore, worthy of the greatest blame.

The narrator called it

“The Story of the Four Wonders.”

"A woman gave birth to a child, who on the day it was born went by itself down to the river to bathe. While there a hunter arrived, who fired his gun.

"‘What are you firing at?’ asked the baby. ‘I am shooting the mosquitoes that are eating my wife’s cassava,’[37] replied the hunter.

"‘Whoever heard of such a thing before?’ said the baby. ‘By shooting mosquitoes you are injuring the country.’

"The hunter denied this grave charge, and accused the baby of upsetting the proper order of things by bathing himself on the very day he was born.

"After much discussion they submitted the case to a chief of a neighbouring town. When he had listened to their wrangling, he said: ‘My mouth is locked up in that room, and my wives have taken the key with them to the farms.’

"‘Oh,’ they rejoined, ‘you, by talking when your mouth is fastened up in another room, have destroyed our country, for whoever heard of such a wonder before?’

"After much debate away they went to find some one to settle the matter for them, and by and by they met a man who climbed palm-trees to tap them for palm-wine, and they put the case to him, each accusing the other of disarranging the proper order of earthly ways.

"When they had finished the palm climber said: ‘I fell one day from the top of a palm-tree and broke to pieces, and then I went into the town to procure men to carry all my pieces back to my house.’ They thereupon fell on him, accusing him of spoiling the country by his wonderful feat. They are still arguing out the matter and cannot agree as to which is worthy of the greatest blame."

Footnote 37:

Equal to saying: “I am shooting at the gnats that are eating up the
turnips.”

At the conclusion each actor in this tale of wonders had his staunch adherents among the little crowd of listeners. Some contended that the baby had performed the most wonderful feat, and was therefore to be greatly blamed. Others stood by the hunter, for “whoever before had heard of shooting mosquitoes?”

“Did you ever hear of a man talking with his mouth locked up in another room?” aggressively asked a backer of that wonder.

“You are all wrong,” shouted a big fellow with a loud voice, “the man who broke to pieces and yet went for carriers to convey the pieces into his town did something that surpassed all the other marvellous deeds.”

Feeling ran high, words were bandied about, innuendoes respecting the sad lack of sense that some folk exhibited were freely exchanged; but during a lull in the throwing of wordy missiles, Bakula said: “I heard a riddle the other day to which you cannot give me the answer.”

“What is it?” asked several, and the noisy discussion on the wonders ceased at once, and all eyes turned on Bakula.

“_Our master sleeps behind the thorns. What is it?_” he asked, and there was a twinkle of fun in his eye as he propounded the conundrum to them.

One guessed one thing and another something else, and a poor henpecked man suggested it was a woman behind her hoes; but he was instantly annihilated by the remark that if he were bossed by his wives they were not.

They at last called on Bakula to give the solution, and he said, “_Our master sleeps behind the thorns is our tongue behind the teeth_,” and he saucily continued: “If you don’t let it sleep there you will soon be fighting.”

They rated him good-humouredly for his insolence, and pretended to punch him as a punishment; but promised to let him go if he would state another riddle.

Bakula, on recovering his breath, asked the following conundrum: “_There are three men carrying a dead one in their teeth.[38] What is it?_” To this a man instantly gave the answer: “_A ridge pole held by three king posts._”

Footnote 38:

The “forks” cut on upright posts to hold the cross poles are called in
Congo _meno_, i. e. teeth.

The guesser of Bakula’s riddle then gave one as follows: “_The slave my father bought on the market is always standing out (or away) from him._” After many guesses had been ventured, Bakula gave the proper one, viz. “_Pipe_” which always stands out (or away) from the smoker.

Bakula had now to give another riddle, and propounded the following one: “_The bird with its head cut off eats up all the food. What is it?_” After many wild, unsuccessful attempts one of the men guessed the answer, viz. “_Mortar._”[39] The man who gave this correct solution belonged to Tonzeka’s town, and as he said he did not know any conundrums he was asked to give them a story instead, and to this request, after a little hesitation, he acceded by narrating the following tale, called

“The Adventures of the Twins.”

“Mr. Tungi built some houses and then married. When he had been married about a year he started on a journey to some distant markets to buy and trade in peanuts. He had not been gone very long when Mrs. Tungi gave birth to male twins.

“When the twins had grown into stout lads their mother told them that their father had gone to trade at some distant markets, but would be returning soon to his town. They at once decided to go and meet him. Their mother prepared some native bread and other food, and in a few days they set out in search of their father.

“After travelling a long way they met a palm-wine gatherer sitting in a palm-frond drinking-shelter, who welcomed them and promised to get them some fresh palm-wine. He took his climbing-hoop and together they went to the palm-tree. Before ascending the tree the twins were astonished to see the man take out all his bones and lay them on one side, and then he climbed the tree and brought down a small calabash of palm-wine for the boys, picked up his bones and put them all back again in their places. The lads asked him why he removed his bones before ascending the palm-tree.

“‘Oh,’ he said, ‘if I were to fall I should break them, so I always leave my bones on the ground, and then, should I fall, nothing will be broken.’ They drank his palm-wine, thanked him, and after resting a while started again on their journey.

“They had not travelled very far when they met two men walking towards them whose feet were turned backwards. The twins asked them what accident had twisted their feet in that way.

“They replied: ‘It is no accident, but we turn our feet round when travelling to keep our naked toes from knocking against the stones in the road.’

“The twins had hardly recovered from their surprise when they came across some men whose knees were behind, and others whose arms were at the back, and others again whose faces were at the back of their heads.

“They inquired the reason for these strange things, and the first said: ‘We have our knees at the back of our legs so that when we fall they will not be cut by the stones.’

“The next replied: ‘We have our arms behind us so that if we fall backwards they will hold us up, and we shall not hurt ourselves.’

“And the last laughingly said: ‘Oh, we have our faces behind our heads so that the long grass by the sides of the roads will neither cut them nor get into our eyes as we push our way through it.’

“‘Well, this is a funny country,’ cried the twins in amazement, ‘people seem to do whatever they like with their bodies.’

“On they went again, and during the afternoon they reached the bank of a river, where they rested under a shady tree. While sitting there they saw men and women, boys and girls coming down the hill to bathe, and they noticed that all of them took out their eyes before they entered the water and left them on the bank with their clothes. They inquired the reason for this wonderful thing, and one of the men said: ‘You see, we bathe here with our mothers, wives and sisters--men and women, boys and girls altogether, hence to retain our self-respect and modesty we always take out our eyes before bathing.’ The twins were no longer astonished at anything they saw and heard, so they silently assented to what the man told them.

“They camped by the river that night, and early next morning renewed the search for their father. After three or four hours’ travelling over the hills, across streams and through dense forests, they arrived at a large market, where all the people, instead of speaking, were making signs to one another as they bought and sold their goods. Upon looking at them more closely they observed that none of them had lower jaws, hence they were not able to speak. They could not inquire into this wonder, as no one was able to talk to them.

“They pushed on across the market, and after walking another hour or two they reached a large river, where they saw a man, with a very heavy load, trying to cross it, and seeing he was in great difficulty they helped him over with his load, and then sat down to have a rest and chat. They told the man they were twin sons of Tungi, and were looking for their father, who left his town many years ago to trade in the distant markets.

“The man said: ‘Why, I am Tungi, you must be my sons, and I am just returning to my town.’

“The sons rejoiced in this meeting with their father, and were glad they had helped him over the river, otherwise they would not have known him. They divided the load between them, and soon started for home.

“As the twins walked with their father, they told him of all they had seen and heard during their journey, but they said: ‘In the market we passed this morning we saw people who did all their trading by signs, because they had no lower jaws. Why was that?’

“Their father replied: ‘On the markets in this country there was so much rowing, quarrelling and fighting that they made a law that all those who went to market should leave their lower jaws at home; for if folk cannot talk they won’t quarrel, and hence they will have no reason for fighting. It is talking and wrangling that lead to rows, riots and fights.’

“The twins and their father reached their town again safely, where they were noisily welcomed and feasted; and the twins frequently narrated the marvellous sights they had seen during their travels.”

Footnote 39:

The _mortar_ is used for pounding maize, dried cassava, plantains,
etc. To the native familiar with the whole process it was a good
conundrum.

BUSY WASHING. [_Rev. F. Aldrieve._]

RESTING AFTER WASHING. [_Rev. F.
Aldrieve._]