deserves to be noted that according to a
very good authority a similar sacrifice of foreskins used to be made not
only for the dead but for the living. When a man of note was dangerously
ill, a family council would be held, at which it might be agreed that a
circumcision should take place as a propitiatory measure. Notice having
been given to the priests, an uncircumcised lad, the sick man's own son
or the son of one of his brothers, was then taken by his kinsman to the
_Vale tambu_ or God's House, and there presented as a _soro_, or
offering of atonement, in order that his father or father's brother
might be made whole. His escort at the same time made a present of
valuable property at the shrine and promised much more in future, should
their prayers be answered. The present and the promises were graciously
received by the priest, who appointed a day on which the operation was
to be performed. In the meantime no food might be taken from the
plantations except what was absolutely required for daily use; no pigs
or fowls might be killed, and no coco-nuts plucked from the trees.
Everything, in short, was put under a strict taboo; all was set apart
for the great feast which was to follow the performance of the rite. On
the day appointed the son or nephew of the sick chief was circumcised,
and with him a number of other lads whose friends had agreed to take
advantage of the occasion. Their foreskins, stuck in the cleft of a
split reed, were taken to the sacred enclosure (_Nanga_) and presented
to the chief priest, who, holding the reeds in his hand, offered them to
the ancestral gods and prayed for the sick man's recovery. Then followed
a great feast, which ushered in a period of indescribable revelry and
licence. All distinctions of property were for the time being suspended.
Men and women arrayed themselves in all manner of fantastic garbs,
addressed one another in the foulest language, and practised
unmentionable abominations openly in the public square of the town. The
nearest relationships, even that of own brother and sister, seemed to be
no bar to the general licence, the extent of which was indicated by the
expressive phrase of an old Nandi chief, who said, "While it lasts, we
are just like the pigs." This feasting and orgy might be kept up for
several days, after which the ordinary restraints of society and the
common decencies of life were observed once more. The rights of private
property were again respected; the