Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/116

 98 Collectanea.

In the coast towns and villages of Fife a curious custom pre- vails with regard to the treatment of any carcase, say of a dog, cat, or sheep, that may be cast up on the beach. School-children coming across anything of the kind make a point of spitting on it and saying, "That's no my granny," or "That's no freend {i.e., relation) of mine." Others simply spit on the carcase, giving as a reason that it is done to prevent it " smitting" {i.e.^ infecting) them. (Almost every one on perceiving a bad smell, spits.) But the probability is that the custom dates from the days when ex- posed human corpses were not of uncommon occurrence, and the underlying motive evidently is to free the spitter (for luck) from the onus of being responsible for the unburied body and to appease the spirit of the departed.

David Rorie, M.B.

Craigderran House, Cardenden, Fife.

Royal Succession in Yoruba-land.

{Communicated l>y Mr. T. A. Cook through Mr. J. G. Frazer.)

The present Acting Attorney-General here, Mr. Ross, late resident of Ibadan, the biggest place in our hinterland, tells me that the late Bashorun or King of Ibadan died while he was up there. The Bashorun's subjects having grown tired of his age and in- efficiency, he was poisoned, though this was never officially proved. His head was sent to his nominal overlord, the Alafin of Oyo (Awya), the King-Paramount of Yoruba-land. This was merely evidence of death. His heart was eaten by his successor, who, by the way, like King Peter of Servia, is not supposed to have been privy to his cutting-off. This custom has obtained in Yoruba-land since memory goeth not to the contrary. The Yoruba word meaning to reign is Je-oba : Je-oba — -je = to eat ; oda = the king.

Harold G. Parsons. Lagos, 28th Sept., 1903.