[45] Is this a survival of the African institution of "sureties" (Yao, ngoswe, see Duff Macdonald, I. 118), or "sponsors," who arrange the marriage? I am not sure whether the custom exists among Negro as well as Bantu tribes. (A.W.)
[46] Cf. Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales, No. xiv., and note, p. 233. (C.S.B.)
[47] See the story of Tangalomlibo in Torrend, Comparative Grammar of S. African Bantu Languages, p. 319, where the cock is chosen as messenger, when the ox and goat are rejected. (A.W.)
[48] [Cf. Miss Kingsley, The Fetish View of the Human Soul, in Folk-Lore, vol. viii., p. 138; also R.E. Dennett, Bavili Notes, ibid., vol. xvi., p. 371.]
[49] [See Folk-Lore of the Negroes of Jamaica, in Folk-Lore, vol. xv., pp. 87, 206, 450, and vol. xvi., p. 68.]
[50] "The" always tends to the pronunciation "de," but it has not been thought advisable to write it so as this might render it liable to confusion with "dé," meaning "is," with its differently sounded vowel. Moreover, it is not quite a true d, but has a pretty lisping sound intermediate between th and d.
[51] For a discussion of this game, perhaps the best-known and most widely-spread of all English singing games, see A.B. Gomme, Traditional Games, vol. ii., p. 149.
[52] To avoid the tiresomeness of contraction marks, "see him ya" has been written in one word. It sounds exactly like senior with an m instead of an n.
[53] [Cf. "Bull in the Park," Gomme, Traditional Games, vol. i. p. 50.]
[54] "Yah?" = Do you hear?