Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/489

 Traditions of the Baganda and Ihtshongo. 455

probably Lele, when he left his fatherland, was accompanied by more slaves than freeborn adherents, and these slaves were necessarily foreigners. There is no mention of this in the legend ; but it would be as absurd to criticise the details as it is to insist upon their historical character, seeing that the migration took place in what is admitted to be the mythical period. It is awkward too that the l^ashilele reckon the Bakongo as more nearly related to them than the Bushongo are. This is got over by supposing that the Bakongo are the descendants of Woto's partisans, whose migration followed that of Lele. The Bakongo do not shave their heads as do the Bushongo. Mr. Torday traces the difference of custom to the order issued by Woto when his wife bore twins. In commemoration of the event he directed that no slave should henceforth be shaved. The Bakongo therefore are the descendants of Woto's slaves.-^ In this w'ay it would be possible to prove anything. In fact, by the method of seizing upon similarities of custom, costume and tradition, while discrediting the differences of tradition in favour of the superior accuracy of the Bushongo narrative, Mr. Torday does succeed in proving to his own satisfaction that the Bikenge and the Balunda are also Bushongo.^"

He is a bold and careful explorer. We owe much to his researches in the Congo. The years he has devoted to this labour have proved most fruitful to ethnographical science. He seems to have been dazzled by the superiority of the Bushongo to most of the tribes he has visited, and by the many striking qualities of their civilization. His full report on their legends is very valuable. Had he confined his comments to pointing out that they believed themselves to have come from the north, and to be related to adjacent tribes, with whom they shared many common customs and traditions, he would have exercised a wise and scientific discretion. He has made the mistake of insisting on the 29 /3/a'., 46-49. 30 /^,-^_^ 45.-2.