FOOTNOTES:
[1] Author’s Note.—Okukum is the juice extracted from a fungus like a very small mushroom. It is painted on to the skin with a small stick, and is a fight brown liquid paste. Curious designs are made all over the body, the lines running parallel. The paste is then allowed to dry for about a day, and eventually rubs off. By this time the acid has eaten into the skin, and the dark marks remain, showing the pattern for several months. They cannot be washed off by water. The Okuni and Infoit people call this fungus oboma and the Boki people katium. The indigo black markings last less than a week, and the Okuni people call it ebim.
[2] A sort of burrowing bush rat.
[3] Author’s Note.—Koko yams are cooked for several hours. They are boiled in three different waters, and so that each water is steamed away before the fresh water is added. The yams are then left in the pot until the following morning. The ordinary yam is cooked and eaten at once.
[4] The “night” calabash was used by the witches when they were going to kill anyone for their feasts, as it prolonged the night, and the Okuni people still believe when the nights are unusually long that the witches are out with the “night” calabash and are killing people.
[5] These shelters are made out of palm leaves and are quickly put together, but they do not keep out the rain. They are, however, sufficient for the wants of the natives in the dry season.
[6] The native hunters say that if you shout at an iguana he does not move or take any notice, but if you point at him and whisper, “Look, there is an iguana,” he will run away at once. An iguana never runs more than about fifty yards at a time; he then stops to get his breath. If you find him again he will be killed easily, as he cannot run so far a second time; there is, therefore, a second saying amongst the hunters that “A first run is a run for life, and when you are in danger you should run as far as you can before you stop to rest, as when you run the second time you will not be able to go so far.”
[7] The natives believe that when a man whose first-born child is a boy happens to hit a toe on his right foot against a stone on his way to a town, that he will be badly received at that town, but if the toe which is hit by the stone is on his left foot, then the people will welcome him and treat him kindly.
[8] The origin of this saying is, that a man seeing a fine bird sitting on the branch of a tree threw a stone at it, but the stone hit the branch, and as the man was standing underneath the stone came back and hit him.
[9] “’Nda” in the Infor and Inde languages means “elephantiasis.”
[10] The native lamp was of earthenware, with a fibre wick in palm-oil.
[11] The four streams mentioned in this story are still called by the same names, and are well known to the inhabitants of Okuni.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Perceived typographical errors have been changed.