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LPCA Text ArchivesISSN: 1570-0186
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Buntungu's
"Mokingi mwa Mputu":
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The text that I would like to present here, "Mokingi mwa Mputu" (Boloki for "A trip to Europe"), is the story of a Congolese young man, Buntungu, who writes about his visit to England in 1895-1897. The text has been published before, in 1899, but the reading book for school use in which it appeared as a chapter is extremely hard to find today. It seemed to me that this popular narrative, containing features of performance, reflecting local forms of literacy, and catalysing African perceptions of Europe at such an early time in the colonial history of Central Africa, is interesting enough to be made publicly available again.
The reading book is a publication by the Baptist missionary John H. Weeks. It is entitled "Miketo mia bikulu bitanu" (Boloki for "The customs of five countries") and was published in 1899 by the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) at their mission post in Monsembe, on the river Congo.
John H. Weeks (1860-1924) arrived in the Lower Congo area in 1881, only two years after H.M. Stanley, in the service of the Belgian king Leopold II, had started the military, political, and mercantile occupation of what would later become the Congo Free State. After a period of missionary work in the Lower Congo, where he founded the BMS mission post of Underhill in 1888, Weeks' society instructed him to move his activities to the "Upper Congo" (which at that time designated the entire part of the river north of Stanley Pool, today "Pool Malebo"). In 1890, Walter H. Stapleton (also BMS) and John Weeks founded a Baptist mission post in Monsembe, some 100 kms upstream from Equator Station (later "Coquilhatville", now "Mbandaka") and some 90 kms downstream from the State post of Bangala Station (later "Nouvelle-Anvers", nowadays "Mankanza")[1]. Weeks stayed in Monsembe until 1905, when his mission post was closed down for reasons of depopulation. He and his family went back to the Lower Congo area (Wathen Station), where they would stay until 1912. John H. Weeks is well-known for his part in the denunciation of the atrocities committed under Leopold's regime in the north-western section of the Congo Free State, and for his collaboration with E.D. Morel in this context.
Weeks' name is also associated with the earliest production, in the Congo Free State, of travelogues, amateur ethnographies and sensational accounts of exotic Africa. Weeks was a prolific writer, his œuvre including the voluminous Among Congo Cannibals (London, 1913), Among The Primitive Bakongo (London, 1914), Congo Life and Jungle Stories (London, s.d.), and many contributions to the BMS journal The Missionary Herald. On top of that, Weeks also left an impressive production of books in African languages. During his first period in the Lower Congo, he translated 38 Psalms and the Gospel according to Matthew into Kikongo. During his years in Monsembe, and with the help of his colleagues Stapleton and Stonelake, all four Gospels and quite a number of parables were put into the local language, Boloki. But these religious texts were not the first publications Weeks produced in Monsembe. As was the case for most Protestant missionaries in those early years of Christianisation in the Congo, the top priority for Weeks in any new mission station was to found schools and to teach the local population the reading and writing skills that were necessary for exposure to the Bible. As such, the production of schoolbooks and reading books in the local language always came first. In The Missionary Herald of 1 August 1895 (p. 325), he described this chronological order of tasks as follows:
"Notwithstanding the difficulties we first encountered in studying this language [Boloki], we have been able to make some progress. All the services and schools and all the palavers with the people are carried on in the vernacular only. Our first efforts were directed towards the preparation of school books. The First and Second Readingbooks [sic] were prepared and printed together with some large cards; then followed a short Bible history with some hymns."
In a letter to one of his colleagues, dated 2 November 1916 and to be consulted in the BMS archives in Oxford, Weeks remembers this preferred way of ordering things, adding that it provided the missionaries with an invaluable means to learn about the language and its speakers:
"If I were again starting a Station in a district the language of which had not been reduced to writing I should work on much the same basis of preparing various books for school use. The Reading books of native stories were not only greatly appreciated by the boys & girls; but they were useful to the missionaries. They were a store house of pure native idiom, and a great help to the proper understanding of the native mind and his outlook on life."
Quite a number of these reading books were written for advanced readers. The major problem in the mission post was not so much to offer initial reading and writing classes to wide segments of the population, but rather to ensure that the acquired reading skills would not erode later on, when the vast majority of the pupils had to leave school because they were needed for work in their home villages. It was certainly not the eagerness to read that was missing among these young literates: "Books printed in the vernacular and distributed among those boys who can read are greatly prized, carried about with them, and read on all occasion [...]." (Weeks in The Missionary Herald of 1 December 1894, p. 489). Some of them were also enthusiastic enough to compose their own stories and show them to the missionaries:
"They [the native boys] come day by day when we ring the bell, and exhibit great earnestness in learning; this is proved by the fact that several have written out their native stories on slates and brought them to me. I have received so many that after a litte editing I sent them to Lokolela, and Mr. Whitehead has printed them for us. The book will be a very useful schoolbook, and a storehouse of pure idiomatic phrases for our own use." (Weeks in The Missionary Herald of 1 December 1894, p. 488)
The book that concerns us here, the "Miketo mia bikulu bitanu" volume of 1899, is not the "useful schoolbook" Weeks mentions in this passage. That much can be established from an anonymous note in The Missionary Herald of May 1900 (p. 262), which identifies "Miketo" as printed at the BMS Station of Bolobo, and not at the one of Lukolela. In any case, it certainly represents the type of schoolbook which Weeks is talking about here. It is a collection of stories in the form of a reading book to be used in the mission schools and for young and adult readers in the mission in general. The stories are organised in 43 chapters over a total of 64 pages and some of these stories certainly, others maybe, were authored by Africans living in and around the BMS mission of Monsembe. It is important to note that the title does not identify John Weeks as the author but only as the person who "prepared" the book. The entire book is in Boloki, without any English part or translation, and it contains stories describing the people and customs of five countries (England, China, India, Egypt, and Congo), complemented with quite a number of other stories most of which are animal fables and tales.
As mentioned above, the "Miketo" book is extremely difficult to find. The copy I used comes from the Herskovits Library at Northwestern University in Evanston, USA. The archives of the BMS in Oxford do not have a copy of it, and nor does the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Information in secondary sources such as The Missionary Herald or other BMS documents which might contextualise the book, the background of its composition, the authors of the stories, etc., is very difficult to obtain. Apart from the brief anonymous note of 1900 which I referred to above and a number of bibliographies in which the book is mentioned (e.g., F. Starr's well-known A Bibliography of Congo Languages, Chicago, 1908), I have so far not been able to find anything more informative about the publication.
The same goes for the chapter from the book which I have selected for presentation here, i.e. "Mokingi mwa Mputu" (chapter 16). As mentioned, it is the account of a man called Buntungu relating a trip he made to Europe in the 1890s. A search in Weeks' biographical records in the BMS archives and another one through the issues of The Missionary Herald have delivered hardly any contextual information on Buntungu's trip to Europe. What we know comes from the same anonymous note already mentioned twice, which informs us as follows: "In the early part of the year, a book of the "Doings of Five Countries" was printed for us at Bolobo. It is illustrated, and interesting as containing a graphic account of the impression received by a native, Buntungu, on his visit to England with Mr Weeks." The name "Buntungu" appears a number of other times throughout different issues of The Missionary Herald, but never in connection with his stay in Europe. Apart from all this, no other source provides us with direct information on the matter. H.W. Debrunner, in his book on "A history of Africans in Europe before 1918" (Basel, 1979), does not mention Buntungu either.
Historical records show, however, that between 1890, the time of the foundation of the BMS mission post at Monsembe, and 1899, the year of publication, Weeks took only one leave to Europe, namely from August 1895 until the end of 1897, and it must have been on this occasion that he took Buntungu with him to England. From the historical sources, we also know that Buntungu was not the first African who accompanied Weeks on a visit to Europe: in 1885, while still working in the Lower Congo, Weeks had gone to England with a young man called "Nlekai" (Weeks in The Missionary Herald 1913, p. 285). The content of the text itself, finally, also gives us a number of clues: Buntungu, John Weeks, and a number of other persons from Monsembe left the mission by steamer and travelled downstream on the river Congo until they reached Kintamo on the banks of Stanley Pool. From there further south, the river is unnavigable and they thus had to use the caravan routes by land until Matadi, where only Buntungu and Weeks seem to have embarked on the boat to Europe, passing by the West African coasts. The stay in Europe is described without many details as to chronology or locations, except for one mention of London (line 180) and a few mentions of England and the English. But, importantly, it does refer to the changing of the seasons, which means that Buntungu stayed in Europe at least more than one year. This is in accordance with the supposition that Buntungu accompanied Weeks to England during his leave of 1895-1897.
As a consequence of the scanty information in the secondary literature, we do not know much about the context in which the text itself was produced either. Clearly, Buntungu is its original author. The fact, noted above, that it was a regular habit at Monsembe for literates to bring their own stories to the missionaries, as well as the obvious oral and interactive style of the account, make this clear. The text may give the impression that Buntungu related his story orally, in a performance session in front of an audience, and that Weeks transcribed his words, but given the absence of sound recording equipment in those days, especially the second part of this hypothesis does not seem very likely. I would rather suggest that we are dealing here with a partial form of literacy (cf. the concept of functional literacy), with Buntungu having mastered the basic reading and writing skills, yet never having been exposed to or taught about the typical characteristics of written style. This could explain his adoption of a recognisably oral style of narration when delivering the account. Of course, even if Buntungu wrote down the original text himself, Weeks must have edited it quite substantially, if only to make the entire "Miketo" book editorially consistent. In terms of style, it is not fully clear what kind of interventions Weeks might have made: it is possible that the remarkably linear chronology of the account is his. In terms of content, he might have shortened the initial text, deleting passages and descriptions which he did not find fit for the readership of this book, i.e. the African readers at Monsembe station. In terms of typography, again the whole book looks too consistent to believe that Weeks did not intervene at this level as well. It is, overall, a very neatly and cleanly typeset text, with hardly any irregularity in the typography and spelling. His use of double and single quotes to mark direct speech are an exception to this: there is some confusion in certain places about where the quotes begin and end, but the content always disambiguates this (which is why I have corrected their positions in the translations in the right column). At this point, I can also add that Weeks has chosen an application of 5 instead of 7 vowel graphemes and has selected the graphemes without tone indications or other diacritics (with one exception, difficult to explain, in line 91: bū). The text is divided into a number of subparts with corresponding titles, and one picture of an unidentified but flourishing mission or State post somewhere in Congo is inserted in the first subpart.
Finally, a note on language. As mentioned, Buntungu's text, as well as the entire reading book from which I have taken it, is in Boloki. Boloki (Bantu C26e) is the vernacular spoken at the village of Monsembe and it shows major similarities with Liboko, the vernacular of neighbouring Iboko (Nouvelle-Anvers, see footnote 1), as well as with Mabali, another vernacular of the region. Especially the Protestant colonial linguists, like Stapleton, Guthrie and, in their wake, also the traveller Starr, often referred to this Boloki-Liboko-Mabali cluster as "the Ngala language". However, the cluster is to be distinguished from what has been known under various labels, such as "the trade language", "la langue du fleuve", "the lingua franca of the Upper Congo", "Bangala", and later "Lingala", which is a pidgin - lingua franca that first emerged out of Lobangi and which was later thoroughly implemented as the "official language" in the mission school, army barracks, and State post of Nouvelle-Anvers. There, it subsequently underwent considerable influence from the Boloki-Liboko-Mabali cluster. Not many linguistic publications have appeared on Boloki. In his Comparative Handbook of Congo Languages (Yakusu, 1903), W.H. Stapleton provides a grammatical description of this language (under the label "Ngala"), together with a tale. E. Cambier's Essai Sur la Langue Congolaise (Brussels, 1891) is an old and very sketchy overview of the basics of Liboko.
Upon their arrival in Monsembe in 1890, Weeks and Stapleton found themselves obliged to turn to the generally used pidgin to make themselves understood. But like most pioneer-missionaries, they soon came to the conclusion that this language was insufficient to function as a vehicle of education and Christianisation and thus turned to the local language instead. In his Among Congo Cannibals (London, 1913), Weeks wrote:
"On the main river there was a mixed language, commonly called among us the "trade language"; by means of this lingua franca we were able to make ourselves understood at the various places at which we touched on our search for a new site, and it stood us in good stead during our early days among the Monsembe people. There was a large element of Bobangi in it, some Kiswahili words, and a few Lower Congo words and phrases. [...] Directly we settled at Monsembe we began to learn the language of the people amongst whom we were living. The "trade language" was all that was necessary to a passer-by; it answered the purpose of bartering for food and dealing with the trivialities of life; but was absolutely inadequate for conveying our message as missionaries, or for dealing with the finer and deeper affairs of the minds, hearts, and souls of our parishioners. We had therefore to learn the language, and we had no desire to shirk the drudgery, nor avoid the arduous, persistent effort such a study demanded, for we regarded it as a part of our work, and not the least interesting part either." (p. 48-50)
It is also in this vernacular, Boloki, and not in the trade language, that Weeks and his colleagues produced the large amount of religious texts and Gospel translations between 1890 and 1905.
In 1997, in the context of a research project on ideology in colonial schoolbooks, Honoré Vinck of the Centre Æquatoria in Bamanya, Congo, hired the local polyglot Bofeko Etaka to translate the entire book "Miketo mia bikulu bitanu" from Boloki into French. I am very much indebted to these two people for having allowed me to use this translation as a basis for the translation I am offering below. On the basis of my own knowledge of related languages and on the basis of Stapleton's description of Boloki, I have altered Bofeko Etaka's French translation where I thought there was room for improvement - and I am responsible for any mistakes this might have entailed. The translation I present is still far from perfect at this moment, and I would like to urge anyone who can add corrections to do so.
I have organised the text and its translation across two columns, adding line numbers to the original. The line numbering to the left of the translation identifies corresponding lines in the original.
1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130 135 140 145 150 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 230 235 240 245 250 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 |
MOKINGI MWA MPUTU.
Bakoi bangai, mpe tajala wana Mpumu
asanga nde, "Buntungu ngai nakajinga te
tukende o mputu." Bakoi, nakasanga nde
kokolo, nakatuna la muntaka mwa mama, na
bampele babale. Bande! mpe nakulumbwa
wana nakatana la mama ajali, namosangela
wana. Okaka, yo te, "Ngai wangu yoyo njutu
mbi, mpinu we oikakende, kendeke ndeto, lo
nya, te wakantana te yoko,' mpe naye
nakamosangela, mpe Mpumu yo te, "Lo
nya."
Tajala, naokemela, Mpumu akasanga nde
to, "Nakaojinga te tukende o Lokolele."
Bande! mpe embole ngai, na Mopembe
mpe tatiya wana, takoma Lokolele, nga o
Lokolele takakelaka Matai[2]; mpe yayaka biu,
eyenga yawi unko bopongi mapela na
mapela; yauta biu Lokolele takoka eyenga
yawi bobele mpe tuke mputu, mpe yakomaka
biu Bolobo mpe tuye Kintamo tokaka bo nde
mundele abuna na binu nde batu bakowa bitu.
Uta Kintamo benga Tunduwa, mpe tasa
batombi bitu solojwa; tabeka boko batombi o
Mbula-Matadi, mpe tajata wana kululu tata!
Unko ngongo na ngongo mpe mabwa. Ngo!
Okeli nde? unko ojata bobo bokoto bokoto
mpe tata! tajata na limpikiliki. Yakomaka biu
Ngombe nga ekulu, ngai mpe naokani bobele;
mpe nasili tutati! lojata koba aaaa! tukabenga
Lukunga Lotoba atati lokana, mpe yakoma
biu Lukunga bokono bongali. Mpumu atati
lasa unko batombi te bamotomba sojwa nya;
emotikele ngai, yajataka ngai bo nakomi
unko esi na lo lu, ngai te, "Biu bangu baba
tuyeki elongo, koba, Lotoba aokani mpinu
ngai mpenja te najili nga nde nalemi bobete."
Namijatela bo, na mokia nakeka elenge ya
mundele mwa Ntumba akaye, akoli te,
"Kende nga mwebi nao ajwa batombi bitu."
E bande! naoka elimo ebalangani, mpe miu
wana malengalengi njoli wana yakwa,
nakokia miu mpe naongwa koba, ngai te,
"Ekende unko ngai, mpinu yo nsoki koi
t'awi," mpinu ngai te, "Koi aokani, leme
nsoki namobatela." Bande! mpe ngai na ndi
taleme o Lukunga. Wana mpe lalele la
Lotoba unko atuka bobo bokoli bilolo na
bilolo okokanga te, "Tayaka biu babale
mpinu koi wangu yoyo aikawa koba te boi?
Nabondo Libanza mpe ngai te, 'E! Libanza,
ngai wangu yoyo nayaka na koi mpinu koi
aokani t'akawa te yoko. E! Libanza ja ba
bomoi omonyangia.'" Bande! mpe nakoloko
bona na bona.
Nene koba nde Lotoba teu. Lotoba
akokimija, koba ngai ba, e tata! ngai obeki
njutu nkuli, koba naokani kola tainga tainga
teu. Tusanga nde te mindele, "Biu bangu
baba talemeke na lokana, mpinu lokana losili
otaselaka batu batulakinya njela." Mundele
wana aasa batu atutuma na bangu. Wana nga
motu owalemeke na biu mundele nya, nga
motu nkumbu yandi Mantu akela unko bo
mundele. Mpe tajata tajata takoma Tunduwa,
tata! Okaka, makwangu wee, wee, nga
Tunduwa na mwa ngele, mpe Matadi na mwa
likolo. Biu te, "Yeye nde Tunduwa na
Matadi." Tabwaka miu bobo o nsele
longombi, biu te, "Ngo yena nde?" Okaka
bangu te, "Nga masua ma Mputu," o bonene
te Bongolo boname te yoko, yename nde
makaya o Kongo boname.
LOKWELA O MASUA MA MPUTU.
O masua ma mputu mabe manene manene,
mpe ebe o bolai maboko mikangu mitanu; na
miete milai mibe mine babanja miete misusu
mikuwe milubolaka basanduku makosi o
miangu, mpe eke yena eketombola
basanduku na lobiyaka o bibe, eke yena elo
bo eke ya "Goodwill" ekejinga makosi unko
boname, na lo yangu ebe na bibukele bo bia
makina boname epulolaka na ejingaka, mpinu
nde masua mana maiba bo mabiu bitu, mangu
lolenge losusu na bike biki o nti.
Yautaka biu waname mpe Banana, natinji
miu bobo neni bū; yaumbwaka biu Banana
koba nakeke bo koba mokili sene nya, mpinu
akasanga nde to, "Weneke biu tusangela binu
lo la mai ma mungwa binu somekinya bitu,
bokoli te, 'Binu bipo' woboko wa wene to
nya." Nakasanga te, "Bwele, neni", mpe yo te
"Omeki mai?" Ngai te, "Bitu." Yo te,
"Mekaka." Bande! mpe nakameka, tata!
nkwa ya njai mai manso monana na monana.
Na mikolo miatu, mine solene ngunda koba
bitu, mpinu yenele ngai koba ngunda masua
manso makakela unko boname. Nde uta
Matadi na lokoma Mputu mikolo mikangu
miatu-na butu na moi .
Nainu biu sokoma Mputu nya naokana
unko libumu na jiu bobele; unko te
boikakoma mai ma makali makali, ebanga
yawi lolenge bo molondo muna motemi o jala
ja Lobata; mpe ekejata masua beke beke,
jonge jonge jonge.
Weneke boleki mai mama wete
boikakoma Mputu. Nakosangela mpo yiyi
binu bokomanya mindele bakuta penepene
wa, nga, esi esi. Weneke binu boke Mputu
bokendeke bo o mboka ya Mbula-Matadi, na
lo lu masua makende bo o moime. Yiyi mpo
yalokende yiname.
LOJALA O MPUTU.
Bona bo, lompito luname lokokende we
nokene bike bia mindele miki, wokanaka na
lo lu njutu yao yakomele bitu; mpinu weneke
omeli na bangu banyokolo bo binu bonyokoli
mindele mimi mimiaya, bobaseke mpe
bokobakolo te, "Keka mindele," bangu mpe
lolenge lawi boname o mboka yabangu. Mpe
nde bike bibe o moi natanga naene, mpati,
ntaba, ngombo, koba eko moi eke nde? binso
binso bilo mboka yabangu. Binu te bokikinya
ntembe keka nainu mikuta miabangu uni,
ejali bangu uni. Mpinu nde o nta mboka
yabangu nga na bosoto. Mpe butu bwawi
ekakekele biu nsanu ya mieya mia mbao
ekemitumba bangu mikendeke o nta likolo,
mpe mikabani bo bajakolo. Na lo lu namiene,
nga takendeke o mokuke mwa mai ma
mungwa; mpe yayaka mpio neneke nde bike
lolenge la makutu ma molondo, ngai te,
"Yeye nde?" bangu te, "Nga snow." O lokolo
labiu matandala; nga matandala mabe bokali
yangu ebe bolembu, nga mbula ekebongwana
boname. Na basanja motoba mpio na mpio,
mpe bana motoba mioi na mioi; na lo lu
bakoli ebwa esusu mpio, ebwa esusu mioi na
mioi, bibwa binso unko boname kole wawi.
YABONGWANAKA KOLE.
Tasana wana nsanu yabangume mpe nye,
mokia kendeke biu o ndaku yawi ebe unko
batalatala na batalatala; o nti batu basanaka o
moi bana o punda, bana banokanaka bane
bane, baiki baiki bakelaka bona o butu
buname, mpe o moi bakungia bike biki;
bomanyolela lo lu, yene binu mindele bosali
na bosali na boname, bakasa nkita; mpinu
basusu bakela mpe bike biki o mboka biu
tawelela unko moi moi, unko bona bwa
wobele, yela bitu; Nga tube na biela? Io, nde
mindele batuleki na biela biki biki.
Nakende o ndaku njiki njiki, nene bike
biki; binu bokoli te "Bike nde?"
Weneke bolembetela ndaku ya Mpumu
Weeks, nga elo na bike biki.
Nga, mwabangu mokili mwiba lolenge
labiu bitu. O mbuka bangu nakene nsoki njo
te akajati bitu, nsoki bakolokota, bike bilo uni
o mbuka biu bikojata o mabanda mabangu
bitu, mpesekele na mpu na nkondoko wobele
unko biname. Nga! nyama inso baitungela
mangongi na mangongi; weneke oke o
lingongi mpinu okoki lene nyama njiki njiki,
mpe baitungela mandaku na mandaku,
ekabela lojata o libanda, nde punda wobele.
O eyenga yename unko na ba milengo unko
te o nta Londoni njiki njiki nene ikikela
bangu bike biki, ba butu boko na nta ntongo
toka bobo, nde bangu te, "Masua moko
makendeke o Aflika yaongwaka mangu mpe
ekakambemele o libwa, nga na moi bitu, nde
na butu bangu batu banso basila lotuka na
mpongi mpe masua mawi. Batu bana babawa
bakoki minkama mibale na mikangu mitanu
bwa banso nye, yabikaka motu wawi wobele,
bawa unko na butu bwawi. Weneke o mbuka
biu, binu mbele bwakolo na motu yoname
owabikaka te balekie nkali, nsoki abaloko;
nga batu baiki bakawa na bipai binso na lo
Libanza akolo bona te, "Binu banso bowa
mutu manso."
Mpe ndaku ya Libanza njiki njiki. Binu
basusu bokolo te, "Mindele mikolo minso
minso bosangi na bosangi lo la Libanza." O
mbuka bangu unko mikolo minso bakasanga
mpo ya Libanza; na lo lu mindele misusu
mibe na boboto mpinu bangu te, "Leme
tukende o Monsembe na bipai bisusu
tusangelaka bangu mpo ya Libanza." Binu
koba solojinga te bomekinya lolenge lu lobe
bo Jizu yatumaka yo Yoane. Weneke yayaka
Yoane yo nokasangela batu mpo ya Libanza,
bangu boko bamekinya, boko somekinya bitu
wete bajwaka lobiko bitu esengo bangu bana
bakamekinya Libanza mpinu bakoki lojwa
lobiko. Nga! binu banso bomekinya Libanza
nde bojwa lobiko, te bomekinya bitu nde
bojwe lowa bibwa na bibwa.
Na mokia nakeka bo nde motu wawi
aikambeka yo te, "Tukende o ndaku ya
Libanza." Lojola bangani o moi, tutati lembo;
yaumelaka ngai, ngai na bangu esembenele
wobele. Moko wa bangu ambandi na ndeko,
yo akambekaka, mpinu eyakaya biu
ensombele bangu bolangiti mpe Mpumu
ebapele bieli.
LOYA O KONGO.
Mpe tutiki mputu yakomaka May mikolo
mine, te takakwela koba petengenu yana,
ndele, nde te mwabili yakomaka mikolo
mwambi, na ekebete butu tumasi lojata na
masua ma mokili; ekejata masua ma mokili
bo mwanji; bande! mpe na butu tubimi o loi
tukeka bo masua mabanji o mokuke, takwela
wana tasekola butu butu faki Mbula-Matadi,
ekulu yabangu tusemi, mpe tuluboi, tukajala
o ndaku mikolo te mibale te yoko, nde nga
tajataka boti o mabanda mabangu.
Binu basusu nga bokoloko, te, "Engelesa
baiba na bike biki bitu, nga unko babe bobele
babe na bike, na lo lu binu bokene bike biki
uni o mbuka biu mpinu binu bokokolo
"Engelesa babe na boboyo," nga o mboka ya
Engelesa elekeneli bike biki, babe lolenge
lake ele aneli biu na Diboko nsoki biu jwa
jwa bike biki sokoka loleka Diboko bitu, na
lo lu mboka eti nga bike bilo o moi
biebengeni na batu balo moi.
Yasekolaka biu waname o mboka ya
Mbula-Matadi, tuluki yakomaka biu Banana
tuluki waname. Na mokia yaumwanaka biu
Banana, nga ekulu ya Banana ebe penepe
mokuke mwa mai ma mungwa. Na mokia
tuluki boti tukambemi o jelo, mpinu masua
mati matuyelaka o Boma na Matadi.
Yayaka biu batu unko baiki baiki o mboka
ya Matadi na Boma, nga wete nde mputu na
lo bike biki, ebe mpe masua ma mokili. O
Matadi takoka te eyenga te yoko, mpe na nta
ntongo tuye na masua ma mokili tukomi
Tumba. Takoka o Tumba te biyenga bibale te
yoko, na mokia tujati lo nse; yakomaka biu
Ngombe tutuki mikolo te mine, mpe tujati
koba tukomi Kintamo katana bobo mindele
na bade bangani kwi-kwi, te na lo la mokolo
mwajwaka bangu nse yeye te yoko; mpe
tuleki tukweli o Nganga-Buka; unko
bobimaka bona bweni bu loi luna lobe
lonene, nga nsusu ilekeneli luna na bonene;
nga mpe njoi njiki njiki ilo bipai binso
ilekenele lulu na bonene. Mpe taye ngai
yokenele, ngai naoka nde nsango waname te,
"O mboka binu yakwa lokongo bieka bitu,
mpe mboka ya ngwanga na, eko nde elau
bitu." Na mokia tukomi Ilebo bangu te,
"Takakende o Ntumba, nga Ntumba ebe loi
lonene luna.
Yautaka biu o moi tukomi Bokote, na poso
tukomi o Lulanga. Okaka, ngai te, "Yeye nga
bobe bwa mboka na ntongo mokolo mwa bo
mukomasa lisala na mwekwa tusemi wawa o
mbuka biu.
Tukeka bobo mboka jombotanu nkinga na
nkinga na ndaku mbi, mboka unko ukusanu;
wete nde muka biu te, "Mboka eyabaka elau
yakoma nde bo."
Yalubwaka biu banso wana, binu unko na
ntateli, ngai nalubwaka naye o ndaku ya
Mpumu, nakakolo te na moko nabwaka miu
bo neni mama, ngai te, "Yena nga mama."
Mpe nakiteli namobengi, mpe yo akoli,
"Butungu alo wai?" Nga te, "Yeye nga ngai."
Mpe yo te, "Tata oye." Ngai te, "Io." Tujati o
mboka mpinu batu baiki bakankoje. Nsango
inso inso unko yiname, inso inso ilo mputu
eyakendeke ngai unko boname. Losako binu
banso.
|
1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 125 130 135 140 145 155 160 165 170 175 180 185 190 195 200 205 210 215 225 230 235 240 245 255 260 265 270 275 280 285 290 |
A TRIP TO EUROPE. My dear friends, one fine day Reverend Weeks tells me, "Buntungu, I want us to go to Europe." My friends, I thought it was a joke. I went to get my mother's advice, as well as that of two men. Goodness, I hurried to my mother and told her about it and here is what she said, "Me, I'm sitting here, in bad health, and you, you want to go away. You can go, it's okay, and maybe you'll find me here." I came back and told the Reverend about it, who answered, "It's okay." One day, I heard the Reverend say, "I want us to go to Lokolele[3]." Goodness, I almost forgot: Mopembe was also with us. So we arrived in Lokolele, from where we would go all the way down to Matadi. We spent a week in Lokolele, loading and unloading trunks. So when we had completed one week in Lokolele, we went off to Europe again, and we arrived in Bolobo[4]. From there, we went to Kintamo[5], where we heard that the White man had fought you and that no one got killed. From Kintamo we were to leave for Tunduwa[6], but we were unable to find porters. So we had to use porters from the State, and, my dear, off we were! Only plants and stones. My! Can you imagine? We really walked a lot in that caravan! We were so courageous. When we arrived in Ngombe[7], where an epidemic was waging, I too felt a bit ill, but I said to myself that I was almost there and that I should not give up. As we were going towards Lukunga, Lotoba started to feel ill, and on arriving in Lukunga[8], he was really in bad shape. The Reverend decided to look for porters to carry him, but he couldn't find any. As I was the only one left in good shape, I was sent to find porters. As I left them there, I said to myself, "We came here together, didn't we, and now Lotoba falls ill and me, shouldn't I stay by his side." So I walked a little bit more, until I saw a White man from Ntumba[9] coming my way and say to me, "Just go away, there are no porters here". My friends! I felt my head turning and tears welling up in my eyes, but I regained my strength and said, "Who else can go but me, otherwise that disease is going to kill my partner." And I added, "My partner is suffering, I have to stay by his side and look after him." My friends! So we stayed at Lukunga. And there, during all the days that we stayed there Lotoba just kept on groaning, and I told him, "We came here the two of us, and now, my partner, why would you die here?" So I implored God, asking Him, "Oh God, I came here together with my partner and now he's got ill and is going to die. O God of the living, please keep him well." My friends, I just kept talking like that. Lotoba started to feel better. As Lotoba started to feel better, I now, my dear, I in turn also started to feel weak, but I soon regained my strength. We told the White man, "We stayed because of the illness, but now that it's over, please tell us who will show us the way." The White man sent us along with people he had picked for us. At that point, the person who had been appointed to be in charge of guiding us, was not a White man, but a Black man called Mantu, who acted just like a White man. We walked and walked, my dear, in the direction of Tunduwa. Listen, we heard sirens scream like "wee, wee"; there was Tunduwa, a bit lower than Matadi. We said, "That's Tunduwa and Matadi." On looking further ahead, we asked ourselves, "What's that over there?" And this is what we were told, "That there is a boat from Europe." It was as big as Bongolo[10], and it let off steam just like the ones in Congo. ON THE BOAT TO EUROPE. The boat to Europe is very big. It's about fifty arms long and it has four long posts, each with other smaller posts, which are used to disembark the trunks. And then there's another thing which is used to lift the trunks onto the boat, which is a bit like the one on the "Goodwill"[11]. It rolls up and unrolls cables. Anyway, that boat is not like our steamer, it was built differently and it has many things inside. We left that place and went to Banana[12]. Looking ahead of me, I saw nothing but ocean. When we had passed Banana, I looked around but I could see no land. The Reverend told me, "Do you remember when we told you about salted water and you wouldn't believe us, you said, 'You are liars'." I answered, "I remember." And he continued, "Have you tried this water?" I said, "No." And he said, "Just try it." My friends! I indeed tried it, my goodness! Here was water that was completely salted. During three days, we saw no coast at all, but when I saw some coast, I saw other ships made just the same way as ours. You have to know that from Matadi to Europe, it's a three weeks' journey- travelling night and day. Before we had reached Europe, I suffered from stomach ache and pain in my eyes, as at a certain moment the waves were very high, even as high as the molondo tree that grows on Lotanda's land. And then the boat keeps on rolling and rolling. As you pass those turbulent waters, you're about to reach Europe. I'm telling you all this because you think that the White man comes from somewhere near, which is wrong. If you want to go to Europe, you first have to go to the State post, where you have to take the boat. All this is necessary to go there. OUR STAY IN EUROPE. You will now, more than anything else, hear about the things of many White people. If you're thinking about your body, you won't even be able to drink, and if you want to drink with them, they will make you suffer the same way you also make Whites suffer, and you will laugh at them and tell them, "But just look at the White people"[13]. They behave the same way in their own country. And I was able to see so many things: sheep, goats, cows, and what have you. There's everything in their country. If you don't believe me, just look at their cities, that's how they are. And their villages are so clean. One day, we went to see a gun show, with shots in the air, which disperse. We also went on a trip on the ocean. And when the cold had come, that's when I saw things like flocks, like the ones of the molondo tree. And I asked, "What's this?" The people told me, "That's snow." Under our feet there were hailstones, but hailstones are hard and this was soft. This is also the end of the cycle of the year. During six months, there's nothing but cold, and during the other six months, there's sunshine. So one season is cold, the other one sunny; all the seasons together form one cycle. SUMMER TIME. We played really every type of game, and after that we went to a house that was completely made of windows. Inside, people were playing. Some kids were playing with horses, others were playing four by four. Many people were doing those kind of things that day. And some people were selling things there. Just know that when you see White people doing all these things, they are after money. Other people make things, the ones we fight for in our countries, which is really not good. So we have those things too? Yes, and it's with them that the Whites make so many other things. I went to many houses, I saw so many things. Now you may ask, "What kind of things?" Just observe Reverend Weeks' house, that one too has many things. So, their country is really not like ours. I haven't seen one snake there. The small animals which they breed and which we also have in our country, don't live on the people's own yards, although they also have cockroaches, rats and cats. In fact, for all animals they have constructed enclosures. If you go into such an enclosure, you can see different animals, and even there the people have constructed houses for the animals. It's only the horse that walks in the open. One week, we took a coach to London, which is so big. I saw the many things that people had made there. One day, in the morning, I heard people say, "A boat that had left for Africa, has run aground on the rocks. It happened at night, when the passengers had already gone to bed. The boat sank and two hundred and fifty people died, and only one survived. They all died in that same night." If such a thing happened in our country, you would say that the one survivor is a sorcerer; but all people die everywhere, because God has said, "All of you will die." And there are so many churches in Europe. Some of you will say, "White people, you just talk about God every day." Well, in their own country, they indeed preach about God all the time. That's why most Whites are so kind and why they said, "Let's go to Monsembe and other places and tell them about God." You people refuse to believe in Jesus' example, which John[14] revealed for us. When John came to talk about God, some people believed him and others didn't. The latter have not received eternal life; blessed be those who believe in God, because they will receive eternal life. Now! All of you, if you believe in God, you will receive eternal life, if you don't believe, you will certainly die. After that, I met a person who told me, "Let's go to church." We gathered in that church and sang. As I spent a lot of time there, I and the other churchgoers became close. One of them considered me as his brother and often came to see me. When we were about to leave, they bought us blankets and the Reverend also gave them several things. THE RETURN TO CONGO. On the fourth of May, we decided to leave Europe. But when came the moment to leave, some problems arose, and in the morning of the eighth, we finally took the train. The train went like a fly, it's amazing! The next day, we got off the train and saw other trains at the platforms. From there, we spent all night in a governmental house. We spent one or two days in their houses and we lodged in their quarters. Some of you might say, "The English don't have many things. The only things they have are the things we can see here." And you might add, "The English are poor." But in England, there are many things. It's like between us and the people in Iboko[15]: even if we manage to accumulate many things, we will never have more than Iboko. With regard to England, there are many things there and the people have many possessions. As we left England, we set sail towards Banana, and we again spent some time on the ocean. So after a while we reached Banana: the town of Banana is very close to the estuary to the sea. From Banana, we travelled ahead, but we got stuck on a sandbank. Then a small boat took us to Boma[16] and Matadi. When we reached Boma and Matadi, we found many people there. Just like in Europe, Matadi has a train. In Matadi we only spent one week, so one morning we took the train to Tumba. In Tumba, we spent one or two weeks and from there we went on by foot. After four days we reached Ngombe and we continued our journey towards Kintamo. There, we encountered Whites and Blacks, making a lot of noise and being turbulent. We reached the village of Nganga-Buka and there is a big lake with a lot of water there[17]. There's just water everywhere and lots and lots of fish. When I went out to have a look, the people from there told me, "There is scarcity of food in your village, there's no good fish there, there's nothing good in your village." After a while, we reached Irebu[18], and the people there told us, "We're going to Lake Ntumba[19], Lake Ntumba is a big lake." From there, we reached Bokote[20], and after one more week we got to Lulanga[21]. I said to myself, "What a dirty village." One morning, on a Monday, we arrived at our village. We saw a village which had become old and dirty, full of grass and old houses. Our village dishonoured us. We said, "Our village was once a nice one, but now it's become like this." After disembarking, each of us went in his own direction. I went down to the Reverend's house, talking to myself. I looked around and saw my mother and I said, "That's really my mother." I went down to her, called her and she said, "Where is Buntungu?" And I answered, "I'm here." And she said, "So you've come back." I said, "Yes." We walked through the village and a lot of people came to greet me. All this is the news I bring you, all this is about that place, Europe, where I went. Greetings to all of you. |
1
The State post Bangala Station was
founded by Stanley and Coquilhat in 1884 near the village of Iboko, and the
natives of Iboko used the word "mankanza" (in the local language, "fortification",
"settlement") to refer to this State post. In 1889, the Catholic missionaries
of Scheut had added a mission post to Bangala Station, which they called "la
Mission du Sacre-Cœur de Mpombu". In 1890, a decree by Leopold II brought the
Catholic mission post and the State post together under the single name "Nouvelle-Anvers".
It became the Congo Free State's central foothold on the Upper Congo, not in
the least because of its functioning as the headquarters of the Free State's
army, the Force Publique.
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2 A typographical error (one of the
very few) for "Matadi", the region's main port in the estuary of the Congo river.
Matadi is the deepest point inland that can be reached by boats coming from
the Atlantic Ocean. It is situated 120 kms inland from that Atlantic coast.
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3 Variant spelling of "Lukolela",
a town on the left bank of the Congo river, 200 kms south of Equator Station
("Coquilhatville", "Mbandaka"). One of the first BMS mission posts north of
the Stanley Pool was founded there in 1884. A State post had already been founded
there in September 1883 by Stanley.
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4 Bolobo, a town on the left bank
of the Congo about 150 kms south of Lukolela, hosting another State post (founded
November 1882) and BMS mission post (founded 1888).
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5 Kintamo: one of the villages on
the banks of the Stanley Pool, around Leopoldville station. It was the village
of the historically well-known Bateke chief, Ngaliema.
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6 Tunduwa: another name for "Underhill
Station", the BMS post founded by Weeks in the Lower Congo region (see above),
situated right next to the port of Matadi.
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7 Or "Gombe-Lutete", also known as
"Wathen Station", a BMS post in the Lower Congo region, on the caravan route
between the Pool and Matadi, some 100 kms south of Leopoldville.
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8 Or "Lukungu", a town a few kms south
of Ngombe, with a BMS station, but also with stations of the Congo Balolo Mission
and the American Baptist Missionary Union.
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9 Or "Tumba", a town on the railway
in the Lower Congo area, halfway between Leopoldville and Matadi.
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10 Bongolo: unclear. Maybe this is
the name of one of the steamers used on the Upper Congo river which Buntungu
knew.
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11 The "Goodwill" was a steamer used
by Weeks and other Protestants in Monsembe.
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12 A town right on the Atlantic coast,
overlooking the mouth of the Congo river and the ocean.
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13 The argument is not fully clear
here. More refined translations may be necessary.
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14 John the Baptist. Remember that
Buntungu was Christianised by a missionary society, the BMS, which stressed
the necessity of baptism in relation to the Christian faith. Or maybe Weeks
inserted this edifying passage during his editorial intervention.
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15 Iboko: Nouvelle-Anvers. See footnote
1.
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16 Boma: a town between Banana (on
the Atlantic coast) and Matadi. The administrative capital of the Congo Free
State and the Belgian Congo until the 1920s.
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17 Probably Stanley Pool.
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18 On the Congo river, some 100 kms
south of Coquilhatville. At the mouth of the arm by which Lake Tumba drains
into the Congo.
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19 Lake Tumba.
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20 This does not refer to the village
with the same name some 200 kms upstream on the Ruki-Busira river, absolutely
out of the way of Buntungu and Weeks' trip. "Bokote" is a variant name for "Ukuti"
("Oukouti" in Coquilhat's "Sur le Haut Congo", Brussels, 1888), which refers
to a cluster of villages next to which Stanley, Vangele and Coquilhat founded
Equator Station in April 1883. E. De Boeck, in his "Buku mosusu mwa tanga Lingala"
(Bangala, 1905) also uses "Bokote" for "Ukuti".
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21 Or "Lulonga": on the Congo river,
at the mouth of the Lulonga affluent, about 60 kms south of Monsembe.
[back to main text]
© Michael Meeuwis
Archived: 13 September 1999
Last revised: 24 September 1999 (two minor corrections), 23 August 2001 (Volume
number added), 31 October 2001 (ISSN added)