When Julius Cæsar was landing in Africa with his army, he stumbled and fell. This was an unhappy omen. But his presence of mind gave it another turn. He cried out, “Oh, Africa, I embrace thee”. The less superstitious natives calm their fears by a similar method. While some speak with bated breath of the danger of picking up a buck that died of itself, others say “We always pick them up and eat them, and are very glad to have the chance”. If a superstitious man kick against the stumps, there is no hope for his expedition, he goes back, and the affair is referred to the oracle in the usual way. A man whose heart is set upon a journey is sometimes wicked enough to disregard an unfavourable omen. His men call his attention to it, and he says “Yes, it is a very unlucky thing; we shall go to the oracle as soon as we return!” This is an evasion nearly as bad as that of the Roman General, who, when told by the soothsayer that the sacred chickens would not eat, said that he would make them drink, and kicked them overboard. Whether the consequences to the native that treats the omens in this off-hand manner are always as serious as they were to the Roman we have not heard. The native who has an unfavourable omen is not at ease in his mind; but we think that these superstitions will soon be overcome in the minds of future generations. 17.—ILL-OMENED SNAKES. Some of the strongest superstitions are associated with snakes. If a snake of bad omen, as a sato (python) or a lukukuti, cross the path of a traveller, it is a sign that he will meet with disaster on his journey, and at once he returns to his home. But if the traveller is already on his return journey he does not go back, but goes on to his village expecting to find that everything has gone wrong there. This omen generally betokens a death at the village. If the snake is seen on the right hand, the omen betokens that there is some danger on that side of the road, and similarly if the snake is seen on the left. Regarding this form of superstition, I once asked a native that strongly professed his belief in it, whether he would turn back on meeting a snake in his way if I gave him a letter for Zomba, and told him that it had to go on quickly. He said, “No; he would not turn back when a white man sent him.” Why? “Because,” he said, “you would laugh at me, and ask why I had not brought the snake home for a specimen!” When a sungula (rabbit) crosses the path it betokens that the chief will die. There is a great number of similar superstitions. But it is noteworthy that there is no such superstition about thunder as was among the Romans. To them thunder is ever welcome, associated as it is with refreshing showers.