Page:Hausa Proverbs.djvu/105

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Tribal Marks
93

there is a tradition that this is the name of an ancestor common to both Kanuri and Fulani. If this has any foundation, it might be possible to trace the meaning of Afunu to Fulani, in which language funah means east and A-funu might mean "not eastern."

The Kerrikerri name Mugadu is said to mean "Western people."

The natives, however, from whom I got a few words of Kerrikerri, knew Hausa so very imperfectly that it is more than likely that I misunderstood them.

Funeh, or Founey, means East also in Songhai.

Wainu funné means East in Zaberma. (A funn=he goes, or comes, out.)

TRIBAL MARKS.

Tribal marks have not been much studied, and there seems to be very little system in their arrangement. Every man carries the name of his district on his face, and, in addition, there are all kinds of marks and cuts on the limbs and body. These marks are, so to speak, the armorial bearings of a tribe, but whether they have any special meaning, or whether there is any reason for the various patterns, it is impossible to say. Speaking generally, the more uncivilized a tribe the larger the number of marks, though there are many exceptions to this—the Ngaz, for instance, a pagan tribe in Bautchi, have only one cut, a prominent one, like a chinstrap.