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Between two villages we saw by the roadside a small table raised eight feet from the ground and approached on either side by a broad wooden ramp. We were told that here peace is concluded between the two villages after a war. The chiefs walking up, each from his own side, meet face to face on opposite sides of the table and exchanging chungas (bamboo mugs) of wine, drink to each other, and thus declare peace. On the road to Niao, we saw on the ground a curious mud figure of a man in slight relief presenting a gong in the direction of Senua; this was supposed to show that the Niao men were willing to come to terms with Senua, then at war with Niao. Another mode of evincing a desire to turn away the wrath of an approaching enemy, and induce him to open negotiations, is to tie up in his path a couple of goats, sometimes also a gong, with the universal symbol of peace, a palm leaf planted in the ground hard by. |
