From Fontem to Berlin 133 he expressed interest in it—though this gesture obliged Conrau to make a gift of equal value in return. Conrau sent this pipe to the museum in Berlin, where it remains in the collection today. In the aforementioned letter of 11 June 1899, Conrau corrects his fi rst impression that the cast-brass pipe bowl was made in the Bangwa region. There were talented blacksmiths in the area, but the Bangwa obtained brass objects from the Bagam. Only the beadwork on the pipe would be local, Conrau wrote. Thus it seems that it is evidence of an interregional exchange in the Cameroonian hinterland of objects of value, “king things” in Pidgin. Assunganyi’s ensuing friendship proved key to Conrau’s ability to collect objects of great importance and sacredness in the Bangwa region. One of these is explicitly mentioned in Conrau’s fi nal letter to von Luschan, which arrived in Berlin on October 25, 1899.8 In addition to the fi ve cases of artifacts he had already sent by then,9 Conrau shipped a package by sea mail, which contained a leather-covered Janus-headed dance headdress that Assunganyi had secretly given to Conrau (fi g. 8). “None of his ‘fetish people’ peers were supposed to fi nd out about this,” wrote Conrau to von Luschan in this letter. Assunganyi’s complicity in this transaction is signifi cant. He was a shrewd politician and knew that helping Conrau might work to his advantage. It should be noted that identifying this headdress today is not straightforward. There is a Janus headdress Conrau collected among the Bangwa in the Berlin collection (inv. III C 10559). It is described as “wood, skin” under the “material and techniques” column of the accession notes, but no date of receipt is indicated. However, it is quite possible and even likely that the Janus headdress mentioned in the letter went to the Leipzig collection, which was taking some of Berlin’s overfl ow,10 because there is also an object there of that description (fi g. 8). This one is indicated as having been acquired in the year 1898 in the Bangwa area. At that time, Conrau was the only one collecting anthropological material there, so it could only have come from him. Also, Assunganyi was still trying to curry favor with him at this early part of his sojourn there (a situation that later would change signifi cantly), so such an early date is in keeping with the circumstances Conrau describes to von Luschan.11 Thanks to fi eld research, more is now known about the Bangwa masks and fi gures that Conrau lumped together as “fetishes.” Assunganyi most likely obtained the leather-covered Janus headdress from the Ejagham/ Ekoi region. It forms a striking contrast with another headdress that Conrau collected (fi g. 11), which, although heavily infl uenced by the Cross River art style, was produced in a local workshop. Both headdresses can be assigned to a local adaptation of an Ejagham/Ekoi cult association, that being the nkpwe warrior society. Such headdresses were mainly cloaked during performances. The dancer also wore a skull basket on his back and a cape or other disguise under the tall headdress, so as FIG. 7: Pipe of Fon Assunganyi. Bangwa, Cameroon. 19th century. Brass, wood, beads, leather, bells. L: 77 cm. Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1898. Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inv. III C 9814a, b. FIG. 8 (below, three views): Headcrest of the nkpwe warrior society. Ekoi/Ejagham, Nigeria. 19th century. Believed to have been collected by Gustav Conrau from Assunganyi in Fontem, 1898. Wood, leather, fi ber. H: 34 cm. Museum für Völkerkunde, Leipzig, inv. MAf 5539.
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