NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 445 
is supposed to keep out the witch who has caused the death and who now 
wishes to eat the flesh of her victim and may come there in the shape of a 
hyena to dig up the body. 
As to the articles buried with the body:—Amongst the Wa-yao if the 
deceased is a rich man a small portion of his ivory is ground to powder and 
handfuls of beads are smashed up before they are put into the grave. This 
appears to be done with the double object of preventing thieves from robbing 
the graves and also of “ killing” the articles put in so that they may accompany 
the deceased to the spirit world. In like manner his pots and drinking vessels 
have holes drilled through them or are broken, and likewise added to the stock 
of utensils in the grave. 
Where the custom is carried out of killing slaves to accompany the deceased 
on his journey the grave is of course a very much larger one, and the slaves are 
either buried alive or have their throats cut and their bodies are laid at the 
bottom of the grave. On them the body of the deceased reposes. 
Amongst many of the tribes of the Nyasa-Tanganyika plateau, of Tangan¬ 
yika and elsewhere to the west, the corpse is usually left in the grave (which 
is a round hole about five feet deep) for ten lunar months, after which time it is 
taken up at midnight and the bones (for by this time it is practically reduced 
to a skeleton) are carried to one of the sacred clumps of forest on the high hills 
in the neighbourhood, a forest to which only the sorcerers and medicine men go. 
Forests all over the country are used for burial, either for the bestowal of bones 
or for the interment of the undisturbed corpse. Consequently natives often 
oppose one’s exploration of the thick jungle just where it is most attractive to 
the botanist—more I think because they do not wish you to come to any harm 
by offending the spirits than because they are shocked at your profanity. 
Sometimes when I have explained to them I merely wished to go there to 
gather flowers they have raised no objections, although I remember in one case 
a strong protest being uttered against my taking away some gorgeous yellow 
blossoms from a shrub which grew in one of these native cemeteries. 
Among the Awa-wamdia of North-West Nyasa the bones after they are 
disinterred are burned ; they are not thrown into the forest. A great festival 
takes place when the bones are burnt, at which a quantity of native beer is 
drunk. 
Amongst the Awa-ndali of North-West Nyasa the corpse is interred outside 
the hut in which the person has died, at one side of the door. A grass covering 
is put over the mound. Should, however, any member of the deceased’s 
family become ill within a year, the misfortune is attribued to the deceased, 
and to obviate any further harm the nearest relative of the person there buried 
digs up the bones at midnight and carries them to the dense bush where they 
are deposited. Dr. Cross writes :—“ I have gone into several of the thick 
clumps of trees in this country and have found the ground covered with 
human bones.” 
All the Wankonde peoples are particular about their mourning customs. 
The banana trees which may have belonged to the deceased during his life are 
cut down. His or her pots and baskets are broken or destroyed and the home 
is often left to decay. But the dead are not forgotten. The grave is usually 
marked by a small grass covering (this also applies to the Wa-yao and the 
A-nyanja), and from time to time the relatives place on this mound little baskets 
of meal or pots of native beer. I remember after the capture of Zarafi’s strong¬ 
hold (which was a very large rambling Yao village up in the mountains) there 
