[ Prohibitions—Taboo. ]
Their conceit is so ravished with superstition that many die of none other death. Kin234 is the name of unlawful and prohibited meat, which, according to each kindred’s devotion, to some family is some kind of fish; to another a hen; to another, a buffe [beef]; and so of the rest: in which they observe their vowed abstinence so strictly that if any should (though all unawares) eat of his Kin, he would die of conceit, always presenting to his accusing conscience the breach of his vow, and the anger of Mokisso. He hath known divers thus to have died, and sometimes would, when some of them had eaten with him, make them believe that they had eaten of their Kin, till, having sported himself with their superstitious agony, he would affirm the contrary.
They use to set in their fields and places where corn or fruits grow, a basket, with goat’s horns, parrot’s feathers, and other trash: this is the Mokisso’s Ensign, or token, that it is commended to his custody; and therefore, the people very much addicted to theft, dare not meddle, or take anything. Likewise, if a man, wearied with his burthen, lay it down in the highway, and knit a knot of grass, and lay thereon; or leave any other note (known to them) to testify that he hath left it there in the name of his idol, it is secured from the lime-fingers of any passenger. Conceit would kill the man that should transgress in this kind.235
In the banza [mbanza], or chief city, the chief idol is named Chekoke.236 Every day they have there a market, and the Chekoke is brought forth by the Ganga, or priest, to keep good rule, and is set in the market-place to prevent stealing. Moreover, the king hath a Bell,237 the strokes whereof sound such terror into the heart of the fearful thief that none dare keep any stolen goods after the sound of that bell. Our author inhabited in a little reed-house, after the Loango manner, and had hanging by the walls, in a cloth case, his piece, wherewith he used to shoot fowls for the king, which, more for the love of the cloth than the piece, was stolen. Upon complaint, this bell (in form like a cow-bell) was carried about and rung, with proclamation to make restitution; and he had his piece next morning set at his door. The like another, found in a bag of beans of a hundred pound weight, stolen from him, and recovered by the sound of this bell.