•364 Report 8. A. A. Advanckmext of .Science. 



tlie natives. We shall describe a typical case, viz., the case of an 

 important man's death and of his first or great wife. 



(1) The Days which precede Death. 



As soon as the disease of the old man becomes serious and threatens 

 to end fatally, the other men of the village issue this order: "Tlulan 

 >>wi]awen," viz., everybody must keep on his side of the hut. Tlie right 

 side of the native hut belongs to the man ; the left side to the woman. 

 It means that any intercourse is severely prohibited between them. 

 Should anybody trespass the law, it would kill the sick man at once. 

 Nobody is allowed to enter the hut if he has not been at least for two 

 days in that state of purity. Two sticks are planted on both sides of 

 the door, and a third one lies across over them, to remind everybody 

 that the entrance is prohibited to anybody being impure. It is par- 

 ticularly important that the wife of tlie patient should abstain from 

 misconduct during those days. .Sliould she be guilty of sucli a sin and 

 come near her husband, death would be ceitain. If her accomplice 

 were to enter the hut the result would be still worse. The sick man 

 then would perspire heavily ; he would he seized b}' convulsions and 

 die in an awful manner. All these precepts reveal very strange and 

 mysterious concepticms of life, which are certainly of a ver^' ancient 

 date. 



(2) The Day of the Death of the Hushand. 



As soon as the symptoms grow worse, the men attending the 

 dying man begin to bend his limbs and bring them to his chest. 

 When he has breathed for the last time ever^'body gets out of the hut 

 except liis nearest male relatives ; they shut his eyes, pour water on 

 his face and cover it with a bit of clothing. Two of the brothers of 

 the deceased are chosen to perform the burying ceremonies. They 

 wrap the corpse in its mat. The head, the legs and the right hand 

 alone still emerge from it. They go then to some distance aiifl dig 

 the grave. First, with their picks they make a hole three or four 

 feet deep ; after that they entei' into the hole, and, with a wooden 

 instrument, generally with the rounded part of a broken basket {lihMo), 

 they excavate on the side of it a kind of cavern. This cave is called 

 the house of tiie dead. Its technical name is shiui/atu. The earth 

 covering it has not been turned. The grave-diggers having finished 

 their work, call the relatives to see the gi'ave. They all come one by 

 one to have a look at it. The widow also comes. " Look if we have 

 not cared well for your husbajid," they say. Should she be guilty of 

 the sin of adultery the roof of the grave tumbles down at once. She 

 begins to tremble. The same thing happens if the person inspect- 

 ing the grave has bewitched the deceased — at least they say . so ! 

 Then the corpse is buried with various rites which we cannot all 

 describe here,* and immediately the cries of mourning begin. The 



* Tliey will be found in Les Ba-Jionf/a, pp. 46-.58. Tlie most suj^gcstive of 

 lliese rites is this : Tliey take two small hranolies of a certain tree (Kafir phnn 



