FEATURE
Conrau pressed on with fi fteen men into the Upper
Banyang area, where he had resided earlier,
but returned to the Fontem Valley in the Bangwa
Highlands in January of 1899. He intended “to
fi nd and open a way for his friends to get to the
coast through the notoriously dangerous Kabo
area.”51 That, at any rate, is how his plan to bring
workers recruited from Assunganyi to the coast
was later described in the offi cial colonial publication,
und Gelehrten aus den Deutschen Schutzgebieten.
On January 11, 1899, a number of Bangwa men
were ready to make the journey with him, likely
destined for work on a cacao plantation, and Assunganyi
104
FIG. 19 (below left):
Jesco von Puttkamer,
governor of Cameroon nine
times between 1887 and
1906.
Photo: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und
Sohn, Berlin, 1905.
FIG. 20 (above):
Lieutenant Hutter with Bali
soldiers. Photo by Eugen
Zintgraff.
From Rochus Schmidt, Deutschlands
Kolonien, vol. 2, Berlin: Verlag des
Vereins der Bücherfreunde Schall &
Grund, 1898, p. 138.
FIG. 21 (above right):
Felix von Luschan, curator
at the Königliches Museum
für Völkerkunde in Berlin.
From Berliner Leben, issue 2, 1907.
FIG. 22 (facing page, left):
View toward Fontem from
Mbing Ngougo.
Photo: Francois Schaegis.
I am in Bangwa territory E east of the Banyang region.
I am in a highlands that varies in altitude from
600 to 1,500 meters above sea level (I am at 900)
and is connected to the Bani also Bali Highlands.
The Grasslands are to the NE northeast, and a
transition zone from forest to grasslands lies to the
southwest. … I have supplied H. v. Danckelmann
with descriptions of routes, the land, etc. I am actively
collecting botanical and zoological specimens.
I have until now found 180 varieties of plants and
seventy-four kinds of birds. I have also obtained
all manner of ethnographic material. I am sending
everything to the museums in Berlin. They have already
received one shipment.54
In a letter to von Luschan in Berlin dated September
3, 1899, Conrau states that he was able to
fi nd a multitude of “fetishes” in the Bangwa area.
He had fi ve crates of them sent to Germany.55 Save
for the pipe, which was included in the fi rst shipment
to Berlin mentioned to Hassert, the sculptures
published here were among the ones in this
shipment.
In answer to the question of what we know
about Gustav Conrau and his famous artworks
from the Bangwa area, we can only say, much too
little. However, the correspondence that survives
shows that Conrau obtained these pieces from the
people with the assent of their powerful ruler, Assunganyi.
It appears that Conrau did not meddle
in the affairs of the secret societies while collecting
these “rarities,” though we have only his word
for this. A letter to von Luschan dated October 1,
1899, explains more about how Conrau came into
the possession of the objects he collected:
Mittheilungen von Forschungsreisenden
even accompanied them on its fi rst leg,
helping to negotiate their safe passage through the
Kabo area with its chiefs.52
How often Conrau returned to Azi and the
Bangwa region is unclear, but he moved his main
trading post from the Banyang area to Lebang,
which was also more pleasant for him due to the
better climate in the Highlands. Longstanding
trade competitors of Lebang traders, the Banyang
people at the cultural and geographical boundary
between Upper Banyang and Bangwa territory
were resentful of this move. Conrau apparently
spent six months in the Bangwa region, and his
new home was near the Azi palace. It is believed
that he brought eighty-eight men from there to the
coast during the course of 1899,53 though the total
number is subject to interpretation from various
sources.
How Conrau spent his time is made clear in the
second of the letters he wrote to Hassert that are
preserved in Leipzig: