_Dosita_, "lift your spoon." Others seem to be given by way of reproach,
as _Bammakoo_, "wash a crocodile;" _Korankalla_, "no cup to drink from,"
&c. A child is named when it is seven or eight days old. The ceremony
commences by shaving the infant's head; and a dish called _Dega_, made of
pounded corn and sour milk, is prepared for the guests. If the parents
are rich, a sheep or a goat is commonly added. The feast is called _Ding
koon lee_, "the child's head shaving." During my stay at Kamalia, I was
present at four different feasts of this kind, and the ceremony was the
same in each, whether the child belonged to a Bushreen or a Kafir. The
schoolmaster who officiated as priest on these occasions, and who is
necessarily a Bushreen, first said a long prayer over the _dega_; during
which every person present took hold of the brim of the calabash with his
right hand. After this, the schoolmaster took the child in his arms, and
said a second prayer, in which he repeatedly solicited the blessing of
God upon the child and upon all the company. When this prayer was ended,
he whispered a few sentences in the child's ear, and spit three times in
its face; after which he pronounced its name aloud, and returned the
infant to the mother. This part of the ceremony being ended, the father
of the child divided the _dega_ into a number of balls, one of which he
distributed to every person present. And inquiry was then made if any
person in the town was dangerously sick, it being usual in such cases to
send the party a large portion of the _dega_, which is thought to possess
great medical virtues.[16]

[16] Soon after baptism, the children are marked in different parts
of the skin, in a manner resembling what is called tattowing in the
South Sea Islands.

Among the Negroes, every individual, besides his own proper name, has
likewise a _kontong_, or surname, to denote the family or clan to which