Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/281

Rh dark. The mourners weep, and gird their loins with strips of hard hide. Very little talking is allowed, the only permissible subject being the good deeds and noble qualities of the deceased.

After dark a few of the nearest male relatives set off to dig the grave, which is a circular hole about four feet deep. The old men are buried near the cattle kraal, the women and children on a hill within sight of the kraal, but not too near. The doctor is called to pray for clouds that the night may become very dark. Shortly before midnight the corpse is carried, still wrapped in the skin, and placed at the entrance to the cattle kraal, which is left open all night, as he alone must guard the cattle on this his first night in the spirit world. Just before dawn he is placed in his grave with the grain, a small piece of meat, salt, and leting; and a large stone, as nearly the size of the grave as can be procured, is placed in the aperture. I forgot to mention that Basuto are buried into a sort of shelf, so the stone does not actually rest on the dead body. The grave is then filled up with earth and stones, on the top of this is placed the entrails of the sacrificial ox, and the mourners depart. They then return to the dead man's hut, when the sacrificial meat is divided between them, but before eating they wash themselves, and the near relations of the deceased fasten a piece of fat from the entrails round their neck as a symbol of mourning. In eating the meat great care is taken that no bones are thrown away or given to the dogs; they must be carefully collected and burnt, while the mourners stand round and cry, "Molimo ea-roona (our great spirit), hear us, oh! hear us we pray, and receive this dead brother in peace. There is a light to our grandfather's father. May the old Molimo pray to the new Molimo for us."