A DINKA VERSION OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10973, 12 June 1903, Page 6

A DINKA VERSION OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN.

Among the.appen^ice's to Lord* Cromer's reports is' an. interesting note fn the religious beliefs of ' the ; tribes dwelling along the banks of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. -The Dinkas,-it says, though the most, difficult of all tc approach on such subjects, appears to have a modt elaborate, list, of gods and demi-gods. At the head of the divine community are De.ng-Dit (Bain-Giver) ajnd Abok, h»s wife. They hdve two son's, Kur Kongs, .the .elder, ,and, GurungrDit,-; the younger, and a daughter called Ai-Ytik. Their- devil is called L'wal BarrajOk^ and is the father of Abok, the wife of DengDit.. There are other relatives also. Their story of the origin of mankind (or, it may be, i of the Dinkar tribe)' 1 is curious" 1 'and poetical. Deng-Dit gave to his wife Abok a bowjl of fat, and she and her children, softening the fat over the. fire, proceeded' to mould 'from it -men and women iii the image of gods. Deng-Dit warned her against L'wal (the. devil), who i was bubpected of having intentions towards DengDit. But Abok forgot, and with her children went to gather wood in the forset. There L'wal found the bowl, drank thegreater part of the fat, and from the remainder proceeded to mould caricatures of men and women with distorted limbs, mouths, and eyes. Then, fearing the ven-| geance of Deng-Dit, he descended to /earth t by the path wJiich then connected it with ! Heaven. On discovering the result of her neglect, Abok hastened to her husband, who, greatly incensed, started in pursuit ' of L'wal. The latter, f however; had, per-, suaded the bird Ajtoi-toish to bite asunder ! with its bill the path ■ from Heaven- to ■ earth, and he thus escaped from the divine wrath.