Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/541

Rh shooting stars, but can wander in the forests and enter folk by other means. They come out of the grave to steal fowls, etc., and cause much mischief.

The three stars of Orion's belt are called "mbwa yo nziji yo nkongwa-mbwa," (the dog, the palm-rat, and the hunter). Venus is named "Nkaz' a Ngonde," (wife of the moon), and the Pleiades "Ndunda-lunda zalunda mvula" (the caretakers who guard the rain). It is thought that the rain comes from the Pleiades, and if, at the beginning of the rainy season, this constellation is clearly seen, the natives expect a good rainy season.

"Ximbi" are water spirits that keep the water good and fit to drink. They are said, by those who pretend that they have seen them, to have short, little bodies, and are white. The ximbi are responsible for landslips and chasms. They travel in the whirlwind and great storms. When a white person dies at Wathen Station, the natives say that the ximbi which inhabit the neighbouring streams do not like white people. Snakes are to be found frequently among the stones along the banks of rivers and streams, and therefore they are regarded as under the protection of the ximbi, and are sometimes said to be incarnations of ximbi. These ximbi are regarded also much as we regard fairies, and are, according to some of the stories, possessed of similar powers.

When a pregnant woman dreams of water, or snakes, or ximbi, she believes that her child is an incarnation of a ximbi. Directly the child is born, a cloth is tied round it to hide its sex, and no one is allowed to know its sex except the nganga. A short time after the birth, the nganga arrives and starts the dance called "Ekinu," (see "Dances" (1) above), which is danced all night and is accompanied by much eating and drinking. A bower of palm fronds is made, and the father, mother, and child sit