EAST CENTRAL AFRICAN CUSTOMS. 693 



precautions to insure success. There are places in Africa where 

 three men can not be sent on a journey together for fear two of 

 them may combine and sell the third. But that by the way. 

 When a man has determined on a journey he must consult the 

 oracle by means of divination. The methods most commonly 

 employed are as follows : The magician takes a quantity of flour 

 and lets it fall in a steady stream on a flat stone placed at the 

 head of the traveler's bed. If it forms a perfect cone as it falls, 

 the omen is good ; if not, there is an end of the matter at that 

 time and by means of the flour cone. Sacrifice must now be 

 offered to propitiate the offended spirits. When the cone is per- 

 fect it is covered by an inverted pot and left for the night. In 

 the morning the pot is removed and the cone examined ; if it is 

 still whole and in the exact state in which it was left when cov- 

 ered, there is nothing further to be done beyond presenting a 

 thank-offering of rice, flour, or fowl to the ancestral spirits and 

 set out on the journey. Should there be a falling of the cone, 

 even a small slip down its side, it is a sign not to be disregarded, 

 and the oracle, after propitiatory sacrifice, must once more be 

 consulted. The flour cone is now abandoned. The magician 

 takes a pot of beer which he pours out upon the ground. If it 

 sinks in one spot the gods are propitious, but should it run along 

 the ground their faces are averted in anger or grief. 



Another common method of divination is by means of small 

 stones, claws, teeth, bits of snake-skin, and other odds and ends 

 which the magician keeps in a calabash or gourd, and which are 

 shaken to be thrown as is done with dice. He examines the posi- 

 tion in which the contents fall, and as claws, teeth, or stones are 

 to right or left he gives his responses, always with Delphic am- 

 biguity. It is not necessary to have a magician present in order 

 to consult the oracle, though this is desirable. The recognized 

 diviners sell bits of prepared root which travelers carry. These, 

 three in number, are in cases of difficulty placed upon the ground, 

 two side by side, and the third across those lying parallel. The 

 owner, after placing them in position, retires, and after an inter- 

 val of some hours returns to examine them and learn the response. 

 If they are in the position in which he left them, the oracle is 

 favorable ; if not, the reverse. 



But even after the responses have been favorable and the sacri- 

 fices and offerings made, the departure of the travelers may be 

 delayed. Should the leader, during the first day's march, hurt 

 his toe against root or stump, they must return and begin the pro- 

 cess of divination de novo. A rabbit crossing the road they are 

 following denotes the death of the leader should they persist in 

 the enterprise. A certain species of snake found on the path 

 bodes evil to the whole party. When fairly on the road they 



