Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/270

246 middle age. Very few Basuto have been known to bear this "hall-mark." It is very peculiar, generally beginning as a small round white mark, not as big as a marble, which increases in size and is joined by others until it is supposed to resemble a white hand.

Some sort of belief in the transmigration of souls is evidently indulged in by the Basuto, for they will tell you that such and such a snake is inhabited by so and so's grandfather. Especially do they believe that the spirits of the departed take up for a time their abode in the bodies of cattle, which are called "the spirits (melimo) of the wet noses."

The efficacy of charms is firmly believed in. Certain portions of animals or human beings ward off the evil spirit or give courage or special strength, or again others endow with "second sight." The charms are worn on the body; the portions of flesh are burnt, then ground to a fine powder, mixed with some marvellous concoctions by the "Medicine Man," and drunk by those desirous of receiving the special quality it bestows. In the old days much wealth could be amassed by the medicine-men out of the heart of a white man, the people believing that to drink medicine made from it would endow them with the courage and mental abilities of le khuoa (the white man). The Basuto still believe in witchcraft, in throwing the bones, in ghosts, in evil water spirits, and in the "evil eye." Their traditions are handed down from generation to generation by men whose duty it is to learn all the folklore, history, superstitions, and customs of their race. They believe that their doctors can find out anything, and can call down the lightning god's wrath upon any individual who, unless he is able to propitiate the deity, will be struck by lightning ere many days pass.

Near Thlotsi Heights there lived an old 'Ngaka (doctor) who once did me a very real service. On several occasions we had been visited by thieves. First of all my husband's