116 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



certain sum from " the man that killed their daughter." 

 Neither on the continent nor at Zanzibar do they bind with 

 cloth the head of the new-born babe. Twins, here called 

 Wapachd, and by the Arabs of Zanzibar, Shukiil (Jj£^) 

 are usually sold or exposed in the jungle as amongst the 

 Ibos of West Africa. If the child die, an animal is 

 killed for a general feast, and in some tribes the mother 

 does a kind of penance. Seated outside the village, she 

 is smeared with fat and flour, and exposed to the deri- 

 sion of people who surround her, hooting and mocking 

 with offensive jests and gestures. To guard against this 

 calamity, the Wazaramo and other tribes are in the habit 

 of vowing that the babe shall not be shaved till manhood, 

 and the mother wears a number of talismans, bits of 

 wood tied with a thong of snake's skin, round her neck, 

 and beads of different shapes round her head. When 

 carrying her offspring, which she rarely leaves alone, 

 she bears in her hand what is technically called a kiran- 

 gozi, a " guide 99 or " guardian," in the form of two sticks 

 a few inches in length, bound with bands of particoloured 

 beads. This article, made up by the Mganga or medi- 

 cine-man, is placed at night under the child's head, and 

 is carried about till it has passed the first stage of life. 

 The kirangozi is intended to guard the treasure against 

 the malevolent spirits of the dead ; that almost universal 

 superstition, the Evil Eye, though an article of faith 

 amongst the Arabs, the WasawahiH, and the Wamrima, 

 is unknown to the inner heathen. 



A name is given to the child without other celebration 

 than a debauch with pombe : this will sometimes occur 

 at the birth of a male, when he is wanted. The East 

 Africans, having few national prejudices, are fond of 

 calling their children after Arabs and other strangers : 

 they will even pay a sheep for the loan of a merchant's 



