200 MAYOLO. Chap. IX. 



but the owner himself is allowed to enter these little 

 huts; but Quengueza's great friendship for me over- 

 came his African scruples in my case ; and I was 

 permitted, on my return from the interior, to examine 

 his alumbi-house. These erections are spoken of 

 by travellers as fetich-houses; and if, perchance, a 

 stranger is allowed to peep into one, he sees 

 a few boxes containing chalk or ochre, and upon a 

 kind of little table a cake of the same, with 

 which the owner rubs his body every time he 

 goes on a fishing, hunting, or trading expedition. 

 The chalk is considered sacred, and to be smeared 

 with it serves as a protection from danger. If 

 you are a great friend, the chalk of the alumbi 

 will be marked upon you on your departure from 

 the residence of your host. But tlie boxes generally 

 contain also the skulls of the ancestors of the owner, 

 at least those relatives who were alive during his 

 own life-time ; for, on the death of such a relative, 

 his or her head is cut off and placed in a box 

 full of white clay, looking like chalk, where it is 

 left to rot and saturate the chalk ; both skull and 

 saturated chalk being then held sacred. The skulls 

 of twin children are almost always used for the 

 alumbi. 



When a guest is entertained of whom, presents are 

 expected, the host, in a quiet way, goes from time to 

 time into the fetich-house and scrapes a little bone- 

 powder from a favourite skull, and puts it into the 

 food which is being cooked as a present to the guest. 

 The idea is, that, by consuming the scrapings of the 

 skull, the blood of their ancestors enters into your 



