Anniversary offerings are made by all who can afford them, to commemorate the death of their parents. On these occasions sheep, goats, and fowls, are killed in abundance, and the friends and relatives are invited to a grand feast. They believe the spirits of the departed relatives are present, and they often address them as if they were partaking of, and enjoying all their luxuries. This feast generally terminates in the whole party getting into a brutal state of intoxication. Other customs equally absurd are also kept annually; this latter custom is held by the moon, which happened this year on the 11th of April. Its purpose is to ensure to all spirits of departed friends a safe and easy passage across the great waters westward. They mean the river Votta. If this custom were not kept up, they believe the spirits would wander on the banks for the space of one hundred years, before they would have performed sufficient penance for their friends’ neglect. The snake is also a fetish or idol here; and houses are built in several parts of the town for the accommodation of snakes, where they are regularly fed. These houses are about seven feet high in the walls, with conical roof, about eight feet diameter, and circular. The snakes are of the boa-constrictor tribe, and are considered quite harmless, although I have my doubts upon it. They generally leave this house at intervals, and when found by any of the natives, are taken up and immediately conveyed back to the fetish-house, where they are placed on the top of the wall, under the thatch. It is disgusting to witness the homage paid to these reptiles by the natives. When one of them is picked up by any one, others will prostrate themselves as it is carried past, throwing dust on their heads, and begging to be rubbed over the body with the reptile. After taking the snake up, a very heavy penalty is incurred by laying it down, before it is placed in the fetish-house. Wherever a snake is found it must be immediately carried to the fetish-house, whether it has ever been placed there before or not.