Wide And
Neat Paths Were Made In The Burying-Ground On Its Eastern And
Southern Sides.
A grand old fig-tree stood at the north-east corner,
and its wide-spreading branches threw their kindly shade over the
last resting-place of the dead.
Several other magnificent trees grew
around the hallowed spot. Mounds were raised as they are at home,
but all lay north and south, the heads apparently north. The graves
of the sexes were distinguished by the various implements which the
buried dead had used in their different employments during life; but
they were all broken, as if to be employed no more. A piece of
fishing-net and a broken paddle told where a fisherman lay. The
graves of the women had the wooden mortar, and the heavy pestle used
in pounding the corn, and the basket in which the meal is sifted,
while all had numerous broken calabashes and pots arranged around
them. The idea that the future life is like the present does not
appear to prevail; yet a banana-tree had been carefully planted at
the head of several of the graves; the fruit might be considered an
offering to those who still possess human tastes. The people of the
neighbouring villages were friendly and obliging, and willingly
brought us food for sale.
Pursuing our exploration, we found that the northern part of the lake
was the abode of lawlessness and bloodshed. The Mazite, or Mazitu,
live on the highlands, and make sudden swoops on the villages of the
plains.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 325 of 505
Words from 87752 to 88008
of 136856
