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BAKALAI (BAIALE, BANGOUENS)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 226 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAKALAI (BAIALE, BANGOUENS) , a See also:Bantu See also:negroid tribe inhabiting a wide See also:tract of See also:French See also:Congo between the See also:river Ogowe and 2° S. They appear to be immigrants from the See also:south-See also:east, and have been supposed to be connected racially with the Galoa, one of the See also:Mpongwe tribes and the See also:chief river-See also:people of the Ogowe. The Bakalai have suffered much from the incursions of their neighbours the See also:Fang, also arrivals from the south-east, and it may be that they migrated to their See also:present See also:abode under pressure from this people at an earlier date. They are keen hunters and were traders in slaves and See also:rubber; the slave See also:traffic' has been prohibited by the French authorities. Their See also:women display considerable ingenuity in dressing their See also:hair, often taking a whole See also:day to arrange a coiffure; the hair is built up on a substructure of See also:clay and a See also:good See also:deal of false hair incorporated; a coat of red, See also:green or yellow pigment often completes the effect. The same See also:colours are used to decorate the hut doors. The villages, some of which are fortified with palisades, are usually very dirty; chiefs and See also:rich men own plantations which are situated at some distance from the See also:village and to which their womenfolk are sent in times of See also:war. The Bakalai of See also:Lake Isanga cremate their dead; those of the Upper Ogowe throw the bodies into the river, with the exception of those killed in war. The See also:body of a chief is placed secretly in a hut erected in the depths of the See also:forest, and the village is deserted for that See also:night, in some cases altogether; the slaves of the 'deceased are (or were) sacrificed, and his wives scourged and secluded in huts for a See also:week. " Natural " deaths are attributed to the machinations of a sorcerer, and the See also:poison-See also:ordeal is often practised. Of their social organization little is known, but it appears that nearly all individuals refrain from eating the flesh of some particular See also:animal.

End of Article: BAKALAI (BAIALE, BANGOUENS)

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