The large cattle kraals are accordingly
arranged in various quarters in connexion with the great road, and the
entrance of each kraal is a small archway in the strong iron-wood fence
sufficiently wide to admit one ox at a time.
Suspended from the arch is a bell, formed of the shell of the Dolape
palm-nut, against which every animal must strike either its horns or
back, on entrance.
Every tinkle of the bell announces the passage of an ox into the kraal,
and they are thus counted every evening when brought home from pasture.
I had noticed, during the march from Latome, that the vicinity of every
town was announced by heaps of human remains. Bones and skulls formed a
Golgotha within a quarter of a mile of every village. Some of these were
in earthenware pots, generally broken; others lay strewn here and there;
while a heap in the centre showed that some form had originally been
observed in their disposition. This was explained by an extraordinary
custom most rigidly observed by the Latookas. Should a man be killed in
battle the body is allowed to remain where it fell, and is devoured by
the vultures and hyenas; but should he die a natural death, he or she is
buried in a shallow grave within a few feet of his own door, in the
little courtyard that surrounds each dwelling.
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