DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0343
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND 327
40. Goner a Iwala mtukuta!
Lying on the rock, heat!
This is a slang expression which in full would read, “ It is nice and warm lying on a
rock in the sun, but it is not so comfortable as being in bed in company with your wife;
you can go on waiting but you won’t get anything.” This might even be said to a dog,
watching as a dog will, every morsel of food lifted to its master’s mouth.
41. Kulupilila mesi ga mbisu!
To have hopes of water for maggots!
It is a custom before lying down to sleep on the floor mat, to take it up and pour boil-
ing water on the earth floor to kill any blood-sucking maggots (Congo floor-maggot,
Auchmeromyia). If you see a pot cooking on the fire, you naturally think there is food
being prepared but you may be disappointed; it may only be the pot for heating the water
to kill the maggots. The saying is thus used to a man who has made an assignation and
is disappointed but goes on waiting.
42. Kuluma upeu!
To bite cockroach-like!
The cockroach is described by natives as going up to what it will eat, remaining quiet
for some moments, and then suddenly taking a bite. This is said of a man who comes up
to you smiling and then hits you a hard blow.
Among the Yao as among other tribes that I have previously mentioned,1 signs of
salutation to a superior are made by clapping the hands or patting the breast or buttock
with one hand, at the same time crouching down. A woman will go off the path and kneel,
looking away from a superior passing along the roadway.
A person going by the door of a hut where others are sitting, will say “Kumlango
kunol At the door here.” Passing behind anyone, he will say “Ku-nyu "ma! At the back!”
Meeting anyone on a path, a man will simply say, “ Icho, here,” adding perhaps, “ Ku~
chele! all is well!” A chief or headman on returning to his village after a journey, is greeted
by the women with trilling of the tongue (Ku-lulutd).
Man and wife do not greet each other in the morning. The wife rises first and draws
water and places it in the hut for the husband’s use but nothing may be said.
When a visitor is entertained and a chicken cooked for a repast, the “ pope’s nose ” is
always for the visitor. The right hand only is used in dipping into the common pot. A
man of small importance, though replete, will go on making pretence of eating at a common
meal by taking very small amounts so that his superior shall finish first, and rise and go
away before him.
I may here add the words used by the Yao for the sounds made by various animals;
they are interesting to compare with those of other languages:
1 ‘ Notes on some tribes of British Central Africa,’ op. cit., p. 291-292.
40. Goner a Iwala mtukuta!
Lying on the rock, heat!
This is a slang expression which in full would read, “ It is nice and warm lying on a
rock in the sun, but it is not so comfortable as being in bed in company with your wife;
you can go on waiting but you won’t get anything.” This might even be said to a dog,
watching as a dog will, every morsel of food lifted to its master’s mouth.
41. Kulupilila mesi ga mbisu!
To have hopes of water for maggots!
It is a custom before lying down to sleep on the floor mat, to take it up and pour boil-
ing water on the earth floor to kill any blood-sucking maggots (Congo floor-maggot,
Auchmeromyia). If you see a pot cooking on the fire, you naturally think there is food
being prepared but you may be disappointed; it may only be the pot for heating the water
to kill the maggots. The saying is thus used to a man who has made an assignation and
is disappointed but goes on waiting.
42. Kuluma upeu!
To bite cockroach-like!
The cockroach is described by natives as going up to what it will eat, remaining quiet
for some moments, and then suddenly taking a bite. This is said of a man who comes up
to you smiling and then hits you a hard blow.
Among the Yao as among other tribes that I have previously mentioned,1 signs of
salutation to a superior are made by clapping the hands or patting the breast or buttock
with one hand, at the same time crouching down. A woman will go off the path and kneel,
looking away from a superior passing along the roadway.
A person going by the door of a hut where others are sitting, will say “Kumlango
kunol At the door here.” Passing behind anyone, he will say “Ku-nyu "ma! At the back!”
Meeting anyone on a path, a man will simply say, “ Icho, here,” adding perhaps, “ Ku~
chele! all is well!” A chief or headman on returning to his village after a journey, is greeted
by the women with trilling of the tongue (Ku-lulutd).
Man and wife do not greet each other in the morning. The wife rises first and draws
water and places it in the hut for the husband’s use but nothing may be said.
When a visitor is entertained and a chicken cooked for a repast, the “ pope’s nose ” is
always for the visitor. The right hand only is used in dipping into the common pot. A
man of small importance, though replete, will go on making pretence of eating at a common
meal by taking very small amounts so that his superior shall finish first, and rise and go
away before him.
I may here add the words used by the Yao for the sounds made by various animals;
they are interesting to compare with those of other languages:
1 ‘ Notes on some tribes of British Central Africa,’ op. cit., p. 291-292.