Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/530

 466 Customs of the Lower Congo People.

them from some evil, and other days upon which the dead may not be buried. Have they lucky and unlucky days ?

2. Nloko (removing witch power, from " loka," to bewitch, and its reverse "lokola.") This is a circular dance, and is performed for the following reasons : — {a) If a person has been ill for a very long time, and one after another of the ngangas has failed to cure him, the various ngangas bring their fetish images, charms, and drums, all of which are placed in the centre, and the adult men and women dance round them, and after a time form a pro- cession and parade through the streets of the village. These circular dances and parades are continued all night, and it is supposed that the sum total of all the strength of the fetishes present will destroy the witch who is retarding the recovery of the patient. The evil spirits being about at night, that is assumed to be the best time to deal with them, {b) As a war dance, i.e. before a fight begins, and as it proceeds. For details, see p. 36 supra.

3. Nsu7idi is danced in the day-time, or in the evening moonlight, by both men and women and boys and girls. A very high drum is used, and the men wear skins, or cloths in imitation of skins, and these are thrown about by the knees and thighs of the wearers as they jump about in the dance. The formation is in two lines opposite each other.

4. Etutu. This is the name of a very old dance, and in it the " dingwiti " drum (a friction drum now reserved for the " ngang' a ngombo "), some small drums, and reed pipes or whistles formed the band. The dancers had long sticks in their hands, with bells, or anything that jingled, affixed to the top end. It was danced by a line of men and a line of women. The shoulders were worked as well as the legs. Dingwiti is a drum used now in fetish palavers only by the " ngang' a ngombo." (See vol. xix., p. 416.) Through the skin drum-head is a strong cord knotted at the end to keep it from being