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SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA
The natives remain confined to their huts, abstain from ablutions and almost from food, and even cease to till the land. For several months the body is preserved in a house facing the palace, adorned with a symbolic effigy of the sovereign, to which are religiously offered the usual daily meals. After the limbs have been
Fig. 9. — The king of the Kingdom of Kongo.
first broken and then dried, the remains are covered with a coating of clay and wrapped in strips of cotton and a silk shroud. Everybody contributes his share, until at last the swathed mummy-pack fills the whole width of the mortuary dwelling. When the remains are ultimately borne to the consecrated place of burial, the funeral procession must be made in a straight line, so that all the
