--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Fang Information 

Location: Southern Gabon, Cameroon 

Population: 800,000 

Language: Equatorial Bantu 

Neighboring Peoples: Kwele, Lumbu, Teke 

Types of Art: The Fang are best known for their wooden reliquary
 figures which are abstract anthropomorphic carvings.
 There are a few in collections that are still attached
 to the original relics they were meant to protect. 

History: The Fang migrated into their current area from
 the northeast in recent centuries as small groups or 
families of nomadic agriculturalists. Their militant nature
 allowed them to sieze land from their weaker neighbors
 as they moved in. 

Economy: The rain forests surrounding the Fang must be
 subjected to slash and burn techniques, combined with
 crop rotation to yield agricultural products. By moving
 crops from year to year, erosion and soil depletion is
 avoided. The main crops grown are plantains and manioc
. Large knives are used to clear the forests, and most of the
 cultivation is done with a hoe. 

Political Systems: The peoples throughout this region of Gabon
 share similar political systems. Each village has a leader who
 has inherited his position based on his relationship to the
 founding family of that village. As a political leader, 
he often serves as an arbitrator and is equally recognized
 as a ritual specialist. This enables him to justify his position
 of power based on his relationship with the ancestors of the village.
 Each village consists of bark houses arranged in a pattern along
 a straight street, and the size of the village is often determined by
 the resources available. 

Religion: The traditional religion of Fang centered around ancestors
 who are believed to wield power in the afterlife as they did as living
 leaders of the community. The skulls and long bones of these men
 were believed to retain power and to have control over the well-being
 of the family. Usually the relics were kept hidden away from the
 uninitiated and women. Wooden sculptures, known as reliquary 
guardian figures, were attached to the boxes containing the bones.
 Some believe that the figures are an abstract portrait of the deceased
 individual, while others argue that they serve to protect the spirit 
of the deceased from evil. It must be remembered, however,
 that it was the bones themselves that were sacred, not the wooden
 figures, thus there is no apparent contradiction in individuals selling
 what in effect was the tombstone of their ancestors for considerable
 profit to art dealers. During migrations the relics were brought along,
 but the reliquaries were often left behind. 
____________________________________________________________________

THE MONSTER OF CAMEROON & GABON
In Gabon, a group of African natives known as the Fang people tell of
 an animal called N’yamala, identifying it with a picture of Diploducus.
 In 1913, Capt. Von Stein was sent by the German government to explore
 the Cameroon. Von Stein wrote of an animal sized between a hippopotamus
 and an elephant with a long and very flexible neck and a long muscular tail
 like that of an alligator. Von Stein was even shown a path said to have been
 made by this animal in order to get at its food. On p. 257 of his 1927 book 
Trader Horn, Horn writes, "Aye, and behind the Cameroons there's things
 living we know nothing about. I could 'a' made books about many things.
 The Jago-Nini they say is still in the swamps and rivers. Giant diver it 
means. Comes out of the water and devours people. Old men'll tell you 
what their grandfathers saw, but they still believe it's there. Same as the
 Amali I've always taken it to be. I've seen the Amali's footprint. About the
 size of a good frying pan in circumference and three claws instead o' five."
 The drawing, shown in Claws, Jaws, and Dinosaurs, illustrates the
 monstrous creature as a Scottish explorer reported seeing it in 1932,
 while canoeing on the Cross River in the Cameroons. 

In the fall of 2000 an expedition led by Genesis Park staff pioneered
 research in southeastern Cameroon by slogging through nasty swamps,
 floating jungle rivers, trekking virgin rain forests and interviewing pygmy
 forest peoples who had never before talked to an outside explorer. From 
village to village informants recognized this creature (top right) from a lineup
 of various animals. The name was always the same: "Li’kela-bembe."
 Eyewitnesses led them to places where it had been seen, in some cases
 quite recently. Its actions were described in fascinating detail and harmony
 with Dr. Mackal’s information from the Congo. For more information about
 the trip, see the Cameroon Expedition page.