[22] Baba = ‘father.’
[23] This is not usually done except on ceremonial occasions, or in case of great need, when fire can be procured in no other way. A fire is kept up through the night, and there are sure to be at least some embers in the morning, which can be blown into flame; or, if it should have gone out in one hut, they can nearly always fetch fire from another.
[24] The ‘undertakers,’ or adzukulu.
[25] The mapondera is paid for his services after the conclusion of the trial, and those who recover, and so turn out to have been falsely accused, are entitled to liberal compensation. This has to be paid by the heir.
[26] Literally ‘playing’—the word is used both for games and dances.
[27] Dictionary, s.v. Masewera.
[28] I have never been able to discover any other meaning but this for chinguli, which, moreover, I have never heard in any other connection. The usual word for this kind of top is nguli, or nanguli; chi being the augmentative prefix. Another version says rather vaguely that ‘he cut out a tree,’ and made his sister go into it. Evidently the function of the chinguli is the same as that of the magic carpet in the Arabian Nights. In the Fiote story of ‘Ngomba’s Balloon,’ given by Mr. Dennett, a basket of some sort seems to be endowed with magical powers. The song should be read phonetically (giving the vowels their German or Italian value), with the accents as marked: the e in nde, nde, nde (a meaningless refrain) is like that in our word ‘end.’
[29] Chants et Contes des Baronga, pp. 70-71.
[30] Each of these clans appears to have a mwiko with regard to some animal, but the subject has not yet been sufficiently investigated.
[31] According to one authority, the unit is the mzinda, which comprises all the villages having the same unyago or nkole. Others merely translate mzinda, ‘head village,’ or ‘capital’; but it seems to be the capital not of the Rundo but of the sub-chief.