Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/427

 Bavili Notes. 375

buried sister. His wife held out the end of the red cloth serving as her husband's waistband, and he carefully- placed the earth in it. She then doubled the cloth over it and tied the whole into a knot. This earth at some future date will be placed by some nganga in the little horn {likawla), or then in the little tin box {nkobi), so that the nk2(ht of the dead sister may be placed in the head of some living relation, and her guiding voice be once more heard by those who loved her.

There are apparently various kinds of kulu among the Bavili :

1. Nkuiu bakakata (or the soul of our ancestors) causes women to bear offspring.

2. Nkidii npuniL is also a soul of the past, that causes babies to fall sick.

3. Nkulu yianzi is the soul of one who has just died. It is placed in the head of a living relation for the purpose of consultation, as described.

The muntii jizambi ^ will not reckon as " nkulu " the nkulu Jidoxi {i.e. kulu of the person dealing in black arts). This nkulu of the dead wizard only a wizard seeks to have placed in his head ; but apparently it exists after all that has been said to the contrary by me and my informers in nkici?' It is a sore point with the Bavili, and they prefer to tell us that the nkiUu of a wizard ceases at his death.

Notes. — I. Lu Mueno, or the Mirror. It is " Xiua''^ to throw the light reflected from a mirror upon a person ; and when the light passes across the face of an individual he cries out : " Leave me alone, I have ndud?i * medicine in my body." It is not a crime, but more of the nature

^[Muntu mamdi = man of God, i.e. worthy man, man who repudiates any connection with witchcraft ; see below, p. 382.]

^[A%/« = mysterious power ; fetishism ; holy thing, idol, fetish.]

^ Forbidden ; see below, p. 390.

^[See list oi Nkicikici, personal protective charms, infra^ p. 380.]