THE GRAND DETROIT "N'KONDI"

Author(s): Robert Farris Thompson

Source: Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts , 1978, Vol. 56, No. 4 (1978), pp. 206-221
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Detroit Institute of
Arts

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41505367

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 FIGURE 1. Nail Figure (nkisi n'kondi), attributed to a master sculptor of the Shiloango River area, Western Kongo (Mayombe), с.
1875/1 900(?); wood with screws, nails, blades, medicinal protuberance (kundu) at navel centered with cowrie shell; h. 116.8 cm. (46%
206 in.). Eleanor Clay Ford Fund for African Art (76.79).

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 THE GRAND DETROIT N'KONDI

By Robert Farris Thompson

Professor of Art History
Yale University

M и diavwezwa mweti mena dian'zitusu in Angola, and from the Kwango River to the
(Out of humiliation can stem grandeur) Atlantic.6 Six great provinces were ruled by gover-
- Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki nors and district chiefs, linked to the capital by
couriers. Even today, the Kongo person, wherever
situated, defines him or herself in terms of descent
The Bakongo people live in southwestern Zaïre, from this ancient idealized capital, "where all
north and south of the mighty Zaïre River. They were born, where each clan still has its street, and
also live in adjacent portions of Congo- where each one has relatives to receive him."7
Brazzaville, Cabinda, and Angola. For more than The Kongo term for important settlement, mbanza ,
400 years certain of the visual arts of Kongo have fundamentally communicates the notion of a
dazzled the Western world. Thus, Duarte Pacheco "densely populated prosperous community in
Pereira, writing about 1505/08, alerted Europe to which a strong chief, supernaturally inspired,
the magnificence of Kongo raffia-weaving: "in this assures every citizen his due."8
kingdom of Congoo [sic] they make cloths of
palm-leaf as soft as velvet, some of them embroi- The sites of major Kongo settlements often
dered with velvet satin, as beautiful as any made reflected the power of this Utopian conviction.
in Italy."1 Pigafetta, in 1591, was equally Dapper's rendering of Mbanza Kongo (fig. 2),
enthusiastic: dated 1 686, correctly illustrates, through a veil of
Europeanizing touches (e.g. the design of the
I must describe the extraordinary art buildings), the Kongo penchant for the ideal, hill-
with which the inhabitants of this coun- top urban site, high-standing on a plain, open to
try and the neighboring regions weave the cooling breezes, visible from afar.9 Even
types of fabric, such as velvets, with Kongo cemeteries often are built on abandoned
and without nap, brocades, satins, taf- settlements - i.e. on hilltops (fig. 3). Associating
fetas, damasks, sarsenets, and other greatness with elevation, Bakongo look up to their
similar fabrics . . . derived from the major towns in a double sense. In the custom re-
palm leaf. The trees must be kept low, mains alive their expectation of the re-
and to this end they must be pruned establishment of the ideal perfect city.
every year so that tenderer leaves will
grow next season.2 This idealism is exemplified in the formal structure
of a massive oath-taking and healing Nail Figure
Bakongo art, in addition to the famous weaves, (nkisi n'kondi) from the western Kongo which en-
included tomb statuary (biini or kiniongo)3 and tered the collections of The Detroit Institute of Arts
myriad "charms" (minkisi), some "figurated,"in 1 976 (fig. 1 ).10 Like the chiefs of ancient Kongo,
some not, unique presences in the history of sub-
the image wears the special ruler's bonnet (mpú).
saharan art.4 Artists, cultivators, kings, the peopleIt stands upon elevated feet, as if in cryptic evoca-
of Kongo built a major civilization. Like the tion of the siting of the ideal city.11 Citizens once
Chinese, the Jews, and the Anglo-Saxons, came before this image as they might have visited
Bakongo know the greatness of their past. Pride in a lord or king or major healer - to seal important
noble heritage imparts self-confidence to their cul- covenants, to end disputes, to regain wholeness of
ture. Bakongo were among the first figures fighting their mind or body, or to destroy through mystic
for political independence from Europe: their means an antisocial enemy or witch.
capacity for unified political action stemmed in
part from their potent sense of place in history.5 The clients of this icon, prompted by its presiding
ritual expert (nganga n'kondi ), "signed" their
Ancient Kongo was centered on a capital, Mbanza vows, or activated their medicines of punishment
Kongo, sited in what is now Angola. The influence or restoration, by causing blades, nails, screws,
of this impressive kingdom once extended from and other sharply pointed objects to be driven into
the Kwilu River, in modern Gabon, to the Cuanza, the jaws, neck, trunk, and arms of this tautly post- 207

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 FIGURE 2. View of Mbanza Kongo (Sao Salvador ), ancient capital of Kongo. Engraving from Olfert Dapper, Description de l'Afrique,
Amsterdam, 1686.

ured image. By the time this icon was collected, Thus, minkisi were essentially healing powers,
by Visser, in 1903, at "Mayumba"12 (probably powers originally come from God. Isaki elabo-
Mayombe territory in Bas-Zaïre), approximately rated on the nature of their powers:
320 iron pieces had been hammered into its
surfaces. Nkisi is the name of a thing we use to
help a man when he is sick and from
Recently attributed to a late 19th-century master which we obtain health; the name re-
sculptor working in the Shiloango River13 area of fers to leaves and medicines combined
modern Cabinda and Bas-Zaïre, this strongly together.
realized image is carved in a species of wood [Also] nkisi is a hiding place for
identified as Canarium schweinfurthii, a sacred
tree for the n'kondi .14 The figure stands 1 16.8 cm.
tall. It once assured the citizens of western Kongo
of healing insights and binding powers of deci-
sion. For the image was an nkisi (plural: minkisi), a
sacred medicine from God. Around 1900, Nsemi
Isaki, himself Mu-Kongo, wrote a definition of this
most important class of sacred objects. His text in
effect liberates us from centuries of misconcep-
tion:

... the first nkisi, called Funza, origi-

nated in God, and Funza came with a
great number of minkisi which he dis-
tributed throughout the country each
FIGURE 3. Modern Kongo graves on hill overlooking town of
with its respective powers, governing Tchéla, Northern Mayombe, Bas-Zaïre, May 1976. Photo: cour-
208 over its particular domain.15 tesy of the author.

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 people's souls, to keep and compose in feared, as can be well imagined, when used in
order to preserve life. private for selfish ends by antisocial persons. Thus
the minkisi are viewed as living presences, con-
The nkisi has life; if it had not, how versed with by clients and priests alike, because
could it heal and help people? But the they are believed to hold within the flash of their
life of an nkisi is different from the life bright spirit-imbedding earths, a soul. Object-
in people. It is such that one can dam- hieroglyphs within the charm tell the spirit who to
age its flesh (koma mbizi), burn it, bless or punish. The priest and clients repeat or
break it, or throw it away; but it will not refine these exhortations.
bleed or cry out. . . .
Spiritualized by their contents and associated
Medicines placed in an nkisi are ... ritual, minkisi -packets and other cloth-wrapped
forces in its body to help it to work. The forms materially overlap the shapes of some
nkisi is as it is, but if it lacks medicines, sculptured charms taking human form. Subtle
it cannot do a thing. So the nkisi has corporeality enlivens some sachets or bundles.
medicines, they are its strength, and its Thus statue and packet may share a vocabulary of
hands and feet and eyes; medicines are certain ornamental elements, such as feathered
all these.16 crests, beaded necklaces, tied-on bells, inserted
metal parts, miniature subsidiary charms, and
An nkisi is thus an object endowed with hidden, swollen, medicine-filled "bellies." Conversely,
living, healing power. Classically, it is composed the realism of "figurated" charms can sometimes
of a container and things contained. The container be deceptive, concealing a secret re-siting of bod-
may take the form of a leaf, a shell, a packet, a ily coordinates, so that the top of the Detroit
sachet, a bag, a bundle, a vessel made of earthen- n'kondi, for example, outwardly a cap with pin-
ware, a figurine, a statuette, or, as in the case of nacle, is inwardly a secret navel, a door to another
the Detroit figure, a large human image with a world. Therefore, it is particularly useful to have
medicine-filled protruding section in the region of some sense of the form and meaning of cloth-
the belly. The things contained are medicines, wrapped minkisi -packets before attending to the
carefully combined and subtly classified. Figu- carved Detroit n'kondi.
rated minkisi conceal their medicines in the belly,
head, or in some other place. Five minkisi -packets from the study collections of
the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren
Part of the tied or sealed-up medicines (bilongo) provide a subtle fascination. The first (fig. 4, ex-
attracts and imbeds the spirit that activates the treme right) was collected in Bas-Zaïre and acces-
charm; the other elements guide that spirit to its sioned on April 7, 1919. Its name is variantly
targeted enemy or disease. "Imbedding given as Nkisi Mbumba Mbondo and Mbundu
medicine" usually takes the form of earth taken Mbondo. This charm protects a person from
from ancestral graves, or white clay from the bed pathological swelling or inflicts that kind of illness
of a river, or camwood. Elements which shine or upon a designated criminal or enemy. From Dos-
glitter can attract a spirit, even as in Kongo terms, sier 380 at Tervuren:
kaolin, sparkling beneath the waters of the moving
stream, is the locus classicus of the dead, the Mbumba Mbondo. Swelling. If you see
boundary to their world. "Attack medicines" a man sickened by Mbundu Mbondo ,
point, in metaphoric, punning ways, to the targets you will be afraid. The whole body and
of the charm, through the blending of these dou- all the members are swollen up, dio
ble powers: one, the keeping and composing of a bombolo "enormously." The belly dio
soul, and two, the guiding of that animating spirit yengele-yengele "puffing up" like a
to a designated goal. pregnancy. The eyes become
occluded, the cheeks rounded and dis-
The kinds of soul inhabiting minkisi vary. Some tended dio yeofa, all the limbs swollen,
charms contain the soul of an ancestor, others a the body transformed, turned all white
spirit from the oldest, most enduring, hence high- dio veve-veve. There are no symptoms
est class of the dead, the bisimbi. Other minkisi except that the belly is tired and the
enclose the spirit of a victim of sorcery, trapped body swollen.18
within the carving or the packet, forced to do its
owner's bidding.17 The latter usage is approved of, The bell-like base of this special charm, conceal-
when handled openly by responsible chiefs and ing many medicines, recalls the swelling,
priests, for the common good, but despised and medicine-filled protruberances which define the 20

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 belly or the head of certain "figurateci" Kongo descending, like a feathered being, from above.19
charms. This particular nkisi is dressed in Euro- Feathers also suggest power in incessant growth
pean cotton covered with a thick impasto of red and represent the numerous kinsmen and depen-
camwood, the color that in Kongo can signalize dents of a Kongo ruler. Mbumba or Mbundu
the mediation of power from the dead. White Mbondo is a presence, studded, buttoned, gleam-
trade buttons, some of porcelain and some of ing, feathered. The positive associative values
glass, have been sewn to the charm. A braided clustering about its feathered crest belie attempts
raffia string has been crisscrossed at the bottom to compress its function to inducement of disease.
and then wound tightly to the top, suggesting the
arrest of spirit. Brass studs have been driven into A second nkisi (fig. 4, second from the right) illus-
the stem that rises from the base. The stem trates the power of abstraction in the making of
suggests a neck, a possibility strengthened by"nonfigurated"
the charms. It is essentially a
attachment there of a necklace formed of five medicine-filled, mirror-sealed protruberance, em-
strands of green, blue, and white glass beads, andbellished with metaphoric power relating to the
confirmed by the presence of a cap of resin at theAthererus mouse (Athererus Africanus Gray), tufts
summit of the charm, into which feathers havefrom the tail of which doubly enliven the charm.
been inserted, precisely in the manner of certain
kinds of "figurated" charms. This last detail trans-The priestly keeper of a small figurated charm, an
forms the summit into a feathered headdress, con-object now at Tervuren (fig. 6), also wished to
ceit of important chiefs and priests in Kongo. Itstress power imparted to a medicine-cylinder by
mirrors important "figurai" minkisi bearing actualthe addition of Athererus tufts. What that
feathered headdresses, as in the case of an nkisi - additional power was can be suggested by under-
sculpture of aggressive stance now at Tervuren scoring the fact that Bakongo traditionally were
(fig. 5). Feathers are Kongo emblems of leadership.impressed with the quick, clever motions of the
They convey the idea of authority as a spiritual giftAthererus mouse. Hence, as suggested by Albert

FIGURE 4. Minkisi-Packets, attributed to ritual experts among the Bakongo of Bas-Zaïre. From right to left: Nkisi Mbumba Mb
Mbundu Mbondo, made before 1919; cotton, camwood impasto, porcelain and glass buttons, raffia string, brass studs, beads
feathers. Nkisi (full title unknown), 19th century(?); mirror, resin, beads, tufts from tail of Athererus mouse; h. 32 cm. (12% in.), form
Walschot Collection. Nkisi, from Fumu Koko, near Kinshasa, 19th century(?); indigo-dyed cotton, raffia strips, feathers, h. 15 cm.
Nkisi, Western Kongo, blue cotton cloth, fiber wrap. Nkisi, Bas-Zaïre, brown, indigo-dyed cotton, cotton parcel string, traces of sp
210 Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren (22435; 71.16.1; 17870; 53.39.32; 27625).

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Maesen,20 addition of the tufts of its tail implies the a will or deed. Peace treaties were so confirmed,
giving of the cunning of the rodent to the spirit in especially where warring towns had suffered
the charm. The mirror is, of course, a door to the enormous loss of life:
other world.
They would then often assemble on a
The remaining charms illustrated in figure 4 hill, taking with them a big nkisi
document further variety in the making of n'kondi to confirm the treaty on oath,
m i nki s i -packets. Immediately to the left of the each party hammering [in pieces of
mirror/Athererus charm is a small wrapped nkisi iron] . . . or a . . . knife . . . and firing
from the village of Fumu Koko, not far from Kin- salvoes [of gunshot] ....
shasa. This object is wrapped in handkerchief-
weight fine cotton, dyed indigo. It is wound with The meeting began [with a feast, much
strips of raffia cloth. Plumes emerge from within its drinking of palm wine] [with] agree-
summit, once again recalling priestly power and ment reached as to the punishments to
authority. The remaining m i nkisi, to the left of the be meted out for those breaking the
object from Fumu Koko, are wound in one in- treaty in coming generations. They
stance with string, in another, wicker, binding would then take something represent-
motions which visually suggest the capture of the ing both parties, together with a little
spirit and mystical arrest. hair, and fasten this to n'kondi , kiss the
wedge or the knife, and hammer it into
All this assertion and explicitness of hidden power n'kondi , saying, ". . . there has been a
prepares us for the n'kondi (plural: minkondi ) terrible wrath between us, if it is ended,
class of charms.21 To begin with, the term come and swear rightly, let us leave all
n'kondi relates to the verb konda (to hunt). Min- rightly. If not, let n'kondi come and eat
tisi n'kondi , like seasoned hunters, lurk in ambush us [i.e. utterly destroy us]."25
for liars, thieves, adulterers, for all sorts of persons
who might undermine societal structure. Such im-
ages are sometimes shaped as miniature dogs.
Dogs and hunters are counterparts. Bakongo be-
lieve that a dog possesses four eyes, that they live
in a settlement between the living and the dead,
and that they, therefore, specially smell out spirits
in the night and penetrate their concealment. Cita-
tion of the species in the making of "figurated"
charms adds fleetness and accuracy of olfactory
perception to the powers of a given charm.

Whether conceived in canine, human, or other

shapes, the n'kondi is famous for its multiple inser-
tions of blades and nails. These are hammered in,
normally only a fraction of their length, for the
whole point is to display them as signs of oath-
taking,22 medicine, or moral vengeance. Display
of the blades, nails, and other pointed objects un-
derscores their use as moral medicine.23 The cus-
tom gains perspective when examined at some
length with respect to variety of social context and
social function. As an example, in northern
Kongo, at the turn of the century, the parties to a
divorce might come before an nkisi n'kondi to
swear assurance that they harbored no desire to
avenge themselves later through sorcery. Here is a
sample declaration: "Now we have separated, if I
should set a snare in the day, or in the night,
should I not die?"24 Thus conditions agreed upon
before n'kondi were hammered in, in iron, or
FIGURE 5. Nkisi, area carved and medicated before 1917; wood,
wooden wedges, to render permanent and bind- paint, feathered headdress, iron pieces, mirror; h. 75 cm. (30
ing the words of the agreement, like a signature on in.). Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren (19843). 211

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 The treaty was deliberately accomplished at the and says: "Hear, n'kondi , eat me [should I lie] it is
summit of a hill, a choice of siting suggestive of a indeed the truth." He, too, drives an iron pin into
momentary return to the ideal perfect justice of the image, saying "Father, have you not heard?"31
Mbanza Kongo.26 The touching of lips to iron and
the tying-on of hair made the parties to the treaty The sealing of oaths by hammering sharp objects
part of the medicines of the charm. Thereafter, into the body of an image is said to predate the
they remained subject to its powers of revenge, coming of the Portuguese and the importation of
powers already activated by the driving-in of iron European nails and blades. Thus, Fu-Kiau-Kia-
or wooden pegs. Should the vows be later broken, Bunseki, the famous Mu-Kongo scholar: "Before
n'kondi , guided by the hair, knew exactly where the Bakongo knew iron nails from Europe, we
to go. used binko [wooden pegs or wedges] and nsende
[thorns, spurs, and sharply pointed bones from
Military agreements, mutual aid pacts, the making fish]."32 It is interesting to note that some old min-
of penal regulations - all these serious issues kisi now in European collections are indeed stud-
might be confirmed by hammered iron or wooden ded with thorn or wooden blade insertions (e.g.
pegs before n'kondi. When a stranger was ac- Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren, 26498
cepted as a member of another clan, for example, and 44678).
his change of status was confirmed by the striking
of an n'kondi and the insertion into the body of the An nkisi mentioned in the 17th-century literature
charm of iron or wooden pieces, in some cases of exploration bears a title which possibly refers to
moistened with the sprinkled blood of a sacrificial the original custom of inserting sharply pointed
hen.27 objects into n'kondi images. Thus, Dapper, in
1670, told the story of an image which, nailed,
Minkondi even played a role in litigation concern- was believed by coastal Bakongo to have caused
ing unpaid loans. If a person was accused of hav- the destruction of a ship from Portugal. The name
ing failed to make good his indebtedness, yet of this charm was "Kikokoo,"33 quite possibly an
claimed he had fulfilled his obligations, he could ancestor of a 19th-century "nkisi of property,"
take the leaf of a dwarf palm to a ritual expert in Kinkoko. Given the Bakongo genius for wordplay,
charge of an n'kondi image. The priest would then there are possible puns built into this name,
tie the leaf to the image, blessing the nkisi and namely a pun on the word for wooden peg (kinko)
showing it the way to attack, should the person driven in to seal a vow, and the word for the bird
protesting good faith turn out to be a liar.28 that hammers its beak into the wood, the wood-
pecker (kinkoko). Neither term necessarily pre-
Oaths of an initiate were also sealed with ham- supposes the use of iron.
mered iron. In addition, the novitiate, in the pres-
ence of the ritual expert in charge of the nkisi, tookNevertheless, by 1870, iron blades and nails had
the n'kondi image and licked its eyes, brow, thebecome common enough in n'kondi ritual to at-
corners of the eyes, and heart, saying, "I shall not tract the attention of a European writer:
mention what I have learnt to anyone. N'kondi
vengo! (n'kondi turn aside!)." And the priest re- The ritual expert produces a large head
sponded: "Ti vengo! (he turns aside!)."29 in wood ... he drives into it a nail
which the accused must remove with
Minkondi also witnessed cases where one person his hands. It is clear all depends on the
accused another of having stolen property. Should manner by which the magician has dri-
the defendant continue to protest his innocence, ven in the nails . . . one day, at Banana,
the plaintiff could visit the owner of an n'kondi I witnessed a ceremony of this kind.
and drive into the image one iron pin, while men- The image that the magician brought
tioning the stolen object. If the defendant persisted out was wounded by more than a
in denying responsibility for the theft, he and the thousand nails.34 (Translation mine.)
plaintiff exchanged mfunya (hair and other sub-
stance intimate to their bodies)30 and fixed them to Nails here become instruments of divination, dis-
a nail or wedge. After tying on the hair, the defen- covering innocence or culpability, according to
dant speaks out to n'kondi: ". . . did I take his whether or not a given nail resists the pull of the
property? O, n'kondi [if I did] eat me ashore, eathand of the accused person. This custom fits the
me in the water, eat me wherever I should go!" larger n'kondi concern with moral revelation.
Whereupon the image is struck on the forehead
with a knife and further incantations are recited. The question remains: are such traditions reflec-
212 The opposing party then advances, lifts a knife, tive of the influence of Roman Catholic imagery,

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i.e. the Crucifixion, the Crown of Thorns, and the
arrow-filled body of St. Sebastian? Peg- and
thorn-nailed images are said to predate the Por-
tuguese. Moreover, Christian influence on
Mbanza Kongo, climaxed by the baptism of King
Nzinga a Nkuwu on May 3, 1491, has probably
been exaggerated, for even then traditionalist
forces resisted conversion and, during the 18th
and 19th centuries, it is reliably reported, Euro-
pean Christian influence in Kongo was marginal
or nonexistent, except in certain coastal centers of
trade with Europe. Images showing St. Sebastian's
arrow-filled body, the Crown of Thorns, and the
nailed feet and hands of Christ functioned, in my
opinion, as secondary, reinforcing influences.

For the primary impetus was the Bakongo ancient

custom of koma nloko (nailing in the curse), of
which an Mboma Kongo version has been de-
scribed:

A man dissatisfied with [the] treatment

of him [by the head of his descent
group] approached the head of another
group, upon whose forehead he wiped
his foot (dyata va mbulu). In other areas
he sat on the chiefs bed or committed FIGURE 6. Nkisi, figurateci charm, tufts from tail of Athererus
mouse attached to medicinal protruberance (kundu) at navel.
some other ritual sin amounting to an Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren (43649).
insult so gross that he was immediately
enslaved. Bittremieux's version of the
chiefs response to the pollution of his and problem. Thirdly, the phrase banda n'kondi
forehead, the site of his soul (lunzi) is: (drive a nail into n'kondi ) also means "swear to
"A! Shall I let myself be trod by a foot n'kondi " and compares interestingly with the
that has trampled filthy muck?"35 phrase banda lubongo, which refers to hurling fine
raffia cloth upon the ground to emphasize denial
Thus, a desperate person, convinced his name of imputation against one's character.36
was being destroyed within his clan, where his
leader had failed to render justice, could place The interrelationships structurally interweaving
himself under the aegis of another chief. The client the four customs, кота nloko , кота lu-vuya ,
confirmed the latter as his savior by "nailing" him banda n'kondi , banda lubongo/ seem to me too
with ritual outrage and provocation. The new
ruler, in the confidence of his authority, ideally
then focused his activated rage upon the former
enemies of his new subjects. Insult concentrated
the ruler's attention upon the seriousness of the
person swearing fealty and asking for support.

The connections between this fascinating cere-

mony and the insertion of actual wedges, thorns,
or nails into n'kondi images are legion. First, one
may verbally abuse an n'kondi image, exactly as if
it were a lord, to arouse the righteous zeal of the
spirit within the image. Secondly, the act of driv-
ing nails into minkondi is called кота lu-vuya and
this also refers to being entirely serious about that
which one swears, just as the supplicant in the
кота nloko rite profanes the brow of the chiefly FIGURE 7. Figure 1, detail of head showing patterned representa-
figure to emphasize the great urgency of his need tion of mpú bonnet and n'kummba knob at summit. 213

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 complexly rendered to have been inspired by a
single source of influence, the impact of Christian
iconography. More important is the light these
customs shed upon n'kondi imagery itself: an
n'kondi image, as fine as expensive raffia cloth, as
authoritative as a standing ruler, functions as a
kind of supernatural priest or lord, whom one in-
flames with metaphoric insult (wedges, pegs,
thorns, and nails) precisely as one might arouse
the full attention and righteous wrath of a leader
when forever swearing service to his name.

Thus, the first thing to note about the Detroit

n'kondi is that it wears a stylized representation of
the lordly mpû,37 a seal of chiefly power and au-
thority. The wearing of the три bonnet by this
image lends to the 320-odd iron pieces driven into
its flesh an ideal sense of justice rendered many,
many times. Mpû are also worn by priests in
Kongo which is a way of saying, in artistic code,
that this n'kondi may also be considered a repre-
sentation of a ritual expert.

The meaning of the knob atop the chiefly bonnet

(fig. 7) has been explained by Fu-Kiau-Kia-
Bunseki:

It is n'kummba , the navel, the navel of

the head. You cannot touch the
n'kummba of the chief when it is rest-
ing on his head because that is the door
from the inside world to the outside
world, even as the literal navel forms
the link between the mother and the
child. It stands for the radiation of the
secrets of the other world through the
head of the great chief.38 FIGURE 8. Nkisi N'kondi, Shiloango River area, Western Kongo,
(Mayombe), 1 875/1 900(?); wood with clay and fiber beard,
blades, nails, screws, other iron pieces, bundles of tied thatching
The image is thus crowned with a visible warning grass. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.
of concealed powers of discernment.

This august, standing figure, originally bearded, display the beauty of the teeth. Yet the angle of
has pierced ears. It is still possible to meet this n'kondi's lips, in relation to the teeth, is
Bakongo men over 60 years of age whose ears are virtually impossible to replicate in actual life by
pierced. The custom was widespread right up to gentle, relaxed motions of the lips. Instead, the
the early 20th century. In some areas pierced ears mouth is tensed, as if to form a scream or devour-
symbolized a person who was ready to accept ing motion. Clients to n'kondi in certain contexts
what his community had to say to him. In the call upon the image to "devour" them (i.e. kill
case of the Detroit nkisi pierced ears mean: them by accident or disease) should they break
n'kondi will hear you, n'kondi will listen to your their vows or lie. The flash of teeth of the Detroit
problems.39 n'kondi may cryptically refer to just such forms of
spiritualized destruction.
The mouth of this image provides a similarly in-
teresting exercise in cultural perusal. Here again, Yet other meanings may cluster here. Albert
through priestly evidence, we penetrate outer al- Maesen suggests an n'kondi's mouth, where rep-
lusive surfaces (vuvudi) to inner invisible spirit resented open, may connect with the fact that iron
(mvumbi).40 Carving the mouth open, and the pieces were often licked by clients or the priest
214 teeth exposed, the sculptor probably intended to before insertion in an n'kondi image.41 MacGaf-

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fey, similarly, compares minkondi shown with n'kondi , as he gives the fragment, may say: "take
open mouths and protruding tongues to the praise a little of this and be saved."
epithet of the Kamba clan, Mbanza Manteke:
Yandi i MaVenda/Wavenda ntangu ye ngonda (He Olbrechts, in his pioneering volume on the artistic
is Sir Venda/Who licked the sun and the moon).42 geography of what is now Zaïre, makes the impor-
tant observation that Bakongo territory is one of
The verb venda (to lick) also means "to lick or the richest settings for gesture and attitude in the
activate medicines." Of course, passing the whole of subsaharan statuary.45 Kongo images
tongue over a nail to be inserted in n'kondi goes to strike many poses.46 The nunsa gesture (head
the core of the metaphoric dimension of such turned to one side, lower lip protruding, lips
charms, for the trace of saliva on the iron becomes haughtily compressed)47 is sometimes illustrated
mfunya, personal effluvia, binding the client to the in the corpus of minkisi carved as human figures.
image. The powerful orality which pervades the In real life nunsa means that a person categorically
rites of the n'kondi , wherein nails and even some- rejects what another person or group of people
times portions of the image may be moistened by have to say; it is a gestural nuance which crossed
the tongue,43 is possibly reflected in the custom the Atlantic, for blacks in New Orleans or South
of carving such statues with open lips and Carolina today, where an influx of slaves from
parted rows of teeth (see fig. 5). The touching of Kongo in prior centuries is an established histori-
tongue to nail or image has to do with serious cal fact (cf. "Congo Square"48 in New Orleans, so
communication. named after the presence of a majority of Kongo
and Angola slaves), may turn their head to one
The Detroit n'kondi once wore a beard of clay and side when they are hearing something unpleasant,
fiber. Traces of this beard (vevo) are visible on the which they reject.49
cheeks of the image (fig. 7). Some of the nails
which secured it against the chin are still in place. The gesture struck by Detroit's n'kondi is the
Minkisi n'kondi in the Field Museum (fig. 8) and pakalala attitude: standing posture, arms akimbo,
Tervuren reveal what the beard essentially lookedhands placed on hips. Pakalala is a verb of at-
like - a gritty yoke of clay which spread from ear titude. It refers, in addition, to the unfurling of an
to ear, fringed with raffia fiber (mpusu). It is said umbrella or the pricking up of ears50 - all images
that the mass which composed the beard was of a angular awareness or alertness. According to
compound of resin, clay, and palm wine. The tradition, Kongo athletes assumed this very at-
earth, given as a kind of clay (lubumba - earth, titude as a "challenge position," especially in
clay for making cooking vessels), was mixed with wrestling tournaments. Fu-Kiau adds a final gloss:
palm wine (malavu) to indicate the priest as "mas- " pakalala symbolizes waiting for mambu (lawsuits
ter tetobe," i.e. that he knew how to prepare the or serious affairs) in order to attack them. That is
tobe ritual, to bestow good fortune, in which grave why so many n'kondi images are standing in that
earth was mixed with palm wine and rubbed on manner." 51

the forehead. There are, needless to say, no such

beards in ordinary life. It was a ritual reality, wornThe arms of the Detroit n'kondi display repre-
sentations of double bracelets made of raffia cord.
by priests to minkondi and by certain of the iron-
encrusted images themselves. Such adornments are called nsunga. Two are
shown tied at the level of the biceps. The term
According to Fu-Kiau, when the final nail or nsunga refers to a bracelet of braided or plaited
raffia straw, tied on the arm of a ritual expert, or
wedge in a particular dispute had been driven in,
the priest of n'kondi at that moment might takeupon the wrists of a person fallen ill, as a cure.52
a little of the earth which formed his mask-like They are charms within a charm. Fu-Kiau says the
"beard" and place it on the forehead of the doubling of the cord about the arms is significant,
client.44 This fragment from the tobe medicine symbolizing "operation at the death and life levels
bestowed potentiality upon that person, upon his of extreme seriousness." The double encirclement
forehead, site of his soul, so that his personal in- suggests a going around of first this world, and
tegrity might be restored, after the shock of the then the next, and this, in turn, insinuates the fol-
charges against him or humiliations which led in lowing: the ritual expert, here depicted, has the
the first place to the seeking out of an n'kondi power to give, and the power to take away, one's
image. He can once again cope effectively with life.53 It is another strong assertion of hidden
the world. Sharing a tiny portion of this ritual power.
beard symbolizes the restoration of the client's
reputation, that n'kondi and its priest have found The texture and massing of the intendedly im-
that everything the client said was true. Nganga pressive beard was mirrored by a special skirt (still 215

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 present in Chicago, Tervuren, and other museum Western general.
examples), now lost from the Detroit nkisi. The
blades and nails of the Detroit image end just The clustered blades and nails on the Detroit
below the belly, where the upper portion of this n'kondi attest, most prominently, matters of con-
skirt once hung, just as their density thins out flict and resolution once brought before this fig-
where the beard of final blessing was once sus- ure. The precise kinds of iron hammered in this
pended. This was the ma/co/o-skirt. It was a sym- image are most instructive: 18 iron screws, 33 iron
bolic form of nkisi attire shared by the ritual ex- nails (6 square, 27 round), plus approximately 279
perts in charge of n'kondi images. The ma/co/o- blades. Nails, as such, form a fraction of the total
skirt was formed by the tying, around the waist, of repertory of piercing objects. This fact dovetails
numerous sheaf-like bundles of tied thatching with the semantic range of the Ki-Kongo term for
straw (nsesa). This is the meaning of the wearing of nails, nsonso (singular: lu-sonso): nail or screw,
this kilt of grass: "in the old days, when a person metal rods, or pointed staffs sometimes driven into
approached nganga n'kondi in search of a solu- roads for magical protection against enemies. The
tion to a problem, the priest would tie a bundle on preponderance of blades over nails suggests in this
his waist as a sign of his acceptance of the client's case, by one line of reliable vernacular reasoning,
problem."54 This meant that nganga now entered that the grand Detroit n'kondi was generally used
into mystical combat with the sources of the prob- for important matters of civil jurisprudence, cal-
lem as well as on levels purely jural or medicinal. ling for special blades as signatures, more than for
The skirt thus communicates battles joined against crimes of violence, such as murder, sealed with
disorder, not unlike the campaign ribbons of a strongly hammered rods or nails.

2. Blades (mbeezi), those roughly rectangular in

Fu-Kiau has suggested glosses for several of these
iron insertions:55 shape (fig. 10), are nailed in affairs less serious than
murder, "as, for example, when you want to unite
a person with your community - you use a
blade." A blade might be nailed in a case where a

r
person from outside a community was coming to a
village and the people there were not certain of his
intentions. The chief of that village could go, in
such a case, to nganga n'kondi and ask him to
"nail the arrival" (koma ndwaka) of the approach-
ing stranger. "Then, if the stranger had harbored
evil reasons for coming to the village, he would
completely forget, once there, whatever it was he
had come to do!"

1. Long, sturdy nails of iron (nsonso), those with

circular or square-sided heads (fig. 9) were used
when a person "tied mambu i.e. sealed the ar-
gument with a solemn vow. A hammer (lukonko)
was used to drive the pointed ends into the wood.
"In this case you hammer more strongly than
when driving in a blade, and this heaviness of
force symbolizes serious crimes, like murder."

3. A specialized blade, with flaring head and ta-

216
pered stem (fig. 9), "looks like a baaku/' an an-

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dent kind of Kongo knife. A baaku was a

да
specialized instrument used to extract the "milk"
of the palm wine tree. This blade, when inserted in
minkondi, was believed to have the power to kill
by supernatural means, by analogy with the term,
baaka, the latter meaning not only "extracting
palm wine" but also "demolishing, destroying." It7. Small futu (sachet-n/ds/J, essentially a leaf
is a kind of blade which classically functions bound with thread, with an iron nail driven
within the minkisi range of metaphoric medicines through its center: "the nail driven through the
of "attack." Fu-Kiau summarizes: "N'kondi had futu symbolizes the piercing of your soul within
baaku because he had to destroy (baaka) evilthe packet. Nganga nails the pin right through
completely in the community." your soul as a symbol of what will happen to you
if you break your vow" (fig. 1 1).

4. An iron screw (lu-sonso), with wicker wrapping8. "This baaku seems hammered in upside-down,
about its stem, "reflects a different kind of conflict,so nailed, perhaps, to cause a person in a palm
perhaps, a certain 'tying' of an issue, but I do nottree to lose his grip, fall down, and die" (fig. 12).
know which kind" (fig. 9).

5. Tied blades, pins, nails, in general: "all are9. "This is a nail clothed in ntupu fiber, judging
binko ; when you go to speak to an nkisi n'kondi ,from this photograph; in the old days this kind of
you have to tie everything you say to the nkisi. Tocloth was used to tie minkisi n'kondi. It ties some-
do this, you can make a knot (kolo) on one pegthing said very strongly to the image" (fig. 12).
(kinko) of iron or wood" (fig. 10).
The nails and blades of the Detroit n'kondi have
thus been read to the second power, i.e. their
metaphoric range as medicines-of-the-nk/s/, thus
carrying into consciousness the very substance of
Kongo mythic strength. Here stand, as in a ceme-
tery of dead speech, words once "bound" or
"tied" by persons hoping to rediscover purity of
self, phantom beings miniaturized, as it were,
within their iron, moistened with saliva long since
dried, licked by tongues long since rotted into
dust, sealing covenants long since forgotten or
6. An upright rectangular wedge of iron, clothed obscured. And yet the richly clustered quills and .
in raffia cord: "here raffia fiber (mpusu) ropespurs of iron remain to manifest the nature of
(nsinga) is used to tie the piece of iron . . . when aKongo moral symbolism, to make dramatic, and
person must 'tie' a matter strongly, he used nsingamost permanent, formal declarations of good will
. . (fig. 9). and formal declarations of mystic discipline. 217

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 The authority of this grand n'kondi literally centers into this image, this cylinder of medicine pushes
upon the symbol of the power to consummate and out, an opposing motion most appropriate to its
withstand evil. This urgent and most extraordinary meaning. For this is the sign of kundu (the oppo-
motif is centered at the navel of the image, a site of minkisi, the opposite of medicine, life made
strange cylindrical swelling covered with a gleam- terrible).56 The /o/ndu-protruberance directly sym-
ing cowrie shell. Whereas the nails were driven bolizes the dread "witch's gland." Kundu is: "a

FIGURE 11. Figure 1, detail of area below the navel, showing

blades, screws, and nails, some "tied" with cloth, or rope, or
fiber; and small sachet-n/c/s/', with hidden medicines concealed
within a leaf container wrapped with lacing, nailed to the nkisi
to symbolize the piercing of a person's soul should that person
break a solemn vow.

FIGURE 9. Figure 1, detail of upper left arm showing two iron

nails of types sometimes hammered very strongly to symbolize a
serious crime; an iron screw with wicker wrapping, used to "tie"
an unknown conflict; a rectangular wedge of iron wrapped in
raffia fiber rope, binding a person to an oath relating to a serious
situation; and two baaku blades with flaring head and tapered
stem.

FIGURE 10. Figure 1, detail of portion above left hand showing

rectangular iron blades, driven in to unite a new person with a FIGURE 12. Figure 1, detail of lower middle portion of the
community, or "nail the arrival" of a suspicious stranger, causing showing iron rod wrapped with fiber, for "tying" a very se
the latter to forget his plans, and other functions; and three "tied declaration; and upward-tapering "upside-down" baaku
nails," with knotted strips of cloth which bind persons to their tentatively interpreted as having to do with the mystic execut
218 vows. of a person.

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gland-like place in the intestines . . . hereditary or permits the witch or healer to enter the other
acquired ... the evidence of active, 'hot' witch- world,"61 which is another way of saying that in
craft."57 Fu-Kiau adds a crowning gloss: order to combat this force effectively the healer
must in some ways be a witch himself, the better
Kundu is the center of all issues when to understand the ultimate enemies of community.
we come to talk about taking power
from the world of the dead. That is why The mirror-in-the-swollen-belly (or protruding
you find it centered here, in the belly, forehead, or protruding back, for the intestines are
in the middle, of the image. It is the not the only portion of the body which can harbor
exact center of all the evil activities of kundu - in fact one healer in Matadi maintains a
the witch or anti-social being. Any kind witch can contain up to 12 kundu ) is, in sum, one
of negative thing has a center. That of the great symbols in subsaharan art, a symbol
center you find in kundu.58 which lies deep in memory. Wood statuary is de-
liberately disfigured, with the medicinal accre-
The fact that many meanings cluster about the tions within and around the kundu gland, while
kundu concept is a clear expression of its impor- simultaneously given sparkle at this point of inter-
tance. From Laman's Dictionnaire KiKongo- section between worlds, where death and life lie
Français : counterpoised. Shells or mirrors thus intuit ngan-
ga's power to pierce disequil ibrating structure to
Kundu : a swelling, inflammation, dis- find its antidote.

tension; a knot, a gland, a tumor; a

hardening in the entrails, described as In conclusion, the grand n'kondi manifests, in an
the effect of having been devoured by ancient and stylistically movemented way, in-
witchcraft; or that part of the body of a struments of harmony and healing. Peremptory
witch (the entrails) which devours voices are hidden in details. N'kondi says with
another person's body through [the perforated ears: ready to hear! With open mouth:
force of] witchcraft.59 ready to destroy or ratify! Arms akimbo, hands on
hips: ready to attack! Double armlets: ready to
The effect of kundu -generated disease, the loca- give or take away a person's life!
tion of the /cundu-gland within the entrails, and
the siting, in this lower region of the body, of both After the trials and convocations, the blades and
the kundu and its symptoms, are characterized in nails remain as signatures of moral aspiration or
this multi-part definition. instruments of supernaturally completed justice.
The skirt of bundled straw, once probably worn by
Healers, persons who would mend rather than de- this image, conveyed belief that grave social mat-
stroy personal well-being, display this horrid swel- ters could be considered and accepted for solution
ling in the making of their sacred medicines (min- by an nkisi of this consequence. The tying-on of
kisi) "because nganga, as a healer of the suffering straw occurred before a given trial and was sited
brought by the kundu of the witches, must display low, in relation to nkisi' s body, whereas the beard
it to the people."60 Only the strong person who of final blessing was sited high, appropriate to the
has stared into the sources of sorcerously created grandeur of the moment when the client tran-
illness, the open maw of the bloodthirsty secret scended past humiliations at the restoration of his
gland which every witch contains, has the vision name.

and the antidotes for the restoration of the person

or the town in the wake of an attack by these There is in fact a hidden upward motion
supernatural sacs. cealed within this image, from the inferior
the literal navel, where inflammations of
The kundu -swelling in the belly is one of the im- envy and disease are concretized in the pr
portant symbols in Bakongo art because it con- substance sealed with a gleaming shell, t
cretizes, in tangible, figurated form, the worst fears superior "navel of the head" (n'kummba),
of every town; through sculptural shaping of the carefully sectioned patterning recalls the e
identity and location of this horrid force, it extends of Kongo raffia weaving, the art which 40
and diversifies nganga's power over this very ago brought fame to Kongo.
center of disease and death. Again and again in
Kongo statuary we find this swelling at the belly, Seemingly an icon of revenge, the grand
often covered with a mirror or, in the case of the n'kondi , whom Visser in 1903 called the
Detroit n'kondi, with a shell. A shell or piece of spirit of the Mayombe, is a monument to
reflecting glass provides "a wall or door which cultural confidence. It says there is no cr

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 cannot be ideally weighed and solved by chiefs references, in Kongo verbal literature, to the image of the chief as
the person "whose feet do not touch the ground," i.e. as a being
and ritual experts, secure in their knowledge of the
morally and spiritually uplifted, as opposed to one who becomes
ancient antidotes, the ancestral insights kept in involved in nettv strife and particularity.
everlasting trust beyond the secret door which
12. From the archives of the Museum für Volkerkunde, Leipzig;
rises as the culminating aspect of this image.
the original Leipzig accession number was MAf 3837 -
R. Visser gave this n'kondi to the Leipzig museum in 1903. An
NOTES
important collector of Central African art, Visser published an
interesting article, "Über Fetischdienst, Aberglaube und damit
I dedicate this study to Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, Director, Con- zusammenhangende Gerauche der Kongo-Neger, " Naturwis-
golese Academy (Kinkimba Kia Kongo), Kumba, Zaïre, withoutsenschaftlicher Verein zu Krefeld , Jahresbericht 1906-1907:
whose aid this article would have been impossible to write, and 52-63.
to the chiefs and healers of Bas-Zaïre. I also thank four scholars
whose colleagueship and erudition helped make this study pos- 13. Ezio Bassani, "Kongo Nail Fetishes from the Chiloango River
sible: Michael Kan, Wyatt MacGaffey, Albert Maesen, and Area," African Arts , 10, 3 (April 1977): 36-40, 88, esp. p. 40.
Huguette van Geluwe. In addition, warmly acknowledged is the
help of the staff of The Detroit Institute of Arts, for providing 14.
the Regis B. Miller, Botanist, Center for Wood Anatomy Research,
writer with vital information on wood-type, field collection data, United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Madi-
the counting of the blades and nails, and many other courtesies son, Wisconsin, personal communication, October 1 1, 1977.
as well.

15. John M. Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey, An Anthology of Kongo

1. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis , tr. and ed. Religion: Primary Texts from Lower Zaire , Lawrence, The Uni-
George H. T. Kimble, London, 1937: 144. versity of Kansas Publications in Anthropology, 1974: 35.

2. As quoted in George Balandier, Daily Life in the Kingdom of 16. Ibid.: 35. The last paragraph is from another translation, in
Kongo , New York, 1969: 1 14. See also L'Abbé Proyart, Histoire MacGaffey, "Fetishism Revisited . . ." (note 4): 173.
de Loango , Kakongo, et autres royaumes d'Afrique , Paris and
Lyons, 1 776, republished Farnborough, Gregg International Pub-17. John M. Janzen and Wyatt MacGaffey, "Nkisi Figures of the
lishers, 1968: 108: "The Blacks also make small sacks and bon- Bakongo," African Arts , 7, 3 (Spring 1974): 87.
nets and other work [in raffia palm weaving] some of which
would be admired in Europe for variety of design and delicacy of18. G. F. Grégoire, Dossier No. 380 , Musée du Congo Belge Section
execution" (translation mine). E , Documents Ethnographiques. Provenance: Congo. 4. 7.,
1919: 11. I am grateful to Albert Maesen and Huguette van
3. Karl Laman, Dictionnaire KiKongo-Français, Brussels, 1936, re- Geluwe for bringing this important document to my attention.
published Farnborough, Gregg International Publishers, 1964, I: According to Maesen, although the dossier is attributed to G. F.
270 and 287. Karl Laman, The Kongo III, Upsala, 1962: 37, Grégoire, there is some question about the authorship: all ob-
fig. 7. jects embraced within Dossier 380 were, per Maesen, collected
in the field before World War I.
4. Recent studies of minkisi, from a variety of methodological
standpoints, include: Luc de Heusch, Pourquoi L'Epouserì, 19. MacGaffey, Custom and Government ... (note 8): 25;
Paris, 1971; Zdenka Voláková, "Nkisi Figures of the Lower E. Pechuël-Loesche, Die Loango- Expedition, Leipzig, 1882, ill.
Congo," African Arts , 5, 2 (Winter 1971): 52-59, 84; Marie- p. 34.
Claude Dupré, "Le Système des forces Nkisi chez les Kongo
d'après le troisième volume de K. Laman," Africa , 45, 1 (1975): 20. Albert Maesen, personal communication, Tervuren, June 28,
12-28; Wyatt MacGaffey, "Fetishism Revisited: Kongo Nkisi in 1977.
Sociological Perspective," Africa , 47, 2 (1977): 172-184.
21. MacGaffey, "Fetishism Revisited . . (note 4): 174-175.
5. Crawford Young, Politics in the Congo: Decolonization and In-
dependence , Princeton, 1965: 247. 22. The original Leipzig museum description of this n'kondi makes
the important point that the image is decorated with "many nails
6. j. Van Wing, Etudes Bakongo: Sociologie, Réligion et Magie , 2nd and metal pieces" which have "not been driven all the way into
ed., Brussels, 1959: 19.
the wood" (mit anzählingen [ungetriebenen] Nägeln und
Eisenstrucken, literally "undriven nails and metal pieces"). This
7. Georges Balandier, Sociologie actuelle de l'Afrique Noire , Paris, is the first mention of this seemingly insignificant but crucial
1955: 39. Quoted in Young (note 5): 247. element of usual n'kondi style. For an exception, an n'kondi with
the iron blades bent against the surfaces of the wood, see Nkisi
8. Wyatt MacGaffey, Custom and Government in the Lower N'Kondi Mbuela, Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren,
Congo , Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970: 305-306. 22483, "Kongo," pre-1919.

9. John Marvin Janzen, Elemental Categories , Symbols & Ideas of 23. Laman, The Kongo III (note 3): 90:
Association in Kongo-Manianga, Ph.D. dissertation, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, University Microfilms, 1967: 96. Jan- Sharpened sticks, knife-blades, iron pins (luvuya,
zen also mentioned that the Manianga "ideology of the Utopian plural mpuya) etc. may be hammered into
settlement site" includes proximity to water and freedom from N'Kondi in order to make him more effective, for
disease.
as soon as he is wounded he acts like a human
being, who recoils and wonders what it can be.
10. See Detroit Collects African Art , exh. cat., The Detroit Institute of He at once understands the connection. He
Arts, 1977, and Michael Kan, "Detroit Collects African Art," likewise understands the road that has been indi-
African Arts , 10, 4 (July 1977): 24-31. The latter article was cated if some hair from the head or some other
adapted from Michael Kan's essay in the aforementioned attribute has been tied to him. Sometimes
catalogue.
hammered-in objects remain, to protect one who
has previously been attacked from renewed
1
1 . Such images were carried to the top of a hill to conclude impor- attack.
tant peace treaties, as if to return to the acropolitan siting of the
ideal city. However, MacGaffey (personal communication, Sep- 24. Karl Laman, The Kongo I, Upsala, 1953: 37.
tember 26, 1977) says the elevation of the image does not refer
>20 to the heightened vision of the ideal capital alone; there are25. Ibid.: 159.

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26. Cf. MacGaffey, Custom and Government . . . (note 8): 256: 44. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September 15,
1977.
Many of the ritual behaviors of Mbanza Kongo can
be observed today even in secular and colorless 45. Congolese Sculpture, a translation of Frans M. Olbrechts, P/as-
Mbanza Manteke. Whenever power is demon- tiek van Kongo, Antwerp, 1 946, by Daniel J. Crowley and Pearl
strated or asserted, even in small degree, magical Ramcharan-Crowley, 1976: 11: "The poses of these ancestor
attributions flow toward it. The successful party at statues show a diversity rarely found elsewhere in Africa or in
a land case brandishes mwvala, m'funka, mpú, other ethnic arts, for here are standing figures . . . seated figures
n'kand'a ngo; an nkazi dances, and women rush . . . figures seated crosslegged."
up to tie cloths around him, transforming him
temporarily into mfumu. 46. For an early illustration of the rich gestural variety of Kongo art,
see the illustration of figurated minkisi in the second volume of
In other words, at a law suit, not unlike the mighty peace treaty Adolf Bastian, Die Deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Kusie,
just observed, it is customary to decorate important jural happen- Jena, 1874. Here two figures avert the head; a seated figure
ing and success with references to the glory that was Mbanza places chin on palm, a classic mourning pose; and several
Kongo. In the reference just cited, all manner of chiefly gear, images strike the pakalala arms-akimbo pose.
such as the mpú bonnet, chiefly baton (mwvala), fly-whisk,
leopard skin, and so forth, appear to celebrate accomplishment 47. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, in the course of two interviews, September
of justice in traditional terms. 1977.

48. George W. Cable, The Dance in Place Congo, 1886, reprinted

27. Karl Laman, The Kongo II, Upsala, 1957: 160. Carrollton, 1974: 6: ". . . all that great Congo coast . . . these are
they for whom the dance and the place are named, the most
28. Laman, The Kongo III (note 3): 88. numerous sort of negro in the Colonies, the Congoes and
Franc-Congoes. . .
29. Ibid.:
49. I am indebted to Mitchell Crusto of New Orleans for this infor-
30. Laman, Dictionnaire . . . (note 3), vol. M-Z: 559. mation. A similarly valenced gesture is made on Johns Island,
South Carolina, according to William Stewart, personal com-
31. Laman, The Kongo III (note 3): 188. munication, September 7, 1977.

32. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September50.

2, Laman, Dictionnaire . . . (note 3), vol. M-Z: 842.
1977.
51. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September 2,
33. Cited in Pechuël-Loesche (note 19): 382-383. For the references
1977.
to Kinkoko, as nkisi of property, see Laman, The Kongo III (note
3): 39. 52. Laman, Dictionnaire . . . (note 3), vol. M-Z: 778. See also
nsungwa, which has the same meaning.
34. Charles Jeannest, Quatre Années au Congo, Paris, 1886: 114.
Jeannest gives a rough illustration of this "n'kondi head" on53. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September 2,
p. 96. 1977.

35. MacGaffey, Custom and Government . . . (note 8): 216. I have 54. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communications, February 1977.
translated into English Bittremieux's version, quoted in the origi-
nal Flemish by MacGaffey: "A! zal ik mi j zoo laten vertreden 55. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communications and interviews,
door een voet die drek vertreedt?" Pollution and purification of Seotember 1977.
the forehead is a leitmotif which runs through the n'kondi ritual
in a very interesting way, from the deliberate besmirching of the 56. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, in a lecture to the students of Calhoun Col-
forehead of the chief, to the purification of the client's forehead lege, Yale University, New Haven, February 1977.
at the end of an n'kondi trial by the priest handing him a piece of
tomb earth, in effect strengthening him with the power of the 57. John Janzen, "The Tradition of Renewal in Kongo Religion,"
dead, of the ancestors. African Religions: A Symposium, ed. Newell S. Booth, New
York, 1977: 100-101.
36. These terms and phrases are well glossed in Laman, Dictionnaire
. . . (note 3). 58. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, February 1977.

37. For an interesting brief discussion of the mpú bonnet see: j. 59. Laman, Dictionnaire . . . (note 3), vol. A-L: 337. Laman's The
Mertens, Les Chefs couronnés chez les Bakongo orientaux, Brus- Kongo III (note 3) is a particularly rich source for evidence on
sels, Institut Royal Colonial Belge, 1942: 73-74. kundu, if the reader is willing to wander through the labyrinthine
structure of the text, e.g. at p. 231 :
38. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September 2,
1977. The nkasa Ipoison] must be kept overnight in the
. . . house, that has meanwhile been completed.
39. Ibid. When the ndoki [witch] arrives there, he is im-
mediately given two or three cups of nkasa and
40. Cf. Janzen, Elemental Categories . . . (note 9): 102, discussing made to dance so that the nkasa may run down to
Laman, The Kongo III (note 3): 1-9. The inner, invisible man, the kundu. As the kundu tries to resist the nkasa
mvumbi, is said to carry on a constant struggle against witch- and keeps its mouth closed, the nkasa tries in vain
craft. to penetrate into the kundu . . . The nkasa then
comes out through the mouth of the ndoki. If this
41. Albert Maesen, personal communication, June 27, 1977. happens, the ndoki has tied up the mouth of the
kundu so tightly that it will never again lust for
42. MacGaffey, "Fetishism Revisited . . ." (note 4): 183, n. 4. human flesh. He becomes like ordinary people,
who lack kundu. (See also p. 216.)
43. Janzen, Elemental Categories . . . (note 9): 103, shows how bod-
ily fluids are classified along two lines in traditional Kongo 60. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communication, September 2,
thought. Thus, saliva (mante) is used for blessing and for cursing; 1977.
the complementarity of function fits the complicated usages of
the n'kondi appropriately. 61. Fu-Kiau-Kia-Bunseki, personal communications, February 221
1977.

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