BANTU NEGROES 



751 



use of hypnotism and the powers of 

 divination for innocent purposes ; 

 "obulogo"is little else than poisoning 

 or scaring people into fits by uncanny 

 practices. Mr. Hobley states that the 

 Bantu Kavirondo practise trial for witch- 

 craft by an ordeal which seems to be 

 similar to the drinking of " mwavi " in 

 South Central Africa, though the dose 

 is seldom sufficient to cause death. 



As to omens, they are convinced as 

 to the prosperity or bad luck of a 

 journey if at their departure a bird 

 cries out on their right hand or on 

 their left. The right hand is unlucky ; 

 the left lucky. If a man leaves his 

 house in the early morning to start 

 on a journey, he says to the first 

 person he meets, ' ; Are you lucky or 

 unlucky ? " and if the person replies 

 " Unlucky," the traveller should return 

 to his dwelling. From childhood a 

 person is known as lucky or unlucky. 

 This character is ascertained in the 

 following manner : If a child comes into 

 a house on the early morning of a day 

 wdrich turns out to be a fortunate day, 

 they say the child is lucky, or vice versa, 

 and thus each individual in the com- 

 munity grows up with a reputation for being lucky or unlucky. 

 first child of a young married couple is a girl, it is very lucky, so that 

 very often a person starting on a journey will ask the first man he meets, 

 "Was your first child male or female?" If he replies "Male," the 

 traveller should return to his home, as he has started with a bad omen. 

 If a man on starting for a journey strikes the big toe of his right foot 

 twice against a stone or root, it is a bad omen. If he strikes first 

 the right toe and then the left, it is all right. If he strikes the big 

 toe of his left foot twice running, the greatest good luck will attend him. 

 If, instead of meeting a single individual, a whole crowd are encountered, 

 no omen can be obtained. The right side is termed the male, and the 

 left side the female. In all these omens the left side is lucky. They 

 have the greatest faith in divination by examining the entrails of a sheep, 



40c. A KAVIRONDO WIZABD 



If the 



