174 



SUPERSTITIONS. 



11*7 sees. Thus the contrivance is itself rude ; 

 moreover the Wasawahili often miscalculate it. 

 Between a.d. 1829 and a.d. 1879, it would fall 

 on 28-29 August. In 1844 they made it com- 

 mence at 6 p. m., August 28, immediately after 

 full moon : in 1850-2 they began it on August 

 27, and in 1856 in August 26. 1 



Sundry quasi superstitious uses are made of 

 the 10 emholismal days following the Nau-roz. 

 Should rains — locally called Miongo— fall on the 

 first day, showers are prognosticated for the tenth ; 

 if on the second, the twentieth will be wet ; and 

 so forth till the tenth, which if rainy suggests 

 that the Kausi or S.W. monsoon will set in 

 early. The seasons of navigation are thus reck- 

 oned. The Vuli rains are supposed to begin 

 30 days, counting from the twentieth, after Nau- 



1 According to Captain Guillain, in 184G-7 it corre- 

 sponded with August 29 (the New Tear's Day of Abyssinia and 

 Egypt in 1844) ; in 1848 with August 28 ; and in 1850, 51, 

 52 with August 27. He was also informed that the Vuli 

 began 20 days after the Nau-roz, and lasted 30 (Sept. 20 to 

 Oct. 20), that the Msika (which he writes Mouaka) begins 90 

 days after the 110th (Dec. 20 to March 20), and that the 

 Mcho'o commences 20 days after the 280 (June 10 to July 1). 

 That author, moreover, remarks that as the new Persian calen- 

 dar adds to every century 22 days, instead of our 24 days, the 

 Nau-roz thus falls behind ours 48 hours in each hundred 

 years. Thus between 1829 and 1879, the New Year's Day 

 should occur between the 28th and 29th August. 



