^{page 124 note 2} See Zahan, D., ‘Aperçus sur la pensée théogonique des Dogon’, Cahiers lnternationaux de Sociologie, iv, 1949, pp. 113–33Google Scholar; Dieterlen, G., Essai sur la religion bambara, 1951, p. xiii.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 3} We want to thank here all the informants who worked with us.

^{page 124 note 4} This ceremony was last performed in 1954, when we were able to witness and study it closely.

^{page 124 note 5} See Dieterlen, G., ‘Parenté et Mariage chez Dogon’, Africa, xxvi, 2, 1956, pp. 107–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 125 note 1} The lineage name is Masaré and the dyamu is Keita (litt. ‘who has taken all things’); the dyamu was first given to Soundiata and his descendants cannot officially use it before they are twenty-two years old.

^{page 125 note 2} See also Monteil, G., ‘Réflexions sur le problème des Peuls’, Journal de la Société des Africanistes, xx, 2, 1950.Google Scholar

^{page 125 note 3} When he goes to Mande, a Dogon is called Keita and a Mossi is called Traoré.

^{page 125 note 4} The Dogon organized in a restricted area a geographical representation of the myth. In the Sanga region, the course of the Gona is divided into sections and marked by rocks for a distance of four miles in imitation of the River Niger from Kaba to Akka. Caves in which the initiates undergo instruction have been made in a section called Ka, and rituals are performed all along the stream. The whole Dogon myth is to be published in Le Renard Pâle tome i, by M. Griaule and G. Dieterlen. For the Bambara, see Dieterlen, G., Essai sur la religion Bambara, 1951Google Scholar, chap. 1.

^{page 125 note 5} During a first journey in the Mannogo, the laboratory-boat belonging to the National Centre for Scientific Research, these facts were verified on the spot. The place-names on the Niger reveal th unity of the system: Tamani, Dyaka, Nyamina ar words whose native etymology is closely linked with the events referred to later in this article.

^{page 126 note 1} Bambara call the creator God Ngala (and sometimes Bemba).

^{page 126 note 2} Bambara call these two varieties of Digitaria, fini wele-wele and fini ba.

^{page 126 note 3} The scientific names of these fishes are Heterobranchus bidorsalis, fot the mannogo ble, which the Bambara call polyo ble, and Clarias senegalensis for the mannogo fi.

^{page 127 note 1} See page 125.

^{page 127 note 2} The same idea appears among some Sudanese peoples who believe that man has the shape of a fish in his mother's womb during the first months of gestation.

^{page 127 note 3} faro bwora dyë lamin kuru si ya bwora kaba mande fe.

^{page 127 note 4} Litt. ‘old pool’ or ‘big pool’, also called nyame ko ba, from Nyame, the present name of a nearby village.

^{page 127 note 5} Such forces are double: the male dya of a man goes with the animal tabooed for his lineage while the female dya stays under water, under Faro's power; a similar combination stands for women, the dya sexes being reversed.

^{page 128 note 1} Before sowing, the gwa tigi (head of the family) recalls this event. He starts the ceremony by saying: ‘nko, I speak’.

^{page 128 note 2} The tana of the Kela bards today is a similar staff and is made of the same wood.

^{page 128 note 3} On the essential part played by the fish in the growing of crops see below, p. 136.

^{page 128 note 4} There are two original varieties of maize as there are of eleusine: kaba sagada ule, ‘the red corn which arrived first’, and kaba satabe, ‘corn that arrived later on’.

^{page 128 note 5} It is said that this first field is still used and that the crops harvested there have to be kept in a special granary. The custodian of the blõ, who is the patriarch in Kri Koro, is responsible for it, but sowing and harvesting are done by everybody. During the harvest meal made of fani berere, fani ba and sañõ is poured into the pool before the custodian and the village patriarchs may eat the first crops.

^{page 128 note 6} ‘Sigi dolo and Faro are alike’, the Keita say, for Sirius is also called Faro dolo. If Sirius shines bright during the sowing, there will be ‘lots of rain and lots of millet’. Ñõ dolo and dyi dolo are also called by the Bambara fani dolo and keningt dolo, ‘sorghum star’. The sorghum seed symbolizes, for them, all the seeds Pemba could not succeed in growing.

^{page 129 note 1} The way the eleusine seeds are now sown is copied from the way Mousso Koroni scattered her seeds all along her way.

^{page 129 note 2} i.e. the winter solstice.

^{page 129 note 3} The seeds sown in the fields produced the calabash called fle or file which is used for offerings to the river.

^{page 129 note 4} For the various signs used by the Keita, see ‘Signes des Keita’, in Griaule, M. and Dieterlen, G., Signs graphiques soudanais, 1951.Google Scholar

^{page 130 note 1} The fish called ngarakasa preceding them.

^{page 131 note 1} We have not yet secured an exhaustive list of these places; the names of the villages where the 22 faro tyn located between Koulikoro and Mopti are to be found are: Koulikoro, Kamané, Nyamina, Mignon, Tamani, Sama, Segou, Koukou, M'Péba, Markala, Sansanding, Sama (the second), Senenkoun, Siranin koro, Macina, Touara, Koumaré, Dyafarabé, Noukoun, Saouné, Ngoni, Mopti.

^{page 131 note 2} The faro dundun is made of lange, dyala, dogora, or si wood and is shaped like the smith's hammer. The smith invented it for the funeral of the first man to die. For the part played by the faro dundun in marriage rituals, see Dieterlen, G., ‘Les rites symboliques du mariage chez les Bambara’, Zaïre, viii, 8, 1954.Google Scholar

^{page 132 note 1} The word is a synonym for kaba.

^{page 132 note 2} About the revelation of this word, see below, p. 133.

^{page 132 note 3} See below, p. 134.

^{page 132 note 4} bunã tu la faro dona bunã. According to some information which is not yet complete, the field is now drowned by the Ouallado Debo ‘in which one cannot grow seeds any more’. The publishing of such information is postponed until further inquiries have been made. A pembele is said to have been found in Bounan together with a thing called ‘iron canoe’, recalling Faro's ark. Bounan is said to be derived from the word ‘buguna’ which means ‘to brood over’.

^{page 132 note 5} akka faro kamankolouhiri.

^{page 132 note 6} We have not so far identified the place previously called Baka by the Keita of Mande. Further investigations are being pursued. Baka means ‘Ka's mother.’

^{page 132 note 7} bozo faro dya. The name of the first Bozo is supposed to be Binakinaki, from which is derived the name Bounakinak, often given by the Keita to this people.

^{page 133 note 1} Prosopis africana.

^{page 133 note 2} Popular etymology.

^{page 133 note 3} It is also said that while he was playing ‘the bard walked along the river from Tamani, female, to Sama, male’, i.e. a distance equal to the length of the ark. His journey also symbolizes the peregrinations of the bards today.

^{page 133 note 4} mana fi ñõ si ye, an ka hakili to ñõño.

^{page 133 note 5} At Do there is said to be a deserted village located near the present Segala Bozo.

^{page 134 note 1} The patriarch of Akka was to be in charge of the sanctuary, decorated with paintings in four colours, which contains the tama, on both sides of which annual offerings of eleusine are made. In Bounan an annual sacrifice is performed before the communal fishing, because it is said that ‘if the place is not purified Faro does not give any fish’: more investigations on this subject should be carried out.

^{page 134 note 2} As among the Dogon, the instrument is more properly made of four different woods, each one being a symbol, since vegetation is linked with resurrection.

^{page 134 note 3} bana marks Nounou's stop by the hill, kulu.

^{page 134 note 4} Moving east towards the sun and sigi dolo which she hoped to reach.

^{page 134 note 5} A yearly sacrifice is still performed on his grave at the time of sowing.

^{page 134 note 6} These are the balãzã, the ñogoñogo, the dyala, and so, symbols of Faro's resurrection, as are all plants.

^{page 135 note 1} At the present time, when a hunter kills a dage a ceremony is held at which the hunters dance to honour him.

^{page 135 note 2} According to information received but not yet checked, there are snakes modelled in clay in the cave where sacrifices are performed.

^{page 135 note 3} This part of the myth is more developed among the Dogon but a discussion of it is outside the scope of this paper. It has been described in an article by the author published in Africa (see note 5, p. 124 above).

^{page 136 note 1} Before the animals make the crossing, sacrifices are performed by Bozo who carry in canoes the animals too young to swim.

The most ancient Bozo lineage recognized in the Diafarabé area is the Salamenta lineage from the village of Kara; Salamenta are Keita (according to information from Mr. Daget, Head of the Hydrobiology Laboratory of Diafarabé, I.F.A.N.). Salamenta used to pay a tribute of fish to the Traoré from Dya who once ruled the area.

^{page 136 note 2} Such ceremonies were observed in Pelengena, Bambougou, Tchongoni, Sansanding, and Diafarabé (night ceremony) as well as in Banankoro and Bambougou (day ceremony) in 1953, ‘54, and ‘55.