I'm", l"'\rK »>K iiii; Widows Amoni.sc iiii; l>\ iuin<.a. ."i73 



Bv tlie fiid ut" tlie att»'ni«Mtii all the relatives assemble near the 

 tlooi- of the njortuaiv luit and hiini; tliei-e tlie j^oats wliich tliey Imve 

 devoted to the feast. As inueh as pi)ssible every rehitive has come 

 with a goat : the sous-iii-law {hakoun'aua), the younger brotliers {tiudji- 

 sana), the sons {bana). Tn an ordinary case there may be as many as 

 tea U) twenty goats to kill. One oi the animals is especially conse- 

 crated for the sacrifice antl is first killed as they always kill the victims, 

 viz., by stabbing it under rhe left front leg so as to pierce the heart. 

 The poor goat is slow to die and groans misei'ably. It is just what is 

 wanted. A victim must cry, and its cries are answered by the women 

 in their mourning shoutings {niikiihuuiiraup). Strange to say, the 

 /xititkii/u here again are in the foreground. They have to perform 

 the sacrifice and kill all the goats. 



The consecrated goat having died at last, it is skinned and cut itito 

 pieces ; one of its stomachs, the smallest one {shihhikahhi) is preserved 

 with great care, because it contains the mptinny, the half digested 

 food, which has a special part to play in the ritual of the Konga 

 religion. From e^ch limb a small bit of meat is cut for the gods. To 

 these bits of meat are added the left hoof and the left eai'. Then the 

 headman of the family begins the religious act. He puts a little of 

 the mpKiDiy against his lips and spits it in making " t^on ! " This is 

 tlie way of calUng the dead and showing them respect. He then begins 

 to speak slowly and in a low tone to the deceased : " 8ee us here. We 

 have come together to conclude our mourning. May there be no noise, 

 nt) misunderstanding, no anger amongst the hatukaln .' This is our «)X 

 (the goat). It has been pi-ovided by so and so. Many others have 

 been brought. .See ! You have died as a great chief '. " At this very 

 moment a ntuknlu rises and begins to insult the praying old man : 

 "You have no concern for us 1 Why do you put us apart *? Y''ou 

 do not give us our wives: You are killing us!" And the other 

 hatnknhi make chorus. The po(ir man tries to take no heed of the 

 interi-upt<^)rs, and he goes on praying. They go on also, drowning 

 his voice without the slightest respect. Then one sees other batukubi, 

 getting nearer and nearer the meat of the goat; they come from be- 

 hind, hiding themselves; some of them try to catch the attention of 

 those watching over the meat. Suddenly one of them steals one of the 

 limbs and runs away followed by his comrades. A great laugh is 

 heard amongst the whole crowd ; and the other relatives who are near 

 take big balls of the mpmuyp, of the goat, and throw them to the 

 batukuiu who are Hying and' take shelter behind the trees. This is 

 the ordinary conclusion of sacrificial acts: the victim is stolen by the 

 hatxknln ! 



The sun is now setting. All the men go to the central place of 

 the village and sit round the fire. The widows remain on the spot, 

 between the deceased's hut and the new hut of the great wife, where 

 all the belongings of the late husband have been kept during the 

 whole year. The other widows of the family surround them once 

 more; no <jther woman is allowed to get near. The present cere- 

 mony is another secret rite of the company of widows They snig 



