ISO LA BENDELE (WE AND THE WHITES): Considerations by Paul Ngoi on the traditional life of the Mongo and their confrontation with Belgian colonization (1938)

PRESENTATION / by Honoré Vinck

The author of the text, Paul Ngoi (1914-1997), was one of the main informants of Edmond Boelaert (1898-1966; Congo 1930-1954) and of Gustaaf Hulstaert (1900-1999; Congo 1925-1990). At the time the periodical 'Africa' (London) had programmed a yearly contest for a literary composition in an African language. Under the influence of Hulstaert, Lomongo had been indicated for the year 1939 as a language in which texts could be presented. Under the impulse of his two mentors, Paul Ngoi participated with a manuscript relating in detail and with numerous comments the earlier traditions of the Mongo. He puts particular emphasis on the period of the arrival of the first Europeans in his region, not fearing critical remarks like those by Boelaert (see his bibliography). At the time of the composition of the text the author was committed to the printing office of the Catholic Mission in Coquilhatville, up to then under the direction of Edmond Boelaert. The composition has not been crowned but received a honourable mention [Africa 12(1939)471-472 and Aequatoria 3(1940)30.]

Two points remain especially important in this text:

• the testimony of a very good connoisseur of the social institutions and customs of the Mongo people in the moral and spiritual domain;
• the view of a colonized person on the colonial history.

One can ask how far the author has been influenced by Boelaert's indigenist and anti-colonialist ideology who was his school director when the author was a teacher in the Junior Seminary in Bokuma (1931-1936). The text is not free of internal contradictions.

Two copies of this text are in the archives of the Archdiocese of Mbandaka and a photocopy is integrated in the Aequatoria Archives in Bamanya. Another copy is kept among the Boelaert papers in the archives of the MSC-Congo in Borgerhout (Belgium). This one is not an original copy-carbon but has been retyped (44 pages in quarto to 37 lines the page). It carries several light corrections of linguistic and editorial nature. It is likely that this is the copy used for the composition of the manual of Frans Maes, or is this the original copy that has come out of the hands of Paul Ngoi in 1938 and was corrected by Boelaert before its presentation to the concourse in 1939? I cannot answer the question because I do not have access to the copy of Mbandaka. The corrections and the numbering of the paragraphs of the copy of Borgerhout are also nearly all introduced in the manual Bosako wa Mongo. In the copy of Borgerhout there are three pages of translation, probably from Boelaert who had begun a French translation (in 1959?) with the purpose to publish it (letter of the 14-12-1959 in: Arch. MSC-Borgerhout, Hulstaert papers.)
The French translation of Iso la Bendele was made in Bamanya in 1997 (on a copy of the Schoolbook Bosako wa Mongo) and was reviewed on a copy of Iso la Bendele kept in the diocesan archives in 1999 by the secretary of the Centre Aequatoria, Charles Lonkama, and reviewed a second time by myself in July-August 2000 (on the copy in lomongo of Borgerhout and the three there existing translated pages.)
Some additions have been made to explain the scientific terms in Lomongo. They are put between square brackets [ ]. The botanical identifications are taken from G. Hulstaert, Dictionnaire Lomongo-Français, Tervuren 1957.

The translation from French into English is based upon the L&H Power Translator Pro 7.0 and consequent adjustments on the French and Lomongo texts.

In 1957 Father Frans Maes, then director of the primary school of the Huileries du Congo Belge (HCB) in Flandria-Boteka, fully takes over the text (adding some paragraphs of other origins.) This manual of history was destined to the 5th and 6th years of the primary school (Bosako wa Mongo, History of the Mongo). This book was used in the school in Boende and has been divulged by the diocesan school inspection and by some persons responsible for other schools of the Catholic network of the diocese of Coquilhatville.

Honoré Vinck, Lovenjoel 29/08/2000 and 3/6/2002

BIBLIOGRAPHY

General literature

- H. Vinck et Charles Lonkama, Tradition et modernité mongo. Bio-bibliographie de Paul Ngoi (1914-1997), Annales Aequatoria 19(1998)335-391
- H. Vinck, L'enseignement de l'histoire au Congo Belge. Deux textes contradictoires, Annales Aequatoria 19(1998)167-194 [Presentation and french translation of chapter 7 to the pages 173-193]
- H. Vinck, De studie van het schoolboek in Belgisch Kongo, Bulletin des Séances/ Mededelingen der Zittingen, Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen, Brussel, 46(2000)83-100

Publications of E. Boelaert near to this text

- Uit mijn negerij. Bepaling van plaats en tijd. Godskennis en godsdienst, Hooger Leven, Averbode, VIII, 1934, 51, 1612-1 613. (L'auteur décrit Bokuma, situé à 50 km de Coquilhatville et expose les tribulations dans la région avant l'arrivée des premiers Blancs. L'arrivée de Grenfell, puis de soldats sous le commandement d'Ikoka et enfin l'arrivée de Ntange Fiévez.)
- Towa la bote o ? [Shall we die by the fetishes ?] Coquilhatville, Mission Catholique, 1937, 64 pages
- Les Bongili, Aequatoria, X, 1947,l, 17-34. (Les Bongili sont des Nkundo du territoire d'Ingende. Leur origine, leurs fondateurs, leurs migrations, leurs relations avec les Bombwanja, leurs luttes contre les Ekonda, les Bonginda, l'arrivée des premiers blancs et la récolte du caoutchouc, quelques généalogies.)
- Voués à la mort, Bulletin du CEPSI, 1947-48, V, 118-120.
(Exposé de la dépopulation des Mongo et ses causes.)
- Het ontvolkingsvraagstuk door de industrie in Afrika (19de Nederlandse Missiologische week, Nijmegen, 1948, 80-83).
(A propos de dépopulation chez les Nkundo au Congo belge, ses causes.)
- Equateurville, Aequatoria, XV, 1952, 1, 1-12
(Contribution à l'histoire des premiers établissements européens au Congo: fondation d'Equateurville en 1883 par Stanley, Les Wangata, rôle De Coquilhat et de Vangele.)
- Ntange, Aequatoria, XV, 1952, II, 58-63; 111, 96-100.
(Contribution à l'histoire de l'Etat Indépendant vers 1895: rôle de Fiévez (= Ntange) dans la région de Basankusu; occupation de la région Bikoro-Bokatola)
- Charles Lemaire, premier commissaire du district de l'Équateur, Bull. I.R.C.B., XXIV, 1953, II, 506-535
(Oeuvre accomplie par Charles Lemaire au district de l'Équateur au Congo belge, dont il fut le premier commissaire (1890).
- Liwenthal, Charles, Biographie coloniale belge, Bruxelles, 1958,, Tome V, 561-562.
(Biographie de Liwenthal, sous-lieutenant qui résida à Bokatola (Equateur).
- Les premières explorations du Ruki et de ses affluents, Aequatoria, XXI, 1958, IV, 121-133.
(Mise au point de quelques données relevées dans les publications des premiers explorateurs dans la région du Ruki et de ses affluents (Stanley, Vangele, Grenfell, Von François, Glave, Delcommune).
- Ontvolking door kolonisatie? Aequatoria, VIII, 1945, 111, 92-94.
(Une enquête dans la région de Bokatola, chez les Nkundo, montre que la décadence démographique commence avec la colonisation et est proportionnelle à la prise de contact.)

[A set of articles (in Dutch) on the problem of the culture shock in 'Nieuw Vlaanderen and Hooger Leven' 1939]

Contemporary publications of G. Hulstaert on the problems evoked by P. Ngoi

- Losilo jwa bonanga bokiso, [The extermination of our country], Mbandaka 1937, 15 pages
Les sanctions coutumières contre l'adultère chez les Nkundo, Mémoires de l' I.R.C.B. Bruxelles 1938, 53 pages
- Documents africains sur la pénétration européenne dans l'Équateur, Enquêtes et documents d'histoire africaines, U.C.L., Leuven, 1977, n 2, 51-69.
(Il est significatif que la fin du XIXème siècle soit connue par les Nkundo et les Boloki de l'équateur comme le "temps des exterminations". Lors de la campagne internationale contre les atrocités congolaises, le gouverneur général Wahis aurait voulu que 19on ne prenne pas en considération les témoignages africains. Les documents ici présentés donnent la parole aux témoins que l'on avait voulu bâillonner parce qu'ils dénonçaient un régime barbare; Ces documents sont des traductions de lettres et manuscrits en Lomongo conservés dans le Fonds Boelaert ou encore des traductions d'enregistrements de récits oraux effectués par le père Hulstaert. Pour les documents 2, 3, 4. voir aussi s L'occupation du district de l'Équateur dans les souvenirs indigènes écrit en 1959 par le père Boelaert.)
- Le voyage au Congo d'un officier danois. Notes et commentaire sur le séjour à l'Équateur Knud Jespersen, (1898-1908) Enquêtes et Documents d'Histoire Africaine, Louvain-la-Neuve 4(1980) 64-76
- Exploration de la Jwafa par Curt von François en 1885, dans Mélanges en mémoire de E. Sulzmann, ("Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrika-Forschungung)1992, 143-201

Follows two excerpts of the text of Paul Ngoi "Whe and the whites":

• Foreword
• Chapter 6

FOREWORD

The present booklet expresses our customs before the arrival of the Whites. Because, even at present, most Whites think that our ancestors were very wild animals, without any morals, and with all kind of shortcomings, without any virtue. That is why the reader will find how our ancestors previously lived there, and how we are living now since the arrival of the Whites. It is only this way that we shall be able to find out their thoughts.

The booklet is composed of two parts and six chapters. The first part speaks of activities of the ancestors before the arrival of the Whites. The second part speaks of the arrival of the Whites and the violation of our customs.

Chapter 1:
1st The lies;
2nd The robbery;
3rd The laziness;
4th The lust;
In this chapter, you will read how the ancestors lived with these shortcomings.

Chapter 2:
1st The dowry;
2nd The woman;
3rd The polygamy;
4th About the woman's liberty;
5th The paternal authority,
6th Divorce and desertion of the marital roof.
This chapter speaks of the marriage.

Chapter 3:
1st The human sacrifices;
2nd Anthropophagy,
3rd The slavery,
4th The test of poison (ordeal),
5th The wars.
This chapter speaks of the domains in which the ancestors were badly organized.

Chapter 4:
1st The belief in God,
2nd The soothsayer,
3rd The sorcery,
4th The fetishes.
This chapter speaks of the beliefs of the ancestors.

Chapter 5:
1st The authority of the chief of the village,
2nd The judge's prerogatives,
3rd The right to punish a guilty party.
This chapter speaks of the common law.

Chapter 6:
1st The wars,
2nd The Rubber,
3rd The Damages caused to the villages and the law,
4th The destruction of the country,
5th The rejection of our culture,
6th The race for wealth and lust,
7th Our depopulation.
This chapter speaks of reverses of the order imported in our country by the Whites.

CHAPTER 6: THE ARRIVAL OF THE WHITES

1. THE WARS

While our ancestors normally attended to their occupations, the White strangers arrived; it was an awful spectacle in the beginning, because one had never before seen similar people. Most people didn't dare to look at them, but those who were courageous enough did not run away. The fact that Blacks accompanied them stimulated the courage of those that were unafraid of them.

When the Whites arrived in the beginning, our people didn't declare them war, but the Whites themselves, after having seduced the country, began to gradually introduce the war. It was a very bloody war. However, it didn't last. Our people didn't have any powerful weapons to fight them. The Whites took over because of their powerful weapons, and because of the presence in their rank of Black auxiliaries. That is the reason why our people could not repulse the invaders. Even the braves among us didn't resist the Whites, and capitulated finally.
They lived thereafter in peace, but it was a superficial peace.

2. RUBBER

The Whites finally got settled in our country. They then introduced the trade of products of our country. They first asked our people to bring copal and cassava. They exchanged these products against brasses of iron, pearls, and cloths. Some harassment began with the cassava. Those that brought insufficient quantities were aligned and were killed by rifle. It was very atrocious. These slaughters provoked the extermination of whole populations groups.
A certain day, soldiers who came with the Whites went on patrol in the forest. They picked the fruits of Bosenja there, [Landolphia Pichon jumellei], and those of the Bondongo [Clitandra liana BenthApocynac cymulosa]. When they came out of the forest they presented them to the Whites. The Whites asked them if these fruits were abundant in the forest. Not knowing why they asked this question, and not suspecting of their good faith, the soldiers answered by the affirmative. The White sends them back in the forest with the mission to collect the latex of these lianas. They executed the mission of the Whites. Having seen this first latex, the Whites ordered everybody to proceed to the harvest of rubber. The task became thereafter taxing for the country. It was accompanied by miseries and extermination. The Whites drove the trunk of the tree Bonjolo in the courtyard [Combretodendron tree Ex.Lechitydac.500 africanum]). A village that didn't accomplish its task, saw the chief and the villagers in turns all attached to this wood, then put to death. One presented the cadavers to the natives and one invited them to eat them or to burn them. And so people continued with the harvest of rubber. Up to this moment, every village had its chief. The chiefs declared: "Mr., you wiped out those that harvest rubber for you. The villages that were earlier very populous have become nearly extinct; if nobody is left, who will still harvest rubber for you"? Having learned it, the Whites suppressed the harvest of rubber. But all things considered, it killed people without mercy and with madness.
Today, most of our people still complain, because their parents have been killed for the sake of rubber. Therefore, they don't like that someone comes again to remind them, because they have been very humiliated and pained.

3. THE DAMAGES MADE TO THE VILLAGES

3.1. The destruction of villages

The distress of our villages began with the arrival of the Whites. That is to say that a lot of people abandoned their families for going to live elsewhere. Others became the workforce of the Whites or became their soldiers. They got settled in the stations created by them. There, they didn't observe the true custom anymore; they ended up adopting the mentality of the soldiers that the Whites had brought from downstream. These soldiers had shown bad behaviour. And our people only imitated them. Therefore they began to have some talisman to pull a rifle, and to protect them against all attack.

3.2. Destruction of the authority

Our forebears had the habit to expose the remains of a dead leopard to the chief of the village. At their arrival, the Whites didn't recognize the authority of the chiefs they found. They invested unentitled persons or strangers. The reason is that some of these people went along with the Whites and that they learned a little how to read and to write. They didn't follow the order of succession as foreseen by the tradition anymore. The village complained that their authority was not respected. One accepted these people by fear to be executed. The administrative organization as conceived by the Whites indeed ridiculed our villages structures, respected by so many of us.

4. THE NEGATION OF OUR CUSTOMS

4.1. The family's destruction

After having experienced these distresses, everything became very bad. We didn't know the end of it. The elderly didn't know anymore what to say, even us, the young. Previously, there passed five months or six, and sometimes a whole year without a death. In those times, our people liked to see a corpse. That is why, when one learns that there was a death somewhere, all flowed there to see what became to the person who died. It was a period of a spectacular fertility. The women had lots children. Barrenness was very rare. But in these days fertility was disrupted. Women made abortion and numerous became sterile. We didn't know how to manage this business.

4.2. The destruction of the households

The conscientious conduct that the women had in their marriages and households didn't exist anymore. At the time of the forebears, the marriages were not broken lightly. Desertions of the conjugal roof were non-existent and rare were the divorces. The worse occurred with the arrival of the Whites concerning the households. There were adulteries without limitation. Previously the women were afraid of the hindrances and the pitchforks. But currently, when they abandon their husbands there is nothing which stops them. Is there any pressure left concerning the marriage? The women themselves gather the necessary money and repay the dowry. The amount paid, she presents to the judges, to repay to her husband the money of the dowry. The husband can explain himself, but the judges force him to take his money. One remains aghast before this spectacle. One is as in frenzy. A little happiness is noted maybe at the people who live close to the mission (Catholic or Protestant). Even there also, there are some rare women who desert their husbands or do cause quarrels.

4.3. The irruption of the illnesses

ur ancestors told that every village had a specific illness, for which villagers know the cure. Serious illnesses didn't exist.
There were only some rare illnesses. But with the arrival of the Whites, came the proliferation and the irruption of the illnesses from one region to an other. Before, when one was sick, this illness was visible, in broad daylight. But currently, clothes hide serious illnesses. So-and-so sleeps with a woman overnight and his illness propagates itself. Even today these illnesses are spread at home and we don't know how to avoid them.

5. THE REFUSAL OF OUR CULTURE

5.1. The language

Since this upheaval, all became shaky. The arrival of the Whites became the source of all disruptions. Here, indeed, one begins to refuse the maternal language. They like the language of the strangers. They even manufactured a language that they use together with the language of the Whites in the cities. In the villages, people are not happy with this situation; they don't agree that the children speak these foreign languages, especially when these children participate in the assemblies of the adults. But those that live in the cities, even the elderly, don't have any consideration anymore for the maternal language. Coming from the village and continuing to speak the mother tongue, the city-dwellers are going to challenge you in these terms: "You, with your mother tongue, don't you know how to leave it behind when in the European city?" Ans also, some people learn these foreign languages in spite of themselves

5.2. Our precepts

The Whites don't believe that something positive exists in our culture. All is bad according to him. They make clean sweep of the precepts bequeathed to us by our forebears, to which precepts they substituted European precepts. Some new precepts are good, and we are grateful for them. But we notice that the Whites are without mercy. They punish unrelentlessly. They never give anyone the necessary time to grow better by persuasion. When one presents him a palaver, he doesn't think to send back the parts in conflict to the elderly to judge them. In spite of all, our own laws had in the past governed the society very well.
The elderly don't have anymore anything to say. They don't dare to oppose the Whites by fear of retaliation. They observe a total muteness. A White doesn't accept that the elderly challenge him. Everywhere and in all, there is no way to breathe. The population moans of this distress, this collapse, and this slavery.

5.3. Faith

No one complains with regard to the introduced faith. With the exception of some old people who refused to be baptized. In spite of it, one doesn't complain with these imports of the Whites. Some refuse being baptized before their death, others accept it. The laws of the faith are more coercive than ours; which is why baptisms are refused. But, all account made, we thank the Whites to have brought us the faith. And we estimate that if everything that the White had brought was as the faith, our country should live in peace as at the time of our forebears. They appreciate especially the fact that the faith extols the virtues of conjugal fidelity. A lot of people want to know the foundation of it. But it is regrettable to note that the faith is not even deeply rooted in our country. Maybe that there is an obstacle, we don't know much of it. To say truly, in our country no one complains that the Whites brought the faith. We thank the Whites vigorously for it.

6. LEANINGS TOWARD WEALTH AND LUST

6.1. Leaning for wealth

Emulation is the basis of the search for richness by all people in our country. Even previously, at the time of our forebears, emulation existed between people. The old were guided by the desire to make themselves know each other, and to pay mutual visits. At present, everybody, old and young, even between friends, has a great desire to have what possesses his mate, and possesses what the other has. Emulation generates pride and the leaning for wealth. The pride together with the leaning for wealth obsesses everybody. It invades the whole country, and cannot be stopped.

6.2. Sexual intercourse

There are no novelties to tell in this domain. Previously, at the time of our forebears, there was no formal interdiction to have sexual intercourse. All people, especially the young, made it with discretion and dignity. At the present time, sexual intercourse is taken lightly as a sport. It is not more discreet as in the time of our forebears who cursed whoever among the young dared to adulterate themselves before them. The dignity that surrounded the sexual intercourse doesn't exist anymore. We also notice that most people don't have fear of their parents in this domain. Elsewhere they act with modesty. Strangers, who have abandoned their villages, don't worry about anything. They excited our people to behave thus. In our custom, one didn't have any sexual relations during the day. Currently, there is not any restriction anymore: it occurs whenever and where one meets. At the time of our forebears, the women had a lot of restraint before the men. That is no more the case today. They don't have any reticence anymore, and they make advances to the men. One pronounces and one sings some obscenities as if it was about a popular song. Besides these are the only songs that are executed while at work. The women don't have any modesty as previously, and especially when they pronounce some obscenities. Everybody disowned his responsibility as a parent. When a woman calls someone "dad", this person answers him: "Did I ever put you to the world?" And when a young man calls a woman "mom", there follow the retort: "Did I ever put you to the world? Since when are you my son?". Before a similar spectacle, everybody is confused. All man, White or Black, here by us, display a disturbing behaviour in the domain of the sexual intercourse, and we don't know why it is so. Our wives have become those of other people.

7. OUR DEPOPULATION

The White introduced a lot of innovations in our life style. They abolished the laws of our forebears and substituted them with their own. According to the Whites, there is equality between young and old: they even wish that the young disobeyed the elderly. The elderly become therefore unhappy. Their discontent linked with their innate power causes the depopulation of our country. The violation of our customs, the humiliation of the elderly, and the repudiation of our sources, all promote the depopulation of our very country. We frequently attend the death of the aged, but the birth-rate is not acceptable anymore. Not only are the Whites at the origin of this curse. Both the Whites and the Blacks are responsible for it. The responsibility of the Whites is in the fact that they destroyed our customs. We have accepted it while refusing the mentality of our forebears, while damaging and disowning the foundations of our life. The alliance with the forebears in our society is finished. And depopulation is only beginning. Most people begin to realize it, with the exception of the girls and young people obsessed as they are by the beautiful and fashionable spectacle. And if the country comes to depopulate itself completely, who will remain to perpetuate the ancestral heritage? If the Whites don't concede us a part of our customary laws, and if they don't recognize the prerogatives of the elderly as previously, the country will be without inhabitants. And if we, the natives, don't abandon the repudiation of our culture and stop imitating others, notably the strangers, and if we don't give up disparaging our country, our country will stay empty. Some people of Black race left their regions in a state of high fertility. They came here to delude us while inciting us to abandon our culture. Then, they go back home and when we will be gone, who will stay here?