THE MAGUNGO. 17 mrissa-drinking, but is accompanied by no ceremonies. Fecundity increases a woman's prestige, and sterility attaches a stigma to her. Polygamy is universal. At the birth of a child no ceremonies are observed except the naming of it by the father ; but if twins are born, and especially if they are of the same sex, the whole village unites in celebrating the happy event. Besides the word for twins, the language contains two special words for the first and second born of them.

The Magungo are very clean and particular in eating and drinking. Corn is very little cultivated in the country, and what little there is (sorghum and eleusine) is used chiefly in the preparation of mrissa. The principal food consists of ‘sweet potatoes (Butatas edulis) and bananas, which are very abundant. Sesame and groundnuts, and more rarely voandzela, are cultivated, and, together with several varieties of wild hibiscus, provide oil and vegetables. Meat is little eaten, the flesh of elephants and hippopotami never, for it causes eruptions on the skin, as also does crocodile flesh. The people are very fond of all kinds of game and fish; they hardly ever eat fowls, and still more rarely eggs.

When any one dies, a shallow trench is dug near to the hut of the deceased, and the body, placed on its right side, and fully clothed, is laid in it, and then it is filled-up. Wailing is the only outward sign of grief. No utensils, &., are put into the grave. The sons and the wives of the father divide the inheritance between them. I saw a most interesting case of puerperal mania in a domesticated negress in the station of Magungo. It was to me a unique experience. In the districts of Unyéro with which I have become acquainted (Shibiro, Magungo, Masindi, Londu, Kistga, Karima, Atada, Fauvera, Koki, Mrili), two entirely distinct languages are spoken, one of which is divided into two perfectly distinct dialects. In Karima and Atada, as also in parts of Fauvera, as well as in the districts bordering on the middle course of the Somerset Nile, the people speak Shifalu, a language perfectly identical with the Shuli language. The negroes who are acquainted with the Shiluk language assert that the Shuli and Shifali languages are identical with it. If this be the case, it is a very interesting fact, considering the distance, and also B