anufacture the same kind of wicker
chairs that the tourist buys at Madeira.

The farther I travelled in the Congo the more deeply I became interested
in the native habits and customs. Although cluttered with ignorance and
superstition the barbaric mind is strangely productive of a rude
philosophy which is expressed in a quaint folklore. Seasoned Congo
travellers like Grenfell, Stanley, Ward, and Johnston have all recorded
fascinating local legends. I heard many of these tales myself and I
shall endeavour to relate the best.

Some of the most characteristic stories deal with the origin of death.
Here is a Bangala tradition gathered by Grenfell and which runs as
follows:

The natives say that in the beginning men and women did not die.
That one day, _Nza Komba_ (God) came bringing two gifts, a large and
a small one. If they chose the smaller one they would continue to
live, but if the larger one, they would for a time enjoy much
greater wealth, but they would afterwards die. The men said they
must consider the matter, and went away to drink water, as the
Kongos say. While they were discussing the matter the women took the
larger gift, and _Nza Komba_ went back with the little one. He has
never been seen since, though they cried and cried for Him to come
back and take the big bundle and give them the little one, and with
it immortality.

The Baluba version of the great mystery is set forth in this way:

God (_Kabezya-unpungu_) created the sun, moon, and stars, then the
world, and later the plants and animals. When all this was finished
He placed a man and two women in the world and taught them the name
and use of all things. He gave an axe and a knife to the man, and
taught him to cut wood, weave stuffs, melt iron, and to hunt and
fish. To the women he gave a pickaxe and a knife. He taught both of
them to till the ground, make pottery, weave baskets, make
oil,--that is to say, all that custom assigns to them to-day.

These first inhabitants of the earth lived happily for a long time
until one of the women began to grow old. God, foreseeing this, had
given her the gift of rejuvenating herself, and the faculty, if she
once succeeded, of preserving the gift for herself and for all
mankind. Unfortunately, she speedily lost the precious treasure and
introduced death into the world.

This is how the misfortune occurred