06 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WANYORO.

Dreams are also well known to the Wanydro, but it is not usual to interpret them. As oracles, the entrails of fowls are used, which are examined after they have been cleansed from blood and laid in lukewarm water; the augur decides from the colour and form of the convolutions and from any spots upon them. When an inhabitant of Unyoro is intending to travel, he questions the mbandua (magician) on the timeliness of the journey, and makes him a present. The verdict is given from the entrails of a red or black cock, its stomach being slit open while it is alive. If this verdict is unfavourable, the journey is put off The cock is thrown into high grass. When one evening Venus appeared in the sky in all her glory, I asked my companions the name of the star. “Nyanzi ya kwezi,” they called it, “the beloved of the moon.” _ Baker's wife was named by the Wanyoro “Nyinyézi ” (star), or “Nyadwe ” (white pearl). Baker himself “ Mliju” (the man with the beard).

According to Unyoro traditions, elephants and chimpanzees were once men, and the dog too was gifted with speech, but spoke only to his master. I give a literal translation of some of these legends.

Legend of the Elephant—In ancient times a man had an honest son, but he himself was violent, and had taken many cattle from his neighbours. Once upon a time he ordered his son to go and occupy a neighbour’s house; if he did not do so he threatened to kill him. The son went and slept in that house, but found in the early morning that the inhabitants had fled. He durst not return home, whilst by himself he would have starved; so he prayed the ‘ great Magician” to rescue him, and was thereupon, together with the house, turned into an elephant.

Legend of the Chimpanzee-—An honest man had an only daughter, and she was wooed by a neighbour for his son, who had turned out badly. The young couple lived happily for a short time, but when the young wife absented herself occasionally from the house to visit her parents, her husband reproached her with availing herself of this excuse to go after other men. Hach day he treated her worse; so she fled, and returned to her father, to whom she related her misfortune, and