Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/75

Rh the men leave their towns to work in the forest, or to trade with other and neighbouring towns, or to attend the different markets, and the women go to work on their farms or attend the markets, so that consequently there are not many people in the towns and villages between sunrise and 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon. At that hour the inhabitants are back in their towns, and any one arriving about that time is sure to find the people at home and receive a welcome from them. Their idea is that the spirit town is conducted on very much the same lines as the earthly towns with which they are familiar, and they think that, if they bury their relative in the morning or early afternoon, there will be very few in the spirit town to welcome him, and hence they bury their dead about sunset.

It will be remembered that there are four market days to the week. On two of these market days, Nkenge and Konzo, they do not bury the dead, but only on Nsona or Nkandu. I cannot ascertain any reason for following this custom.

The name of a dead person is never mentioned, but, if it is necessary to refer to him, they call him "nkulu ne-ngandi" (the old one). Any photographs of the deceased are torn up and all signs of him removed from the house, and every effort is made to forget him.

It is thought that in dreams the spirit of the dreamer leaves the body and visits the people and places seen in the dream. If they see any one in a dream, they think that that person's spirit has also left its body to visit them. If they do not want to dream, they take a piece of lighted wood, spit on it three times, wave it round the head three times, and throw it beyond their feet. It is thought that the dream will be buried beneath the ashes of the burning wood.

I do not think that these people believe in what is