UGANDA JOURNAL.


one was bulit for his father, the other for his mother. In a village called Kongo,
west of Parabongo, among the tribesmen of Pagak, I found two temples erected
to the memory of a certain man's parents. Their size was exactly the same.
(Fig. 4)
 Not far from the famous mountain of Kilak, among the villages of Kulu-
nyang, close by the people of Pabo, I saw two Abila erected to a father and a
mother, and they were not of the same size. Two others, similar to those of
Kulunyang were observed near Mt. Ato. In the erection of these, it is well to
note that the A bila dedicated to the mother is in some cases to the left, and in
others to the right. In the case of the Abila pa kwaro (ancestors) there is not
always one for the ancestors, but not infrequently each of the ancestors has one
for himself, beginning with the grandfather. At Pabo and at Pagak Abila are
arranged in this order. First that of the old chief Boo: second that of the great-
grandfather; this is followed by that of the father, and last of all is that of the
mother. This last was found in its rudimentary stage. The chief's was the greatest,
and the sizes diminished in the descending order.
 At Atyak I saw an Abila made of three small huts. The one in the middle
was the smallest, and it was dedicated to the father. The one to the right was
for the chief of the clan, and the one to the left was for the grand-father. (Fig. 5)
 Such are the ancestors to whom the common people ordinarily dedicate
Abila. It is not clear whether the Abila dedicated to the chiefs is intended for
the immediate predecessor, or for the first member of the dynasty. It may even
be for the most illustrious member, or for several chiefs conjointly. It was at
Atyak that I saw a temple in an old village, which was dedicated to the fourth
king of the dynasty-Labongo Lawierut; there was another to the last king, Olya.
 All these Abila of which mention has been made, must be considered not
as real dwelling places for the souls of the ancestors, but simply as places of
shelter and of rest.
 I would like to introduce here another argument in support of this opinion.
This argument is taken from the very name which the natives give to their
small temples. The name Abila, is a derivation of the verb biilo which means "to
taste." From this we are to understand that the souls of the ancestor or ancestors
come to taste the food which has been offered to them, with the solemn rites
incidental thereto. Simply that, and not that they live there. As was stated in
one of the preceding paragraphs, if the Abila were the dwelling place, and not
a place to which the ancestors come only from time to time, it is difficult to ex-
plain the fact that they abandon the Abila or simply let it fall into disrepair. They
do neglect the Abila for years on end, and only rebuild it when the ceremonies
are to be re-enacted.
 And in this latter case how could they hope to receive protection which
had been sought from the ancestors, on the occasion of the opening ceremonies
of the Abila?
 Here is a second argument. When an evil befalls a village, or when
some one becomes ill and the Ajwaka is called in to give an explanation or