CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS 331 



pany with thunder and lightning this person will 

 parade the village for an hour, with the jingling bells 

 upon his legs and a wand of papyrus in his hand, 

 attended by as many of his family as may happen to 

 be at hand and not employed in necessary duties. Any 

 one killed outright by lightning is not buried in the 

 house, according to the usual custom, but is carried 

 to a distance and interred beside a stream in some 

 belt of forest. Upon the grave are put all the pots 

 and other household utensils owned by the dead person, 

 and at the door of the hut upon which the stroke fell 

 now, of course, a smoking ruin is planted a sacrifice 

 of hoes, which is left for some days. It is interesting 

 to note the efficacy attributed to bells and running 

 water, as in some old European superstitions. 



Especial dangers are supposed to attach to the birth 

 of twins a rare event in an African village. For 

 a month or so after the birth no one except the parents 

 is allowed to come near the infants, as it is thought 

 that their breath would scorch and whiten the skin 

 of any other person. The parents are not permitted 

 to pay a visit outside the village, nor any outsider to 

 enter their own village without first performing the 

 ceremony of abwatarori. This is carried out beneath 

 the log archway that spans the entrance to every Teso 

 village. The father and his visitor, or host, as the 

 case may be, kneel opposite to one another beneath 

 this archway, and between them is a bowl containing 

 a paste made of flour and water. The father of twins 

 smears some of this paste over his face and breast, 

 then over the breast and face of the other ; after 

 this has been duly carried out the visit can proceed 

 with no fear of evil consequences." 



