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The Serpent And The Rainbow-The Frontier of Death - 2

Kline left the room and returned with a document which he presented to me. It was a death ertificate in French of one Clairvius Narcisse. It was dated 1962. "Our problem," Kline explained, "is that this narcisse is now very much alive and resettled in his village in the Arbonite Valley in central Haiti. He and his family claim he was the victim of a voodoo cult and that immediately following his burial he was taken from his grave as a zombi."Kline left the room and returned with a document which he presented to me.

It was a death ertificate in French of one Clairvius Narcisse. It was dated 1962. "Our problem," Kline explained, "is that this Narcisse is now very much alive and resettled in his village in the Arbonite Valley in central Haiti. He and his family claim he was the victim of a voodoo cult and that immediately following his burial he was taken from his grave as a zombi."" A zombi....." A dozen conventional questions came to mind but I said nothing more.

"The living dead ," Kline continued." Viidooists believe that their sorcerers have the power to raise innocent individuals from their graves to sell them as slaves.It is to prev ent such a fate that family members may kill the body of the dead a second time, sometimes plunging a knife into the heart of the cadaver, sometimes severing the head in the coffin.

"I looked at Kline, then back to Leham, trying to measure their expressions. They appeared altogether complementary. Kline spoke in visions, in ideas that spun on the edge of reality. Lehman held the reins and balanced the conversation with reason. This made it that much more impressive when he too began to speak of zombis.

"The narcisse case is not the first to come to our attention. A former student of mine, Lamarque Douyon, is currently the direc tor of the Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurologie in Port-au-Prince. Since 1962, in collaboration with Dr. Douyon, we have been systematically investigating all accounts of zombification. For years we found nothing to them. Then came our breakthrough, in 1979, when our attention was drawn to a series of most singular cases, of which this Narcisse was only one."

The latter, according to Lehman, was a woman, Natagette Joseph aged about sixty, who was supposedlyu killed over a land dispute in 1966. In 1980 she was recognized wandering about her home village by the police officer who, fourteen years before, in the absence of a doctor had pronounced her dead.The latter, according to Lehman, was a woman, Natagette Joseph aged about sixty, who was supposedlyu killed over a land dispute in 1966.

In 1980 she was recognized wandering about her home village by the police officer who, fourteen years before, in the absence of a doctor had pronounced her dead.Another was a younger woman named Francis Illeus but called "Ti Femme," who was pronounced dead at the age of thirty on February 23, 1976. Before her death she had suffered digestive problems and had been taken to the Saint Michel de L'Attalaye Hospital. Several days after her release she died at home, and her death was verified by a local magistrate. In this case a jealous husband was said to have been responsible.

There had been two notable features of Francina's case-her mother found her three years later, recognizing her by a childhood scar she bore on her temple; and later, when her grave was exhumed, her coffin was found to be full of rocks.There had been two notable features of Francina's case-her mother found her three years later, recognizing her by a childhood scar she bore on her temple; and later, when her grave was exhumed, her coffin was found to be full of rocks.

Then in late 1980, Haitian radio reported the discovery near the north coast of the country of a peculiar group of individuals, found wandering aimlessly in what appeared to be a psychotic state. The local peasants identified them as zombis and reported the matter to the local authorities, whereupon the unfortunate party was taken to Cap Haitian, Haiti's second city, and placed under the charge of the military commandant.

Aided in part by an extensive media campaign, the army managed to return most of the reputed zombis to their home villages, far from where the group had been found. "These three instances," Lehman remarked, "while curious, were still no more substantial than many others that had periodically surfaced in the Haitain press."Aided in part by an extensive media campaign, the army managed to return most of the reputed zombis to their home villages, far from where the group had been found. "These threee instances," Lehman remarked, "while curious, were still no more substantial than many others that had periodically surfaced in the Haitain press."

"What made the Narcisse case unique," said Kline, "was the fact that he happened to die at an American-directed philanthropic institution which, among its many features, keeps precise and accurate records." Thus Kline began to describe the extraordinary case of Clairvius Narcisse."What made the narcisse case unique," said Kline, "was the fact that he happened to die at an American-directed philanthropic institution which, among its many features, keeps precis and accurate records." Thus Kline began to describe the extraordinary case of Clairvius Narcisse.

In the spring of 1962, a haitian peasant aged about forty approached the emergency entrance of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital at Deschapelles in the Artibonite Valley. He was admitted under the name Clairvius Narcisse at 9:45 P.M. on April 3oth, complaining of fever, body ache, and general malaise; he had also begun to spit blood. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and at 1:15 p.M. on May 2 he was pronounced dead by two attendant physicians, one of them an American.In the spring of 1962, a haitian peasant aged about forty approached the emergency entrance of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital at Deschapelles in the Artibonite Valley. He was admitted under the name Clairvius Narcisse at 9:45 P.M. on April 30th, complaining of fever, body ache, and general malaise; he had also begun to spit blood. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and at 1:15 P.M. on May 2nd  he was pronounced dead by two attendant physicians, one of them an American.

His sister Angelina Narcisse was present at his bedside and immediately notified the family. Shortly after Narcisse's demise an elder sister, Marie Claire, arrived and witnessed the body, affixing her thumbprint to the official death certificate. The body was placed in cold storage for twenty hours, then taken for burial. At 10:00 A.M., May 3rd, 1962, Clairvius Narcisse was buried in a small cementry noth of his village of L'Estere. and ten days later a heavy concrete memorial slab was placed over the grave by the family.

His sister Angelina Narcisse was present at his bedside and immediately notified the family. Shortly after Narcisse's demise an elder sister, Marie Claire, arrived and witnessed the body, affixing her thumbprint to the official death certificate. The body was placed in cold storage for twenty hours, then taken for burial. At 10:00 A.M., May 3rd, 1962, Clairvius Narcisse was buried in a small cementry noth of his village of L'Estere. and ten days later a heavy concrete memorial slab was placed over the grave by the family.

Reference: The Serpent and The Rainbow: Wade Davis

The Children of the Sun- Asia - 3

Out from the river Nile there go a thousand channels which carry fertility  to all Egypt, and this distribution of its water is the practical value  of the NIle with which the agriculture is concerned; yet it is no foolish curosity that makes us ask what far distant lakes and branches contribute to produce that Nile. So the historian of civilizationwill not be satisfied to study Greece itself, and follow the course of its national development from Solon to Pericles and the Parthenon, and thence follow the dividing stream of its influence all over the modern world; but he will ask what went before its recorded history, what combination of forces it was that gave impulse to the Hellenic people, what were the crude juices out of which the Greek ferment made wine.

Inasmuch as we inherit our civilization from Greece, when we ask what was the history, and what the art, of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, or the Hittites, we we are asking of our own genealogical descent, and trying to trace our own intellectual ancestry back, not simply to the Greeks, but to those less gifted peoples whose imperfect civilization was the necessary condition of Greek development and accomplishment. in our search for our conclusions as to the race, language, history, and art of the Hitties, we have to go to five sources-the Hebrew scripture, the Egyptian monuments, the assyrian monuments, the Vannic monuments and the monuments of the Hittites themselves. The ancestor, Heth, was the son of Canaan  who was the son of Ham. This makes them belong to the genealogical stock of the Cushites.

It would not do to neglect the Phonecians. it is fortunate for civilization that the chosen people failed to rid the coast of Syria of the race of Canaanites who held it, because this race became the most dauntless colonists and mariners of the ancient world. They were the first who turned their frail ships to the mercy of unknown seas, and, under the Greek name of Phonecians, explored the known world. In the words of Bosworth Smith, " It was they, who, at a period antecedent to all contemporary historical records, introduced written characters, the foundation of all high intellectual development, into that country which was destined to carry intellectual culture to the highest point which humanity has yet reached.

It was they who learned to steer their ships by the sure help of the Polar Star, while the Greeks still depended upon the Great Bear; it was they who rounded the cape of storms, and earned the best right to call it the Cape of Good Hope 2'000 years before Vasca de Gama. Their ships returned to their native shores bringing with them sandal wood from malabar, spices from Arabia, fine linen from Egypt, Ostrich plumes from the Sahara. Cyprus gave them its copper . Elba its iron, the coast of the Black sea its manufactured steel. Silver they brought from Spain, gold from the Niger, tin from the Scilly Isles and amber from the Baltic."

And who are they? Historians might have accepted the legend that their country was settled by Canaanites, descendants of Ham, and let it go at that; but they were not satisfied to do so. In their desperate efforsts to take every shred of glory from the African race, they claimed that they were Semites. The results of archeology tinto turn their pitiful efforts into something of a joke. many sarcophagi have been recovered and all reveal the same African features. An official description of the sarcophagus of Esmunazar II., King of Sidon, and one of Phoenica's great historical rulers, reads "The features are Egyptian,with large full almond shaped eyes, the nose flattened and the lips remarkably thick and somewhat after the negro mold.And who are they?

Historians might have accepted the legend that their country was settled by Canaanites, descendants of Ham, and let it go at that; but they were not satisfied to do so. In their desperate efforsts to take every shred of glory from the African race, they claimed that they were Semites. The results of archeology tinto turn their pitiful efforts into something of a joke. many sarcophagi have been recovered and all reveal the same African features. An official description of the sarcophagus of Esmunazar II., King of Sidon, and one of Phoenica's great historical rulers, reads "The features are Egyptian, with large full almond shaped eyes, the nose flattened and the lips remarkably thick and somewhat after the negro mold. 

The whole countenance is smiling, agreeable and expressive beyond anything I have ever seen in the disinterred monuments, of Egypt or Ninevah." I leave it to you, gentle reader, if Aryan or Semite ever looked like that. Phonecian's greatest colony was carthage. " No native orator whose writings have come down to us, has sung of the origin of Carthage, or of her romantic voyages; no native orator has described, in glowing periods we can still read, the splendor of her buildings and the opulence of her native princes; no native annalists have preserved the story of her long rivalry with the Greeks and Etruscans, and no African philosopher has moralized upon the stability of her institutions or the cause of her fall."

The whole countenance is smiling, agreeable and expressive beyond anything I have ever seen in the disinterred monuments, of Egypt or Ninevah." I leave it to you, gentle reader, if Aryan or Semite ever looked like that. Phonecian's greatest colony was carthage. " No native orator whose writings have come down to us, has sung of the origin of Carthage, or of her romantic voyages; no native orator has described, in glowing periods we can still read, the splendor of her buildings and the opulence of her native princes; no native annalists have preserved the story of her long rivalry with the Greeks and Etruscans, and no African philosopher has moralized upon the stability of her institutions or the cause of her fall." (Bosworth Smith.)

And yet, what one of us but has heard the name of Carthage? The love of Dido is classic forever; Hanno's name is secure as one of the world's earliest and greatest navigators;(Bosworth Smith.) And yet, what one of us but has heard the name of Carthage? The love of Dido is classic forever; Hanno's name is secure as one of the world's earliest and greatest navigators; and Hannibal, we cannot think of Carthage unless we think of him. Search all the pages of human history and choose a conqueror who is worthy of a place beside this black general!.; and Hannibal, we cannot think of Carthage unless we think of him. Search all the pages of human history and choose a conqueror who is worthy of a place beside this black general!.

Reference: Children Of The Sun: George Wells Parker

The Traders are Kidnapping Our people-2 - King Leopold's Ghost

The river where he had landed would be known by Europeans for most of the next five hundred years as the Congo. It flowed into the sea at the northern end of a thriving African kingdom, an imperial federation of two to three million people. Ever since then, geographers have usually spelled the name of the river and the eventual European colony on its banks one way, and that of the people living around its mouth and their indegenous kingdom another.The river where he had landed would be known by Europeans for most of the next five hundred years as the Congo. It flowed into the sea at the northern end of a thriving African kingdom, an imperial federation of two to three million people. Ever since then, geographers have usually spelled the name of the river and the eventual European colony on its banks one way, and that of the people living around its mouth and their indegenous kingdom another.

The Kingdom of the kongo was roughly three hundred miles square,comprising territory that today lies in several countries. It s capital was the town of Mbanza Kongo- mbanza means "court" - on a commanding hilltop some ten days' walk inland from the coast and today just on the Angolian side of the Angola-Congo border. In 1491, nine years and several voyages after Diogo Cao's landfall, an expidition of awed Portuguese priests and emissaries made this ten-day trek and set up housekeeping as permanent representatives of their country in the court of the Kongo king.

Their arrival marked the beginning of the first sustained encounter between Europeans and a black African nation.The Kingdom of the kongo was roughly three hundred miles square,comprising territory that today lies in several countries. It s capital was the town of Mbanza Kongo- mbanza means "court" - on a commanding hilltop some ten days' walk inland from the coast and today just on the Angolian side of the Angola-Congo border. In 1491, nine years and several voyages after Diogo Cao's landfall, an expidition of awed Portuguese priests and emissaries made this ten-day trek and set up housekeeping as permanent representatives of their country in the court of the Kongo king. Their arrival marked the beginning of the first sustained encounter between Europeans and a black African nation.

The Kingdom of the Kongo had been in place for at least a hundred years  before the Portuguese arrived . Its monarch , the maniKongo, was chosen by an assembly of clan leaders. Like the European counterparts, he sat on a throne, in his case made of wood inlaid with ivory. As a symbols of royal authority, the ManiKongo carried a zebra-tail whip, had the skins and heads of baby animals suspended from his belt, and wore a small cap.The Kingdom of the Kongo had been in place for at least a hundred years  before the Portuguese arrived. Its monarch, the maniKongo, was chosen by an assembly of clan leaders. Like the European counterparts, he sat on a throne, in his case made of wood inlaid with ivory. As a symbols of royal authority, the ManiKongo carried a zebra-tail whip, had the skins and heads of baby animals suspended from his belt, and wore a small cap.

In the capital, the king dispensed justice, received homage, and reviewed his troops under a fig tree in a large public square. Whoever approached him haad to do so on all fours. On pain of death, no one was allowed to watch him eat or drink. Before he did either, an attendant struck two iron poles together, and anyone in sight had to lie face down on the ground.The ManiKongo who was then on the throne  greeted the portuguese warmly. His enthusiasm was probably due less to the Savior his unexpected guests told him about than to help their magical fire-spouting weapons promised in suppressing a troublesome provincial rebellion. The Portuguese were glad to oblige.

The newcomers built churches and mission schools. Like many white evangelists who followed them, they were horrified by polgamy; they thought it was the spices in the African food that provoked the dreadful practice. But despite their contempt for KOngo culture, the Portuguese grudgingly recognized in the kingdom a sophisticated and well-developed state- the leading one on the west coast of central Africa.The newcomers built churches and mission schools. Like many white evangelists who followed them, they were horrified by polgamy; they thought it was the spices in the African food that provoked the dreadful practice. But despite their contempt for Kongo culture, the Portuguese grudgingly recognized in the kingdom a sophisticated and well-developed state- the leading one on the west coast of central Africa.

The Manikongo appointed govenors for each of some half-dozen provinces, and his rule was carried out  by an elaborate civil service that included such specialized positions as mani vangu vangu, or first judge in cases of adultery. Although they were without writing or the wheel, the inhabitants forges copper into jewelry and iron into weapons, and wove clothing out of fibres stripped from leaves of the raffia palm tree.The Manikongo appointed govenors for each of some half-dozen provinces, and his rule was carried out  by an elaborate civil service that included such specialized positions as mani vangu vangu, or first judge in cases of adultery. Although they were without writing or the wheel, the inhabitants forges copper into jewelry and iron into weapons, and wove clothing out of fibres stripped from leaves of the raffia palm tree.

According to myth, the founder of the Kongo  state was a blacksmith King, so ironwork was an occupation of the nobility. People cultivated yams, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables, and raised pigs, cattle, and goats. They measured distance by marching days, and marked time by the lunar month and by a four-day week, the first day of which was a holiday. The king collected taxes from his subjects and, like many a ruler, controlled the currency supply: cowrie shells found on a coastal island under royal authority.According to myth, the founder of the Kongo  state was a blacksmith King, so ironwork was an occupation of the nobility. People cultivated yams, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables, and raised pigs, cattle, and goats. They measured distance by marching days, and marked time by the lunar month and by a four-day week, the first day of which was a holiday. The king collected taxes from his subjects and, like many a ruler, controlled the currency supply: cowrie shells found on a coastal island under royal authority.

As in much of Africa, the kingdom had slavery. The nature of African slavery from area to another and changed over time, but most slaves were people captured in warfare. Others had been criminals or debtors, or were given away by their families as part of a dowry settlement. Like any system that gives some human beings total power over others, slavery in Africa could be vicious. Some Congo basin people sacrificed slaves on special occasions, such as ratification of a treaty between chiefdoms; the slow death of an abandoned slave, his bones broken, symbolized the fate of anyone who violated the treaty. Some slaves might also be sacrificed to give a dead chief's soul some company on its journey into the next world.As in much of Africa, the kingdom had slavery.

The nature of African slavery from area to another and changed over time, but most slaves were people captured in warfare. Others had been criminals or debtors, or were given away by their families as part of a dowry settlement. Like any system that gives some human beings total power over others, slavery in Africa could be vicious. Some Congo basin people sacrificed slaves on special occasions, such as ratification of a treaty between chiefdoms; the slow death of an abandoned slave, his bones broken, symbolized the fate of anyone who violated the treaty. Some slaves might also be sacrificed to give a dead chief's soul some company on its journey into the next world.

Reference: King Leopold's Ghost: Adam Hochschild

The Traders are Kidnapping Our People- King Leopold's Ghost

When Europeans began imagining Africa beyond the Sahara, the continent they pictured was a dreamscape, a site for fantasies of the fearsome and the supernatural. Ranulf Higden, a benedictine monk who mapped the world about 1350, claimed that Africa contained one-eyed people who used their feet to cover their heads. A geographer in the next century announced that the continent held people with one leg. three faces, and the heads of lions. In 1459, an Italian monk, Fra Mauro, declared Africa the home of the roc, a bird so large that it could carry an elephant through the air.

When Europeans began imagining Africa beyond the Sahara, the continent they pictured was a dreamscape, a site for fantasies of the fearsome and the supernatural. Ranulf Higden, a benedictine monk who mapped the world about 1350, claimed that Africa contained one-eyed people who used their feet to cover their heads. A geographer in the next century announced that the continent held people with one leg. three faces, and the heads of lions.

In 1459, an Italian monk, Fra Mauro,declared Africa the home of the roc, a bird so large that it could carry an elephant through the air.In the Middle Ages, almost no one in Europe was in a position to know whether Africa contained giant birds, one-eyed people, or anything else. Hostile Moors lived on Africa's Mediterranean coast, and few Europeans dared set foot there, much less head south across the Sahara. And as for trying to sail down the west African coast, everyone knew that as soon as you passed the Canary Islands you would be in the Mare Tenebroso, the Sea of darkness.

In the medieval imagination [writes Peter Forbath], this was a region of uttermost dread.... where the heavens fling down liquid sheets of flame and the waters boil... where serpent rocks and ogre islands lie in wait for the mariner, where the giant hand of Satan reaches up from the fathomless depths to seize him, where he will turn black in face and body as a mark of God's vengeance for the insolence of his prying into forbidden mystery.  And even if he should be able to survive all these ghastly perils and sail on through, he would then arrive in the Sea of Obscurity and be lost forever in the vapors and slime at the edge of the world.

It was not until the fifteenth century, the dawn of the age of ocean navigation, that Europeans systematically began to venture south, the Portuguese in the lead. In the 1440s, Lisbon shipbuilders developed the caravel, a compact vessel particularly good at sailing into the wind. Although rarely more than a hundred feet long, this sturdy ship carried explorers far down the west coast of Africa, where no one knew what gold, spices, and precious stones might lie.But it was not only lust for riches that drove the explorers. Somewhere in africa, they knew, was the source of the Nile, a mystery that had fascinated Europeans since antiquity.

They were also driven by one of the most enduring of medieval myths, the legend of Prester John, a Christian King who was said to rule a vast empire in the interior of Africa, where, from a palace of translucent crystal and precious stones, he reigned over forty-two lesser kings, in addition to assorted centaurs and giants.No traveler was ever turned away from his dinner table of solid emerald, which seated thousands.

Surely Prester John would be eager to share his riches with his fellow Christians and to help them find their way onward, to the fabled wealth of India.Successive Portuguese expeditions probed ever farther southward. In 1482, an experienced naval captain named Diogo Cao set off on the most ambitious voyage yet. As he sailed close to the west African coast, he saw the North Star disappear from the sky once his caravel crossed the equator, and he found himself much farther south than anyone from Europe had ever been.

One day Cao came upon something that astounded him. Around his ship the sea turned a dark, slate-tinged yellow, and brownish-yellow waves were breaking on the nearby beaches. Sailing towards the mouth of an inlet many miles wide, his caravel had to fight a current of eight to nine knots. Furthermore, a taste of the water surrounding the ship revealed that it was fresh, not salt.

Cao had stumbled on the mouth of an enormous silt-filled river, larger than any a European had ever seen. The impression its vastness made on him and his men is reflected in a contemporary account. For the space of 20 leagues [the river] preserves its fresh water unbroken by the briny billows which encompass it on every side; as if this noble river had determined to try its strength in pitched battle with the ocean itself, and alone deny it the tribute which all other rivers in the world pay without resistance.

Modern oceanographers have discovered more evidence of the great rivers strength in its "pitched battle with the ocean" : a hundred-mile- long canyon, in places four thousand feet deep, that the river has carved out of the sea floor.Modern oceanographers have discovered more evidence of the great rivers strength in its "pitched battle with the ocean" : a hundred-mile-long canyon, in places four thousand feet deep, that the river has carved out of the sea floor. 

Cao went ashore at the river's mouth and erected a limestone pillar topped with an iron cross and inscribed with the royal coat of arms and the words "In the year 6681 of the World and in that of 1482 since the birth of our Lord jesus Christ, the most serene, the most excellent and potent prince, King Joao II of Portugal did order this land to be discovered and this pillar of stone to be erected by Diogo Cao, an esquire in his household.

"Cao went ashore at the river's mouth and erected a limestone pillar topped with an iron cross and inscribed with the royal coat of arms and the words "In the year 6681 of the World and in that of 1482 since the birth of our Lord jesus Christ, the most serene, the most excellent and potent prince, King Joao II of Portugal did order this land to be discovered and this pillar of stone to be erected by Diogo Cao, an esquire in his household."

Reference: King Leopold's Ghost: Adam Hochschild

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