148 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XII 
utility rather than beauty. They make baskets for fish, 
and neat cages for quails by plaiting grass. The quail 
cages are quite a feature of their villages; they are 
suspended on long poles hung at .a slant near the 
entrances and each cage contains one quail. AYhen in 
use snares are set in the neighbourhood of the poles and 
the cage-birds are excellent decoys. 
These people have many strange and unmentionable 
customs. Though wives are obtained by purchase, it 
is reofarded as a shameful thino^ if a g:irl is not found to 
tD 00 
The Stone Wall of a Kavirondo Village. 
be a virgin on her wedding day, and this matter has 
to be demonstrated in public. 
As in civilised communities, even the highest, the 
names of children are often suggested by some event 
happening at the time. For example, as Hobley points 
out, when Europeans were great rarities in the country, 
a child born on the day when a caravan camped 
at the village, would often be named after the 
leader of it, if he chanced to be well known. Thus 
Jacksinis, Martinis, and Obilis are very common. 
