The bearers had a
special hut in the king's enclosure in order to be at hand the moment
they were wanted.[9] Among the Bakuba or rather Bushongo, a nation in
the southern region of the Congo, down to a few years ago persons of the
royal blood were forbidden to touch the ground; they must sit on a hide,
a chair, or the back of a slave, who crouched on hands and feet; their
feet rested on the feet of others. When they travelled they were carried
on the backs of men; but the king journeyed in a litter supported on
shafts.[10] Among the Ibo people about Awka, in Southern Nigeria, the
priest of the Earth has to observe many taboos; for example, he may not
see a corpse, and if he meets one on the road he must hide his eyes with
his wristlet. He must abstain from many foods, such as eggs, birds of
all sorts, mutton, dog, bush-buck, and so forth. He may neither wear nor
touch a mask, and no masked man may enter his house. If a dog enters his
house, it is killed and thrown out. As priest of the Earth he may not
sit on the bare ground, nor eat things that have fallen on the ground,
nor may earth be thrown at him.[11] According to ancient Brahmanic
ritual a king at his inauguration trod on a tiger's skin and a golden
plate; he was shod with shoes of boar's skin, and so long as he lived
thereafter he might not stand on the earth with his bare feet.[12]
[Certain persons on certain occasions forbidden to touch the ground with
their feet.
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