96 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WANYORO. 



Dreams are also well known to the Wanyoro, but it is not 

 nsual to interpret them. As oracles, the entrails of fowls are 

 used, which are examined after they have been cleansed from 

 blood and laid in lukewarm water ; the auerur decides from 

 the colour and form of the convolutions and from any spots upon 

 them. When an inhabitant of Unyoro is intending to travel, 

 he questions the mbandua (magician) on the timeliness of 

 the journey, and makes him a present. The verdict is given 

 from the entrails of a red or black cock, its stomach being slit 

 open while it is alive. If this verdict is unfavourable, the 

 journey is put off. The cock is thrown into high grass. 



When one evening Venus appeared in the sky in all her 

 glory, I asked my companions the name of the star. " Nyanzi 

 ya kwezi," they called it, " the beloved of the moon." Baker's 

 wife was named by the Wanyoro "Nyinyezi " (star), or "Nyadwe " 

 (white pearl). Baker himself " Mliju " (the man with the 

 beard). 



According to Unyoro traditions, elephants and chimpanzees 

 were once men, and the dog too was gifted with speech, but 

 spoke only to his master. I give a literal translation of some 

 of these legends. 



Legend of the Elephant. — In ancient times a man had an 

 honest son, but he himself was violent, and had taken many 

 cattle from his neighbours. Once upon a time he ordered his 

 son to go and occupy a neighbour's house ; if he did not do so 

 he threatened to kill him. The son went and slept in that 

 house, but found in the earlv morning that the inhabitants had 

 fled. He durst not return home, whilst by himself he would 

 have starved ; so he prayed the " great Magician " to rescue 

 him, and was thereupon, together with the house, turned into 

 an elephant. 



Legend of the Chimpanzee. — An honest man had an only 

 daughter, and she was wooed by a neighbour for his son, who 

 had turned out badly. The young couple lived happily for a 

 short time, but when the young wife absented herself occa- 

 sionally from the house to visit her parents, v her husband re- 

 proached her with availing herself of this excuse to go after 

 other men. Each day he treated her worse ; so she fled, and 

 returned to her father, to whom she related her misfortune, and 



