Men, women and children always rinse their hands before eating. This is the more necessary since most foodstuffs are carried from the pot to their mouths by hand. It makes no difference if a man is eating by himself or with company. After the meal the hands are rinsed again and the mouth as well. Men seldom eat with their wives, as a man who does so is jeered at and considered greedy, on the principle that being stronger than his wife he will grab the largest and best portions. Women and children, male or female, eat together, and little boys will eat with little girls, but grown up men practically always eat either by themselves or with men friends. Meals are eaten twice a day regularly, but sometimes more often when food is plentiful. The staple diet is a stiff porridge made of ground flour of manioc (a species of cassava), mealies (maize), red and yellow millet or Kafir corn. A sauce is made of fish, meat, wild spinach or monkey nuts, and the lumps of porridge are dipped in this as detached from the dish. Maize porridge is eaten generally with milk, sweet or sour. Meat and fish are preferred high, but fresh meat and fish are eaten when plentiful. Milk is a very popular form of food, especially in the thick sour form. Many kinds of wild fruit are eaten, as is game when procurable. The Nambove and certain lower classes of the Barozi will eat crocodile, but the better class Barozi turn up their noses at it, as they do at the wild cats which, however, are gladly eaten by the Mambunda. Food is eaten in early morning and towards sundown. The appearance of the new moon means a general holiday. The day after its appearance no one goes to work at the gardens. In former times the “Ngomalume” and “Liwale” dances were danced in the villages of Nalolo and Lialui (the residences of the two biggest Barozi Chiefs) only, by men and women respectively, but this custom is dying out. The ploughing and hoeing of a new ant heap is also the occasion (on the day after the ant heap is ploughed) for a holiday. The belief being that if a holiday is not taken the seeds planted in the new garden will die. This custom does not apply to ant heaps that have ever been ploughed before. Certain tribes under Barozi rule have a custom which refers to the fidelity of their wives, but the Barozi do not make use of this custom. Should a man suspect his wife of infidelity he takes a little ash from the fire and when his wife brings the newly cooked morning food he throws the ash over it and goes out to eat with one of his friends. If the woman happens to be virtuous or, whether virtuous or not, wishes to give the lie to her husband’s suspicions, she shuts herself up in her hut and bewails her lot or sulks, whichever her temperament may lead her to do. If on the other hand, she is unrepentant and reckless, she throws the spoiled food away and goes off and eats with her women friends.