Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/496

 458 Pokonio Folklore.

several exogamous clans, {inasindo, plural of sindo). The pedigrees I have collected show that descent is counted through the father, and that both sons and daughters belong to his clan. They not infrequently marry into another tribe ; but no marriages take place, (or, at any rate, none did till recently), between the Wantu wa dzuu and the Wantu na nsini, and the distinction, not to say antagonism, is still kept up in other ways.

One curious point is that the names of several Pokomo masindo are also the names of Galla clans, e.g. the Meta, Nta, Hani, Karayu, and Garijela of the Zubaki tribe. The Garijela, according to one informant, is another name for the Kinakaliani clan, so possibly the Galla designations were aliases, or alternative names. This is rendered more likely by the fact that the Korokoro tribe have even dis- carded their own language for that of their oppressors ; but I cannot learn that intermarriage has taken place to any appreciable extent, or that Pokomo customs have been modified by Galla influence. But it would be pre- mature to express any opinion on these points. The physical type, at any rate, is perfectly distinct.

So far I have been unable to discover anything which could fairly be described as totemism. The few miiko (prohibitions) of which I have heard do not necessarily bear that interpretation, — but as yet my information is too vague to suggest any conclusion. The Mbaji clan of the Mwina tribe does not eat the fish called mnknugu or fy oka, which is elsewhere considered very palatable, but I have not learnt any reason for this abstinence. The Pokomo are among the few peoples (I have not heard of any others) who eat crocodile from choice ; they have been known to protest against the destruction of crocodiles' eggs, lest the supply of their meat should run short. But some clans abstain from the dainty, — again I know not why. Rats {mpanyd) are forbidden food to all Pokomo "from the Wakalindi to the Wakorokoro " ; so are the leopard, wild