Bakalai

The Bakalai (Bakale, Bangouens) are a Bantu tribe inhabiting a wide tract of land, formerly part of French Congo, between the Ogowe river and 2° south.

[1] The Bakalai appear to be immigrants from the south-east, and have been supposed to be connected with the Galoa, one of the Mpongwe tribes and the chief river-people of the Ogowe.

The Bakalai have suffered much from the incursions of their neighbors the Fang, also arrivals from the south-east, and it may be that they migrated to their present abode under pressure from this people at an earlier date.

[1] The Bakalai of 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 body of a chief is placed secretly in a hut erected in the depths of the forest, and the village is deserted for that night, in some cases altogether; the slaves of the deceased are (or were) sacrificed, and his wives scourged and secluded in huts for a week.