. Land and peoples of the Kasai; being a narrative of a two years' journey among the cannibals of the equatorial forest and other savage tribes of the south-western Congo . h, as instructor of the young, it washis duty to teach to the rising generation. Day after dayTorday would go down to the Bilumbus hut, and seatedin the shade in some secluded spot he would listen by thehour to the old mans tales, and, as a result, he was able togain an extensive knowledge of Bushongo folk-lore. Theselegends are preserved only in the brain of the Bilumbu,for, of course, the art of writing is quite unknown t
. Land and peoples of the Kasai; being a narrative of a two years' journey among the cannibals of the equatorial forest and other savage tribes of the south-western Congo . h, as instructor of the young, it washis duty to teach to the rising generation. Day after dayTorday would go down to the Bilumbus hut, and seatedin the shade in some secluded spot he would listen by thehour to the old mans tales, and, as a result, he was able togain an extensive knowledge of Bushongo folk-lore. Theselegends are preserved only in the brain of the Bilumbu,for, of course, the art of writing is quite unknown to theBushongo, and they are sacred ; it was therefore entirelydue to Tordays good fortune in being able to cure the oldman of his fever that he obtained this splendid opportunityof learning the stories from the man who knew them old Bilumbu evidently considered that the dignity ofhis office required that he should surround himself with asmuch mystery as possible—hence no doubt his habit oftaking pills under a blanket; and accordingly the relatingof his legends was not without its ceremony, in the courseof which the old fellow generally succeeded in making. The Bilumbu taking pills under a blanket.
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherlondonconstable
