96 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



shades of their immediate ancestors or elder relatives ; and the 

 Komas [souls ?] of the whole nation are worshipped on public 



occasions." 



Although the European ghost or "revenant" is unknown, 

 the spirits of near ancestors may appear in dreams, and express 

 their wishes to the living. They ask for sacrifices at their graves 

 to appease their hunger, and such sacrifices are often made with 

 a little flour and water poured into a coconut shell let into the 

 ground, the fowls and other victims being so killed that the blood 

 shall trickle into the grave. At the offering the dead are called 

 on by name to come and partake, and bring their friends with 

 them, who are also mentioned by name. But whereas Christians 

 pray to be remembered of heaven and the saints, the Wagiryama 

 pray rather that the new-born babe be forgotten of Mulungu, and 

 so live. "Well!' they will say on the news of a birth, "may 

 Mulungu forget him that he may become strong and well." This 

 is an instructive trait, a reminiscence of the time when Mulungu, 

 now almost harmless or indifferent to mundane things, was the 

 embodiment of all evil, hence to be feared and appeased in 

 accordance with the old dictum Timor fecit deos. 



At present no distinction is drawn between good and bad 

 spirits, but all are looked upon as, of course, often, though not 

 always, more powerful than the living, but still human beings 

 subject to the same feelings, passions, and fancies as they are. 

 Some are even poor weaklings on whom offerings are wasted. 

 " The Shade of So-and-so's father is of no use at all ; it has finished 

 up his property, and yet he is no better," was a native's comment 

 on the result of a series of sacrifices a man had vainly made to 

 his father's shade to regain his health. They may also be duped 

 and tricked, and when pombe (beer) is a-brewing, some is poured 







out on the graves of the dead, with the prayer that they may 

 drink, and when drunk fall asleep, and so not disturb the living 

 with their brawls and bickerings, just like the wrangling fairies in 

 A Midsummer Nighfs Dream. 



Far removed from such crass anthropomorphism, but not 

 morally much improved, are the kindred Waswa- 



TVi f* 



hili, who by long contact and interminglings waswahiii. 

 have become largely Arabised in dress, religion, 



