214 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



The natives firmly believe that a person can cast a 

 spell on, and kill, another person, and they believe abso- 

 lutely in various compounds, which if enclosed in a small 

 horn, can cause death or sickness. One case that was 

 mentioned to me was that of a child who was found one 

 morning with all the teeth of its upper jaw missing, and 

 they assert that there are medicines which cause persons 

 the loss of various organs of the body ; so that some fine 

 morning a man or a woman can wake up without a nose, 

 or with only one eye or one ear, and perhaps a toe may 

 have departed in the night. 



The Angoni had a strange custom with regard to children 

 who had the misfortune to cut the teeth of the upper, 

 before the lower, jaw. If this happened, the mother 

 would call a lot of old women to witness the occurrence, 

 and then they would march down to the river with the 

 child, when the mother would tie it tightly in a skin or 

 piece of calico, and fling it into deep water, just like a 

 puppy or kitten. This custom was called " kunameera/' 



Their idea was that should the child grow up it would be 

 able to cast a spell on anyone it was unfriendly with, so it 

 was put beyond doing harm in a watery grave ; and the 

 mother and her friends returned quite relieved that they 

 had done the best to save future trouble. 



Infant mortality used to be very great, as the natives had 

 a custom of throwing away babies that showed, in their 

 estimation, the least blemish. For instance, if a child was 

 born with dark skin round the nipples, or if the lips were 

 very red, it was thrown into the bush. 



Even to-day the natives kill many infants for the same 

 paltry reasons. 



A mother who gave birth to a child suffered from severe 

 internal pains, doubtless caused by inflammation due to 

 straining in deliverance. She affirmed that as soon as the cut 

 navel of the child had healed that the pain would leave her. 



Another strange idea is that they will not break sticks of 

 firewood in a hut near a newly born child, as if this is done 

 they believe the child will get ill. 



