422 XOSA RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



milk to poison it. When the lightning strikes, it takes a person 

 —4zulti limtabatile (the sky has taken him) ; or it takes aims of 

 him — isulu limvukele (the sky has taken ahns of him). A flash 

 of lightning is um-hanc, from a root meaning simply light ; but 

 the lightning, when it strikes anything, is usually called isnln (the 

 sky or heaven). The charred wood, etc., where lightning has 

 struck, is called umgubo ka-Pecnlii ( the powder of the ])lace, 

 or the person, on high). 



Animals Held in Veneration. 



The praying mantis, or Hottentot God. iiiit-iifan'e.iiilH (lit., 

 child of heaven), was not harmed by children, lest they should 

 suffer harm in turn. Children prayed to it in this 

 fashion: Ngccngezc, umtcDi' czulu, us usicelelc uujubo kuyihlo. 

 Pardon, child of heaven, be so good as to ask your father for a 

 dress (or other article) for us. 



As already remarked, certain snakes were not killed, but 

 were reverenced, and sometimes fed with milk, as any one of them 

 might be the embodiment of an ancestor. A kind.of limbless lizard, 

 or slowworm (Acontias meleagris), was called inyok-abafat.il 

 the women's snake, because the witches among them used it in 

 bewitching, uku-takata. 



The crocodile, ingwenya, possessed a power of fascination 

 over bathers ; hence, before entering the water, they said : VaV 

 amehlo ako, ngzvenya, ukuze ungasiboni (Shut your e)'es, croco- 

 dile, that you may not see us). 



The Jan Blom frog, or donderpadda, n-tioccbeyi, if turned 

 up in hoeing, was carefully covered up again, lest it should be 

 killed, and so bring unseasonable rain. It was addressed as 

 " young chieftainess," nkosasana, in token of respect. The por- 

 cupine, i-ncanda, was also addressed as " young chieftainess," as 

 its powers of doing mischief in a field, if it was not respected, 

 were very great. 



The great grotmd hornbill. or bromvogel, int-sikizi {lit. 

 abomination), was sacred, and must not be killed, unless in 

 sacrifice. H one were killed accidentally, atonement must be 

 made by the sacrifice of an ox. H it came near a kraal, or settled 

 near a hut, it was regarded as a messenger of death from the 

 ancestral spirits, or as having been sent by a wizard. Its presence 

 on the veld was held to portend rain. In seasons of great 

 drought, one was caught and tied fast in the river-bed, in the hope 

 that the river would come down in flood and swee]) the abomina- 

 tion away. 



An owl, isi-kova, settling on a house was a bird of evil omen, 

 um-hlola. The bush-owl, isi-hnhihnlu. with its weird cry, iva 

 gxebe, wa gxcbe, was supposed to be used by wizards in 

 bewitching. 



The hammerhead, or paddavanger, i-tekivane, or n-qim- 

 ngqoshe, was sacred and must not be killed. A man who 

 robbed its nest became a homeless wanderer. Should it happen 



