Crichton, Michael - Congo by Michael Crichton

Author:Michael Crichton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-07-13T04:06:39+00:00

Munro considered the 1979 Kigani uprising a political insurrection. The

tribesmen were rebelling against the demand by the Zaire government that

the Kigani change from hunting to farming, as if that were a simple matter.

The Kigani were a poor and backward people; their knowledge of hygiene was

rudimentary, their diet lacked proteins and vitamins, and they were prey to

malaria, hookworm, bilharzia, and African sleeping sickness. One child in

four died at birth, and few Kigani adults lived past the age of

twenty-five. The hardships of their life required explanation, supplied by

Angawa, or sorcerers. The Kigani believed that most deaths were

supernatural: either the victim was under a sorcerer’s spell, had broken

some taboo, or was killed by vengeful spirits from the dead. Hunting also

had a supernatural aspect: game was strongly influenced by the spirit

world. In fact, the Kigani considered the supernatural world far more real

than the day-to-day world, which they felt to be a “waking dream,” and they

attempted to control the supernatural through magical spells and potions,

provided by the Angawa. They also carried out ritual body alterations, such

as painting the face and hands white, to render an individual more powerful

in battle. The Kigani believed that magic also resided in the bodies of

their adversaries, and so to overcome spells cast by other Angawa they ate

the bodies of their enemies. The magical power invested in the enemy thus

became their own, frustrating enemy sorcerers.

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