[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

DEATH AND DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD 577
" BEMEFS CONCEKNING THE SOUL
. The soul of a man is called nininin in Lambumbu and Laravat,
and this word is it seems sometimes used to indicate the spiritual
double of those material objects which are supplied for the use
of the ghost in the Land of the Dead. Nilemah, on the other
hand, appears to be used, as is the Seniang mtemu, for the ghost
or visible form of a dead ma.n’s soul.
- Ghosts are very much feared by the people of these districts
and many precautions are taken to prevent them from troubling
the living. The rites of speeding the departure of the ghost
of one who has recently died performed during the funeral
ceremonies, and the erections set up for its temporary occupation
that it may not haunt the houses, have already been described.
But these are not all. When a man dics and is buried, any of
his water which he has leit undrunk is pl2LCOd on the grave in
the vessels containing it. This is done partly that the ghost,
who is believed to visit his gravc for some time after death, may
have water to drink; and partly in order by this means to
get rid of the water, for should any living person drink some of
it by mistake he, too, would die. This is but an extension of the
belief that the consumption of any food which has been touched
by a ghost will cause death. It is held that, since some oi’ this
water was drunk shortly before death, there is a strong probability
that it has been contaminated by the ghost. It is interesting to
notice that here the ghost is believed to drink the actual water,
not its “ spiritual â€ù essence only, the diminution by evaporation
being thus accounted for. If there is no decrease in its volume,
then the ghost cannot have drunk.
During the days in which the relatives of a dead man watch
by his grave, it is said that the ghost appears to them by night
moving towards it from the door of the house like a shadow.
On seeing the ghost, a man experiences an eerie sensation : his
HAIR rises on his head and his flesh quivers.
Even after the ghost has gone to the Land of the Dead it
may return to harass the living. That of a peaceful, law-abiding
person is regarded as harmless and ineffective, but the ghosts
ct» men who i.n their life-time were noted soreerers or warriors
remain especially powerful; they are able to cause and cure
sickness, and to inflict death. As we have seen, it is the ghost
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