The Spirit- Ridden Konde - : A Record Of The Interesting But Steadily Vanishing Customs And Ideas Gathered During Twenty-Four Years' Residence Amongst These Shy Inhabitants Of The Lake Nyasa Region, From Witch Doctors, Diviners, Hunters, Fishers And Every Native Source

The Spirit- Ridden Konde, D R Mackenzie. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1925. First American edition. 8vo up to 9½" tall. xvi, 17-318 pages with index, frontispiece, folding map and 15 plates. 8vo. Blue illustrated cloth boards with gilt stamped figure to front and gilt titles to spine. Subtitled: "A Record Of The Interesting But Steadily Vanishing Customs And Ideas Gathered During Twenty-Four Years' Residence Amongst These Shy Inhabitants Of The Lake Nyasa Region, From Witch Doctors, Diviners, Hunters, Fishers And Every Native Source." Small foxing spots to upper margin area in first 30 pages with plates not affected; light rubbing to board corners and spine edges; otherwise fine without markings, tears or folds, binding is firm and straight with gilt remaining bright. A volume in highly collectible condition.
Contents include: Konde Warfare, Ancestral Spirits, Omens and Portents, Powers of Evil, Sickness and Medicine, Death and Burial, Things Forbidden, Hunting and Fishing, Arts and Crafts, Amusements and Relaxations. The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngonde or Nkonde) are an African ethnic and linguistic group who live in the mountains of southern Tanzania and northern Malawi; the former German East Africa. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of the Bantu language family. In 1993 the Nyakusa population was estimated to number 1,050,000, with 750,000 living in Tanzania and 300,000 in Malawi.