VI. The Guineans on another life and the last judgment; burial goods and royal funerary sacrifice
VI. THE GUINEANS, when asked about another life and the last judgment, answered that they indeed were wholly ignorant of the last day of judgment, yet affirmed that the account of men is one thing and that of cattle another; and although they were completely unaware of what becomes of people after death, nor did they know whether that place to which they would be transferred was above or below the earth, they nonetheless usually assign some part of their household goods to the dead, so that wherever they finally arrive they may have what is necessary for daily uses.
So narrates the Description of the African kingdom of Guinea, chapter 21. And from this it is clear, says the author, that they somehow believe another life after this one survives, yet are wholly ignorant of the resurrection of the dead, estimating that as soon as they die they are transferred into another world, where they need varied household goods just as in this world: whence if they happen to lose something, they at once form thoughts of this sort — that perhaps some friend of theirs has come from the other world and carried it off because he could no longer do without it. The same author reports in chapter 44 that nobles, when a king has died, bestow some slave, and even slaughter a dearest wife and sons, so that they may be buried with the king and serve him in the other world.
Latin
VI. GUINENSES, de altera vita & extremo judicio interrogati responderunt, se quidem extremum judicii diem prorsus ignorare, affirmarunt tamen, aliam esse rationem hominum & aliam pecorum, & quamvis, quae hominum post mortem conditio foret, penitus ignorarent, neque scirent, an locus ille, quo transferrentur, supra an infra terram esset: se nihilominus de supellectile solere partem aliquam defunctis assignare, ut, quocunque tandem venirent, haberent, quod ad usus quotidianos necessarium esset. Sic narrat descriptio regni Africani Guineae cap. 21. Et hinc patet, ait autor, credere quidem eos aliquo modo, vitam post hanc aliam superesse, sed resurrectionem mortuorum prorsus ignorare, existimantes se simul atque moriuntur, in alterum mundum transferri, ubi varia supellectile perinde ac in hoc mundo indigeant: unde si aliquid forte perdant, ejusmodi statim concipiant cogitationes, venisse forsan aliquem amicorum suorum ex altero mundo, & illud abstulisse, quod eo carere diutius non potuisset. Idem autor refert cap. 44. nobiles regno defuncto mancipium aliquod largiri, imo & uxorem charissimam & filios mactare, ut cum rege tumulentur, eique in altero mundo serviant.