N'BAMBI

Soderberg ("Les sifflets sculptés du bas-congo" Art d'afrique noire, no. 9, Arnouville, 1975, pp. 25-44) discussing whistles used in hunting activities by the Kongo describes how those decorated with a carved attachment were for the nkisi cult, their use limited to the initiated - eminent men, chiefs and witchdoctors. They were not for general use, so are rarely found in collections. She illustrates (p. 34, fig.10) a whistle of similar form to the present collected by P.O. Wirén, now in the Ethnographical Museum, Stockholm. The acquisition data describes it as a rain charm which, when blown, sent a message to the clouds. The rain-making use might suggest that it was not for the hunt, but both activities are necessarily interdependent.
Krieger (K. Westafrikanische Plastik III, Berlin, 1969, Pl.147) illustrates another whistle of similar form collected by Visser in 1901 and called n'bambi.