4-^4 XOSA RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



Cairns, isi-vivanc, were coninion uu difticult passes or steep 

 ascents. To these each traveller, in passing, added a stone, 

 sometimes wrapped up in a piece of cloth, with a word of prayer. 

 Qamata, ndincede (God help me) ; or. sipe anwndla (Give us 

 strength. 



Cursing and Ill-omened Speech. 



To curse, or imprecate evil upon, is uku-qalckisa, or more 

 strongly, ukn-shzvahula. Women, when properly angry, tore off 

 their clothes, and in a perfectly nude state imprecated evil upon 

 those who had offended them. Such a curse was called isi- 

 shivahnlo. Cursing was feared because it was believed actually 

 to bring the evil imprecated. Lomnhvana ivashu^atyulelwa 

 ncjuyisc ukuzc angahi yonto ; this child was cursed by its father 

 so that it might come to no good. To ban or devote solemnly to 

 evil for some crime or wrong committed, is singela pantsi (send, 

 or direct, downwards), and the ban isisingclo pantsi. [I am not 

 sure that this' is not merely a translation of the Hebrew ban- 

 ning.] 



To curse, in the sen.se of abuse with bad language, is tiika. 

 The worst abuse is by the mother of the one cursed, IVanditiika 

 ngoma (he cursed be by my mother). Even to say, u-nyoko 

 (your mother) to one disrespectfully is regarded as gross vitu- 

 peration ptissiblv because the leading syllable of the word can 

 also be used in an obscene sense. 



To chaff another, or jest at his expense, qakatela, is unlucky,: 

 since to suggest or talk of evil is a sure way to bring it on. To be 

 wished good luck in a sarcastic or ironical way, uk\i-nywebelela, 

 is strongly objected to, as it portends ill-luck. In the same way 

 you nuist not say that a storm, isa-qwitelo, is coming on, other- 

 wise the storm will certainly come. Oatshii mbctshu (bad cess 

 to you!) is said to a thing that gets broken or spoilt accidentally, 

 or through carelessness, as when a dish falls on the floor, or the 

 pumpkins get burnt in the pot. 



Radio-Telephony. — The development of the art of 

 radio-telephony and the work of producing radio-telephones for 

 tlie United States Army and Navy form the subject of a recent 

 paper by E. R. Craft and E. H. Coli>itts.* In 1916 a wireless 

 telephone was installed on the battleship New H amps-hire and 

 another in the Navy Yard at Norfolk, where the signals were 

 automatically transferred to the land telephone lines to Washing- 

 ton. The captain of the l)attleship was thus enabled when at sea 

 and on the bridge to report his position hourly by word of mouth 

 to headquarters and to receive orders. By the instalment of 

 similar sets it l)ecame possible for the battleships Arkansas and 

 Florida to con\erse verbally when 30 miles apart, and some of 

 their conversations were o\'erheard in Jamaica, 175 miles away. 



* Proc. Am. Itisf. of Elec. Eui^inecrs. 38 f,?] 337-375 (1919). 



