19th century. 13 7/8” length, very finely forged with elongated section leaf shaped point. Finely forged hexagonal section tapered socket with swelled faceted base. As with most Congolese tribes, the Mangbetu were slavers in East African trade which supplied the Arab countries, South America and the flesh market. That last, flesh for human consumption, had largely been ignored but for a few accounts like Glave. Recent anthropological studies assisted by the wealth of information compiled on the internet document a much greater proportion of the slave harvest to the cannibalism market. The Mangbetu specifically, are noted to be cannibals during the period.
