FEATURE 15. In June 1899, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, together with Mr. Pinnock, left San Salvador for Kibokolo to establish the Comber Memorial Station. Mrs. Lewis’ biography states that their work in Kibokolo started in October 1899, and they left seven years later (having spent the year 1901 and the first half of 1902 in England on furlough). George Hawker (1911: 227), her biographer, probably expresses his own ideas when he adds, “Those seven years were lean and hungry years which would have eaten up all the joy of former harvests if the hearts of the workers had not been nourished and cheered by unfailing faith in God. It was their business and that of their colleagues, in fact and in figure, to clear the ground, and transform a patch of wilderness into fields capable of bearing plenty.” 16. In the works we consulted, the following orthographic differences can be found: nka(a)nda, nkha(a)nda, mka(a)nda or muka(a)nda. The word (n)longo, (e)longo (mv. mi-nlongo) seems to refer to the invisible world, forbidden territory for the unauthorized. Only specialists (banganga) and the initiated have access. For others, all things that relate to it are taboo. Purchas (1901, cf. Ravenstein, 1967: 58) notes: “The thing tabooed is called nlongo (Bentley),” referencing Bentley (1887: 389). The latter and also Van Wing (1959: 90) use it in connection with prohibited foods: “nlongo upheld these and other restrictions imposed but the fetishers.” Söderblom (1931: 21) and Baumann (1964: 83) see a link between nlongo, power substances, and power objects (“fétiches,” or minkisi), while Ngoma (1963: 193) translates it as a “remedy” to lift a taboo. Sandblom (1993: pp. 128, 187) summarizes it as follows: “Nlongo and sumuka are terms used in reference to banned and impure things, terms used by women speaking Kikongo. It is something sacred, separate, apart; something you cannot touch, eat, or do. As such, it relates to the criminal, the impure, the sinner. Something dangerous, bewitched, taboo, controlled, prohibited, medicine, cure, poison, fetish.” Wyatt MacGaffey (1986: 246) points out the problem of the unequal interpretation, in this case by Westerners as “sacred” and by Africans as “something taboo.” The “taboo thing” in the framework of boys’ initiation relates mainly to the intellectual death (as opposed to their bodily death) that takes place at the start of the initiation and the “resurrection” that concludes it. It is also taboo for non-initiates to look inside the dwelling or shed inside the fenced space where the neophytes (bikumbi) stay. In Kongo dialect, this abode is nzo (house) longo. Bontinck’s explanation (personal communication) of the word kimpasi as “place of spirits (mbasi, mpuasi)” expresses the same idea. However, in our opinion, Van Wing (1920, 1921, 1938, 1959) made an error in using nzo longo as the name for the ritual itself—an error that was repeated by many authors after him. As such, we will use the term longo in reference to the ritual itself for rest of this article. 17. According to Mudiji-Malamba (1989: 55 (67)), until recently nkanda was practiced in an area bordered by the Kwango, Kasai, and Upper Zambezi rivers. He adds, “This area reaches down into southern Africa and up as high as the axis of the lower Zaire, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, etc.,” and it has been studied in detail among the neighboring peoples of the Zombo, such as the Yaka, Suku, Nkanu, and others. I myself did research among the Nkanu mainly to study the local nkanda ritual and the art objects used in that context. The rites are no longer 130 practiced by the Congolese Nkanu, but in northern Angola (Uíge province) it seemed at that time to have continuity. Van Wing and Plancquaert came to the conclusion that the peoples among whom they studied puberty and circumcision rituals did not develop these themselves. Their ideas about how this institution was spread are similar. Van Wing heard the Mbata say (and I heard the Nkanu agree) “longo dituka ku Yaka,” “longo comes from the Yaka.” Plancquaert (1930: 57–60) indicates that the nzo longo among the Zombo, Nkanu, and Lula are “an imported institution” from their immediate neighbors, the Yaka. 18. These have been repeatedly published but first by Lewis in the magazine The Juvenile Missionary Herald of the Baptist Missionary Society, No. 3, Vol. XL, March, 1903, pp. 34–35. Thomas Lewis also included an image in his article The Old Kingdom of Kongo (1908: 603) with the subheading “nlongo masks.” It also appears in the book of another minister of the BMS, John H. Weeks’ Among the Primitive Bakongo (1914: 222) and in his Congo Life and Jungle Stories (1911/1921: unnumbered facing p. 58). Marie-Louise Bastin also reproduced one of the photographs in her work, Sculpture Angolaise (1994: 25, fig. 8). The originals are kept in the archives of the BMS. These pictures can also be found on the online Ross Archive of African Images (RAAI), 665.5 and 2183. 19. Nkanu informants told us that the dancer wearing this type of mask sometimes carries a sack filled with mud. To amuse the public, he distributes it, acting as if it is animal excrement. 20. Left to right, the masks in Lewis’ photo in fig. 7 appear in this article as figs. 9, 10, 17, 16, 11, 13, 3, 2, 12, 14, and 15. Note that the second from the right is not in the BM collection and does not appear here. 21. In comparison with others, this example is unusual in that its headdress ismade up of vegetal fiber with a lateral braid that hangs partly in front of the forehead. Redinha (1975: 52, fig. 23) features a picture of an Angolan woman “mulhjer do Cuangar of the grupo xindonga (ochindonga)” from southeastern Angola with a similar coiffure. 22. An almost identical form of headgear is found on another Zombo mask in the Museu e Laboratório Antropológico de Coimbra. It was exhibited and published in the eponymous catalogue Sculpture Angolaise by Marie-Louise Bastin (1994: 96(72)). A similar coiffure/headgear can also be found on the masks of other Angolan peoples. It is composed of a frame of basketry or wood covered with painted raffia textile or barkcloth. 23. The Nkanu have two versions of this mask form, which is called nkoso. One has a basic wickerwork form to which resin and calabash elements are added. Another is made out of wood, with a “hood” to which feathers are fastened. 24. In the dissertation of this author, she demonstrated that the types of mask and the organization of the nkanda ritual reflect the structure and government of the former Kingdom of Kongo. The enclosed kimpasi can be equated with the royal court (lumba). The initiates staying within the kimpasi are known as besi Kongo, sons and daughters of the clan of the Kongo king Nimi a Lukeni. 25. In describing the war outfit and equipment of the “Mocicongo” nobles, Pigafetta & Lopez (1591, cf. Lacroix, 1992: p. 22; ill.5) mention headgear, decorated with feathers of the ostrich, peacock, rooster, and other birds. FIG. 23: Painted nlongo panels probably from a kikaku. Zombo, Kibokolo, Uíge Province, Angola. Before 1905. Wood, pigment. H: 103 and 104.5 cm. Collected by the Rev. Thomas Lewis. Purchased from Edward Gerrard & Sons. Collection of the British Museum, London, Af1905,0609.19 and Af1905,0609.16. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
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