102 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. 7 



idol, wliich, it appears, was of the female sex, but lie 

 told me that she still remained in the place the people 

 inhabited before they came to this village. To my 

 question why she was not brought with them when 

 they removed, he replied that it was a serious matter 

 to disturb and carry the mbuiti, for it displeased her, 

 and very often those who carried her and the people 

 of the village died one after the other. Thus it is 

 always with these poor Africans, death is always 

 attributed to some sujDernatural cause or to witch- 

 craft. I had often noticed, in passing abandoned 

 villages, the mbuiti house standing, apparently kept 

 in a good state of preservation, but did not before 

 know the reason. When they resolve to remove the 

 idol, the people accompany it singing songs, and 

 dancing and singing are kept up for days afterwards. 

 Apaka told me that his mbuiti was a very good one ; 

 for when she told them it was a good time to go and 

 fish or hunt, they were sure to succeed in getting 

 plenty of food. 



At the further end of the village I noticed a 

 detached and ruinous hut, which appeared, from the 

 smoke issuing from the roof, to be inhabited, so I had 

 the curiosity to peep in, thinking it was the house 

 where they kept some of their idols. A most hideous 

 object met my view ; a miserable old woman, a mere 

 skeleton, covered with wrinkled skin, lay feebly 

 moaning on a mat. She moved a little when I 

 looked in, and this showed me she was alive. The 

 poor creature, old and therefore useless, had evidently 

 been placed here and abandoned. Such was the 

 famine that reigned in the village, that it was un- 



