370 Report 8. A A. Advancement of Science. 



what is called lahla khoniho, viz., the throwing away of the malediction 

 of the filth of death which has come over them. This is a very strange 

 custom, which it is impossible to describe in its minute details in a 

 publication not restricted to anthropologists. Those details are, how- 

 ever, most curious, and throw much light on the native conceptions of 

 life. The great point is this : Before a widow becomes the wife of her 

 new husband, she must have certain relations with another man whom 

 she deceives ; that man will then take on him the malediction of death, 

 and the widow will be purified. 



A few weeks after the gathering just described, the men of the 

 village send the widows away and tell the)n : " Go and scatter 

 {haiKjalaxa) the malediction through the country and get rid of it 

 before some other misfortune happens to us." With their conical 

 baskets on their heads, they all go, each accompanied by a friend, who 

 will act as witness. They pay a visit to some distant relative and 

 try to flirt with the men of the village. One understands what they 

 want. The dissolution of the morals is such that it is not difficult for 

 them to reach their aim. (But the purifying act is useless unless 

 interrupted abruptly before its completion ) If the widow succeeds, 

 she is full of joy, and comes back saying : " 1 have coped with the 

 mourning, I have overcome it."* The widows try to come back all 

 together ; they stand by the main entrance of the village and announce 

 their success with shoutings, which mean at the same time joy and 

 sorrow. Everybody meets them there, and they make a procession 

 to the grave to tell the deceased what happened : " You have left 

 xis in the open field ; we have had to go through a painful trial ; it 

 would not have been so if you had not left us I " But, after all, this is 

 a day of rejoicing, and the men, the heirs to the widows, are particularly 

 pleased. That same day the widows adopt a new under-garment and 

 complete their purification by another steam bath. The following 

 night they undergo a last cleansing process, which I cannot describe, 

 together with their new husband. Then they can have I'elations of 

 husband and wife. 



(6) The Year of Widowhood. 



Though the widows have found new husbands, they still remain in 

 the old kraal. The}'' must accomplish tliere "a full hoe," viz., a whole 

 3'ear of ploughing. In their new fields they leave dry sticks of mealies 

 of the last year, in such a way that everybody passing near it can know 

 at once that this is the field of a widow. But what the}' will liai-vest 

 this year will belong to the new husband. They have now the light to 

 J'mnhel (ina^ \iz., to go to each other. The suitor brings clothing to the 

 woman and the woman pays him visits with jars of beer. They belong 



* SliouM she not succeed, she lias then been " overcome by tlie luourning." 

 Tt is a serious condition, wliich can be dealt with only by special medicines. 

 The man wlio lias nnconscionsly purilied u widow and wiio becomes aware of it 

 w ill also liave recourse to the ufDifin to j^et rid of tlie liltli of death. 



