Chap. II. THE BOLA IVOGA. 33 



their nests by hundreds in the surrounding trees had 

 forsaken the place ; and in the rank grass near the 

 river I saw a huge python coiled up, like an evil 

 spirit on the watch. When I told my companion 

 that I regretted not having returned to the old spot, 

 he looked at me with horror expressed in his coun- 

 tenance. The place was thought to be bewitched 

 and accursed. 



All tlie fixtures and household property of Rin- 

 kimongani remained intact, for the hola ivoga, or 

 breaking up of the mourning-time and division of 

 his effects,* had not yet been celebrated. Contrary 

 to African custom, the wives of the deceased had 

 deserted the place before the bola ivoga, on account 

 of its bad reputation. They ought to have remained 

 here in chaste widowhood until the proper time had 

 arrived for the ceremony (generally a year or two 

 after the death of the husband), when the wives, 

 slaves, and other property of the deceased, are 

 divided amongst his rightful heirs, and the house 

 burnt to the ground. 



Soon after this the building of my new palm- 

 wood house approached completion, in the little 

 village which I had chosen for my residence, and 

 which I had bought of Rabolo, a petty chief. Nothing 

 remained to be put up except the verandah, but an 

 obstacle existed to its erection which my men dared 

 not remove. This was a formidable mondah or fetich, 

 which my friend Rabolo had made in his village 

 before I purchased it, and which I now found was 



* See, for a description of this custom, ' Adventures in Equatorial 

 Africa,' p. 239. 



D 



