Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/456

 398 Bavili Notes.

For instance : Ngo is the Fiiinu from whom they are all descended ; Mpakasa shows that they are Bavili ; Susu and Sexi, of the province Xibanga. Then in the case of Bayona, Ngidubu and Nytmdu Xibanga show the districts of his grandparents, while his father's Xina is Kabi and his mother's Nzikn. Through his mother he is related to Tati, whose grandparents had this animal {Nziku) as their Xina.

^th Class. Certain offices or situations carry certain Xina with them. The office of Funm Zinkondi or Zin- kata, the pig, Ngidubu ^; the office of Badungu, the Nziku\ the office of Nganga Mptmzi, food cooked by an unmarried woman. This class is called Xina Xisalu.

6th Class. Each Xibila [sacred grove] has its Xina (tabu). Bunzi hates unmarried women ; Xikumbi (a maiden) is therefore its Xina. Xikanga and Nxiluka hate a noise ; the goat {Nkombo) is their Xina. This class is called Xina Xinkicici.

yth Class. When natives are sick and are undergoing treatment certain foods are Xina, and as often as not the patient is ordered henceforth not to allow a companion to eat certain flesh together with him. This is called Xina Xibilongo (medicine-tabu).

8th Class. Certain household fetishes, bracelets, etc., carry with their ownership certain restrictions as to food. The wearer of the Ngofo bracelet may not eat the fish Mpuli with another person ; he may not kill and eat an animal on the same day. This is Xina Bakici.

Qth Class. — Now parts of some animals are found in the sacred groves. This summed-up class is called Xina Xibifumba? These Bina of the Bavili are as follows :

The skin of the leopard only finds its way into a Xibila as part of the dress of the individual. Neither

^[See ante, p. 378, n. 2.]

2 The objects enumerated under this head are found in all properly-furnished Bibila in Loango.