624 AFRICAN NATIVE MliLODIES. 



From the simplicity of the tune, and matter-of-fact mys- 

 tery of the words, I regard this as very old, probably a circum- 

 cision song. Riba, is to nod up and down (leriba is the straw 

 visor of the bale (girls undergoing puberty rites). Maribane 

 possibly corresponds to Priapus among the Greeks ; in which 

 case the song will be in some sense phallic. I have discovered 

 very few of this sort ; the ordinary songs seem quite remarkably 

 free from what one would have expected from primitive peoples. 



We now come to tunes ending on the third above or below 

 the keynote, and thus correspond roughly to our minor 

 mode. The scale in this case will stand: r d 1| S| nii 

 or s PI r d 1| 



The second note shows the ditference betv/een the two forms. The 

 remaining tonality : d' 1 S 11 r does not seem to occur, apart from 



m rd 1| S| , which we have already dealt with 

 (Nos, 1-4). No. 13 represents the former of the two alternatives 

 above, and Nos. 10-12 the latter. 



md md m (f) r d r 1, 



10. Ua, Ua, Tsavi'o bitsn Morenu Hake (2). 

 Go, call the King Vulture d t, r d 



Sin s f d f ni 



Ua ! A tVo pluDiya malana, re je. (2). 

 Let him come pierce the maw, that we may eat. 



in r d li t| d 



Ntja e shocle le kokotoana. (2). 

 The dog is dead, his skin is dry. 



This grim ditty, racy of the soil, interests me not only for 

 the dash of rude poetry which pictures the crows with their 

 " Ua, Ua," calling their royal cousin, the great aasvogel, to the 

 feast they may not begin alone. But for this reason : the tune 

 was first given me in the second form, and seemed to me 

 curiously European ; it was only the other day that I heard the 

 form which I have put at the top, and which is Pentatonic, and I 

 believe original, or more nearly so. The third form is simply 

 a variation to harmonise with the second, as I imagine, and prob- 

 abl}^ the last also. 



s 1 sin r d sin r d (1,) 



II*. Mabele a oroha (2) re ee hae ; ( )ha (2) ha bots'oene. 



T]ie millet is going home, let us go home zvhere the mon- 

 keys are. 



This is a harvest home song. Ohd is the monkeys' cry. I 

 thought at first that the tune ended on d, but now have dis- 

 covered a slight drop on the last syllable. We are using this 

 tune in more than one language for a harvest hymn, and it is a 



* Cf. M. Tunod's " Sailor's sono on the Nkomati River '" : Is. Is, mrdd. 

 Is. " 



