594 
PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
plenty in tlie water.” I asked him why we could not see it except 
when we stirred the water, and he said : “ The tire is asleep in the 
water, hut when the boys stir it with the oars they disturb it, and it 
•wakes up and runs away.” At this juncture he pointed his finger at 
a glittering swirl made by one of the oars, and as it receded from us 
he said: “ Look ’im, ’e fear, ’e run” ; then waving his hand over the 
dark silent water he said : “ Plenty fire fer dem water, but dis time lie 
sleep.” I asked him how the moon got the fire out of the water and 
took it up into the sky, and he said : M'buiri , meaning, it is a mystery 
that cannot be explained — that is the moon’s secret. 
As a theory l regard this as logical and unique; it is a verdict given 
in accordance with the evidence, showing how closely the facts have 
been observed. For it is true that the lights in the water are always 
in an inverse proportion to that of the moon, and the darker the night 
the brighter the phosphorescence. But the natives do not regard this 
light as of divine origin. To them the moon, the water, and the light 
are all material realities, but their conduct is m'buiri , fetish, secret. 
It is true they have many signs and omens, but they do not amount 
to a belief in any kind of deity; there is no trace of any belief in 
Heaven. In their theology they have no hell or purgatory, nor any 
use for either ; no future rewards or punishments, and no dream of 
ever meeting again after death. When such an idea is advanced to 
them it strikes them as uovel and absurd. 
These people have no idols, but they have images which have been 
mistaken for such, and columns of stuff have been written about them. 
I spent four or five days in a native village, where one of these 
so-called idols is kept, and made a careful search into the belief of the 
people concerning it. 
The image occupies a conspicuous place in the town, and is 
supposed to protect it against thieves. It represents Yassi, and is a 
composite figure, combining both sexes. I asked many questions 
about it from day to day, and received much information concerning 
it and the thing it represents. It is a crude image made of wood. 
From the waist downward it represents a man, while the body is that 
of a woman, with the head of a man. The whole figure is painted a 
dingy white, with black hair, moustache, and a spot on the chin for a 
goatee. The artist appears to have selected a French type or model. 
The eyes are black, and above them is a black double-curved line across 
the forehead. Around each breast is a circle of black, and one around 
each arm. The image stands on the bank of the river, and no one 
could land a canoe without seeing it. fe ‘ 
The sum of what I learned about it was this : — The image has no 
power within itself ; it is simply wood ; but if a thief came into the 
town to steal he would see this image, and it would remind him of 
Yassi, and Yassi can detect a thief. If detected, lie must drink 
m'bundo, and then he will die, for no guilty man can drink it and live. 
It is simply a warning to the intruder ; it is not fetish ; has no power ; 
,is not sacred ; receives no devotion ; but is valued for the services it 
renders the town, in the humble ofiice for which it is designed. 
The same is true of the figures carved on the bows of their 
canoes, for which they usually select the head of a crocodile, a turtle, 
or some other aquatic animal, which is designed to inspire terror in 
the denizens of the water. 
