Now on the Upper Congo among the Boloki it appears that every family has what is called a _liboma_, it may be a pool in the bush, or in the forest, or on an island; it may be a creek, or it may be a Bombax cotton tree; but wherever the _liboma_ may be it is regarded as the preserve of the unborn children of the family. The disembodied spirits (_mingoli_) of the deceased members of the family performed the duty of supplying these preserves with spirit-children to keep their families strong and numerous. They have very misty ideas as to how these _liboma_ are supplied with the spirit-children (or _bingbongbo_), but I have a suspicion that underlying the _liboma_ is some idea of reincarnation—some thought there was a rebirth of certain deceased members of the family, and others thought that the disembodied spirits had spirit-children, and these were sent to the _liboma_ to be endowed in due time with bodies. Now if a man does not have a child by his wife, then she is simply barren (they always think it is the fault of the woman), but there are no sneers, and no shame. The woman takes her sister to her husband, that he may have a child by her. But if a man has one child by a wife, and no more, he thinks someone has bewitched his _liboma_ by taking the family’s stock of children from it and hiding them; or, it may be that the other members of the family have bewitched her so that she may not be able to procure another child from the _liboma_, that there might be more for themselves; if, however, none of the family have more than one child by their wives, then some other family, through hatred or jealousy, has taken by witchcraft the children from their _liboma_ and concealed them, for only the family to which the _liboma_ belongs can give birth to the unborn infant spirits there. Twins are not frequent, but when they do arrive they demand proper treatment and entail more than ordinary care in the observance of certain duties. Three days after the birth of twins (_masa_) the mother takes them in her arms and dances in front of her house before her neighbours, who join in a chorus in which they sing over and over again: “_Masa e maolela_” = the twins cry for you. The mother is decorated with leaves, sprays, and twigs, the same as for an ordinary birth. These are made into garlands for her head, stuck into her waist-belt, and fixed on her wherever it is possible. At this ceremony the names are given, which are the same for every pair of twins, and these names are retained through life. Other folk may change their names according to fancy, but twins never. The first-born is always known as _Nkumu_, and the second as _Mpeya_, and whenever you hear either of these names you know at once that the bearer is one of twins.