Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/534

 500 Correspondence.

delicate-fisted neighbours, was carried off to Lamu by the Arab ■Governor, after a rising at Patte had been suppressed by the Sultan's troops. It is a beautiful piece of work in ivory. Lamu hkewise possesses a siwa of its own, of brass. On the other hand, the Wa Hadimu, the aborigines of Zanzibar, though serfs to the Arabs, were allowed to retain a considerable amount of self- government, and their chief, the Mwenia Mku, residing at Dunga, in the centre of the island, retained his si7va, and attached the greatest importance to its possession. It was carefully guarded, having a special custodian to attend to it, and was kept religiously shielded from the gaze of the profaner by a wrapping of rich silk •cloth. Sir John Kirk was never able to obtain a sight of it. It was blown at the installation of the chief, and also figured on solemn occasions connected with his own history and that of his family, such as marriages. Similarly, the Patte and Lamu horns were used on state occasions, and at marriages and other festivities. [See the account, taken from native witnesses, in I. N. Dracopoli, Through Jubaland to the Lorian Swamps 191^ 4, PP- 34-6.] The only definite piece of folk-lore relating to the siwa consists of the tradition that the last-mentioned instrument would of its own accord emit a booming sound from within its wrappings when a death in the chief's family was about to occur. In view, however, of the many superstitions to which insignia of office are subject, it would be interesting to institute further enquiries concerning the beliefs attaching to these carefully guarded objects.

R. R. Marett.