Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/485

 Collectanea. 46 1

Lower Congo Folklore Scraps.

Nightmares. — Witches {ndoki) are believed to have the power to bolota or fina^ i.e. squeeze the life out of, a victim in sleep. Hence, if a man has a nightmare in which he dreams that someone tries to choke him, he will grunt, snort, and waken with a start, persuaded that he has been attacked by a witch, who has assumed, for the purpose of throttling him, any weird form seen in the dream. Such a dream is regarded with horror.

" Chaftging the fiaiiie" {tisobw'' a ezina). — When a wealthy chief died, his nephew and successor could only take his money after he had assumed the title, an operation which is called nsobw' a ezina. The title was conferred by a man sent by the King of San Salvador, and no nganga or medicine-man was employed. The same phrase is used in other connections. For example, two girls, Diamoneka and Lombo, were engaged to be married to two men in the neigh- bourhood of San Salvador, but their mother told their brother, Nlemvo, that if he left the -district he must take them with him. By-and-by he wanted to go to Vianga, a town near Wathen. As the men to whom they were betrothed refused to return the marriage money, two other women had to be obtained and given to the men as substitutes ; with each was also given a pig, which was called nsobw' a ezina.

Marriage price. — Nlemvo's father paid only 55 small oval- shaped red beads for Nlemvo's mother as his wife at some time between 1850 and i860. Such beads were then very scarce and dear, but are now worth only about ten a penny.

Secret societies} — While living in the vela or in the lodges of the nkimba and ndembo societies, a member may not be accused of witchcraft, nor is he or she supposed to be susceptible to the witchcraft of others. But members who have left the lodges and are living in a town are in the same position as other people as regards witchcraft. This is in accord with the practice that no absentee from the town can be concerned with witchcraft.

BiiUroarer. — This is made from bamboo or wood, and is called ngwingzvingwe. It is only regarded as a plaything. Women, and also men and children, will put their hands over their faces when ^Vol. XX., pp. 189-201.