Note See note at end of chapter — Chapter VII · FUNERAL RITES

Note.—The Rev. H. Rowley says that the Mang’anja distinguished between deaths brought about by Mpambe (i.e. those resulting from old age or ‘the ordinary diseases of the country’), and those caused by the mfiti. The former were buried; the latter, as being accursed, rolled in mats and hung up in trees. One cannot help suspecting some confusion here—more especially as violent deaths are reckoned as the work of the mfiti,—a word which this writer translates by ‘evil spirit’—thus introducing another element of misconception. Dr. Hetherwick, in a communication received since this chapter has been in type, says: ‘The Yaos lay their dead with their faces to the east, and with the knees bent to the chin. This is the invariable rule, and so the niche which they make in the side of the grave to receive the corpse is dug out on the west side of the pit. The turning of the face to the east is interesting. At old Kapeni’s funeral one of his men went into the grave after the body was laid in its place, and fired an arrow up into the air. I have never found any explanation of this rite. It is not done on any other occasion that I have note of.’