Instances are known of bodies in the Congo region remaining a year or two above ground till the requisite quantity of fine stuffs has been procured—­the larger the roll the greater the dignity, and sometimes the hut must be pulled down before it can be removed.  Here, as on the Gold Coast, we find the Jewish practice recorded by Josephus of converting the tomb into a treasury; in the case of Mashel some L600 in gold and silver, besides cloth, beads, and ornaments, shared, they say, his fate.  The missionaries vainly fought against these customs, which are evidently of sentimental origin—­

“Now bring the last sad gifts, with these
The last lament be said;
Let all that pleased and still may please
Be buried with the dead.”

The bier was borne by slaves, as the head men would not even look at it; at times the carriers circled round, as if to deprecate the idea that they were hurrying it to its bourne.  The grave was a pit fifteen to twenty feet deep, cut like a well, covered with stones to keep out wild beasts, and planted round with the cylindrical euphorbia by way of immortelles.

I could not find out if the Congoese still practise the vivi-sepulture so common on the Western Coast—­the “infernal sacrifices of man’s flesh to the memory of relatives and ancestors,” as the old missioners energetically expressed themselves.  According to Battel, the “Giaghi” corpse was seated as if alive in a vault; in this “infernal and noisome dungeon” were placed two wives with their arms broken, and thus there was no danger of the Zumbi or ghost killing men by reapparition.  When the king of Old Calabar died, a huge hole was dug, with an off chamber for two sofas, one of which supported the dressed and ornamented corpse.  Personal attendants, such as the umbrella, sword, and snuff-box bearers, holding the insignia of their offices, together with sundry virgins, were either slaughtered or thrown in alive, a rude in pace.  Quantities of food and trade goods, especially coppers, were heaped up; after which the pit was filled and the ground was levelled.  The less wealthy sort of “gentlemen” here are placed in smaller graves near the villages; and the slaves are still “buried with the burial of an ass,”—­ cast forth into the bush.

Yet, by way of showing themselves kind to the dead, the Congoese are “commonly very cruel to the living.”  Lately, a chief, called from his wealth, “Chico de Ouro” (Golden Frank) died somewhat suddenly.  The Nganga or medicine man who, on such occasions, here as elsewhere, has the jus vitae et necis, was called in; he charged one of the sons with parricide by witchcraft, and the youth was at once pierced by the bayonets of his brothers.  “Golden Frank” was peculiar in his ways.  He used to entertain the factors at dinner, imitating them from soup to cheese; his only objections were to tea, and to drinking toasts out of anything but the pet skull of an enemy:  it was afterwards placed upon his grave.