Brief compendium of the Quixillas and laws of Tembo Andumba, reformer of the Giagas given to her present and future followers to observe and of her death.
Chapter III.
Before beginning the laws which this iniquitous mother gave to her children I must advise the reader that there are two things which are sought in a legislator so that his laws should be held in reverence and observance by the people, and these are Majesty and Kindness, because majesty gives authority to laws and kindness counsels the souls of men into obedience. You have already heard an account of the majesty of such an iniquitous mother, nor is a demonstration of her kindness hidden from you; now it remains for you to listen and observe with goodwill those things, so that you may know when we differentiate these Ethiopian nations according to their laws, rites, customs and ceremonies from others though these too are barbarous and inhuman. In this anger, the daughter of wrath reigns, and if in some one finds majesty, the first condition of legislators, they lack the second, kindness, which they have converted into barbarous cruelty, in such a way that the laws of the Giagas left by their iniquitous mother are all the more observed and esteemed, which are not these which have majesty and kindness as such is the style of the inhabitants of this black Ethiopia descendants of Ham son of Noah.[1] Among this barbarous people whether a law is ancient or modern whether it comes from their priests or their fathers and mothers they call it by the name of quixilla and saying [26] quigilla or quixilla means laws precepts, commands or prohibitions[2] which must be punctually observed without transgressing a point, something which many Christians do not do with Divine laws and for these unfortunate [Giagas] no other reward for their observation of their laws is prepared but that of the infernal fires. Therefore, where one finds this word quixilla you know what it means and so that you will not wonder at my mentioning at quixillas of priests and fathers and mothers while only listing those of their mothers and to dispel any doubts without delay, I say that fathers and mothers give their children quixillas to keep, as for example, that one of their children should not eat a particular meat, such as that of dogs, of which they are very fond, of that of men, to which they are much inclined, or of some other animal, or not to undertake such a thing without doing some particular ceremonies and similar things and they observe these faithfully and in transgressing them they are punished according to the crime and I have seen many cases of this. Their priests equally give quixillas in occasions of sickness or death, traveling, business and weather conditions to observe their barbarous rites and all is faithfully observed and such is the fear of transgressing them that in many it causes death. Therefore (dear readers) I present below the following fourteen quixillas or laws, the sum of their diabolical observations these being the principal ones that they observe faithfully even though they observe many others, as I have [noted] myself as a spectator and a listener, it seems good to me to present these only as I will many others under the names of abuses and ceremonies in their own chapters which at your leisure you will be able to see to and I begin the laws[3] and
1. Quixilla Variangue. First Law[4]
This new invention of wickedness commanded in her first quixilla that no woman should have her own child and if any one give birth she should kill the child or leave it where she gave birth or throw it into a river and if by some accident one remained alive he could not inherit.[5] And for children they should keep those they captured in war and [these] would be able to inherit and be slaves to serve them and also could be lords and governors and enjoy other privileges in accordance with the customs of the Jagas their ancestors called Zimbos or Insindos,[6] which all sounds the same.
[27] Quixilla quiari.[7] Second Law.
It did not order nor prohibit giving birth as it cannot, but it prohibited any woman from giving birth in side the quilombo[8] and army, but such a woman ought to leave it to give birth, and after that she or someone else must kill the child and if it remains alive it cannot be brought inside until it has teeth, of which if the upper [teeth] come out before the lower ones it is put to death, so that it does not become a cause of destruction by living. Likewise twins who are born at the same time are put to death because their safety would be our ruin and death, and the children who have teeth will be received outside the clearing by armed soldiers and they will rub them with oil made by me or by lords captured in war, and if this is lacking they renew it with their own children or others captured in war and will do this annointing on the chest, back or right side.[9]
Quixilla gitatu.[10] Third Law.
This commanded that it should be observed after a manifesto of a future war was published. Everyone should prepare themselves for it with their remedies and throw themselves to the god mentioned below, if it was lost they must recover it, and they were ordered to carry it with them to war. Likewise they must carry a mortar with its pestle to have the opportunity to make it, nor would lack of observance be excused, and moreover it was needed to remain victorious over their enemies, something which they would not do if they did not carry it to obtain strength and spirit against them.[11]
Quixilla Givana.[12] Fourth Law.
Zealous of victory in order to obtain it with greater ease it was ordered first before going forth into the field to make sacrifices killing men and animals imploring their dead ones and devils for favor and aid, to know the outcome of the future war and afterwards it was also ordered to do the same to render thanks to them in recognition of their victory. Likewise they were ordered for a greater demonstration of cruelty to bury those who were killed in the war in their own bellies and those who were captured live were to serve them in both public and private sacrifice and also as children and servents as above.
[28] Quixilla quitanù.[13] Fifth Law.
In order to follow the barbarous heathen customs it ordered of them that in their interments and burials there should be killed sufficient people to serve them in the other life, each according to his possibilities and when valourous solidiers became illustious through blood or through arms or through some heroic action and did not have slaves, the lord of the place where his death takes place will give him enough people to serve him, for others again who are poor and who have done no distinguished deeds, it is enough to keep the old observances with chickens and goats.[14]
Quixilla Samano.[15] Sixth Law.
In order to recognize and differentiate those who were captured live in war as children or slaves to serve their lords they will have the two middle upper teeth pulled out and will be recognized in this way as their children and slaves and this will serve as a demonstration of our barbarity and as a divise to differentiate us from the others and this will be observed faithfully.
Quixilla Sambuari.[16] Sixth Law.
The execution of this law which is only permitted in extreme necessity simply for the conservation of the human poison makes it licit according to this law in any time or place, to eat human flesh is considered as a privilege and it is ordered women should not be eaten nor killed for eating except in of sacrifice to their dead lords and only when they are required to serve them in the next life according to the custom of their ancestors.[17]
Quixilla naque.[18] Eighth Law.
She ordered whomever wishes to observe their laws and who governs an army, that when he goes out to the field of battle he should bring with him the first of his concubines and should it happen that she comes to the month[19], he should stop even if it is in sight of the enemy, and no lady who is "with the month" can give food to men but only for herself or to people similar to her, nor enter into a place of public audience.[20]
Quixilla Vua.[21] Ninth Law.
She commanded the observance of the ancients which is to have a great feast for women [29] when their first flower[22] comes, to rub them and make offering to them according to custom it was also ordered to slaughter those women who did not enjoy the privilege of the first flower as unworthy to live amongst the others and unsuited to give birth and worthy only of death and not life.
Quixilla Cuim.[23] Tenth Law.
Ordered that they conserve the clothes of dead lords and if possible out some part of the body and put them in caskets dedicated to them and that they should carry them with their quitellos[24] for greater convenience to appeal to them for their aid and favor and they should be carried with due reverence and moreover accompanied by guards as well as players of various instruments and these watchmen should be men and not women.[25]
Quixilla Cuim ne moxi.[26] Eleventh Law.
Ordered that at the appearance of the new moon they expose in public the caskets with the relics of the dead lords and they should be diligently guarded by selected ministers and while they were exposed the musicians should play the customary instruments called Unzindi.[27]
Quixilla Cuimaijari.[28] Twelfth Law.
She ordered for the benefit of the dead that when they came into the Singhilla[29] they should be given what ever they asked for or ordered because they come for our good and are useful to us and everyone must take care to make them offerings at the assigned times and keep their anniversaries because they need to eat and drink.
Quixilla Cuim negitatu.[30] Thirteenth Law.
She ordered them to make sacrifices and obstain from intercourse with women in this quixilla, which is observed for two months before war and cohabiting with only the principal concubine is allowed leaving all the others and even this one is forbidden in time of war so as not to lose to the enemy and in order to be known by all it is sent out by public proclamation.[31]
Quixilla Cuim ne vana.[32] Fourteenth Law.
This dishonorable woman left as a quixilla or ceremony and ordered it be observed [30] that before being sent out to war to taking a new place, making a new house, or when one was made General, or promoted to similar offices he must sambare[33] which is to cohabit with the principal wife, and to this she added other diabolical ceremonies which I will not relate so as to not contaminate the listeners' ears, as all are dishonorable and diabolical and I will pass on. After the above mentioned quixillas she also gave the great lords of the army instructions on preordained days to cohabit with the first of the concubines which they have and they are followed according to the style of the Giaga.
The first is on sending war outside. The second, when making a new house until it is finished. The third is when millet is sown, the fourth when they harvest the millet which they eat with human flesh.[34] Other days and times they are at liberty to be with whichever one most pleases them of the many they have, and with whom they want to slake their appetite for lust, for among these there is not scruple at all, but in fact they glory in it. It appears to them, that in sensual matters everything is allowed and conceded without incurring any censure.
You have already heard of the quixillas, and not in my opinion forgotten the two conditions mentioned at the beginning of [the section on them] necessary for good legislators, but I have observed just the opposite. It was not so much an invention of wise men as a gift from God given for the public peace, that which Ulpiano and others of his followers speculated with their acute intellect on Divine philosophy and formed a brief compendium of it reducing everything to three headings, the first of which they established would be to live honestly. The second would be to comply with divine and natural law, not to offend others and as the third they assigned to give to each that which is his and under these three [headings] they placed the other titles of the laws, but these barbarous Ethiopians did not reduce hers to three headings, but inscribed all in a single word, Giaga or Muzimbos or Insindos which all mean the same because in saying Giaga one means people without God and without faith, inhuman people, cruel, barbarians, thieves, assassins, murderers, carnal people, liars, falsifers, and the archetype of dishonor. In short there is no evil which can not be included to this word Giaga. And so it is known whether that in these black [31] Ethiopians her followers there was such a laudable condition of living honestly because if in eating and drinking they observed I found such Bacchus-like people, all gluttons and wolves in their homes never satisfied and always famished. If, therefore we speak of honesty and modesty these Ethiopians go about generally speaking with clothing so that it barely covers their genitals, the rest going around wearing only the clothing they had on in their mother's womb, being in addition as idolators, the archetype of dishonesty is esteemed and regarded as beautiful, even a thief if not of consumable goods, at least of people. And could not Diogenes the Cynic have observed in that young men who had fallen into certain errors not appropiate to his station? I speak of the change in color and natural pallor which in some appears red in others yellow and pale which allows us to see signs of modesty and shame; if these people are black in words, actions and person; dishonest and immodest? Therefore Diogenes can say what he likes, let Plato and Plutarch raise their voices as they please, and let Seneca too, shout about honesty and modesty for none of it has a place among these Ethiopian ladies because in them neither the color nor the pallor nor the changing of the appearance is noticed, all being black and horrid and dark. If their virtue cannot be told from vice and to tell the truth they can at their pleasure yield to the second without fear of being censured by him who has the attributes of this black people, the second being so esteemed that it does not offend others; the contrary is so deeply rooted in their hearts that they would like to extinguish human propagation if it were possible if not in a moment at least in a day or an hour.
As to the third, then, of giving to each his own they take great glory in observing the contrary because all they possess comes from theft and rapine and unjust acquisition, moreover they are always robbing without ever making restitution having enclosed in their own bellies as in a bronze bull the owners of the foods. Aristotle said it is good to work the intellect [missing word] and sciences and to find new things because they are founded on reason which in time will become more discerning, particularly when their descendants see what their predecessors said and did, they can increase and improve what is wrong [32] with laws whose authority is founded on custom they change much they weaken much and because the observers of the iniquitous laws of the Giagas do not weaken their inhuman laws they observe them with great exactitude in all their vigor and force; always stable without being changed and they only improve the cruelty and barbarity according to the bad will of their mother because her descendants continue to admire and exemplify her and they are in an extreme observers of these laws which Pharoah gave to the Egyptians which permitted them to rob because it seems that they are born with hands prone to rapine and they are always robbing, even though robbers inside of their own goods are severely punished among them, when it is a question of armed robbery of men and selling women, eating and sacrifice. This they hold in great glory and honor with such effect that whereas in Europe where the robber robs at night and needs to run and hide the theft, here in Ethiopia they do it in the day and returning from the rapine they let it be known with the music of their instruments and be seen with sails unfurled accompanied by great feasting and joy. And with robbing and seizing people they care nothing for the laws of Numa Pompilius which allowed taking and possessing whatever one could acquire, for no-one cared for earthly things but only what people needed to eat, sell and sacrifice. They have a great estimation of those of Licurgus who fell into the devil's trap which permits murder and these [Giagas] are true observers of it because in war as in peace they place less value on killing a person than on killing an animal. All the effects of their cruelty and barbarity which, if they got the example of cruelty from tyrants, they surpassed it for when he had conquered the heart of the sufferer or exceeded the fury of these, he slaked his cruelty and thus stopped it, but these descendents of Ham from the beginning, on the occasion of birth to death, are not moved to compassion in seeing the repentance of the sufferer nor by asking for quarter, all they concede is that of their own bellies slaking the enormous vice of cruelty daughter of wrath on the poor people and who will not say that these [Giagas] are not Savants of Athens or Roman Satyrs and however they are without any ability in laws and good customs but leave [33] only those which resemble the irrational animals of the bushes and woods and they even show themselves to be inferior to these. O miserable and unhappy people of this black
These are (Dear readers) the quixillas of Tembo Andumba the legislator of these and mother of the Giagas not only those living in this kingdom of Matamba, but also those of neighboring provinces and kingdoms, given to her vassals to observe invioably as published and accepted as good by all. She uttered war cries, arming herself with bow, arrow and spear, common arms of the blacks of Ethiopia, equipping her arm with a strong shield and she joined charcoal and herb juice with the oil of her child and moreover beautifying herself all around with luco[35] grains of red and white color,[36] and her vassals did likewise forming a scene from the abyss of Hell and she, the Captain General, proclaimed war and blood. They, wishing to prove their strength, roared like lion to frighten the prey although it was hidden from their eyes. And it it seemed to her that the brief time of an hour equaled many years, already she saw herself with cradles on the human individuals of their species extinguishing with their blood their deer-like thirst and satisfying their doggish hunger and having nowhere within their own province where this could be executed she left it burnt by physical fire and burning with the ardent inextinguishable fire of wrath and indignation inside her she went to neighboring provinces and there like a famished Lioness with as many children as these were people with her and she and they, not only hungry but as thirsty as a wounded deer armed themselves against [the province]. The struggle began which was cruel and barbarous and lost it. She began to butcher the flesh of the dead enemies an eat it raw and to show the anger towards them and hate which she had kept hidden. Intimidated by these barbarities whoever remained alive tried to save that life by flight. At once these who carried the juices of oil and the mortar ran up so that she should show them with her example what she had ordered them to observe. She sent at once to the prisoners of war for the most noble person against whom she showed her inhumanity and barbarity and gave [34] an example for posterity of what they had to do and observe. She ordered the remaining dead people to be eaten not giving them any quarter other than that of her own belly. O cruel harpy, are these not of your own species and appearance and why such barbarity and cruelty? Reinforced with a full meal of the flesh of humans, but not sated of human blood, still that rabid tigress wanted more and more to drink of that which she had already sampled and having found tasty to her palate, she went proudly out to continue with her evil intention and perverse will; she found others who were undefended and defeated and conquered them also, wreaking a most cruel punishment on them and giving them burial in her own belly and advancing more every day in barbarities against human beings and working for their destruction and annihilation, always discovering new barbarities. The followers of such an iniquitous mother increase and multiply continually and such horrid inhumanity made men tremble and beasts be afraid. In these, natural love conquered and they are moved by compassion for their children, each one manages to defend these with the weapons allowed him by mother nature as we can see; the hen defends her chick with the weapons allowed her so that they should not be taken from her by a kite or other bird of prey, but the Giaga lady has no love or compassion for the fruit of her womb and not only does she not defend them but leaves them to be food for animals. The Pious elephant shows the love of his entrails for his young both in life and in death, defending them in life, and burying them in death, but the Giaga woman having given birth to a child defends him neither in life nor in death, because in life she herself becomes his murderess, and when dead she buries him in the maternal prison[37] or in some river or spring or in the open country, leaving him to be eaten by Animals, and this is quite true o Friend Readers, for the rustic Lion with no culture, but taught only by natural instrinct, bends to wherever he feels love; but his barbarous woman, worse than a Lion, where she feels love turns anger and indignation, o miserable black Ethiopia, black in people, words and deeds, abyss of ill-will and portrait of Hell.
This cruel harpy did not delay long in showing to be more than true the saying [35] that woman is inconsistent in everything except in changing, because knowing herself to be truly a woman who had only changed her actions, not her person, she returned to what is normally common to women, and supposedly moved by what she had done to her own child, she did no less that to mitigate her anger and disdain towards children; but with this she did not manage in general to let them live, and returned to man as matter turns to the desired form. In her army she had a brave Ethiopian soldier as bellegerent as herself and even more barbarous, who was called Culemba,[38] attracted more by these facts than by his good physical features,[39] she thought of marrying him according to the heathen custom, not only to enjoy carnal pleasures as she had before, but also to have a faithful comrade and colleague, a comrade at home and a colleague in the doing of wicked and barbarous acts, and ordering them to be done; having made her resolve she put it into practice at once and the wedding was celebrated with great feasting and joy. Choice foods were offered, and in my judgement the savagery[40] of this feast would not be otherwise than as it was done by these descendants of Adam nor was it likely to be, but would correspond to the example in the evil laws of cruelty and barbarity she promulgated. The new spouse of the Ethiopian woman was recognized by all as the spouse of their lady and began to be well liked and much respected by all. Seeing himself therefore exalted by fortune rather for his barbarities and woman-like caprisiousness than for his physical beauty he determined not only to continue them with all the force possible but also to increase them. After being sometime with his beloved spouse and feeling that their nuptual love had greatly cooled down, so as not to fall like ivy to the ground he thought first of cutting the thread of her life and said to himself, "This woman did not pardon her first concubine, nor even the fruit of her womb, therefore will she pardon me? The love of new spouses shows itself to have roots, but ordinarily they are fragile. If a thought of pride enters one's head it will blow like Aquilon and it will strike me with death; it will be better for me to remove her first; and in that way be free from death and every human [36] fear." To come, therefore, to the consummation of his evil intention and give execution to his perverse desire with the secrecy which this business required, he did not invite her to go to the field and there slaughter her as the fraticide Cain did, not like that other person among the sins of a delightful Garden did he kill her, nor did he hide poison in a beautiful fruit, nor sleeping try to fool her senses with the smell of a most beautiful rose;[41] but he made use of a very easy means of coming on her with required secrecy, he sought to deceive the senses of taste. These Ethiopians, both men and women have as their only aim to eat and drink, were possible they would do so day and night, and some, even to the point of bursting, while they have the opportunity they eat to such an extent that they kill the morning doing so and in the evening go to sleep without finishing the meal and they do similarly with the drinks in customary use among them, and they do not have them those who are very abstemious more so then anyone, and I have seen many with my own eyes sustain themselves for many days with just tobacco smoke and some who, not having eaten in several days, spread out the skin of their belly in folds as if it were cloth and also the opposite happens; through much eating they burst and this took place in the province of Quisama in the year 1656[42] when having suffered from famine several Ethiopians afterwards ate so much that they burst immediately. In some kingdoms and provinces there is an abundance of palms from which they draw sufficient liquor for those who drink it to lose their senses, having the same effect that the liquors of
If this therefore (o Friendly Readers) is the descent of such a mother how will the children be? If the children descended from the first murderer and fratricide had such strength to prevent and infuse the wickedness of their fathers and the husbands descended not form an evil plant but from the goodness of the just Seth, who because of their goodness were called children of Guel, what strength do these barbarians not have, being related to each other, one being bad and the other worse? And if they are so divided [41] by laws and by rites, customs and blood, are full of every evil, what will these barbarians be like who are not divided by laws and rites and customs, but joined in these as by blood such as is the Father, so will the son be, and clearly it can be seen that the children of iniquitous Ham were created ribald, cruel and inhuman, and moreover they were the first to devote themselves to robbery and rapine and to live, not by their own but by others' sweat and labor, and even though this terrible plant was destroyed in the Universal Flood, it was still revived in these barbarous nations as their descendents live and will live on in the same way unless another Flood is sent by God to extinguish the generations of this iniquitous mother; because already they have by far surpassed the descendants of Ham in barbarities, having truly imitated it in their terrible example, not only in barbarities but wanting to live not by their own but others' sweat and labor, even far surpassing also the children of Seth in lustfulness. Therefore seeing that those who observed and followed them were increasing he began like a good general to dispense offices and military dignities customary among them, the names of which were listed in their place in Chapter IV, with their meanings and the way in which they correspond to the offices and military dignities used among Europeans, which, though they have different names are still the same although they are given other names in other languages, the meaning is the same as you will observe.
He made many captains to whom he assigned their companies and these of the most barbarous and inhuman soldiers of the army. The names of the principal ones were Casa, Calanda, Cabucco, Caimba[49] and others from which derive the various names of this bad inhuman and cruel people today; these were divided up into as many armies as there were captains and went rushing through, spoiling and destroying this black Ethiopia both occidental and oriental, and they went on destroying it with their barbarities and inhuman mode of living. Finally, after having ruled for many years and carried out various enterprises subjugating many provinces and kingdoms, leaving a good number of expert masters of the inhuman art of the Giaga they arrived with their barbarities in the
Upon the death of this man the valorous soldier Golaximbo[54] was elected, who was a great warrior, inhuman and cruel, but in spite of this he had a virtue more natural than acquired and it was an aversion and antipathy to eating human flesh because not only did he not like it, but he was horrified on seeing it eaten and even though he showed himself very inhuman and barbarous because he lacked such great example [44] which is more moving than words, they [the Giagas] did not care for him and they took his life early, as among these barbarous nations good people are discounted and vilified and evil people and vices are honored and exalted; for this reason, o natural virtue, you quickly ended your life and they gave him an honorable burial and he did not lack according to barbarous custom the voluntary and forced victims for the dark tomb besides these, who reached the number of 300.[55] After him Cassange, Caimbe, Cabuco, Casa[56] and others took up the government in turn and as the next to last Cassange Calunga[57] who was the first to procreate and allow human propagation at the request of Lord Knight Salvator Correa de Sà, restorer of the square of Luanda and the Kingdom of Angola from the power of the Dutch and this in the year of 1648.[58] His [Cassange Calunga's] death was hastened by his son as will be seen in dealing with his barbarities and they gave him an honorable burial with sacrifices corresponding to his greatness and worth.
His son, in conformity with the laws of the Giagas called Cassange Canquigurij, suceeded him in government and even though he was baptized in the year 1657 with the name of Don Pasquale, faithfully observed all the quixillas of Tembo Andumba as will be said in its place.[59] All those named above and also others of whom I have not noted because it would take too long as there were none among them who knew how to read or write nor keep track of the years and they only calculate from the reigns of the kings who govern them; it is enough to know that all are children of such an iniquitous mother and true observers of her quixillas, and they divided into various armies, left for the wars against the Portuguese lords and for others they had among themselves and against their enemies, some united with the ruling Cassanje, the truth is that with their barbarous mode of living they have built up their name and fame and are by this time spread throughout all this black Ethiopia, not only the West but the East also, which parts they have destroyed and go on destroying and make themselves terrifying to people by their barbarities and terrible to beasts and thus will go on doing until the end, if Blessed God in his infinite mercy does not soften their hearts so they convert [45] to the Holy Catholic Faith and leave the inhuman life of Giagas.
Dear readers, there is not a history which deals with the origin and beginning of these horrible monsters of Giagas. Father Giovanni de Santi[60] of the order of Apostolic Missionary Preachers in Eastern India gives some account of these barbarities under the name of the Muzimbi people, but that which I write here is not solely founded on those accounts which he gives, but on the great amount of information which I have obtained from old Lords and other Kingdoms and in the more than twelve[61] which I have lived in this inner Ethiopia and I have conversed for a long time with these horrible monsters, and during this time I have compared the information with their actions. I have seen with my own eyes, I have heard with my own ears things which disturbs my mind merely to think of and freezes the blood in my veins. I say this, dear readers, so that if, with devotion, you have heard the beginning and want just as much to listen to the middle and end, to give to our loving God the thanks due to him for deigning to visit these infertile plants by means of the Apostolic Missionaries, it may please Him, the sum of all goodness, to water them with his Divine Grace and with the same assistance to undertake the cultivation of his vine so that it may produce the fruit of Heavenly Blessings.
[1]. A reference to the "Curse of Ham", used often as a justification for slavery and persecution of many of the world's people, for a thorough discussion see, W. McKee Evans, "From the Land of Canaan to the Land of Guinea: The Strange Odyssey of the Sons of Ham," American Historical Review 85 (1980): 15-43.
[2]. This word is attested in the Kimbundu catechism of 1642, Gentio de Angola as meaning "precept" or "prohibition" in the form quigilla, plural igilla, (modern orthography kijila, plural ijila) see Dialogo I, no. 9 (henceforward I, 9) where to "arrenegar dos Idolos de seus preceitos" is rendered as "ucuatûna o Iteque, ne igilla" (plural form) and III, 4, "por isso vos poz o preceito" is rendered as "cambexi iamibè o quigilla" (singular). Cavazzi's alternate use of the /x/ and the /j/ form is probably his attempt to graph the word for Italian readers, since Italian does not have a /j/ as does Portuguese or Kimbundu. In the text Cavazzi gives the plural as quixille, a regular Italian feminine plural of quixilla, which I have translated according to English rules of pluralization. In adopting a pluralization from European norms, rather than the Kimbundu rules, Cavazzi was following a well established local custom.
The term was widely used in European descriptions of Angolan religions: see Cadornega, História, 3: 349; Giovanni Belotti da Romano, "Avvertimenti salutevoli" (ca. 1680) partial publication by Vittoria Maconi in "Magische handlungen der Eingeboren Nord-West Angolas", Kölner Ethnologische Mitteilungen 4 (1965): 135-59, Avvertimento XXXV-VII; D. Luiz Simões Brandão, "Ritos gentilicos e superstições que observão os negros do gentio do Reyno de Angola," [ca. 1714] ed. Lino d'Assumpção, Boletim do Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa 6 (1885): 373.
[3]. Istorica Descrizione, Book 2, nos. 8-26 gives the essence of what follows without following exactly the same organization, and including other information which is not strictly related to this list. Cavazzi will repeat this list later, in pp. 48-62 for their observation in Kassanje in 1660; in Book 2, pp/ 92-107 as they were kept by Queen Njinga when she was a "Jaga" (1629-56) and after she became a Christian (Book 2, pp. 143-55).
[4]. The list which follows apparently is an attempt to put the kijilas of Tembo Andumba into a law code, like the Ten Commandments, or perhaps the Twelve Tables of Roman law. In de Couto's first edition of Gentio de Angola, fol. 6, he avoided using kijila and its various forms many contexts, preferring a more positive word like milongo (law rather than prohibition) so that he called the Ten Commandments, "O milonga yatûma Nzambi mo ubica üae ine cuîm" (The laws which God, in his power, are ten), but when the catechism was reissued under Capuchin sponsorship, edited by Francesco da Monteleone (Rome, 1661), the idea of prohibition was emphasized and the passage was altered to read, "Ohigila yatùma Nzambi mo ubica ùae", It is possible, however, given the Kimbundu numbering that the organization derives from his informants who listed them for him in this way. Quixilla Variangue is different from da Monteleone's number of First Commandment: "Quijìla quia'ari angue", and should probably be emended to read "Quiriangue" to match class concords: this rule of concordance is followed in some of his other quijilas.
[5]. Miller, Kings and Kinsmen, pp. 234-5 points out that this law derives not so much from bloodthirstiness as from the function of these laws in prohibiting succession by lineage ("abolishing lineages"), which is confirmed by Cavazzi's note that those who survive by accident still cannot inherit, presemably being legal non-persons. Above, MS pp. 51-2 is an institutional procedure for admitting such persons into Imbangala society.
[6]. On MS p. 63 below Cavazzi also gives Quimbangala as their name. Insindi is probably a "plural" of a singular kinsndi, and Imbangala a plural of Kimbangala. This confirms several seventeenth century Angolan (as opposed to Portuguese) variants of the name for the people whom the Portuguese designated Jagas. In 1613 Andrew Battel told Purchas their name for themselves was "Imbangola", Purchas, Purchas, His Pilgramage, Chapter X, no. 3 in Ravenstein (ed.) Strange Adventures, p. 84, while in his own account, published by Purchas in 1625, he said they "told us they were the Gagas or Gindes," ibid, p. 19. Zimbos, on the other hand, is probably Cavazzi's invention, taken from his conflation of the name of the founder (Njimbo) and the Zimbas of dos
[7]. Quixilla quiari is a correct form in seventeenth century orthography (kijila kiari), the second commandment is Monteprandone's version of the catechism was Quijíla quiamuchi ari.
[8]. Quilombo, a widely attested term in seventeenth century Angolan Portuguese meaning army or war camp, for example, in 1622, a geographical description of Luanda referred to "o quilombo de Antonio Bruto" clearly meaning the army of Antonio Bruto, including Portuguese troops, "Mapa das regiões circunvizinhas de Luanda com uma minuciosa descrição," in Beatrix Heintze (ed.) Fontes para a história de Angola do século XVII (2 vols, Wiesbaden, 1985-88) 1: 162. From its form, it was certainly derived from a term in a Western Bantu language. Joseph C. Miller proposes an ultimate derivation from Umbundu, where reflexes of -lumbo refer to elements of circumcision, and hence he argues, it ultimately derives from an archaic term for circumcision camp, Kings and Kinsmen, p. 167. The term can be found in Kikongo as early as the mid-seventeenth century, Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele (
[9]. Described in more detail on MS pp. 51-3 below.
[10]. Quixilla gitatu =kixila jitatu. Monteprandone, Quijìla quiamuchitatu, or Kijila kiamu jitatu, but if this was Cavazzi's model, he should probably have written quixilla quitatu, in order for the class agreement to be maintained.
[11]. Appartently refers to symbolic tools used to make maji a samba.
[12]. Quixilla Givana =kijila jivana (or better, kijila jiwana), see use in Monteprandone, [Quijìla] quiamuchiüana, see note 83 above, for the problem of concords. Cavazzi's use of the /v/ instead of the /ü/ of the Portuguese orthography of the catechisms is perhaps his attempt to find an equivalent of the /w/ of Kimbundu in Italian.
[13]. Quixilla quitanu =kixila kitanu, cf Monteprandone [Quijìla] quiamochitanu. Here Cavazzi correctly places the concords in agreement, suggesting that his use of /gi/ in earlier "commandments" was simply a lapse.
[14]. This statement implies that the institution of human sacrifice was a result of Tembo Andumba's laws, and that previously only chicken and goats were used in sacrifices, although we cannot tell whether this is simply Cavazzi's conjecture or was specifically stated by his informants. In any case, both Cavazzi and other writers on Angolan affairs believed that the Mbundu made use of human sacrifice whether or not they were following Imbangala laws. See, for example, Cavazzi's discussion of the early kings of Ndongo, MS Book 2, pp. 1-20 below. See also the letter of the Jesuit missionary Pero Tavares to the rector of Luanda, 14 October 1631 in Brásio, Monumenta, 8: 71-[check sources again] on human sacrifice for a minor ruler in western Mbundu areas.
[15]. Quixilla Samano =kixila samano. Cf. Monteprandone, [Quijìla] Quiamuchi samâ. In modern Kimbundu numbers above 5 do not take concords--though this is not visible in the Monteprandone text because of the form of presentation.
[16]. Quixilla Sambuari =kixila sambwari, cf. Monteprandone, [Quijìla] Quiamuchi sambuâri.
[17]. Were the Imbangala cannibals? Cavazzi gives eyewitness testimony elsewhere to seeing people eaten, MS p. 53 below and in MS B, pp. 517, 524, and António de Oliveira Cadornega (História, 1: 422) also claims to have witnessed it. Against this is the general case made against European claims about cannibalism in the non-Western world by W. Arens, The Man Eating Myth (Oxford, 1979) which for specifically African examples argues that common African beliefs that witches "eat" people in turn is used to represent Africans as lower forms of humanity, and thus suitable for colonization. For an interesting discussion of the various shades of this debate, see Peter Hulme, Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native
[18]. Quixilla naque =kixila nake, cf. Monteprandone, [Quijìla] quiamochi naque.
[19]. That is, the menstrual period.
[20]. Ritual isolation of menstruating women is common in central Africa and observed by other seventeenth century writers, Belotti, ed. Maconi, Avvertimento XXXVI and "Giornate apostoliche" (ca. 1680) edition of Vittorio Maconi, in preparation, MS, fols., 308-11; Brandão, ed. Lino d'Assumpção, "Ritos gentilicos", p. 372.
[21]. Quixilla Vua =kixila vua, cf. Monteprandone, [Quijìla] quiamochi ivua. The form in modern Kimbundu is ivua also.
[22]. That is menstrual period.
[23]. Quixilla Cuim =kixila kwim, cf. Monteprandone, [Quijìla] quiamochi cuim. The modern form is kwinyi.
[24]. In the MS quitelli, from its form this appears to be the Italianized plural of a Kimbundu noun, kitelo, which I am unable to identify, but apparently it refers to some carrying device.
[25]. This refers to the complicated reliquaries made throughout west central
[26]. Quixilla Cuim ne moxi =kixila kwim ne moxi. There is no attestation in Monteprandone, there being only ten Commandments, but the formation of the term is consistent with Kimbundu rules.
[27]. Unzindi, perhaps the Italian plural of Unzindo, see also below, p. 60, a musical instrument.
[28]. Quixilla Cuimaijari =kixila kwim ai yari. Cavazzi's orthography reflects, perhaps, an attempt to represent kwim ne yari, the expected form in normal speech, with ellisions typical of Kimbundu.
[29]. Singhilla =xingila, a diviner and medium, described in more detail below, MS pp. 86-91. This passage refers to possession of the medium by the soul of a dead person.
[30]. Quixilla Cuim negitatu =kixila kwim ne jitatu. One expects kwin ne tatu, see Law Three above.
[31]. A common central African belief concerns the impurity of mixing men's and women's worlds, especially in domains, such as ironworking or war which are entirely in a man's domain.
[32]. Quixilla Cuim ne vana =kixila kwim ne vana.
[33]. Sambare, an Italian infinitive to represent the Angolan Portuguese sambar, but ultimately from the Kimbundu infinitive kusamba.
[34]. A closer definition of the borders between men and women, as explained in fn 00 for the 13th Law above.
[35]. Luco = luko, the generic Kimbundu term for millet.
[36]. Central African color cosmology is often behing the symbolism of the ingredients of charms, ungents and the like, which is in turn related to black (living), white (dead) and red (transitional) system: see A. Jacobson-Widding, Red-White-Black as a Mode of Thought (
[37]. That is, perhaps, by eating him.
[38]. Culemba =Kulumba or perhaps Kulembe. The name was the title for a ruler or state in the central Angolan plateau. A Portuguese document of 1645, "Relação da viagem de Sotomaior em socorro de Angola," Brásio, Monumenta 9: 374, speaks of a "Jaga Lulembe, who has conquered all the way to Mozambique", while the connection with the Imbangala is suggested by Andrew Battel's statement that the band with whom he travelled in the opening years of the seventeenth century had derived from a "page" named Kalanda in the court of "Elembe" (perhaps another form of this name). For more on this name, and a possible reconstruction of its history, see Miller, Kings and Kinsmen, pp. 89-90, and 210-17, again with reservations about their origins from wandering Lunda bands. Tembo Andumba's marriage to Culemba provides another link between the founder of seventeenth century Kasanje and neighboring states or regions. Thus, Tembo Andumba was a founder of the Songo people of the region, her marriage to Njimbo suggests a connection to the state of Muzimbo a Kalunga, southern neighbor of Kasanje, while the descent from Ndonji and Musasa connect her to the rulers north of the Imbangala kingdom and finally, as wife of Culemba to the central highlands, west Kasanje. These various relations might either be Cavazzi's concoction from the testimony of various informants, since he knew all the areas in question, or the product of one or more of his informants.
[39]. Culemba, muaghita piu di quello, che delle buone disposcioni corporali, in the original text.
[40]. The MS has "salvaticine", this translation is a guess.
[41]. The Italian reads: "ne assonto piglio di ingannare il sentim(ent)o
[42]. Cavazzi went to Lubolo and Kisama in these years when the army of Ndongo accompanied the Portuguese army in military operations south of the
[43]. lucco =luku or elusine; massango =masa ngo or sorghum.
[44]. Quilundà =kilunda
[45]. The text uses "matita" or pencil in modern Italian. The term here is used to supply the sense of a covering or disguise.
[46]. Funerals, whose description probably performed the role of model for his description of Tembo Andumba's are dealt with in detail on pp. 130-41.
[47]. Bomba Ignacha= Mbomba Nyaka. According to Sottomayor's account of 1645, a woman named Bombanhace, the queen of the Jaga Culembe sent an embassy to Portuguese troops who landed on
[48]. Miller, Kings and Kinsmen, p. uses this evidence to place her in the Ovimbundu highlands and to propose an Ovimbundu origin for the Imbangala.
[49]. The names of principal Imbangala bands operating in mid seventeenth century Angola: see Heintze, "Ende", passim for these names as found in the Fernao de Sousa documents, the earliest detailed collection for Angola (1617-1630). Kalandola, the band with which Andrew Battel travelled, is probably the oldest known of the group, ed. Ravenstein, Strange Adventures, p. Later, p. 44 below, Cavazzi presents some of these same names in a serial list of descendents of Culemba.
[50]. Sumbi= in the seventeenth century a district on the south coast of
[51]. Chingurij= Kinguri, now considered to be an ancestor of the Imbangala of Kasanje and connected through complicated stories to the Lunda empire of central Africa, cf. Miller, Kings and Kinsmen who takes the Lunda tradition seriously, and a critique by Thornton, "Lunda Expansion", pp. 1-5.
[52]. The coincidence between nguri= lion and Kinguri and the mountainous home of the Jagas in Sumbi open the possibility that the contention in both Cavazzi and Battel that the Jagas came from "Sierra Leone" which might have been a local, rather than the west African one that so many researchers have assumed, Miller, Kings and Kinsmen.
[53]. This story is repeated at a point which seems appropiate in the history of Ndongo, Book 2, pp. 12-3 below. Although he does not state it, Cavazzi almost surely derived the story from Portuguese sources in Massangano in the seventeenth century, as it is found in similar form in both Cadornega, Historia 1: 26; and da Gaeta, Maraviglosa Conversione pp. 148-72 (where it is much more developed that anywhere else). Da Gaeta specifically states that he derived his information on this affair from old Portuguese and documents found in the archives at Masangano (p. 148-9), while Cadorenga also mentions using these documents in making his account of the early history of Portuguese conquest in
[54]. Golaximbo= Ngola ximbo, which Miller had matched to the title Kulaxingo in the Kasanje kinglists, Kings and Kinsmen, pp. 143-4, although the fit is less exact than Miller presents it.
[55]. A nineteenth century parallel was recently reported by Linda Heywood, "Production, Trade and Power: The Political Economy of the Central Highlands of Angola, 1850- 1930" Ph. D. Dissertation, Columbia University, 1984, p. among the Ovimbundu where a political ruler refused to "eat the old man" (engage in a canibalistic initiation rite) and was susequently dethroned by "traditionalists". Miller suggests, Kings and Kinsmen.
[56]. Kasanje ka Imbe, Kabuku, Kasa. This may be a kinglist, or as has been practice among the Kasanje since at least the nineteenth century (and probably before) a list of related rulers whose names represent subdivisions in the Imbangala- see Miller, "Kings, Lists and History. History in
[57]. Perhaps the true founder of the Kasanje state. As late as 1629, the Kasanje seem to have no settlement and their final establishment in "Lesser Ganguela" must date from the 1630's which would make contact with Salvador Correa de Sa in 1648 and his death before 1657 plausible. See Heintze, "Ende", pp. on the operations of Kasanje in eastern
[58]. Salvador Correa de Sa e Benavides, the Spanish-Portuguese soldier and nobleman whose career has been traced in detail in C.R. Boxer,
[59]. His life is the subject of Book 3.
[60]. Joao dos
[61]. Cavazzi's claim to have been in
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