BANTU NEGKOES 



751 



f^ 



use of hvjinotism and the powers of 



divination for innocent jiuri^oses • 



"obulogo"is little else than poisoning 



or scaring people into fits by uncanny 



practices. Mr. Hobley states that the 



Bantu Kavirondo practise trial for witch- 

 craft by an ordeal which seems to be 



similar to the drinking of '• mwavi " in 



South Central Africa, though the dose 



is seldom sufficient to cause death. 

 As to omens, they are convinced as 



to the prosperity or bad luck of a 



journey if at their departure a bird 



cries out on their right hand or on 



their left. The ri(/ht hand, is unlucky ; 



the left lucky. If a man leaves his 



house in the early morning to start 



on a journey, he says to the first 



lierson he meets, '■ Are you lucky or 



unlucky ? " and if the person re})lies 



'■ I nlucky," tlie traveller should return 



to his dweUing. PVom childhood a 



jierson is known as lucky (n- unlucky. 



This character is ascertained in the 



following manner : If a child comes into 



a house on the early morning of a day 



which turns out to be a fortunate day, 



they say the child is lucky, or vice versa, 



and thus eacli individual in the com- 

 munity grows u}i with a reputation for 

 ^first child of a young married couple is a girl, it is very lucky, so that 

 very often a jierson starting on a journey will ask the first man he meets, 

 "Was 3'our first child male or female?" If he re2)lies " 3Iale," the 

 traveller should return to his home, as he has started with a bad omen. 

 If a man on starting for a journey strikes the big toe of his right foot 

 twice against a stone or root, it is a bad omen. If he strikes fir.-^t 

 the right toe and then tlie left, it is all right. If he strikes tlie big 

 toe of his left foot twice running, the greatest good luck will attend hinu 

 If instead of meeting- a sincrle individual, a whole crowd are encountered, 

 no omen can be obtained. The right side is termed the male, and the 

 left side the female. In all these omens the left side is lucky. They 

 ha\'e the greatest fiiitli in divination l\v examining tlie entrails ot a sheej). 



400. .\ KAVIKIJXDO \VI/.Alill 



beiui/ luckv or uuluckv. If the 



