1. All six of the Myèné-speaking groups begin a statement with “Myè né” or “I say that,” hence the origin of the name Myèné. In 1960 they were about 2.5 percent of Gabon's estimated population of 312,000. The 2.5 percent includes any of Shekiani, Bakélé, or Benga parentage living in Gabon. Present estimates of Gabon's population approach 500,000 [Recensement et Enquête Démographiques: 1960–61 (Paris, n.d.), p. 40Google Scholar]. Malcolm Guthrie uses “Myèné Cluster” to refer to all but the Enenga [The Bantu Languages of Western Equatorial Africa (London, 1953), p. 55Google Scholar]. Murdock, George P., Africa: its Peoples and Their Culture History (New York, 1959), p. 275Google Scholar, classifies the “Mpongwe, Galoa, Ininga, and Jumba” as one family in the southern cluster of Northwestern Bantu. Mpongwè is correctly spelled with a grave accent mark and the language is either Mpongwè or Evongwani. Mpongwe, without an accent, will be used here to mean both the people and their language. See Raponda-Walker, , “Essais sur les idiomes du Gabon,” Bulletin de la Société des recherches Congolaises [hereafter BSRC], 14 (1931), p. 5.Google Scholar

2. Santarém and Escobar may have been in the estuary in 1471. Diogo Cão was on the Gabon coast between 1482 and 1488 [Ravenstein, E.G., “The Voyages of Diogo Cao and Bartolomeu Dias, 1482–88,” Geographical Journal, 16 (1900), pp. 625–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar]. Lopo Gonçalves, who participated in these voyages, was the first to cross the Equator in or about 1472 [Pereira, Duarte Pacheco, Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, tr. Kimble, G.H.T. (London, 1937), pp. 134–38Google Scholar]. On the early explorations in this area see Reynard, Robert, “Recherches sur le présence des Portugais au Gabon, XVe-XIXe siècles,” Bulletin de l'Institut d'études Centrafricaines [hereafter BIEC], n.s. 9 (1955), pp. 16–66Google Scholar; Hahn, T., “Early African Exploration up to the End of the Sixteenth Century,” Cape Quarterly Review, 1 (1882), passimGoogle Scholar; Bouchard, J., “La côte du Cameroun dans l'histoire et la cartographie,” Mémoires de l'IFAN (Centre du Cameroun), 5 (1952), pp. 81ff.Google Scholar

3. Ardener, E.A., “Documentary and Linguistic Evidence for the Rise of the Trading Polities between Rio del Rey and Cameroons, 1500–1650” in Lewis, I.M. (ed.), History and Social Anthropology (London, 1968), p. 87Google Scholar, believes that Enciso's account was based on Andres Pires, but P.E.H. Hair argues on the basis of direct textual comparison that this is not so; see his “Some Minor Sources for Guinea, 1519–1559,” forthcoming. For Enciso see also the editorial introduction to Roger Barlow(e), A Brief Summe of Geographie, ed. Taylor, E.G.R. (London, 1932), pp. xi–xiii.Google Scholarde Saintonge, Alfonse or Fonteneau, Jean, La Cosmographie (Paris, 1904Google Scholar, published and annotated by G. Musset), refers to the “Gamom” river. He was a navigator for Francois I.

4. The original Italian edition was by Pigafetta, Filippo, Relatione del Reame di Congo (Rome, 1591).Google Scholar Caffiodore de Reyna used the Italian original for the Latin translation appearing in the de Bry collection, Theodore, Johann and de Bry, J. Israel, India Orientalis (Frankfurt, 1598–1628).Google Scholar Lopes' voyage is in Part I (1597–98). According to Pieter Tiele, the authority on Dutch navigators, a Dutch translation of the Italian preceded all others, but he gives no precise date [Mémoire Bibliographique sur les journaux des navigateurs Néerlandais (Amsterdam, 1867), pp. 318–19Google Scholar]. John Wolfe published an English translation from the Italian by Abraham Hartwell (London, 1597). Cahun's, LéonLe Congo (Brussels, 1883)Google Scholar is based primarily on the de Bry brothers. Citations here will be from the Latin translation, Vera descriptio Regni Africani (Frankfort, 1598), p. 4Google Scholar, in the collection of the British Museum.

5. van Linschoten, Jan Huygen, “Beschryvinghe van Guinea, Manicongo, ende Angola,” appears in Het Itinerario van Jan Huygen van Linschoten, 1579-1592, Vol. 3 (The Hague, 1934; edited by Burger, C.P. Jr., and Hunger, F.W.T.), pp. 1–52.Google Scholar Bernardus ten Broecke (alias Paludanus), compiled Volume 3 of the Itinerario and used unnamed sources, possibly Erikszoon (Tiele, , Mémoire, pp. 90–91Google Scholar); and Reynard, , “Note sur l'activité économique des côtes du Gabon au début du XVII siècle,” BIEC, n.s. 13 & 14 (1957), p. 51.Google Scholar The English edition of 1598 was printed by John Wolfe and translated by William Philip.

6. Pieter de Marees was in the estuary with two vessels between 1 November 1600 and 21 March 1602. His first edition of Beschryvinghe ende Historische verhael van het Gout Koninckrijck van Gunea appeared in 1602 and was translated into German (Frankfort, 1603) by the de Bry brothers. Gotardo Arthus, the translator for the brothers, prepared a Latin translation from the German for Historiae Indiae Orientalis (Lutzenkirch, 1608).Google Scholar Citations from Arthus are from the microfilm of the Lutzenkirch edition in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Citations from Marees are from the original, edited by S.P. L'Honoré Naber (The Hague, 1912). Samuel Purchas provided an English translation of Arthus' translation in Purchas His Pilgrimes, in Five Bookes (London, 1625Google Scholar; first published in 1613). Tiele states that all the translations are unreliable expect for the French (Mémoire, p. 153). The section on Benin beginning at p. 232 of the 1912 edition is by “D.R.” The following sections on Cape Lopez, the Gabon River, and a word list (pp. 242–51) may also be by him. Naber accepts the possibility that “D.R.” is Dierick Ruiters (“Introduction,” pp. xxv, 232n, 237n). Ardener feels that Ruiters is not an independent source, especially for toponyms which he borrows from Pereira, and Figueiredo, , “Documentary and Linguistic Evidence,” pp. 91, 93.Google Scholar It appears unlikely that “D.R.” in Marees could be an independent source in 1602 and borrow in 1623 (see note 10). G. Thilmansand J.P. Rossie accept the possibility that “D.R.” is Dierick Ruiters; but they show that Ruiters is still along the coast in 1636 [“Le ‘Flambeau de Navigation’ de Dierick Ruiters,” Bulletin de l'IFAN, 31, ser. B, 1 (1969), pp. 107n, 119nGoogle Scholar]. I am grateful to Paul E.H. Hair for suggestions on the identity of “D.R.” For further discussion, see Tiele, , Mémoire, p. 152Google Scholar, and Patterson, K. David, The Northern Gabon Coast to 1875 (Oxford, 1975), pp. 9ff.Google Scholar

7. Van den Broecke, Pieter, Reizen naar West Afrika, 1605-1614 (The Hague, 1950).Google Scholar On whether the source of Broecke is Bareni Erikszoon, see the introduction, pp. liii-lv; Tiele, , Mémoire, p. 241.Google Scholar

8. When Andrew Baiteli returned to Leigh (ca. 1610), Samuel Purchas, the Vicar of Leigh, published his account in Purchas His Pilgrimes, Book 6. Citations here will be from Ravenstein, E.G. (ed.), The Strange Adventures of Andrew Baiteli of Leigh, in Angola, and Adjoining Regions (London, 1801Google Scholar; reprinted with notes from Purchas His Pilgrimes). Brun, Samuel, Samuel Brun, des Wundartzet und Burgers zu Basel, Schiffarten (Basel, 1624; reprint, Naber, S.P., ed., The Hague, 1913).Google Scholar Brun's Schiffarten appeared in Part I of de Bry's voyages (Tiele, , Mémoire, P. 3).Google Scholar

9. Ruiters, Dierick, Toortse der Zee-Vaert (Flushing, 1623; reprint, S.P. Naber, ed., The Hague, 1913).Google ScholarThilmans, and Rossie, , “Le ‘Flambeau de Navigation’,” p. 107.Google Scholar On the possibility of “D.R.” in Marees being Dierick Ruiters, see note no. 7 and the “Introduction” to Van den Broecke, , Reizen, pp. lviii–lx.Google Scholar It is possible that Ruiters borrowed for writing about areas of the coast where he had no previous experience, and used original material for portions he visited. This could explain how the “D.R.” in Marees could be Ruiters, but he was either very young in 1602 or quite old for an active sailor in 1636.

10. Leers, Armout (ed. and pub.), Pertinente Beschryvinge van Africa… van Leo Africanus (Rotterdam, 1665)Google Scholar; Chapter 20, “Beschryvinge van de Kust van Africa, tusschen de Kaap Formosa, ende Cabo Lopes Gonsalves,” pp. 303ff. Ardener suggests that the common source of Leers and Dapper may be Blommaert, , “Documentary and Linguistic Evidence,” pp. 100–101.Google Scholar

11. Dapper, Olfert, Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikanische Gewesten (Amsterdam, 1668).Google Scholar Citations here will be from Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam, 1686).Google Scholar Dapper's accuracy is especially questionable in quoting the passage on the three kings of the estuary. He puts Majombo (Marees' Caiombo) to the south, and Lopez, Cape to the north, p. 318Google Scholar [Ogilby, John, Africa (London, 1670)Google Scholar]. Ogilby notes in the preface that his information is collected and translated from the most authentic authors, and that from Cape Verde to Loango he depends on Marees and Samuel Blomert [sic]. Paul Hair notes that for Sierra Leone, Ogliby is a translation of Dapper [“Barbot, Dapper, Davity: A Critique of Sources on Sierra Leone and Cape Mount,” History in Africa, 1 (1974), p. 26Google Scholar].

12. Barbot's manuscript/journal of 1678–79 was the basis of his French text of 1688. Citations here will be from A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea and of Ethiopia Inferior, vulgarly Angola (London, 1732).Google Scholar On the earlier versions and for background on Barbot, see Hair, “Barbot, Dapper, Davity,” passim. A native of La Rochelle and a Huguenot, Barbot was expelled from France in 1685 when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. He went to England and later claimed to be the Paris-based Agent-General of the Royal Company of Africa and the Islands of America.

13. Bosman's, WillemNauwkeurige Beschryving van de Guinese-Goud-Tand en Slavekust first appeared in 1704 in two volumes.Google Scholar Citations are from A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (London, 1967).Google Scholar Albert van Dantzig shows that the English translation is inaccurate and is presently correcting the errors [“Willem Bosnian's New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea: How Accurate Is It?” History in Africa, 1 (1974), pp. 101–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar]. Barbot refers to knives in Gabon as “bosmans” (1732, p. 395), indicating either the influence of Bosman on Barbot's English edition or the use of the term along the coast in the late 1600s.

14. Fr.Brásio, António, Monumenta Missionaria Africana (10 vols.: Lisbon, 1951–1964).Google ScholarDonnan, Elizabeth (ed.), Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America (2 vols.: New York, 1965), 2:passim.Google ScholarBréard, Charles, “La Guinée, le Congo, et le commerce Française au XVIIIe siècle,” Revue Maritime et Coloniale, 4e ser., 76 (1883), pp. 511–30.Google ScholarMettas, Jean, “Honfleur et la traite des Noirs au XVIII siècle,” RFHOM, 60 (1973), pp. 5–26.Google ScholarIsert, Paul Erdman, Voyage en Guinée et dans les îles caraïbes en Amérique (Paris, 1743; translated from German), pp. 132ff.Google Scholar John Atkins, of Essex, entered the estuary to chase pirates in 1721, A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West Indies in His Majesty's Ships the Swallow and Weymouth (London, 1737), pp. 262–64.Google Scholar

15. d'Avity, Pierre, Description Générale de l'Afrique (Paris, 1637)Google Scholar, depends heavily on Linschoten. Savary, Jacques, Le Parfait Négociant (2 vols.: Paris, 1675)Google Scholar, offers instructions for traders. Postlethwayt, Malachy, Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce (2 vols.: London, 1751)Google Scholar, is a translation of Savary. Astley, Thomas, A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels (4 vols.: London, 1745)Google Scholar, and d'Exilés, Antoine François Prévost, Histoire Générale des Voyages… (19 vols.: Paris, 1747)Google Scholar, are the best of the eighteenth-century compilers. The fourth volume, pp. 448–579, focuses on the Gabon coast. Osborne's, Thomas [A Collection of Voyages and Travels (2 vols.: London, 1745Google Scholar)] section on the Congo and Gabon (2:519ff.) is from the 1597 English translation of Pigafetta on Lopes. Two examples of nineteenth-century compilers are Walckenaer, Charles Athanase, Histoire Générale des Voyages (21 vols.: Paris, 1826)Google Scholar, who depended heavily on Arthus, and de la Harpe, Jean François, Abrégéde l'histoire générale des voyages (23 vols.: Paris, 1830)Google Scholar, relying chiefly on Prévost for Gabon.

16. Ambroise Tardieu places the “Empounga” south of the estuary in his map, “Afrique,” Atlas Universel Géographie Ancienne et Moderne (Paris, 1801)Google Scholar, map no. 23. Thomas Edward Bowdich refers to the “Empoongwa,” Misson from Cape Coast Castle to Ashanti (London, 1966; first edition, 1819), pp. 425ff.Google Scholar

17. Walker, Williamet al., Heads of Mpongwe Grammar (New York, 1879), p. 7.Google Scholar This grammar is a revision of the 1847 edition authored by John Leighton Wilson and other missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions [hereafter ABCFM].

18. Raponda-Walker, , “Funérailles chez les anciens Mpongoués,” BSRC, 7 (1925), p. 95n.Google Scholar; and Dictionnaire, pp. 21, 30. Anóngó is the plural of Inóngó meaning ‘nation, race, tribe.’ The plural of Mpongwe is Impongwe, but common usage prefers only the use of the singular form.

19. SirJohnston, Harry H., A Comparative Study of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu Languages (2 vols.: Oxford, 1919), 1:589n.Google Scholar

20. Raponda-Walker, , Dictionnaire, p. 8.Google ScholarFr.Gautier, Jean-Marie, Etude Historique sur les Mpongwe (Brazzaville, 1950), p. 30.Google Scholar

21. Galley, Samuel, Dictionnaire Français-Fang, Fang-Francais (Neuchatel, 1964), p. 500.Google Scholar In older accounts, Pahouin, Fan, and Fañwe are the most common forms; however, the use of Mpangwe for Fang inevitably led to confusion with Mpongwe. See Holt, John and Company, The Early Years of an African Trader (London, 1962), p. 23Google Scholar; and SirBurton, Richard Francis, Wit and Wisdom from West Africa (New York, 1969; first edition, 1865), p. 439.Google ScholarPreston, Ira M. and Best, Jacob, A Grammar of the Bakélé Language with Vocabularies (New York, 1854), p. 44.Google Scholar It is unclear what the Shekiani called the Mpongwe. The Mpongwe assimilated them before their language had been seriously studied. Bowdich recorded a few Shekiani numbers, Mission, p. 426, and William Walker began to collect a vocabulary which was never published, Walker's Diary, 17 Nov. 1843, The Walker Papers, Box 1, Correspondence: 1837–1896. The Walker Papers are held by the State Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.

22. Raponda-Walker, , “Funérailles,” p. 95n.Google Scholar

23. Mr. Olivier Ambaye-Molè is the traditional chief of Glass, a descendant of the heads (aga, singular oga) of the Agekaza/Glass clan. He is the spokesman for all Mpongwe in Libreville and, by extension, of all the Myèné-speaking people of Gabon. Anóngó is an Mpongwe word with a significance similar to ‘gentiles’ in Judeo-Christian literature.

24. Mr. Louis Bigman [Agwempónó], born 1896, a veteran and formerly a journalist, was president of Gabon's National Assembly when he retired. For a bibliographical note, see “Personalités d'outremer,” Marchés Tropicaux et Méditerranéens, 804Google Scholar (8 April 1961), p. 964. Brackets after Mpongwe names indicate the father's and thus the person's clan. Mr. Gaston Rapontchombo [Agekaza/Quaben], born ca. 1915, is the director of the National Archives and Library in Libreville.

25. Mr. Alexandre Biffot [Agekaza/Quaben], born 1899, has gathered his family's archives, including the lineage of the descendants of Anguile-Dowé/Louis.

26. Mr. Olivier Ambaye [Agekaza/Glass], born ca. 1915. Before arriving at the present location of Libreville, the Agekaza clan divided into two factions. The group settling above the Anwonde River were called Agekaza gn'Anwondo and, after the early 1800s, Agekaza/Quaben after their oga Kaka-Rapono/Quaben. The faction settling around Olamba were the Agekaza/gn'Olamba, later called Agekaza/Glass (Maps 3 and 4). The history of the Mpongwe in general and the Agekaza in particular will be treated more fully in my dissertation, “The Mpongwe of the Gabon Estuary: A History to 1860” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, forthcoming).

27. Mr.Ovenga, Jean-Remy Antchoué [Agekaza/Quaben], born 1901.Google Scholar

28. The Bakélé called “Ncomo” the section of the present Como River up to its confluence with the Mbe. The Mpongwe and the earliest written documents refer to this major tributary into the estuary as the Olomb'-ompolo or “the great headwaters.” The lesser tributary flowing from the southeast was called Olombo-Nghango or “headwaters of Nghango,” the chief village of the Agulamba clan on the left bank of its mouth. This tributary is more commonly known as the Remboué after an Mpongwe word meaning river. The larger tributary is now called the Como although it was also called the “Gaboon River” in the nineteenth century (Raponda-Walker, , “Toponomie de l'Estuaire du Gabon et de ses environs,” Bulletin de l'Institut des Recherches Scientifiques au Congo, 2, 1963, pp. 107, 113, 117Google Scholar [hereafter BIRSC] ).

29. Haug, Ernest, “Le Bas Ogooué, Notice géographique et ethnographique,” Annales de Géographie, 12 (1903), p. 168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Haug served under the Paris Mission Society.

30. Avelot, R., “Recherches sur l'histoire des migrations dans le bassin de l'Ogooué et la région littorale adjacente,” Bulletin de Géographie historique et descriptive, 20 (1905), pp. 360, 363ff.Google Scholar The Fiotte, Fjort, or Bavili were one of the societies forming the Kacongo and Loango provinces of the Congo [Dennett, R.E., Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (London, 1898), p. 1Google Scholar]. The Bavili played a key role in the Stanley Pool trade [Vansina, Jan, The Tio Kingdom of the Middle Congo, 1880–1892 (London, 1973), p. 429Google Scholar]. Linguistically, the Bavili are a part of what Raponda-Walker calls the “Duma-Vffi-Ndjabi-Wandji-Nduma,” in “Essais sur les idiomes du Gabon,” BSRC, 14 (1931), p. 4.Google Scholar He discusses their history in Chapter 16 of Notes d'histoire du Gabon (Brazzaville, 1960), pp. 143ff.Google Scholar The three words considered to be Givili by Dapper, , Description, pp. 318–20Google Scholar, are the leader's title, Mani-Pongo, of which more will be said later; a drink called malaffo; and a bark cloth called matombe. The Bavili live in the area of Pointe Noire, some 400 miles south of the estuary. During the last century, there has been much discussion about the influence of Givili on the languages of the estuary; however, because freed Bavili slaves were settled between the two Agekaza clans in 1849 (the village was called Libreville), a later Givili influence cannot be precluded. One scholar who accepted Avelot's thesis was Poutrin, , “Contribution à l'étude des Pygmées d'Afrique,” L'Anthropologie, 21 (Jan.-Feb. 1910), p. 448.Google Scholar

31. Avelot, , “Ethnographie des peuplades habitant le bassin de l'Ogooué,” Bulletin et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, 7 (1906), pp. 132–137CrossRefGoogle Scholar [hereafter BMSAP]; and “La rive nord de l'estuaire du Gabon,” Renseignements Coloniaux, 10 (Oct. 1908), pp. 205–8.Google Scholar

32. Benjamin Griswold to the ABC FM, Boston, 18 July 1842, Missionary Herald, 38, 12 (Dec. 1842), pp. 498ff.Google Scholar [hereafter MH]. Griswold arrived with Wilson on 22 June 1842 to initiate the work of the ABCFM.

33. Mersy, Br. Pierre, “Report on the Gabon Mission,” 1853Google Scholar Pamphlets, III, 148, Archives of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Paris. All future references to Roman Catholic missionaries in Gabon will be to this order, often called Spiritane, and to their archives under the abbreviation CSSp.

34. The family split occurred at Ewunduna, meaning ‘foaming,’ where the Como “comes out from the ground after a long subterranean path,” Gautier, , Etude, pp. 7–17Google Scholar; for Gautier's arguments based on Mpongwe matrilineality, see pp. 9, 13.

35. André Hauser supports Raponda-Walker, , “Notes sur les Omyéné du Bas Gabon,” Bulletin de l'IFAN, ser. B, 16, 3–4 (1954), p. 407.Google ScholarAvaro, J.A., “Le Bas Ogoué au 19ème Siècle,” doctoral dissertation, 3ème cycle, Sorbonne, 1969, pp. 70–83.Google Scholar

36. Griswold, “Tour to Coriseo,” Diary, 6 June 1843, ABCFM Archives, ABC.15.1.V.2, Item 169. The concentration of the Agekaza/Glass was below the Anwondo River, but there were villages in the Akwèngo/Cape Clara area for fishing and boarding incoming trading ships as pilots.

37. Fr. Joseph-Henri Neu, “Travail sur le Gabon,” unpublished papers, CSSp, File I, Box 148, A, pp. 82–90. The designation “A” refers here to the first part of his papers entitled “History of Gabon.” I shall cite as “B” the second part of his papers, “History of the Catholic Mission.” Neu was in Gabon from 1879 to 1886.

38. Using similarly questionable linguistic criteria, Fleuriot de Langle attempted to show a relationship between Mpongwe and Dravidian Gond spoken in India, “Croisières à la Côte d'Afrique,” Tour du Monde, 31 (1876), p. 270.Google Scholar Wilson also arrived at erroneous conclusions on the Mpongwe using linguistic data in “The People and Languages of Western Africa,” Southern Presbyterian Review, 15, 3, (Jan. 1863), p. 369.Google Scholar For a discussion of the issues, see Greenberg's, Joseph H. essay, “Language, Diffusion, and Migration,” in Dil, Anwar S. (ed.), Language, Culture, and Communication: Essays by Joseph H. Greenberg (Stanford, 1971), pp. 93ff.Google Scholar

39. Guthrie, , Bantu Languages, p. 55.Google Scholar I wish to thank P.E.H. Hair for comments relative to this paragraph without, however, imputing any of its conclusions to him.

40. Gautier, , Etude, pp. 10-31, 68.Google Scholar

41. Reynard, , “Recherches,” pp. 18–21.Google Scholar

42. Raponda-Walker, , Notes, p. 51Google Scholar; Deschamps, Hubert, Traditions Orales et Archives au Gabon (Paris, 1962), pp. 119–20.Google Scholar

43. Walker, R.B.N., “The Commerce of the Gaboon: Its History and Future Prospects,” Journal of the Royal Society of the Arts, 24 (12 May 1876), p. 585Google Scholar [hereafter JRSA]. Robert Walker, an Englishman, went to Gabon in the early 1840s and became an agent of the trading firm Hatton & Cookson after its installation in 1851. According to numerous documents and to Walker's descendants presently in Gabon, the mother of Raponda-Walker [Agulamba] was Icoutou Agnorogoulé [Agulamba]. Ikoutou's father, Raponda [Agulamba] was from the left bank, but her mother, Ngwesouka [Agekaza/Quaben] was from the village of Anguile-Dowé/Louis [Agekaza/Quaben]. Because Robert Walker was not Mpongwe, his son, Raponda-Walker, assumed the clan of his mother. Walker, Robert, “Observations in Response to Bernard Owen on Missionary Successes,” Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, 3 (1865), p. ccxii.Google ScholarMorel, Edmund D., The British Case in the French Congo (London, 1903), p. 22.Google Scholar Archives National Section Outre Mer [hereafter ANSOM], Paris, Gabon-Congo, 1,12b. My informants on the Walker family were Mr. George Walker [Agulamba], born 1907, a retired postal inspector; and Mr. Charles Igoho-Demba [Agulamba], born 1906. Fr. Gaston Pouchet (CSSp) is presently writing a biography of Abbé André Raponda-Walker.

44. Haug, , “Le Bas Ogooué” p. 168.Google ScholarLangle, Fleuriot de, “Croisières,” p. 262.Google ScholarAvelot, , “Recherches,” pp. 363–64.Google Scholar

45. Raponda-Walker, , “Les tribus du Gabon,” BSRC, 4 (1924), p. 59.Google Scholar

46. Raponda-Walker, , Notes, p. 51.Google Scholar Rapontchombo/Denis died in 1876. Part of the disagreement here centers on whether the Ndiwa peoples, who occupied the banks of the estuary before the arrival of the Mpongwe, were themselves an Mpongwe clan or not. This will be discussed later.

47. Walker, Robert, “The Commerce of Gabon,” JRSA, p. 585.Google Scholar

48. Mr. Louis Periois places the Mpongwe in the Upper Ivindo before 1300 when they began arriving in the estuary region: Perrois, et al., Gabon: Culture et Techniques (Libreville, 1969), p. 25.Google Scholar It is curious that Julien Maigret, who depends heavily on Gautier for his information, nevertheless states that the Mpongwe, by their traditions, arrived in the estuary in the first half of the eighteenth century or at the end of the seventeenth: Afrique Equatoriale Française (Paris, 1931), p. 114.Google Scholar Raponda-Walker may have informed Maigret on these dates.

49. de Bry, , Vera descriptio, pp. 25ff.Google Scholar Pango was a contraction of Panguelungo: see Cahun, , Le Congo, pp. 109–10.Google Scholar

50. Arthus, , Historiae, 6, p. 326.Google ScholarPostlethwayt, , Universal Dictionary, 1, p. 294.Google Scholar

51. Brásio, Monumenta; for at least two instances see “Relação dos Carmelitas Descalços (1584),” 4, p. 408Google Scholar, and “Fábrica da sé do Congo (19 Jan. 1600),” 5, p. 4.Google Scholar

52. Msgr.Cuvelier, Jean and Jadin, Abbé L., L'Ancien Congo d'après les archives romaines: 1518–1640 (Brussels, 1954), pp. 14, 38, 76, 111, 196n.Google ScholarFr.Eucher, , Le Congo (Huy, 1894), p. 35.Google Scholar

53. Reynard, “Recherches,” passim; and “Nouvelles Recherches sur l'Influence Portugais au Gabon,” BIEC, 11 (1956)Google Scholar, passim. Mota, Avelino Teixeira da, Topónimos de origem Portuguesa na costa ocidental de Africa desde o Cabo Bojador ao Cabo de Santa Caterina (Bissau, 1950)Google Scholar, passim. No trace of ‘Pongo’ is found, moreover, on the Portuguese maps in Armando Cortesão and Mota, A. Teixeira da, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica (5 vols.: Lisbon, 1960).Google Scholar According to Pereira, the estuary was densely populated around 1500 (Esmeraldo, p. 135), but no ethnonyms were noted in the Portuguese sources.

54. Marees' word list of the Cape Lopez language, however, does mention a “Savepongo” meaning king, Beschryvinghe, p. 251. The Savepongo appears to be a governor, according to Barbot, , Description, p. 393Google Scholar, but its meaning is unclear. See Patterson, , Northern Gabon Coast, pp. 19–20.Google Scholar

55. Leers, , Pertinente Beschryvinge, pp. 306–7.Google Scholar The word ‘mani’ was associated with various governmental titles in the Congo: see Vansina, , Kingdoms of the Savannah (Madison, 1968)Google Scholar, passim.

56. Barbot, , Description, p. 390.Google Scholar

57. Bosman, , New and Accurate Description, p. 401.Google Scholar

58. See, for instance, Astley, , New General Collection, 3, pp. 122–23.Google Scholar

59. Delisle, Guillaume, “Carte du Congo et du Pays des Cafres,” Atlas Nouveau (Amsterdam, 1710)Google Scholar; Labarthe, , Voyage à la Côte de Guinée (Paris, 1803), p. 185.Google Scholar

60. See note 55.

61. See note 12. Another possibility as a source for Barbot is discussed in note 71.

62. An unidentified manuscript in Latin, dated Ides of June, 1630, describes a “monster” in Guinea with a man-like head, “Monstre de la Guinée, 1630,” BN, Paris, Ancien Fonds, No. 17309, fo. 92ff.

63. Ravenstein, (ed.), Strange Adventures, p. 54.Google Scholar Ravenstein identified Battell's pongo or mpungu as the gorilla and the smaller beast, engeco, as the chimpanzee.

64. Cited by Burnet, James (Monboddo, Lord), Of the Origin and Progress of Language (Edinburgh, 1774), pp. 281–86.Google Scholar This remarkable letter was sent to England by a Mr. Bell “who was governor of Fort Cape Coast. …” This was most probably Charles Bell, Chief Agent at Cape Coast from 1756 to 1757 and from 1761 to 1763: Henige, David P., Colonial Governors, from the 15th Century to the Present (Madison, 1970), p. 119.Google Scholar

65. Laman, Karl Edward, Dictionnaire Kikongo-Français (2 vols.: Ridgewood, 1964; first edition 1936), 2:589.Google Scholar The root of mpúngu is vungu meaning ‘to bellow or roar.’ In the western Kikongo dialect, mpungu specifically means gorilla. It is also a superlative adjective often used to modify Nzambi (God). See also Bentley, W. Holman, Dictionary and Grammar of the Congo Language (2 vols.: London, 1887), 1:355–56 and 2:875Google Scholar; van Wing, J. and Penders, C. (eds.), Le Plus Ancien Dictionnaire Bantu (Louvain, 1928), p. 201Google Scholar; and Degrandpré, L., Voyage à la Côte Occidentale d'Afrique, fait dans les années 1786–1787 (2 vols.: Paris, 1801), 1:25ff.Google Scholar The pongo beast is also discussed by Dufay, Jules, L'Afrique (2 vols.: Paris, 1825), 2:158ff.Google Scholar; and by LaHarpe, , Abrégé de l'histoire, 3:168.Google Scholar

66. Gautier, , Grammaire de la Langue Mpongwée (Paris, 1912), p. xi.Google Scholar Gautier probably followed Fr. Alexandre Visseq's suggestion that “Mpoungou” was the “Father of Nzambi (God),” Dictionnaire Fiot-Français (Paris, 1890), p. 141Google Scholar; or based his assumption on the unexplained eponym Mbongo heading some genealogies along the coast: Hair, , “Ethnolinguistic Continuity on the Guinea Coast,” JAH, 7 (1967), p. 264.Google Scholar

67. Gautier, , Etude, p. 17.Google Scholar It is less likely that the Mpongwe would be named by a Myèné word than by an expression from a neighboring language group. If, however, the word Mpongwe is of Myèné origin, it is more likely to have come from pongwa meaning ‘to show proof of intelligence’ (Raponda-Walker, , Dictionnaire, p. 520Google Scholar). William Walker's grammar implies that pongwè, which he translates as “wisdom” or “precocity,” is the same root as Mpungwe, Heads, p. 47. Since the word pongwe does not appear in the first ABCFM grammar (1847), it is possible that the word for wisdom was derived later from the word Mpongwe. Hair's discussion of the Pongo is with reference to a Bantu cluster of Duala in the Cameroun, “Ethnolinguistic Continuity,” p. 264; and “The Earliest Vocabularies of the Cameroons Bantu,” African Studies, 28, 1 (1969), pp. 40–54.Google ScholarArdener, , “Documentary and Linguistic,” pp. 95ff.Google Scholar

68. The ships were the Morinne and Palmboomken: Marees, , Beschryvinghe, p. 250.Google Scholar See the introduction to Van de Broecke, , Reizen, pp. lxxxv–vi.Google Scholar Most Dutch sources refer to “de negers van Gabon” but Reynard assumes they are “Mpongwè,” “Note,” p. 51.

69. Barbot, , Description, p. 390.Google Scholar We must not place too much reliance on this report, given Barbot's demonstrated inaccuracy for other parts of the Guinea coast. It is included merely as a point of information.

70. Ibid., p. 393. It was comparatively simple with minimal portage to enter the Mondah River from several of the many creeks and rivers on the right bank of the estuary. The teeth mentioned were probably, but not necessarily, ivory. Hippopotamus and other teeth were also of value. On Barbot's “Chave-Pongo” see note 54. On ‘Ambozes’ and other toponyms see Ardener, “Documentary and Linguistic,” passim.

71. Prévost, , Histoire générale, 4:454.Google ScholarBarbot, , Description, pp. 388–89Google Scholar, mentioned a similar, but less detailed, account. In both Prévost and Barbot it is clear that Corisco Island is not one of the three in question. Angra is Portuguese for ‘creek,’ ‘bay,’ or ‘an anchorage for ships.’ The Muni River was called Rio d'Angra and later corrupted into Rio Danger.

72. Van den Broecke, , Reizen, pp. lxxx–lxxxviGoogle Scholar; Ruiters, , Toortse, pp. 85ff.Google Scholar; Brun, , Schiffarten, pp. 4–7.Google Scholar

73. Maceira [sic] appears in “Africa Tabula Nova,” Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, ca. 1570, Harvard-Lamont Collection, No. 2375/1570. Maceira is in “Nova Descriptio Africae,” ca. 1630, Harvard-Lamont Collection, No. 2375/6. Maceria [sic] appears on the left bank in Nordenskjöld, , Facsimile Atlas (Stockholm, 1889; translated from the Swedish original by Ekelöf and Markham), Plate XLVII (1587).Google Scholar Bosman visited zuidhoeck (south nook) beyond Dambé/Coniquet Island, New and Accurate Description, p. 408. Maceira appears on the right bank in Caravajal, Luis del Marmol, L'Afrique de Marmol (3 vols.: Paris, 1667), 1:28–29Google Scholar, in Ogilby, Africa, frontispiece map, and in “Regna Congo et Angola,” Amsterdam, ca. 1708, Harvard-Lamont, No. 2430/3. In this last map, which is more detailed than usual, Maceira is 1° 30” east latitude up the Gabon River from Mbini/Perroquet Island on the right bank. Reynard, on the basis of Dapper, places Maceira at Owendo Point to the north of Dambé/Coniquet Island: “Recherches,” p. 40. Raponda-Walker concurs with Reynard, noting that maceira is a species of apple tree in Portuguese: “Toponomie,” p. 100.

74. On the Dutch assault of 1698, see note 79. d'Avity, Description, p. 427. Marmol, L'Afrique, frontispiece map. Barbot gives Caiombo the alternate names of Cajombo, and Amajomba, , Description, pp. 390–91.Google Scholar Arthus translates Caiombo into Cajombo which Gauiter, relying on Avelot's interpretation of Dapper, identifies as the northern Shekiani capital of Ndombo (Djombo) in the present Cocobeach area of the Mondah estuary (Etude, p. 27). In the seventeenth century, thirty Dutch miles equaled thirty-five Spanish or forty English leagues: one Dutch mile was approximately four English miles According to Linschoten's calculations, Cermentin was from thirty-two to forty miles (fifty-two to sixty-four kilometers) up river, or roughly at the confluence of the Como and Rembouè rivers (Beschryvinghe, p. 10). Cermentin is also mentioned by Delisle in his “Carte du Congo.” Prévost calls it Sermintin (Histoire, 4, map facing p. 476). Both Delisle and Prévost place the village well up the river on the left bank.

75. Linschoten, , Beschryvinghe, p. 11Google Scholar, mentions a Caracombo Island in one of the creeks of the estuary. The map of the 1934 editions shows only a Maciera well up the estuary, if not up the Como River. It is pure speculation, but not necessarily incorrect, to suggest that Maceira and Cermentin are the same place. ‘Ma’ is an Mpongwe prefix meaning ‘of.’ Cermentin could be a variant of Cerongo, an Mpongwe name for the estuary: see Fr. Briot, Ernest to CSSp, Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, 20 (1848), p. 326.Google Scholar Cerongo is certainly the Arongo of Raponda-Walker, , “Funérailles,” p. 95Google Scholar; the Neu, Arango of, “Travail,” A, p. 87Google Scholar; and the Orongo of Winwood Reade, Savage Africa (New York, 1864), pp. 61–62.Google Scholar

76. Leers, , “Beschryvinge,” pp. 312–14.Google Scholar

77. The word for ‘great’ in the language spoken at Cape Lopez was poellie according to Marees, , Beschryvinghe, p. 251.Google Scholar In modern Mpongwe, great is mpolo, and the strongest oga (clan head) was called the oga mpolo. Marees and many others affirm that Gabon and Cape Lopez spoke the same language. My proposition rests, therefore, on the fact that ‘Mani-Pongo’ was not an authochthonous term.

78. Prévost, , Histoire générale, 4:456.Google Scholar Although he footnotes most of his sources, Prévost does not cite his authority for this 1698 Dutch assault; and, in fact, accepting this date creates a number of problems. Bosman visited the island in August or September of 1698 and described the two islands, which he called the Island of the Prince and the Island of the King, as “desolate and wild,” adding that they had been abandoned by the two rulers “for pure fear of each other” (Bosman, , New and Accurate Description, p. 401Google Scholar). In this instance the English translation conforms closely with the Dutch original, which described the islands as “woeft” and “leedig” and also cited mutual fear as the reason (Bosman, , Nauwkeurige Beschryving, 2:190Google Scholar). It is difficult to understand how, if this desolation resulted from a Dutch attack, Bosman failed to mention this and, indeed, specifically ascribed it to other grounds. Most likely Prévost's unacknowledged dating is incorrect and the event is to be dated to a slightly earlier period. Raponda-Walker interprets this Dutch action as a punitive reprisal for the attack on Moucheron's men in about 1601, and for the pillaging of the two ships from Delft (Notes, p. 50). If this be so (and we have no evidence either way except the apparently sudden abandonment of the islands), the reprisal probably would not have taken almost a century.

79. The ‘Pongo Coast’ was a common nineteenth-century term for an area encompassing the coast from southern Cameroon to Mayumba (Map 4). Wilson includes within the people of the “Pongo Coast” the “Kamerun, Banâkâ, Benga, Mpongwe and Orungu, Kama, and Mayumba”: “Ethnographic View of Western Africa,” Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, 27, 2 (1855), p. 209.Google Scholar By the late nineteenth century, there was a general consensus among American missionaries that ‘Pongo’ was an attempt by European traders to pronounce Mpongwe. Even by the turn of the century, the ‘Pongo Coast’ extended 150 miles northward into the Cameroun: Nassau, Robert H., Tales Out of School (Philadelphia, 1911), p. 6.Google Scholar

80. Michaelis, H., A New Dictionary of the Portuguese and English Language (2 vols.: New York, 1955; first edition, 1945), 1:569.Google ScholarBueno, Francisco da Silveira, Grande Dictionário Etimológico-Prosódico da Lingua Portuguêsa (8 vols.: São Paulo, 1966), 6:3126.Google Scholar In April 1847, Thomas S. Savage, M.D., visited Gabon and was introduced by Wilson to the bones of an ndjina killed by the domestic slave of an Mpongwe. Although this beast had been described by the earliest explorers, as we have noted, and later by both Bowdiches, Savage's pioneer article named the animal “gorilla” from Hanno's “Γολιρρα,” “Notice on the External Characters and Habits of the Troglodytes Gorilla, A New Species of Orang from the River, Gaboon,” Boston Journal of Natural History, 5, 4 (1847), pp. 425–28.Google Scholar Professor Richard Owen attempted to call it Troglodytes Savagei, but gorilla remained the definitive scientific and popular name: “Supplementary Note on the Great Chimpanzee (Troglodytes Gorilla Savage), (Troglodytes Savagei Owen),” Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Seance of 11 April 1848, pp. 53–56. Lacépède's use of Pongo in 1799 (which he apparently borrowed from Buffon, who used Battell's naming), led to its permanent scientific use to classify a family (pongidae) of the anthropoid ape. For an explanation of the classification system, see J.R., and Napier, P.H., A Handbook of Living Primates (New York, 1967), pp. 267ff., 373.Google Scholar

81. Groves, Colin P., “Distribution and Place of Origin of the Gorilla,” Man, 6 (March 1971), pp. 44ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

82. On the eagerness of the people of the estuary to borrow Dutch names, see Bosman, , New and Accurate Description, p. 402.Google Scholar Bosman and many others interpret such adoption as natural obsequiousness, but there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that this was considered flattery by the autoch-thones-a step in the trading process that would lead to higher prices for local items.

83. Wilson, , Western Africa: Its History, Condition, and Prospects (New York, 1856), pp. 245ff.Google Scholar

84. Robert, M. and Yerkes, Ada W. presume that Battell names the pongo after the Mpongwe: The Great Apes: A Study of Anthropoid Life (New York, 1970; first edition 1929), p. 39.Google ScholarBowdich, T., An Analysis of the Natural Classification of Mammalia for the Use of Students and Travelers (Paris, 1821), p. 19.Google Scholar

85. Older Mpongwe note that the accepted Mpongwe name for Rapontchombo/Denis' penisula on the left bank is Ntcantonwin (N'tchantome, Ntsantomè) from the Portuguese Säo Tomé. Raponda-Walker suggests that the word dates from an unsuccessful attempt by the Spiritans in 1851 to found a mission “under the auspices of Thomas, Saint,” “Toponomie,” p. 112.Google Scholar The Portuguese nomenclature suggests a much earlier date and the probability of close ties between the left bank and S. Thomé Island when it was at its peak of sugar production. One of my informants, Mr. Biffot, supports this last interpretation. See also Bigmann, Louis, “Coeur de Français Libre: N'tchoreré, Charles Capitaine,” Libreville, 1966 (mimeographed), p. 7.Google Scholar This article is among the materials held at the National Library in Libreville. All interpretations of the origin of the word Ntcantonwin are hagiographical and show the Bantuization into Mpongwe of a European term. For a discussion of many other words of Western origin, see Reynard, and Raponda-Walker, , “Anglais, Espagnols et Nord-Américains au Gabon au XIX siècle,”BIEC, 12 (1956), pp. 269–76.Google Scholar

86. Hamy, Ernest-Théodore-Jules, “Essai de Co-ordination des matériaux récemment recueillis sur l'Ethnologie des Négrilles ou Pygmées de l'Afrique Equatoriale,” excerpted from the Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (5 Feb. 1879)Google Scholar, passim. On prehistoric remains in Gabon, see Hamy, , “L'age de Pierre au Gabon,” Bulletin du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, 3 (1897), pp. 154–56Google Scholar; and Farine, B., Sites Pré-historiques Gabonais (Libreville, 1963)Google Scholar, passim.

87. Raponda-Walker, , Notes, pp. 148ff.Google Scholar; and “Toponomie,” pp. 102, 104.

88. Babongo (sing. Mobongo) is the name Pygmies call themselves in their own language, Ebongwè, or Gébongwè. In other Gabon languages, they are known as: Akowa (Mpongwe), Abongo, Azongo, Akula, Babongu, Bakoda, Bakwéya, Beku, Barimba, Bambenga, Babinga, Badjèlè, and Bagarna: see Raponda-Walker, , “Initiation à l'Ebongwè” BSRC, 23 (Aug. 1937), p. 129.Google Scholar He also notes, p. 131, that Ebongwè, as spoken in Gabon, is a mixture of almost all the present languages. It is tempting to speculate that the eponytn ‘Mbongo’ (see note 66) is related to the Pygmies as the earliest inhabitants.

89. Griswold, , “Tour to Coriseo,” 6 June 1843.Google Scholar The story related to Griswold was that the Mpongwe invited all (his emphasis) the Pygmies to a festivity, knowing their fondness for rum. The invitation stressed that all should come. After being intoxicated, they were bound and shipped away as slaves. But a man and a woman who had not attended managed to escape, and after multiplying to the point where they considered it safe to return, they came to the village of their fathers. They seldom trade any more, and they avoid visiting neighbors or entering a canoe.

90. Walker, William, Diary, 18 April 1844.Google Scholar

91. Thiérard to Msgr. Bessieux, 8 Oct. 1851, CSSp, 172, II.

92. Gautier, , Etude, p. 25Google Scholar; the last “pure Pygmy,” named Kouba, had recently died. For an etching of an “Obongo-nain” see de Langle, Fleuriot, “Croisières,” p. 283.Google Scholar Neu, “Travail,” B, Chap. 3.

93. Avelot, , “Ethnogénie,” p. 132Google Scholar; and “Le Merveilleux au Gabon,” Revue des Etudes Ethnographiques et Sociologiques, 4 (1913), pp. 399–401Google Scholar; Raponda-Walker, , Dictionnaire, p. 203.Google Scholar In contrast to the African traditions regarding Pygmies, some Europeans first considered them as part animal Savage believed that they belonged to the sub-genus Troglodytes, “Observations on the External Characters and Habits of the Troglodytes Niger, Geoff.,” BJNH, 4, 3 (Apr. 1843), p. 363.Google Scholar

94. Theodore Dwight, “Sketches of the Mpongwe and Then Language from Information Furnished by Rev. Wilson, John Leighton, Missionary of the American Board,” Transactions of the American Ethnographical Society, 2 (1848), p. 297.Google Scholar This article, written in 1846, states that the Mpongwe said they forced another people out of the estuary when they arrived.

95. Wilson, , “An Excursion to the Head Waters of the Gaboon River,” August 25, 1842Google Scholar, ABC.15.1.V.2., Item 117. Avelot, , “Recherches,” p. 364Google Scholar; and “Ethnographie,” p. 132. Many of the sources refer to the Shekiani as “Bouloux,” said to mean ‘bushmen.’ Gautier suggests that the term is patronymic: Etude, p. 24. Chief Ambaye recalled that “We fought our way through the Bakélé to the sea.” Raponda-Walker notes that the Bakélé are the most scattered of Gabon's people and are known, depending on where they are living, as “Bantombolis, Chakès, Mbanhus (Mbangwès des cartes), Bongomos,” etc. (“Essais,” p. 4). Avelot has done the most research on the Bakélé: “Le pays d'origine des Pahouins et des Bakalais,” Bulletin de Géographie historique et descriptive, 1&2 (1908), pp. 401–3Google Scholar; “Notes sur les pratiques religieuses des Ba-Kalé,” BMSAP, 2 (1911), pp. 282–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and “Notice historique sur les Ba-Kalé,” L'Anthropologie, 24, 1 (Jan.-Feb. 1913), pp. 197–240.Google Scholar The Shekiani, coming from the north, and the Bakélé, from the south, met in the area of the Como River. Their languages were closely related: see Gautier, , Etude, p. 24.Google Scholar The Shekiani were stronger than the Bakélé on water, but both have disappeared as a result of the slave trade, epidemiological factors, or assimilation under Mpongwe pressures.

96. Raponda-Walker, , Notes, pp. 58ff.Google Scholar, discusses the traditions concerning the Ndiwa.

97. Wilson, , Western Africa, p. 382Google Scholar; and “The People and Languages,” p. 357. William Walker, “Correspondence and Papers Received by the American Board,” 1838–44, ABC.15.1.V.2, Item 28.

98. Dwight, , “Sketch of the Mpongwes,” p. 286.Google Scholar Unfortunately, few of these stories were recorded in their original form. Much of the impact of these tales depended on the personality of the teller and the atmosphere of the audience in the evening around an open fire. Nassau, Robert, Where Animals Talk (Boston, 1912)Google Scholar, provides animal stories translated from the original Mpongwe, Benga, and Fang. Raponda-Walker published numerous Mpongwe folktales in various journals during his lifetime. Two years before his death, Présence Africaine published a collection of his stories from representative Gabonese societies, Contes Gabonais (Paris, 1967).Google Scholar

99. Reade, , Savage Africa, pp. 61–62.Google ScholarNassau, , Tales, p. 8.Google Scholar

100. Avelot, , “Les mérveilleux,” pp. 398–99.Google ScholarBurton, R.F., Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo (2 vols.: New York, 1967); written in 1862, first edition 1876), 1:189.Google ScholarBowdich, , Mission, p. 429Google Scholar, describes “Woongawoonga” as the savannah area “between Gaboon and the Adjoomba.”

101. Neu, , “Travail,” A, pp. 82–83Google Scholar; Reade, , Savage Africa, p. 415.Google Scholar

102. Neu, , “Travail,” A, pp. 84–86.Google Scholar As expected, Neu's version is closely tied to the Muni River hypothesis of Mpongwe origins. This tradition may be an allusion to the attack on Moucheron's men in the Elobey islands ca. 1600.

103. Prince Félix Adande-Rapuntchombo and François-de-Paule Vané, “Revendications Formulées par la Collectivité Mpongoué sur ses Droits de Propriété,” Open Letter, ca. 1943, Family archives of Chief Ambaye, Glass, Libreville. Decraene, Philippe, “Lettre de Libreville-Les Héritiers du Roi Denis,” Le Monde, 13 Feb. 1971, p. 6.Google Scholar

104. Gautier, , Etude, p. 9Google Scholar, suggested that the “first white” who appears in the Mpongwe traditions was a Muslim and arrived with the Ndiwa.

105. The accounts of Mpongwe wanderings in the Muni River area may be vestigial references to their expansion in the 1600s; but they could also refer to a more recent Mpongwe presence in the Akwèngo/Cape Clara area for reasons of trade and fishing after 1800.

106. Intermittent missionary influence of a less permanent sort existed from the arrival of the first Europeans: see Proyart, Abbé Liévin-Bonaventure, Histoire de Loango, Kakongo et autres Royaumes d'Afrique (Paris, 1776), pp. 203ff.Google Scholar; and Bouchaud, , “Notes d'histoire 1765–1776: Prêtres ‘Fidei Donum’ avant le nom,” Pentacôte sur le Monde, 62 (Mar.-Apr. 1967), pp. xx–xxii.Google Scholar The impact of Islam at an early stage was greater than conceded by European historians, chiefly as a result of the exile of west African nationalists by the French to Gabon. The use of Senegalese soldiers (laptot) by the French also helped to propagate Islam in Gabon.

107. Fernandez, James W., “Folklore as an Agent of Nationalism,” African Studies Bulletin, 5 (May 1962), pp. 3–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar, comes to this conclusion for the traditional migration legends of the Fang. Parallels do suggest themselves between the Mpongwe arrival in the estuary after the sixteenth century and the Fang arrival in the mid-nineteenth, as well as between their uses of folklore.

108. Introduction to Vansina, J., Mauny, R., and Thomas, L.V., The Historian in Tropical Africa (London, 1964), p. 79.Google Scholar

109. Ardener, , “Documentary and Linguistic,” p. 98.Google Scholar