NILOTIC NEGROES 



781 



near the entrance to the viUage, so that they can watch over anv attempt 

 to steal cattle. The hut which is directly opposite the gate of tlie village 

 is usually that of the })rincipal wife of the village head-man. There is 

 much the same superstition as among the Bantu Kavirondo aliout slmtting 

 the door of a house behind a person who has just left it. 



Unmarried men go naked. ^larried men who have cliildrcn wcnr a 



428. HUSB.VXD AND WIKE, JA-LUI 



small piece of goat skin, which, tliough quite inadequate for purposes 

 of decency, is, nevertheless, a very important thing in etiquette; for a 

 married man with a child must on no account call on his mother-m-law 

 without wearing this piece of goat skin. To call on her in a state of 

 absolute nudity would be regarded as a serious insult, only to be atoned 

 for by the payment of goats. Even if under the new dispensation a man 



