When This Prayer Was Ended He Whispered A Few Sentences In
The Child's Ear And Spat Three Times In Its
Face, after which he
pronounced its name aloud, and returned the infant to the mother.
{4} This part of the
Ceremony being ended, the father of the child
divided the dega into a number of balls, one of which he distributed
to every person present; and inquiry was then made if any person in
the town was dangerously sick, it being usual in such cases to send
the party a large portion of the dega, which is thought to possess
great medical virtues.
Among the negroes every individual, besides his own proper name, has
likewise a kontong, or surname, to denote the family or clan to
which he belongs. Some of these families are very numerous and
powerful. It is impossible to enumerate the various kontongs which
are found in different parts of the country, though the knowledge of
many of them is of great service to the traveller; for as every
negro plumes himself upon the importance or the antiquity of his
clan, he is much flattered when he is addressed by his kontong.
Salutations among the negroes to each other when they meet are
always observed, but those in most general use among the kafirs are,
"Abbe haeretto," "'E ning seni," "Anawari," etc., all of which have
nearly the same meaning, and signify "Are you well?" or to that
effect. There are likewise salutations which are used at different
times of the day, as "E ning somo" ("Good morning"), etc.
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