List of Words for Relatives
| ENGLISH | WORDS GIVEN BY LUTOBA | WORDS GIVEN BY INTONGI |
|---|---|---|
| Mother’s brother | mojika | mojika and nso mama44 |
| Mother’s brother’s son | nso nyango45 | No name, but takes name of mojika on his father’s death |
| Mother’s brother’s son’s son | nso nyango | Called by personal name until death of father and then mojika |
| Mother’s brother’s son’s daughter | nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Mother’s sister | mama | mama moti46 |
| Mother’s sister’s son or daughter | mojimi or nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Mother’s sister’s son’s son | mojimi or nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Mother’s sister’s son’s daughter | mojimi or nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Father’s sister | tamwalimoto | tamwalimoto |
| Father’s sister’s son | bola | mwana wa tamwalimoto47 |
| Father’s sister’s daughter | nkaja | mwana wa tamwalimoto |
| Father’s sister’s son’s son | wa mwa nyango48 | No distinctive name |
| Father’s sister’s son’s daughter | nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Father’s brother | tata | 49ta mungwende, or on his father’s death he is called tata or tata elenge50 |
| Father’s brother’s son | mojimi | No distinctive name |
| Father’s brother’s daughter | nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Father’s brother’s son’s son | mojimi | No distinctive name |
| Father’s brother’s son’s daughter | nkaja | No distinctive name |
| Brother’s child | mwana | mwana |
| Brother’s child’s child | mwana | mwana |
| Grandfather, grandmother, grandchild | nkoko | nkoko |
| Great grandfather, great grandmother, great grandchild | nkokolele | nkokolele |
| Great great grandfather, great great grandmother, great great grandchild | ndalola | ndalola |
Mama is not an introduced word, as we found it in full use on our arrival; and although it was often used about one’s own mother, yet it had the same meaning, as applied to a female relative, mistress, or mother, that tata has to a male relative, master or father.
By “no distinctive name,” I mean no term indicative of relationship. They were known by their personal name only.
Note 5 — On Native Diseases
List of Native Diseases and their Native Names
1. Scrotal hernia, liboke denotes an early stage, and the word also means a parcel, bundle; benda is a later stage when the hernia is large; and likuku the last stage when the hernia reaches the knees. I have seen two or three examples of the last stage.
2. Paralysis from sickness, boboku. I never saw a case of this.
3. Smallpox, kokotu. We had an epidemic of this disease in 1893. Some people died, and others carry the marks to this day.
4. Bad diarrhœa, bolete, is supposed to be the result of a curse.
5. Bleeding at the nose from any cause, bolongo.
6. Insanity, bomwa; mild insanity in which there is extreme foolishness, lemana.
7. Madness of a violent character, mokalala.
8. Idiocy, bowewe and ewelewete.
9. Asthmatical wheezing, yoko and likoko.
10. Cough, ekokótu. Coughs and colds are very common.
11. Crack in skin, etena. This is common and very troublesome, especially when on the sole of the foot, as the hard skin takes months to heal.
12. Crippled limb, etengumwi. This is very rare and results from a wound received in a fight, or from a burn, or from walking on the toes, heel, or side of the foot when there is a crack in the sole.
13. Nervous condition, jita-jita-jita, i.e. twitching.
14. Bad fever, molungi juku-juku = heat, or fire plenty plenty. Fevers are common among the natives and yield to simple treatment. The temperature often goes very high.
15. Great debility, lela.
16. Poor state of health, indicated by frequent crops of boils breaking out on various parts of the body, libembe.
17. Patches of pustular sores, lifwanja.
18. Sore throat, lilele.
19. Yaws, lingala, mostly used in the plural, mangala.
20. Puffy condition of the body, probably a form of dropsy, lontutu.
21. Blindness, lulanda; not common.
22. Sleeping-sickness, luwa, yobi, and makwata.
23. Form of non-infectious leprosy in which the skin becomes a sickly white, indurated, cracked, and peeling. It is found generally on the hand and the arm below the elbow, munkana.
24. Very bad rheumatism, yambaka. Persons suffering from this complaint must not burn the wood of a certain tree called lobaka, or the pain will become more acute.
25. Intestinal worms, munsobi, and munsembe.
26. Dysentery with much blood, mwajakongo.
27. Ague fever, nyankili.
28. Chest complaints of all kinds, as pleurisy, pneumonia, etc., are called ntulu = chest; to feel or suffer from such is oka ntulu = hear, i.e. feel the chest. It is also called mobanji = side, ribs.
29. Elephantiasis, mungita; not very common.
30. Abscesses and severe boils, litunganaka.
31. Umbilical hernia, muntolu; very common.
32. Scabies, mputu.
33. Fits and convulsions, bonsinga.
34. Sciatica, and extreme debility, yombi.
35. Boil, ndala; very frequently found.
36. Mild form of rheumatism, mokoko.
37. Cataract of the eye, elalei and molondo; common.
38. Blindness in one eye, muntelele; occasionally found.
39. Ganglion on back of hand and wrist, etai.
40. Deafness, lōko; very seldom noticed.
41. Dumbness, mbubu. I never met with a case, but the fact that a word is known for it shows that the complaint is occasionally to be found among the people.
42. Venereal diseases, lisabu.
Note 6 — On Health of White Men on the Congo
Perhaps the following statistics respecting the health of white people on the Congo will interest the reader. I have kept careful notes during the last thirty years, and the figures may be accepted as accurate. The figures refer only to Missionaries of the Baptist Missionary Society.
One hundred and ten men have joined the Mission since its inception in 1878 until December 31st, 1911.
| Of these: died | 38 |
| Left for various reasons (not through health) | 8 |
| Left through personal health | 15 |
| Left through wife’s health | 6 |
| —— | |
| 67 | |
| Still in active service. | 43 |
| —— | |
| Total | 110 |
| Died during first year on the Congo | 13 |
| Died during second year on the Congo | 3 |
| Died during third year on the Congo | 7 |
| Died during fourth year on the Congo | 3 |
| Died during fifth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during sixth year on the Congo | 2 |
| Died during seventh year on the Congo | 2 |
| Died during eighth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during ninth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during tenth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during twelfth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during sixteenth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during twenty-sixth year on the Congo | 2 |
| —— | |
| 38 |
| Of the above men, died of hæmaturic fever | 9 |
| Of the above men, died of malarial | 19 |
| Of the above men, died of dysentery | 2 |
| Of the above men, died of other diseases | 6 |
| Died in a London Hospital from cancerous growth in the stomach | 1 |
| Died in England from embolism (clot in the blood-vessels of the brain) | 1 |
| —— | |
| Total | 38 |
During recent years we have found it advisable for men to remain out only for a first term of two years instead of three years, and afterwards four years instead of five years as formerly.
During the same period 79 ladies have joined the Mission. Of these:
| Died | 19 |
| Left as widows | 11 |
| Left for personal health | 11 |
| Left for husband’s health | 4 |
| — | |
| 45 | |
| Still in active service | 34 |
| — | |
| Total | 79 |
| Died during the first year on the Congo | 5 |
| Died during the second year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during the third year on the Congo | 2 |
| Died during the fourth year on the Congo | 5 |
| Died during the sixth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during the eighth year on the Congo | 2 |
| Died during the eleventh year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during the fourteenth year on the Congo | 1 |
| Died during the twenty-sixth year on the Congo | 1 |
| — | |
| 19 |
| Of the above ladies, died of hæmaturic fever | 5 |
| Of the above ladies, died of malarial fever | 7 |
| Of the above ladies, died of puerperal fever | 3 |
| Of the above ladies, died of meningitis | 1 |
| Of the above ladies, died of abscess on the liver | 1 |
| Died from typhoid fever at Eastbourne | 1 |
| Died from some brain trouble in America | 1 |
| — | |
| 19 |
During the first years of our Mission we lost the most of our men through bad houses, poor food, and ignorance of the proper treatment of fevers, etc. From 1878 to 1890 we lost in twelve years 20 men by death; but during the twenty years from 1891 to 1911 we have lost 18 men, although we have had in the field on active service twice, and sometimes thrice, as many men as in the earlier twelve years. The first years cost us most dearly while we were buying our experience. I might say that we are total abstainers, but are willing to take alcohol medicinally; and the smokers and non-smokers are about equally divided. Every man and woman must undergo a very strict and careful medical examination before being accepted by the Committee of the Society.
It will be seen that the first year of a man’s life on the Congo is the most crucial one, and the next trying year is the third, i.e. at the beginning and end of a man’s first term of service. We have altered the first term to two years. In the case of the ladies the first year and the fourth are the crucial ones. The ladies’ first term of service has always been two years, then one year at home. The figures point to the early months of the first and second terms as being most fatal. It will be noticed that the ladies have stood the climate better than the men; but they have never roughed it as the men, nor do they ever have to expose themselves in doing the kind of work that necessarily falls to the men—looking after building, transport, etc.
Notes
44. nso mama and
45. nso nyango are practically the same, as the second word in each phrase means mother, and nso = bowels; and the idea is: the one who comes from the same womb as my mother; the word nso is only used of maternal relatives.
46. mama moti = the little mother.
47. mwana wa tamwalimoto = child of tamwalimoto.
48. wa mwa nyango = of or from the little mother; mwa is the diminutive particle.
49. ta mungwende = one who stands in place of another.
50. tata elenge = young or boy father.