seem probable. At the present day the help of the "stenter" is sought in any case, whether veterinary or otherwise, where it is required; and it is claimed, and indeed firmly believed in the district, that it is always successful. Two such cases were cited to me, one of a wounded horse, and the other of hæmorrhage from the lungs of a consumptive patient.

There are physical reasons, connected with the cessation of ill-directed attempts to staunch the bleeding during the absence of the messenger in search of the "stenter," which one could bring forward to account for the usual success of his charm ; but they only accentuate the fact that his loss will be as great to the district as to the student of folk-lore. It may be added that the "stenter" does not visit the patient. The verse is openly pronounced wherever he may be working when found, and the assurance that it will be found effectual on the return of the messenger is added. The verse, which is the essential part of the charm, next to the personal element, was freely communicated to the doctor by the way; there being no "professional jealousy" in the matter on either side.1

Black Torrington still keeps up the ancient custom of "Skimmington riding," when some village scandal is to be held up to public reprobation. A very full and accurate description of such a function may be read in the Rev. S. Baring-Gould's Red Spider, the scene being laid in a village close at hand, and the ritual observed being that still in use. Notices for such a "meet of the stag-hounds," held in the spring of 1906, were posted in places so far distant as Bideford, the route to be taken by the "hunt" being given in disguised writing. I myself saw the ride, but imperfectly, through the "dimpsies." It was exactly the Red Spider episode, though the full details there given are perhaps collected from several occasions of the sort.

Akin to this expression of popular feeling on the subject of marital inconstancy is the old Essex custom of strewing chaff on the doorstep of a man who is known to have beaten his wife, in token that his "threshing" is public talk.

A milder hint of the same kind is the West Somerset

custom of displaying a broom over the door of a man whose wife is absent for what seems to the neighbours to be an unreasonable time. It is said to be "an advertisement for a housekeeper." A broom decorated with ribbons was found thus suspended over a door in Watchet, one morning in the spring of 1907.

"Thicky Twelfth Night is not the hraight day for wassailing of the arpul-drees. Her should be doned on Old Twelfth Night, not on Old Christmas Day," said an ancient sage of Stockland in January 1908.

C. W. WHISTLER.

PUTTING LIFE INTO AN IDOL.

(Communicated by Mr. G. H. Skipwith.)

"I WAS overcome with hunger when visiting a remote Buddhist temple [in China] . . . But an artist who was regilding the belly of the Buddha of the Future . . . shared his meal with me. . . . I learnt from my friend and benefactor many curious facts as to idol-making.

"A conscientiously made idol is not complete when the outward form and features are finished. Bags of white and red silk representing the human intestines have to be put into the hollow of the body, and also packets of precious and mysterious substances. Then a living animal, such as a centipede or a mouse, is introduced and immured, so as to give life to the image. The eyes are left blank until the divinity has been placed in the position which he is going to occupy in the temple. Then the pupils are painted in, and the process of god-making, or deification, is complete." ("Letters from the Far East, No. II.," by Sir Charles Eliot, K.C.M.G.: Westminster Gazette, Nov. 27, 1906.)

A PIN-OFFERING.

THE following excerpt from the Church Times of Sep. 13th, 1907, is, I think, worth recording. The writer after giving some description of the Norman building called St. Aldhelm's Chapel, Worth, Isle of Purbeck, goes on to say: "Mr. Moule tells us that, during the time of its dilapidation, it was the custom of the parishioners of Worth, on Thursday in Whitweek, to visit this building, deck it with flowers, and dance therein; it used at that time to pass by the name of the Devil's Chapel. There was an old custom, still maintained, of placing a pin in an opening of the central shaft, accompanying the action with a silently expressed wish. When visiting the building on two occasions last August, about a dozen pins were noticed in the aperture, which is not to be wondered at, since all the cheap guide-books exploit its fame in this direction. On my last visit a young lady, apparently of some refinement and education, entered the fabric, at once proceeded to the pin-hole, and deposited her contribution, at the same moment closing her eyes with a rapt expression of countenance, whilst her lips moved as she mutely made her wish."

Cambridge University Museum.

G. MONTAGU BENTON.

NOTES ON SOME CUSTOMS OF THE BANGALA TRIBE,
UPPER CONGO.

I. DURING the first few hours after the death of a woman nearly all her female neighbours cry as though their hearts were broken, but the next day they commence dancing, and continue to do so at short intervals, for five or six days. The husband hires a professional dancer to act as master of the ceremonies.

II. In the farm of the dead woman a ring is made by throwing up a bank of earth, and in this ring are placed the saucepans,

her farm produce. No one would think of using the goods, etc., belonging to a dead person.

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III. One day I saw an old woman whom I knew very well sitting in the centre of a ring of fire, and upon inquiry I found that she had had much to do with preparing a corpse for burial, and at the close of the ceremony she was purified by the fire being lit around her. In my unpublished Dictionary of the Ngala language I have the following word and its explanation: Tumbujela, to purify a person who has touched a dead body by fire. A ring of fire made of small sticks encircles the person, who takes a leaf, dries it, crushes it in the fist, and sprinkles it on the fire, moving the hands over the fire ring; when the fire goes out the nganga takes hold of the person by the little finger and lifts his or her arm (amobili loboko), and the person comes from the fire-circle purified.”

IV. Walking one day in the Monsembe village I saw an incident that recalled Tam o' Shanter to my mind. There had been a death in the family, and the relatives had just performed all the necessary rites and ceremonies, and were returning to their houses. A small trench some 20 feet long was dug with a hoe. The relatives took up their position on the side of the trench nearest to the new grave, the nganga (witch-doctor) stood on the other side, and his assistant was placed at the end of the trench with a large calabash of water. At a signal the water was poured into the trench, and while it was running the nganga took each person by the hand and, mumbling an incantation, pulled him or her over the running water. When all had been pulled over one by one the water was allowed to continue to run until the calabash was empty. I asked the reason of the ceremony, and they told me that it was to keep the spirit of their buried relative from following them.

V. The favourite medieval mode of injuring an enemy by sticking pins into his image is represented on the Upper Congo. This I discovered through two men quarrelling outside my house at Monsembe. On inquiring into the cause of the quarrel, A told me that it had been reported to him that B had visited a witchdoctor in the bush-town, and had paid him to boil a saucepan

then he (B) had repeatedly stabbed the image. So A charged B with wanting to cause his death. B denied the charge and wished A to go with him to the witch-doctor, who would tell him that he did not stab A's image but someone else's.

VI. A few days ago I had the opportunity of seeing a rather complicated discussion and cross-accusation settled to the satisfaction of all the natives present by the parties concerned drinking, or rather eating, the ordeal.

The trial took place on neutral ground, i.e. in a section of the town midway between the sections in which the parties concerned lived. The court house was a wide-spreading wild fig-tree that cast a shade over the whole gathered crowd, which formed an oblong figure. The plaintiff stood at one end with his supporters, the defendant at the other with his, and the two sides were occupied by neutrals and sympathisers. The case was as follows: The plaintiff had two slaves who ran away, and after some days he heard that these slaves had gone away in a canoe belonging to the defendant, so he accused the latter of aiding and abetting their escape, and wanted him to pay him for them. The defendant, on the other hand, wanted the plaintiff to pay him back a canoe or the price of it, as he said it had been stolen by the plaintiff's slaves. For three hours they discussed the matter and tried to arrange an amicable compromise. This, however, was impossible, as each wished to get the best of the bargain. From the nature of the case it was impossible to call witnesses, although many persons spoke on either side. At last it was decided that the parties should take the nka (ordeal drug). Each was so confident of the righteousness of his claims that he was willing and eager to eat a portion of the poisonous drug to support it. The plaintiff was a short, thick-set young man troubled with elephantiasis, and from that and his apparent nervousness he was greatly handicapped in the trial. The defendant was a tall, thin, wiry man about fifty years of age, who had, I think, often taken the nka before, and was inured to it.

The nka is the outer skin of the rootlets of a tree that grows up the Lulanga River-a tributary that enters the Congo River