816 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



Mr. J. Edward Fariium tells me that among- the natives of tlie Bosi 

 Eiver, about loO miles from its moiitb (19° south latitude, East Africa), 

 the witch doctors throw crocodile scales iu fortune telling. The objects 

 used are the nuchal dermosseous plates, from behind the base of the 

 skull. They are smoothed down and polished, and six or eight — always 

 an even number — are thrown. To obtain a reply to a question demand- 

 ing an answer of "yes" or "no," the smooth side up will be considered 



Fig. 132. 



IVOET STAVES FOR GAME ( ? ). 



Length (perfect stave), 5| inches. 

 l,ybian, Egypt. 



Cat, No8. E. S. 1129-1132, Museum of Arohffiologj-, University of Pennsylvania. 



as "no," and the rough side "yes." An answer is afforded by the 

 manner in which the majority (which must be a considerable one) of the 

 bones fall. The questions put to the witch doctor, who accompanied 

 my informant, were usually about shooting. In reference to the animal 

 to be shot, the doctor would name one side of the bones "masculine" 

 and the other "feminine." According to the answer, a male or female 



Fig. 133. 

 MEN FOR GAME {!) (LION, HARE). 



Lengths, 1.37 inches, and 1 inch. 

 Lybian (?), Egypt. 



Cat. Nos. E. S. 1145, 1147, JIuseum of Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania. 



animal would be shot. Other determinations of a like character were 

 made by the position of the bones, one to another, after falling. 



H. xi. Bryden^ describes a Bushman divining for ostriches while on 

 the hunt bj^ means of three curious looking flat pieces of bone, trian- 

 gular in shape and scored with a rude pattern. 



He pulls them from the hide strip on which they are threaded, shakes them rapidly 

 between his two palms, aud oasts them upon the earth. 



' Longman's Magazine, CLXXVII, p. 231. 



