number of pigs killed. The dancing and pig-killing and feast are
the same as those of an ordinary mourning-removal ceremony, but on a
larger scale. The pig-killing in this case is done round the platform
or tree on which the chief is buried. The buyer of the pig, who cuts
off the mourning necklace and daubs the face of the chief mourner,
if not a chief, will at all events be a person of importance; but
the ceremonies relating to all these matters are identical with those
already described. There is also the subsequent purification ceremony,
at which wild pigs are killed and eaten as before.

The graves of chiefs' wives and members of their families, and
other persons of special importance, are platform or tree graves,
like those of chiefs, and the funeral ceremonies on the deaths of
these people are very similar to those of chiefs, though they are on
a scale which is smaller, in proportion to the relative smallness
of the importance of the person to be buried; and they are subject
to a few detailed differences, which the difference of the situation
involves. The special magic ceremony for ascertaining if the patient
is or is not going to die is not performed in the case of these people.

CHAPTER XVIII

Religion and Superstitious Beliefs and Practices

Religion and Superstitions.

These are subjects which I should hardly have ventured to introduce
into this book if I had had to rely exclusively upon enquiries made
only during my stay among the Mafulu villages, without having the
benefit of five years' observation by the Mafulu Fathers of the
Mission. And, notwithstanding this additional facility, my notes
on these questions will be found to involve puzzles and apparent
inconsistencies; and there is no part of the book which should be
read and accepted with greater reserve and doubt as to possible
misunderstanding. Subject to this caution, I give the information as
I have obtained it.

I heard nothing to justify the idea of the Mafulu people having
any belief in a universal God or All Father; but there is a general
belief among them in a mysterious individual named _Tsidibe_, who may
be a man, or may be a spirit (they appear to be vague as to this),
who has immense power, and who once passed through their country in
a direction from east to west. Wherever you may be, if you speak of
this personage, and ask to be told in which direction he travelled,
they always point out one which is from east to west.