If a Bantu mother has lost two children in succession , the next child born is taken out at dawn and placed on the road , where it is left till a neighbor , usually a woman friend who has gone that way on purpose , picks it up and takes it to its mother who gives a goat in return ; a somewhat similar custom prevails among the Niotic tribes . If a Bantu mother has lost two children in succession , the next child born is taken out at dawn and placed on the road , where it is left till a neighbor , usually a woman friend who has gone that way on purpose , picks it up and takes it to its mother who gives a goat in return ; a somewhat similar custom prevails among the Nilotic tribes .