The Principal Festivals Are Those Of Circumcision And Of Funeral.

Whenever former ceremony is performed, a vast concourse of people are attracted, from every part of the country, the

Operator being generally a Greegree man, who pretends to determine the future fate of the individual, in the manner by which the operation is performed, but which is always declared to be highly prosperous, if a liberal present has been made. During the performance of the ceremony, the forests appear in a blaze, the most discordant shouts rending the air, intermixed with the sounds of their instruments, composing altogether a tumult, which is heard at the distance of many leagues. The dancing is described as of the most ludicrous kind, marked by those indecencies, which generally distinguish the amusements of the savage tribes. In these sports, the women are always the foremost in the violence of their gestures; the young ones selecting the objects of their affection, to bestow upon them some token of their attachment.

The funeral of their chiefs is a ceremony of great solemnity, and in some of its forms has a strong resemblance to an Irish wake. Flowers of the most odorous scent are buried with the corpse, which is also supplied with a considerable quantity of gold, to assist him on his entrance into the other world, where it is believed, that the degree of happiness, is proportionate to the quantity of gold which the deceased has in his possession. It must, however, be mentioned, that the natives of this part of Africa, appear to be wholly exempt from the stigma, which belongs to some of the other tribes of Africa, in the human victims which are sacrificed at the funerals of their kings or chiefs, and which in some cases amount to three or four hundred. The funerals of the kings of Tenda are conducted with a decorum highly creditable to the people, considering their uncivilised state; and the graves are frequently visited by the relatives of the deceased, to repair any injury, which they may have sustained from the violence of the rains, or the attacks of carnivorous animals.

At all the festivals, a personage called Horey, or which Jobson calls the devil, acts a most conspicuous part, at the same time, that he generally carries on his operations in secret, impressing thereby on the minds of the natives, an idea of his invisibility. The Horey generally takes his station in the adjoining woods, whence he sends forth the most tremendous sounds, supposed to have a very malignant influence on all those who happen to be within hearing. It is, however, a fortunate circumstance for the native, who is so unfortunate as to be within hearing of the Horey's cries, that the method is known, of appeasing the vindictive spirit of the Horey, which is, by placing a quantity of provisions, in the immediate vicinity of the place where his roaring is heard; and if on the following day the provisions have disappeared, which is sure to be the case, the natives are then satisfied that the Horey has been appeased, which, however, lasts only for a short time, for as the appetite of the Horey is certain to return, his cries are again heard, and the provisions are again deposited for his satisfaction.

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