Northernbantu PDF

PRINCETON, N. J.
Q
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Cambrtoge 3rcbaeoIogical anti ethnological Verted
THE NORTHERN BANTU

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King of Banyoro, with his chiefs, in modern Arab dress
(2)
:
THE NORTHERN BANTU

AN ACCOUNT OF SOME CENTRAL AFRICAN
TRIBES OF THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE
BY
V
JOHN ROSCOE, M.A.
RECTOR OF OVINGTON, NORFOLK
FORMERLY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY
Cambridge
at the University Press
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;
PREFACE
a former work I described at some length the Baganda 1
IN ,
Bantu tribe of Central

the most advanced and most powerful
Africa: in the present work I give a more summary account
of some other important and far less known Bantu tribes in
the Uganda Protectorate. Like its predecessor, this volume
is based on observations made and notes taken by me during
the many years when I resided in Central Africa in the service

of the Church Missionary Society. Being stationed at Mengo,
the capital of Uganda, I naturally had most facilities for
acquainting myself with the Baganda, among whom I lived
but even at Mengo I enjoyed many opportunities for acquiring
a knowledge of other tribes of the Protectorate, and I availed
myself of my vacations to visit them in their own countries
and investigate customs and beliefs by personal converse
their
with the natives. My acquaintance with the Bantu languages
enabled me in every case to dispense with an interpreter: all
the information concerning Bantu tribes presented to the
reader in this, as in my former, volume was obtained at first
hand from the people in their own language. Yet I am well

aware that the account which I have given of these tribes,
other than the Baganda, is fragmentary and incomplete the :
short time which I could devote to the study in my vacations

precluded the possibility of a thorough investigation. I feel
that I have done little more than scratch the surface of a
wide and fruitful field, which will yield an abundant harvest
1 The
Baganda, an Account of their Native Customs and Beliefs.
Macmillan & Co., London, iqii.
vi PREFACE
to those who may have the good fortune to cultivate it here-

after. For the tribes in question are as yet comparatively
little known and they represent a great variety of stages in
social, mental, and material evolution, from the aquatic and

fishing Bakene, through the pastoral Bahima and Banyoro,
to the almost purely agricultural Bagesu and Basoga. In the
Bakene, living actually on the water of the lakes and rivers,
we see the modern equivalents of the lake dwellers of ancient
Europe : in the pastoral tribes, with their cows, we trace a
sort of reflection of the Hebrew patriarchs with their wandering
flocks and herds; while from the primitive agricultural tribes
we seem to catch a glimpse of our remote ancestors tilling
the patches of soil which they had cleared in the vast primaeval
forests. Again, a knowledge of the cannibal Bagesu, dwelling
on the slopes of the mighty Mount Elgon, with its great caves,
its rushing streams, and foaming cataracts, may perhaps throw
light on the meaning and origin of cannibalism in general.
But in order to reap the full benefit which a study of these
deeply interesting tribes offers to the student of man's early
history, it is essential that an exact and thorough investigation
of them should be undertaken without delay; for every year
sees a further encroachment of European influence on their
once secluded domain, every year witnesses a corresponding
disintegration of their ancient customs and beliefs, and unless
the investigation is undertaken soon, it will be too late to
attempt it at all: a priceless record of human history will
be lost for ever. It is lamentable to reflect, that while large
sums are annually devoted by Governments, learned societies,
and the generosity of private benefactors to the study of
merely material and comparatively permanent relics of ancient
civilisation, so little is given to the investigation of the mental
and social state of those primitive living races of men who
are melting away before our eyes, and who can still tell us
secrets which we shall never wring from all the tablets of
Babylon and the pyramids of Egypt. To the student of
man's early developement the tribes of Central Africa offer
one of the best fields still open for research, but in a few years
hence they may have ceased to do so.
PREFACE Vll
Much of the information in this volume concerning the

Bahima, the Bagesu, and the Bakene has already appeared
in the form of papers contributed by me to the Journal of
the Royal Anthropological Institute. I wish to thank the
Council of the Institute for kindly allowing me to make use
of these papers in the present volume. For that purpose
the articles have been recast and enlarged, but their original
substance remains. The two chapters on the Banyoro and
Basoga, together with those on the Nilotic tribes, are new,
though my friend Sir J. G. Frazer has, with my full permission,
used some of the information in his comprehensive work
Totemism and Exogamy before these chapters were compiled.
The two chapters on the Nilotic tribes (the Bateso and Nilotic
Kavirondo) have been added as an appendix. They are the
result, not of researches purposely undertaken among the
people, but merely of short visits which I happened to pay
them in the course of my missionary work. Finding myself
among the tribes I availed myself of the opportunity to glean
a little information about them, and rather than keep my
notes locked up in my desk, I have added them to the volume
in the hope that they may prove useful to others. That is
my excuse for publishing them in a book otherwise devoted
to Bantu tribes.
My grateful thanks are due to my two friends, the
Rev. W. Cox, Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and
Sir J. G. Frazer, for valuable assistance. The former kindly
undertook the trying task of reading through the manuscript
and revising it for the press. The latter read through the
proofs, and pointed out some omissions, inconsistencies, and
obscurities, which I have endeavoured to rectify.
I am deeply indebted to the Syndics of the Cambridge
University Press for their liberality in undertaking the publi-

cation of the book. I thank them gratefully, as also a number
of friends who kindly guaranteed a sum towards the expenses

of publication.
For the photographs I am indebted to F. Knowles, Esq.,
C.M.G., District Commissioner in Uganda, the Revs. H. Brewer,
R. H. Leakey, and E. Millar, Miss Brewer and Miss Morris,
viii PREFACE
members of the Church Missionary Society in Uganda. These

friends have been at considerable pains to obtain the photo-
graphs and to forward them to me in England. My own
camera broke down and I could obtain no photographs with it.
To the Right Rev. Dr Willis, Bishop of Uganda, I am
indebted for a table of Nilotic relationships, and also for the
kind assistance he gave me as interpreter when I was taking
notes among the Nilotic Kavirondo. To the Rev. A. L.
Kitching, the Rev. A. B. Fisher, the Rev. H. Mathers, and
Miss Attlee I am indebted for tables and other information
of the most valuable nature.
JOHN ROSCOE.
The Rectory,
Ovington, Norfolk.
20 March, 1915.
CONTENTS
PART I
THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE

CHAP.
I.
II.
The country, the people, the king
Government . . . . .
....18
. .
PAGE
3
III.
IV.
V.
Marriage and birth
Sickness and death
......
Clans, totems and terms of relationship
......
. . 27
36
50
VI. Industries . . . ... .62
. .
VII. Warfare 81
VIII.
IX. Religious beliefs ........85
Hunting, drums and their use . . .
89
PART II
THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE

OF ANKOLE
X. The country and people . . . . .101
XL Government, clans and totems, marriage . .110
XII. Birth customs, sickness, death and burial . 123
.
XIII. Religious beliefs, hunting, counting and division

of time, music and games . . . . -131
PART III
THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS

XIV. The Bakene, lake dwellers sociology, government,
;
religion, fishing, building, dress and ornaments 145

X CONTENTS
PART IV
THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE
CHAP. PAGE
XV. The Bagesu, cultivation, food and government . 161
XVI. Marriage, birth, sickness and death . . . 172
XVII. Religious beliefs . . . . . . .179
XVIII. Music, dancing, warfare, building, amusements and
hunting . . . . . . . .189
PART V
THE BASOGA
XIX
......
North-western district, central district and
....
southern district 197
XXI.
XX.
.....
Marriage and birth customs
Sickness, death and burial
208
222
XXII.
XXIII.
warfare ........
Government, industries, pleasures, building and
.......
Religious beliefs
230
245
PART VI
NILOTIC TRIBES. THE BATESO AND
THE KAVIRONDO
XXIV.
XXV.
customs and religion .....
The Bateso and their country, government, social
The Nilotic Kavirondo and their country, govern-

259
ment, MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND PUBERTY . .

2
"5
XXVI.
Index . . .' .
.....
Sickness, death, burial, warfare, industries, reli-
gion AND RELATIONSHIPS
. . . . .
2S5
294
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE PAGE
(1) Four Bantu Kings, with their Chief Ministers frontispiece
(2) King of Banyoro with his chiefs . . frontispiece
I. (1) The King of

Secret Court
Chief
.......
Banyoro wearing the
who has succeeded

special hat for the
his father as chief

20
20
........
(2) . .
II. Iron smelting 74
Brackish stream. Scraping up sand to extract salt

III. (1)
(2) Washing sand to extract salt .... 76

76
IV. (1) Royal drum containing human blood ... 96

(2) Amulets . . . . . . . 96
V. (1) The King and Prime Minister of Ankole . . 100
(2) Banyankole warriors . . . . . .100

VI. Litter for carrying a princess, with men bearers . . 102
VII. (1) Banyankole women resting

Banyankole herdsmen
.....
...... 104
104
VIII.
(2)
(1)
(2)
Banyankole milk pots
Wooden milk
......
pot, with fumigating furnace
106
106
......108
. .
IX. (1) Milk vessel being fumigated 108
(2) Gourd milk measures and milk pets . .
X. (1) Herdsman carrying milk . . . . .112

(2) Banyankole huts . . . . . . .112
XI. (1) Long-horned cattle of the Banyankole . . .118
(2) Royal milk pans and water ladle . . . .118
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE PAGE
XII. (i) Bead head-dress worn by priest when giving the
(2)
oracle
Weapons of the
. .
Banyankole
. .
..... . . . •
. 132
132
XIII. (1) Banyankole fetishes . . . . . .134

(2) Harp of the Banyankole women . . .
.134
XIV. Bakene huts built on papyrus roots . . .146
XV. Man and wife of the Bakene tribe .150
.......
. . .
XVI. (1) Married women 172

(2) Sick woman standing by fetish hut . . .172
XVII. (1) Sick child standing by fetish hut . . . .176
(2) Bagesu huts . . . . . . . .176
XVIII. (1) Youths ready for the initiation ceremony . . 184
(2) Dancing at the initiation ceremony . . .184
XIX. (1) Man wearing regulation dress after initiation . 188
(2) A warrior of the Bagesu tribe . . . .188
XX. (1)
(2)
Fetish
Basoga
drum
fetishes ....... 252
252
XXI. (1)
(2)
Nilotic Bateso
Basoga band ....... 258
258
XXII. (1) Nilotic Kavirondo girls . . . . .276

(2) Young women ready for initiation ceremony . 276
Map of Uganda and British East Africa to face 1

PART I
THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE

—
CHAPTER I
THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING
—
Description of the country its geographical position its former —
— —
area pastoral and agricultural people the boundaries of the
—
country native accounts of their kings and royal house the —
—
mother of the second dynasty- disappearance of king Kagoro
— —
the new dynasty status of the king sacred cows for the king's
— —
food supply the king's evening meal of beef the king's mode
of spending the night — —
death of the king war of the princes
for the throne — —
crowning the new king custom of killing or of
banishing a prince — list of kings.
Geographical position of Bunyoro. To the north-west of

Uganda, ranging from a little south of the equator to the
Victoria Nile on the north and between 30 and 32 degrees east
of Greenwich, lies the kingdom of Bunyoro. Like Uganda,
it is one of the oldest kingdoms in Central Africa and has, for
many generations, been able at once to resist the inroads of

adjacent tribes and also to extend its own boundaries. It is
one of the few kingdoms of the Bantu tribes that possess an
established monarchy with subordinate chiefs and subchiefs
governing large districts. These chiefs command numerous
clans, many of whom are entirely pastoral, while others, though
mainly agricultural, own large flocks of goats and sheep ;
but all alike, both pastoral and agricultural, acknowledge the

king's supremacy.
Extent of Bunyoro. The kingdom originally comprised
tracts of land which now belong to Uganda proper certainly :
the Budu district and also parts of the district of Bulemezi,

Kyagwe, Singo and Gomba once belonged to Bunyoro, while a
large district of Busoga, lying to the south-east of Bunyoro
4 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE [PT. I
and tributary to it, was conquered by Uganda. For many

years the Baganda have been slowly pushing back the Banyoro
and occupying the lands thus acquired, and for some years
Busoga and Budu have yielded to the superior arms of the
Baganda. When British rule began in Uganda, a new kingdom
was established on Mount Luinzori, and land which formed
part of Bunyoro was given to the newly appointed king Kasa-
gama, who is a nephew of Kabarega the exiled king of Bunyoro.
This new king, Kasagama, was a rebel prince from Bunyoro,
who was living in exile on the slopes of Mount Luinzori.
Further deductions from the country were made when king
Kabarega resisted the British and was finally captured and
exiled to the Seychelles in 1899, soon after the British Pro-
tectorate was established in Uganda. A great part of south
and east Bunyoro was given to Uganda in recognition of the
services it rendered the British in suppressing king Kabarega.
To-day Bunyoro is in extent about one-third of the original
kingdom when at the height of its prosperity.
The pastoral clans. The Banyoro are a tribe of the great
Bantu family though they combine two distinct classes of people,
,
the pastoral and the agricultural clans. Careful observation

and enquiry lead to the opinion that the agricultural clans
were the original inhabitants, and that they were conquered
by the pastoral people who have reduced them to their present
servile condition. The pastoral people are a tall, well-built
race of men and women with finely cut features, many of them
being over six feet in height. The men are athletic with little
spare but the women are frequently very fat and cor-
flesh,
pulent indeed their ideal of beauty is obesity, and their milk
:
diet together with their careful avoidance of exercise tends

to increase their size.
Agricultural clans. The agricultural clans, on the other

hand, are short, ill-favoured looking men and women with
broad noses of the negro type, lean, and unkempt. Both
classes are dark, varying in shade from a light brown to deep
black, with short woolly hair. The pastoral people refrain,
as far as possible, from all manual labour and expect the
agricultural clans to do their menial work for them, such as

CH. I] THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING 5
building their houses, carrying firewood and water, and sup-

plying them with grain and beer for their households.
Dress. The dress of the pastoral clans was, until quite re-
cently, restricted almost entirely to cow-skins which were
dressed until quite supple. The women are more particular
about their clothing than the men and wear long robes extending
from the shoulders to the feet, often tied with a girdle in a way
that permits them to expose and use their arms, though more
frequently the arms are covered by a second robe of cow-skin
thrown over the head and hanging down to the waist. The
men are less careful about their dress they wear smaller
:
skins hanging from the neck, covering the shoulders and upper
part of the body only and leaving the lower part nude. The
agricultural clans, both men and women, wear either sheep- or
goat-skins round their loins or roughly made bark-cloths.
In both sexes the dress of the agricultural clans is barely
sufficient for decency.
Boundaries of Bunyoro. The Banyoro have proved them-
selves to be a strong barrier on the north against the incur-
sions of the Nilotic tribes,and to them doubtless belongs the
credit of diverting the migratory streams of those tribes from
passing south and of causing them to take an easterly route,
thus preserving the highlands of the great lakes region for
the Bantu tribes. Bunyoro is bounded on the north by
Bukedi, on the south-east by Busoga, on the west by the River
Semliki and Lake Albert, and on the south and south-west by
Uganda. The physical features of the country are much the
same as those of Uganda it is hilly, well watered and has
:
some forest-land. To the south-west there are some rocky

hills which are venerated by the people, and among them is
the burial-place of the kings.

There is no reliable account of the
Origin of the royal house.
origin of the kings ; probably due to the custom of
this is
never mentioning the name of a king after his death and of
obliterating the word from the language. As in Uganda so
also in Bunyoro, the people have mythical stories of the first
king having come from God, originating their race and providing
them with cattle and food. Four distinct dynasties of kings
are given by the old people for the first few generations of the
royal house ;
yet they are unable to trace the origin of these
lines, nor can they account for the disappearances of certain of
them. The story of the first two kings is as follows :
A man appeared among them who because of his ability

and superior knowledge was acclaimed king. He was given
the name Isaza and continued to live in the country and rule
it for some years. He married a wife but had no children.
After some years he disappeared suddenly, and the people, who
were unable to trace him or to account for his disappearance,
after a prolonged search and continued waiting in the hope
that he would return, made the prime minister (Bukulu)
king in his stead.
The story of Nyinamweru. King Bukulu had one child, a
daughter. While she was still a girl, a medicine-man came to
the king and warned him against allowing his daughter to
marry, saying that, should she marry and have a son, the
king would die. King Bukulu accordingly guarded his daughter
and, when she was old enough to marry, he built a house for
her and surrounded it with a strong, high fence, with no gate
or outlet, setting a man with his wife to guard the road leading
to the house and thus prevent the girl from holding intercourse
with the world. Inside the enclosure king Bukulu placed his
daughter, whose name was Nyinamweru, with her maid
Mugezi, and warned them against holding any communications
with men. Food, that is to say milk, was brought daily to
the guardian Lumbumbi, who climbed the fence and handed
it down to the maid inside. For several years all went well,
until one day a man belonging to the priestly clan called
Bacwezi arrived. The man was a stranger in the place and
wandered to the enclosure seeking some one to tell him the
way. He had his dog with him and, as he could find no entrance
to the enclosure, he walked round calling to the two women
inside and enquiring for the entrance. They explained to him
their situation and told him how they were secluded to avoid
men. This, however, only increased the man's curiosity, and
being struck by the beauty of the princess, he made love to
her. Gathering some wild flowers he presented them to her,
and gained the women's permission to climb into the

finally
enclosure. Simbu was the name of this man he became :
the husband of the princess Nyinamweru and remained with

her several months in concealment. He then left the place
secretly. In due time the princess gave birth to a son and
named him Ndaula. Nyinamweru nursed her child for two
years without the infant being discovered. At the end of
that time her nurse became afraid that the child would be
seen playing in the enclosure and that its presence would
endanger their lives, should king Bukulu learn of its existence.
She therefore persuaded Nyinamweru to give the child to the
guard Lumbumbi, who was bidden to take and cast it into a
stream and drown it. The mother most reluctantly yielded
to this advice, and little Ndaula was taken by the guard and
cast into the river. Fortunately the child's umbilical cord
was tied to his wrist and,when Lumbumbi cast him into the
river, the stringby which the cord was tied to the wrist caught
on the branch of a tree and saved the child from drowning.
Later in the day Lumbumbi passed the place and heard the
child crying, and went to see how it could still be alive. When
he saw what had happened, he regarded the child's preserva-
tion as an intervention of the gods, took it home to his wife
and told her to nurse it. When Nyinamweru was told how
her son had been preserved from death, she was delighted and
gave Lumbumbi a milch cow to supply milk for the child.
The boy Ndaula grew up to be a man and was commonly
known as Lumbumbi's son. He herded the cattle and was a
dauntless youth, full of mischief, delighting above all things to
tease the king's herdsmen, who were haughty and expected
everybody to give way to them and their cattle at the watering-
places. It chanced one day that the king had ordered his
cow-men to give his cattle salt to eat at a certain place, saying

that he would be present to examine the cattle. At the
appointed time Ndaula also appeared with his cows and drove
them to the spot to eat salt. The king's herdsmen tried to
keep the cows away, and a struggle ensued between them and
Ndaula, in which the king was fatally speared. At the trial
which followed Ndaula explained who he was. He then sent
for his mother Nyinamweru who confirmed his story, and the
people not only pardoned his offence but also crowned him
king. From the time of king Ndaula it has been the custom
for a mother to make her child an amulet and put it on his
neck in remembrance of the string which saved Ndaula's life.
King Ndaula reigned a short time and then sent for his father
and brought him and his relatives into Bunyoro. Ndaula
married and had a son whom he named Wamala. When
Wamala grew up, his father abdicated the throne in favour of
his son, in order that he might be free from the responsibilities
of government and able to make war upon the surrounding
tribes. Ndaula was constantly victorious in the wars he
undertook, enlarged the boundaries of his country, and enriched
the people. In his old age he is said to have disappeared,
because it was not customary for kings to die.
King Wamala continued to reign until he became an old
man when, like his predecessor, he disappeared, and his son
Kyomya succeeded him on the throne. Kyomya also increased
the size of the kingdom by conquering many of the surround-
ing tribes. Wamala appointed three men named Mugarara,
Ibona and Mugenyi to be priests, and two women, Nakalanda
and Nabibungo, to be priestesses to the chief gods. These
men were the first of the class of people afterwards known as
the Bacwezi, who are the priests of the country.
Nothing else is known of Kyomya except that, in his old
age, he too disappeared as his forefathers had done, and that
his son Kagoro succeeded him on the throne.
Kagoro warned by ghosts to leave his country. When
Kagoro had reigned some years, he was warned by the ghosts
of his ancestors that they were displeased with his people,
because they robbed each other and lied to one another. The
king called the people and told them that, unless they ceased
from these bad habits, he must leave them. They, however,
took no heed of the warning, and accordingly king Kagoro
called together his near relations and departed with them
secretly, carrying with him two baskets containing truth and
love, and leaving behind him two baskets containing lying and
hatred. One young woman who refused to go with the party
was left in a house with certain sacred drums named Kajwimbe,

Nyalabe and Kyamukumbwiri, which are still retained as
royal drums. For some years the people hoped to find one
of the princes whom they could induce to become king, but
after a prolonged search it became evident that they must
find some other person to rule over them. Accordingly the
prime minister Nakolo was sent to the Bukedi country to seek
a prince who would come to reign in Bunyoro. Nakolo found
a prince named Nakoko and returned with him to Bunyoro,
where he became king.
King Mpugu. When prince Nakoko was crowned he was
named Mpugu by the people, because one side of his body was
dark and the other light. He came with three brothers who
with himself formed the Babito dynasty. It is said that,
when the Babito family first arrived in Bunyoro, they did not
understand cow-keeping. They had to learn the art from the
Banyoro and also how to live on a milk diet.
Royalty and their state. The king is held in great veneration
by all classes who bow low when coming before him, and no
person dares take a weapon into his presence. Weapons are
laid on the ground at a distance, and the owner approaches
and prostrates himself to greet the king. When the king is
on a journey and wishes to rest, one of his subjects immediately
kneels down on one knee and offers the other as a seat for the
king to sit upon.
The king lived in an enclosure very much like a cattle
kraal. It was surrounded by a fence, in most instances, com-
posed of thorny bushes intended to keep the cattle together

by night and also to prevent wild animals from attacking
the cows. The king's houses were divided from those of his
wives and servants by roughly built fences of elephant-grass,
which were merely screens to hide him from view rather than
to afford protection against an armed force. By night the
cows belonging to the king were taken into different court-yards
and guarded by special cow-men. At each gateway to the
royal enclosure there was a hut in which a guard lived, and
one man was expected to be always awake and guarding the
gate by day and by night. From the body of police who
supplied the guards for the gates the king's personal guard was
chosen, some of whom had to be on duty during the night to
guard his house against any danger.
The sacred herd of cows. The king's diet was strictly
regulated by ancient custom. He subsisted on milk and beef,
but chiefly on milk. Vegetables and mutton he might not
touch, and for his use a special herd of cows was kept. These
were sacred animals which had to be guarded against coming into
contact with other cows, and no one was permitted to drink
the milk from them save the king and his servant appointed
for the duty. The sacred herd of cows had special men to
herd them and to attend to them constantly in order to prevent
them from mixing with other cattle. They were kept in a
part of the country where they could be kept from contact
with the large ordinary herds of the king and from mingling
with the cattle of chiefs. From this herd nine cows were taken
to the capital to provide milk for the king's use, the animals
chosen being young cows with their first calves. When a
cow was ready to travel after giving birth, she was taken to
the royal residence to join the select number, and one of the
nine was then removed to the general body of the sacred herd
in the country. This most sacred herd of nine was called
Nkorogi and had to be jealously guarded against contact with
a bull. The period for which each cow was kept in the Nkorogi
herd was about two months, during which time both cow and
calf had to be maintained in perfect condition. At the end
of two months her place was taken by another cow and she
was removed as already stated to the country and there
kept for her milk to make butter for the king's use and for
breeding purposes : she never returned to supply the king
with milk.
Men belonging to the sacred herd. The Nkorogi cows had
three special men to care for them, in addition to a boy who
brought them from the pastures daily. These men had
assistants who took charge of the cows during the day when they
were out at pasture. The boy chosen for the office of driving
the cows to and from the pasture and of drinking the surplus
milk from the king's supply was known as the "Caller," so named
CH. I] THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING II
because he had to call out to warn people to leave the path,

as he passed along with the cows. He thus announced their
presence and gave people time to escape out of the way of the
herd. He was taken from the Abaitira clan, had to be a strong
healthy boy seven or eight years old, and retained the office
of " Caller" until he was old enough to marry, that is to say
about seventeen years old, when the king ordered the Abaitira
clan to bring another young boy. The former boy who was
now deposed was given a wife by the king and settled to
ordinary pastoral life. Should the boy fall sick during his
term of and the medicine-man consider the illness to be
office
of a serious nature, he would be strangled ;
or, again, should
he have sexual relations with any woman, he would be put to
death. He had to guard against scratching his flesh or doing
anything that might draw blood. On this account he was not
allowed to go into tall grass, nor might he leave the path when
going to bring the cows from the pasture lest he should prick
or scratch himself. To strike this boy was an offence punish-
able with death, because the boy's life was bound up with that
of the king and anything that happened to him was liable to
affect the king. Each afternoon before sunset the boy went
for the Nkorogi cows, which were brought from the pastures
to some place about a mile distant from the royal residence,
when they were delivered to the boy who then began to drive
them thither, raising, as he did so, his cry to warn people from
the path. Men and women now hurriedly hid in the grass
and covered their heads until the herd had passed. The cry
was repeated from time to time until the boy reached the kraal
at the royal residence, where one of the three cow-men awaited
him. Another important duty of the boy "Caller " was to drink
up the milk left by the king from his daily milk supply. No
other person but this boy was permitted to drink any of the
milk from the sacred cows, nor was the boy allowed any other
food. The three milk-men in charge of the cows had special
titles, Mukologi, Munyuwanga and Muigimbirwa. Each day
before going to milk the cows they purified themselves by smear-
ing their heads, arms and chests with white clay, and during
their term of office, which lasted a year, they observed the
strictest rules of chastity. They were never allowed to wash

with water, but had to rub their bodies over frequently with
butter, and any infringement of these rules was punishable
with death. The cow-man Mukologi took charge of the sacred
cows as soon as they arrived from the pasture, and drove them
into the enclosure where Munyuwanga spread a mat, and the
cow to be milked was made to stand upon it. The calf of the
cow was brought and allowed to suck for a short time, and was
then held before its dam while she was milked. Muigimbirwa
rubbed each cow's udder with butter and cleansed it before
she was milked, and stood holding the cow's tail lest she should
flick it during the time she was being milked and cause dust
to fall into the milk. Two women, wives of the king, now
came forward, each of whom had been smeared over with
white clay in a similar manner to that of the cow-men, one of
them carrying the milk-pots and the other a bowl of water
for the milk-man to wash his hands with before milking.
Mukologi having washed his hands with the water which the
woman poured over them and squatted by the cow, the second
woman then placed a milk-pot between his knees and he milked
the amount he considered advisable from the cow into the
milk-pot. The milk-pot was encased in a wicker cover to
protect it from coming into contact with the man's flesh
during the time of milking. When the cows were milked, the
two women carried the milk into a special house which was
used as a dairy, into which the king also went to drink milk.
During the time the cows were being milked there were no
other persons permitted to be present, and none of those who
took part in the milking ceremony might cough to do so was
:
considered injurious to the king and was a criminal act punish-

able with death.
Royal visit to the dairy and meal. In the morning, after
the cows were milked, the king went into the dairy to drink
milk ; and no sooner did he rise to go to the dairy than all
the visitors hastilyleft the royal enclosure and all residents
in the enclosure withdrew from sight, while the king's wives

knelt and covered their heads until he returned. In the dairy,
the wife who was in charge uncovered the milk-pot and wiped
itwith a leaf taken from a particular kind of tree, a supply of

leaves from which was kept ready for use. The wife then
handed the milk-pot to the king and, turning her head aside
while the king drank, waited until he tapped with his hand
upon the pot to indicate that he had finished, when she took it
from him and gave him another pot of milk, if he wished for
more. All the royal milk-pots were made of clay, though a
few wooden pots were to be found among them and were the
kind commonly used by other people. After the morning
meal the king went to a reception-house, to which the cow-man
Muigimbirwa came and asked him, "Are you free to see people,
sire ? " If the king answered in the affirmative, Muigimbirwa
replied, "King, live for ever," and withdrew to tell the people
that they might return to the king. About noon the king
again went to drink milk and afterwards retired to rest for
two or three hours.
The king's evening meal of beef. In the evening a meal of
beef was brought by a man-cook. The beef had to be meat
from a year-old animal taken from the sacred herd. It was
cut into small pieces and roasted on wooden spits or skewers
before a fire. When the cook took the food to the king he
smeared arms and chest with white clay after
his head, face,
the manner of the milk-men when going to milk the sacred
cows. He had two iron prongs with sockets to fit on his first
finger and thumb, these prongs being used to lift the meat and
put it into the king's mouth, as the king was not permitted
to touch his food with his hands. The cook had to be careful
not to touch the king's teeth with the iron prongs, as such an
offence was punishable with death. After the meal the king
drank a little beer and retired to rest for a time. In the even-
ing, after he had rested, certain chiefs were admitted to see
the king he wished, he would see some of his wives and
or, if
talk with them until the time to retire for the night. Before
retiring he had another meal of milk.
The king's mode of spending the night. The king was not
left to sleep the whole night in one house, for, about midnight
or soon after, one of his wives aroused him and conducted him
to a second house and again, before dawn, he was conducted
which he completed his rest. Each morning

to a third house in
he was attended by one of his wives, who rubbed his body over
with butter instead of a bath.
Death of the king. The king never attained old age, his
mental powers and bodily vigour never being allowed to decline
or fail, nor did the king die from any lingering illness. Did
he feel unwell or think he was about to be seriously ill, he would
call his leading chiefs and hold a council to consider state
affairs and would leave them under the impression that he was
quite well. When the chiefs were dismissed, the king would
retire to a special house, call his principal wife and ask her to
bring the poison-cup. She would understand that he wished
to have the poison-cup to end his life, and accordingly prepared
a potion from a drug she kept ready to hand. This she gave
to the king, who drank it and in a few moments was dead.
The death of the king was kept secret as long as possible, and
everything went on as before in the royal enclosure. To
account for his absence it was said that the king was unwell
and could not be seen or hold his usual courts. The principal
wife took one or two chiefs into her confidence, and to-
gether they provided a cow-hide and stitched up the body of
the king in it. They then made preparations for crowning a
new king. This custom lasted down to within living memory.
War of princes to secure the throne. When the arrange-
ments were ready for announcing the death, the chief cow-man
was called and told the king was dead. He hereupon mounted
the house in which the king's body lay, carrying a pot of milk
which he raised above his head, calling in a loud voice, "The
milk of the cow is lifted up. Whom is it for ? Is it for you
or for God ?" He then dashed the pot to the ground where it
broke and the milk was spilled. At the same time all the
milk-pots which had been used by the king were broken.
The widows took up the death-wail and the princes rushed to
arms. The people now joined their favourite prince, and fight-
ing commenced. Each prince was expected to fight for the
throne. Those who feared to do so would flee into some
remote part of the country, there to live a life of seclusion
despised by the people. These civil wars continued for several
months. The princes met and fought. First one and then
another of them fell in battle until at length two princes only
were left. When a prince fell, his followers joined another
prince and these later battles became more serious as the
number and their armies increased. The
of princes decreased
was always the most severe, when the two remaining
final battle
princes fought to decide who should live and reign. No
peasant feared the blood-avenger when he killed a prince in
any of these battles, for no notice was taken afterwards of the
death of a prince who was killed in battle fighting for the
throne. The principal chiefs (Bamasaza) were not expected
to take any part in the wars, their duty being to guard the
body of the late king, await the result of the wars and prevent
any prince from taking the body before the final battle had
been fought. The retainers of chiefs might, however, join the
forces of any prince they wished to see on the throne.
Crowning the new king. When the final battle had been
fought, the victorious prince went to the capital and claimed
the body of his father. The chiefs who were guarding it first
satisfied themselves that all the princes had fallen or fled into
other countries before they delivered the body to the claimant.
They then proclaimed the prince king and set him on the royal
rug which was composed of lion-, leopard- and cow-skins, and
took the oath of allegiance to him. The new king took his
father's body for burial immediately he was crowned. All
sorrow was now ended and there was nothing but rejoicing.
The joy for the new king's victory and the knowledge that the
wars were ended, property safe and the normal life of the
community restored, entirely drowned the more solemn thought
of the late king's death. The new king next walked from his
capital to the place where the deceased king was to be buried.
It was customary for the king to walk when making any journey,
and the paths were cleared and carpeted with newly cut grass
for him to walk on. As soon as the king had buried his father,
the chiefs came to congratulate him upon his succession and
to swear allegiance to him. The name of the dead king was
not mentioned after his death, and, if the name was a word
used in the language, it was dropped and a new word coined to
l6 THE BAXYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE [PT. I
take its place. The king ascended a hill called Ipeime after
the funeral and mounted a rock, only a few princesses and
his wives accompanying him. Should any man do so he was
captured and speared to death on the rock, that his life might
go to strengthen the new king.
Custom of killing or banishing a prince at the crowning
ceremony. It was customary, when the princes had fallen in
battle, for the new king to send a chief to one of the princes
who had refused to fight, should there be any such, and for
the chief thus sent to try to induce the prince to come to the
capital and claim the throne. Should the chief succeed in
finding a prince willing to accept the throne, the prince was
taken bound before the king who had him put to death. Should
the chief fail to find such a prince, he would take a boy-prince
before the king, and the latter would charge the boy never to
come into his presence again. This boy-prince was called
Mulagwa he was given an estate in some distant part of the
:
country and never allowed to visit the king. All other princes
who were found after their brother's accession were put to
death.
List of kings. The first recorded king was a man of the
priestly clan (Bacwezi) named Isaza who died childless.
The second king had been the prime minister of Isaza.
This king's name was Bukulu his daughter was Xyinamweru
:
and married Simbu, and their child was Wamala Xdaula.

3. Wamala Xdaula =
4. Kyomya =
5. Kagoro =
1
1
Here the line ended and Xagwa, whose husband is unknown,

became mother of the present line of kings she belonged to :
the Xgabi clan.

7. Mpingu or Mpugu = Xyagiro
8. Oyokambaigulu = Ilimera of the Mulisa clan
9. Wumyabubayira = A woman of the Munyakwa clan

(name unknown)
7
10. Nyalwabavirahaigulu = A woman of the Mugwari clan

(name unknown)
1
11. Cwamali = Gawa of the Mukwonga clan
12. Lugurukamacoli = Nyatworo of the Mcwa clan

1
r
13. Lukedi = Kyendeki of the Musaigwa clan
1
1
14. Kyebambi = A woman of the Wabanga clan

>
1
1
15. Isansayabigogo = Nkera of the Basagi clan

1
16. Ruhaga-ne-ngoma = A woman of the Mcwa clan
17. Kyebambi = Kajaja of the Bazira clan

1
r
18. Nabongo = Kigero of the Musita clan
1
19. Mirundi = Kanyange of the Muyonza clan

1
1
20. Kabarega = Katabanga of the Musita clan
21. Andereya Ruhanga
R. B. T. 2
—
CHAPTER II
GOVERNMENT
The king the sole possessor of land — —

district chiefs no land taxes
—
the law of succession to chieftainships chiefs as magistrates
names — minor or sub-chiefs—princes and princesses
of districts
land owners— the king's mother— the king's place residence of
courts appeal—punishment
of adultery— the poison ordeal
for
trial ofprinces and princesses— punishment murder—punish- for
ment for homicide— treatment the of a suicide—wife
relatives of
beating— treatment of —method
theft discovering of theft
imprisonment— inheritance.
The king the sole possessor of land. The land belonged

solely to the king who could dispose of it as he willed. Peasants,
however, were free to settle anywhere in the country without
asking for permission from the chief to whom the oversight
of the district belonged, for even the king did not regard his
land with any such pride or as of such value as the king of
Uganda regarded his. The king and the upper classes of the
people valued land for its pastoral rather than for its agri-
Those districts which were good as pasture
cultural qualities.
lands were esteemed as of greater value than districts onh
suited for cultivation.
District chiefs. Chiefs were appointed to govern larg<
tracts of country. They were given, when elected, the titl
Musaza, pi. Bamasaza. These district-chiefs had sub-chief

under them, each of whom was known by the title Ndibalabc
and these again had minor chiefs under them. Princes wer
sent from the capital, when they were eight or nine' years olc
into the country and there placed under responsible herdsme
CH. II] GOVERNMENT 19
who trained them in the arts of cattle-breeding, milking r

herding and treating cows when sick. These princes were
expected to learn all about cattle, and to be in no wise inferior
to the most skilled herdsman.
No land The king levied no yearly taxes or rates
taxes.
from his subjects, and chiefs were not allowed to levy any
definite annual sum from their peasants, though it was an
understood rule that each peasant should take a quantity of
grain to his chief after each harvest, and that the chief should
take the larger portion of this to the king. It was contrary to
custom for a peasant to make a gift to the king direct it had
:
to pass through the district-chief. When therefore a peasant

made his yearly offering to his chief, it was on a scale that
would suffice both king and chief. Chiefs were expected to
give liberally not only grain, but more especially cattle, for
the king's household. In addition to gifts of food, each
district-chief was responsible and keeping in repair
for building
a number of houses in the royal enclosure, and he arranged
with his sub-chiefs the number of men that each was to supply
for any particular work.
The roads were merely tracks through the country worn by
people going to and fro between the capital and their country
residences, no attempt being made to construct them or to
keep them clear from grass. They were only widened and hoed
when the king wished to make a tour to some distant place,
on which occasion men were set to cut down the grass on either
side of the paths, to widen them, hoe up the weeds, fill up
holes, and generally to smooth the road and carpet it with
grass for the king to walk upon, for he was never carried. At
other times the grass grew, leaving only a narrow track trodden
hard by the feet of pedestrians.
The law succession to chieftainships.
of When a chief
died, his clanappointed his successor, who was as a rule a son
of the deceased man the king, however, had the right to
;
appoint to the office some person in no wise connected with

the deceased, and he sometimes exercised it. The king might
also depose a chief from office for an offence and appoint any
one he wished to the chieftainship, though such cases were
rare should the king have cause to depose a chief, he invari-

:
ably put the offender to death, because it was feared the man
might avenge himself by killing the king.
Chiefs as magistrates. Each chief and sub-chief was a
magistrate in his own district, his magisterial duties being in
fact his principal work. He was also called upon to supply
warriors for punitive expeditions. Any litigant might appeal
from a lower court in a district to a higher court and finally to
the king's court, which was the final court of appeal.
Names of districts. During Kabarega's reign the country
was divided into fourteen districts named as follows :
I. Buhimba 8. Busongolo
2. Ise ya Bacwezi 9- Bugungu (Munyabara)
3- Kyaka 10. Bugaya (Ibanda)
4- Bagakhya ii. Lukongoja
5- Bagangaizi 12. Mbogo
6. Mwengi (Mugalula) 13- Bugoma
7- Toro 14. Buruli
Each district-chief (Musaza) had his residence at some

well-known place on the border of his district nearest the
capital, in addition to his chief residence in the capital itself ;
and it was at the latter place that he spent the greatest portion
of his time.
Minor Chiefs. Sub-chiefs were commonly called Baton-
gole, though their official title was Ndibalaba. In their case,
as in the case of the superior chiefs, it was usual for a son to
succeed his father in office, though any son of a deceased person
might be elected by the members of the clan to which he
belonged, who then submitted the name to the king for his
approval. In arrangements for state duties, such as building
royal houses and warfare, the Batongole were responsible to
the district-chiefs, but they were free to appeal to the king for
satisfaction, should they think they were being imposed upon
by their superiors. The king seldom had occasion to interfere
with the details of government. District-chiefs resided in
the capital near the royal enclosure so as to be ready to assist
the king in state affairs, should he require their assistance J
Plate I
(2) Chief, who has succeeded his father as chief, approaching the
King to be confirmed in his office
(Banyoro Tribe)
and they were responsible for the safety of the king against
any attack upon him by a foreign power. When a chief
wished to absent himself from the capital, he first sought the
king's permission and explained the reason for his desire to go
into the country. Such a request was seldom refused.
Princes and princesses as landowners. Princes and
princesses had estates in the country upon which peasants
lived whose duties were to build their masters' houses and to
supply them with grain, beer and vegetables, the grain and
vegetables being the food of the household-slaves and also of
their free servants, for the princes and princesses themselves
lived entirely on milk. There was a special house in the royal
enclosure where they met and awaited the king's pleasure.
One of the princes was appointed to be the representative of
his brothers to hear any grievance, settle disputes among them,
and be responsible to the king for their general conduct he:
was given the title Muguruzi and had power to punish by

fine any of his brothers for any offence which he might commit.
In like manner a princess was appointed to rule over her
sisters and was given the title Batebi.
The king's mother. The king's mother lived in the capital
near the king. She was rich in herds of cattle and had estates
which made her independent of her son's help. She held her
own courts and had her bailiff to manage her estates. When
the king ascended the throne, his mother at the same time
assumed her office and took over the estates from her pre-
decessor. She was expected to live in widowhood, though it
was well known that she was far from being chaste. Should
the king's mother die, one of her sisters or, failing a sister,
some near relative of her clan was chosen for the office. This
woman the king called "mother," and honoured her as such.
When a king died before his mother, she retained her herds,
but had smaller estates given her and lived some distance from
the new king, her grandson.
The king's residence. The royal residence, though dirty
and badly kept owing to the numerous cows, was far superior
to any other enclosure in the country. In it there were a
number of large court-houses which were used for state affairs.
In one of these the king met his district-chiefs to discuss state

secrets. When the king and chiefs went to this court-house,
each of them wore a peculiar hat of office which he retained
during the meeting, and a tusk of ivory was laid in the doorway
over which they stepped as they entered the house. In this
court-house every man stood. It was here that the secret
affairs of the state were discussed, especially matters of war.
In the other court-houses the king sat on a raised seat, which
was a mound of beaten earth covered with a rug made from
the skins of a lion, a leopard and a cow, and a spear was stuck
in the ground near the king's right hand with which he could
transfix any man who annoyed him during the sitting of the
court. When the king was about to proceed to a court-house,
grass mats were spread for him to walk upon, a sacred cow
walked beside him to the court, and stood by the door until
he returned, when it again accompanied him to his private
house. Pages lined the path from the house to the court,
beating drums and playing fifes. The principal cases heard
during the sitting of the court were appeals, especially in
matters of theft and adultery, from district-chiefs.
Courts of appeal. When a man went to accuse another
person in any court he paid a fee of one hundred cowry-shells.
The judge took one-fifth of the fine imposed, while four-fifths
were paid to the person who won the case. When a man
appealed from one court to a higher court, he paid another fee
of two hundred cowry-shells, and, as stated above, one-fifth
of the fine imposed went to the court in addition to the court
fee; the other four-fifths of the fine went to the successful
party. Cattle lifting was one of the most common crimes among
pastoral clans. The thief, when caught, had to restore the
number of animals stolen and was fined twice the number he
had stolen.
Punishment for adultery. In a case of adultery, if the
crime had been committed with one of the king's wives, both
the guilty parties were condemned to death in a case among
;
the common people the injured husband invariably accepted

a fine from the adulterer, though he might kill the guilty
wife, should he desire to do so. There were some clans a
member if he committed adultery with one of the

of which,
king's wives, was not put to death, but had his eyes gouged
out. The king's wife in such a case was taken and drowned in
the River Nile, or she might be sent to Bukedi to be given in
marriage to some chief there. This latter punishment was
considered a worse fate than death by drowning, because the
people of Bukedi wore no clothing and lived upon grain,
whereas a woman from Bunyoro, accustomed to a milk diet,
preferred death to the degradation of cultivating and eating
vegetable food. If an unmarried woman tempted a man and
had a child by him, the man was fined a sheep, and when the
child was weaned the father took it. If, on the other hand,
it was proved that the man forced the woman, a heavier fine
was imposed. In each case the man was given the opportunity
of marrying the woman by paying her relatives the marriage
fee, time being given for him to obtain the sum required.
Should the man refuse to pay the fine for his wrong-doing, the
child was retained by the members of the woman's clan and
grew up to all intents and purposes a slave. Chiefs seldom
pardoned a man who committed adultery with one of their
wives, and the guilty couple were put to death. Should a
commoner make love to a princess and marry her, he was put
to death and his goods were confiscated, while the princess
was severely flogged.
The poison ordeal. When the king was in doubt as to the
rights of a case which had been brought before him for trial,
or should the parties appeal to what was deemed the final
test, the poison ordeal was resorted to. The poison-cup con-
tained a mixture made from the seeds of the datura plant,
which were boiled and the water from them given to each
of the litigants to drink. After drinking the potion, the
men sat for a time until the drug had taken effect, when they
were called upon to rise and walk to the judge to hear his
decision and thank him for it. The person who was able to
rise and walk to the judge won the case. It was seldom that
both men could rise and walk, indeed in most cases one of
them was unable to move and usually both of them suffered
from a long illness afterwards, and often one or other died.
The property of the person who died was confiscated, a portion

of it was given to the successful person, and the remainder
was given to the king.
Trial of princes and princesses. The king alone could try
cases arising between members of the royal family, when an
appeal was made from the prince or princess set over them.
When princes quarrelled and fought, the king after hearing
the case might order the prince whom he considered to be in
fault to be speared to death. A common punishment inflicted
upon a prince was to imprison him by building a strong stockade
and confining him within it for a time with a single servant,
the detention lasting only a few days or two or three months.
He was given a daily allowance of milk, but was prohibited
from intercourse with any person during his term of imprison-
ment.
Punishment for murder. When a murder was committed,
the members of the murdered man's clan sought the murderer,
and, when they had tracked him down, they demanded his
surrender from his relatives and he was put to death. Should
the members of the clan to which the murderer belonged try
to shield the man or refuse to give him up to justice, an appeal
was made to the king and he would demand the surrender
of the guilty person. When a murderer escaped into some
other country and the blood avenger could not secure him, a
child of the murderer or some person nearly connected with
him was taken and put to death in his stead.
Punishment for homicide. Any person who accidentally
killed another made the fact known as early as possible and
appealed to the chief of his district to investigate the case.
When it was proved that there was no animosity a heavy fine
was accepted by the relatives of the dead man, and when the
fine was paid one or two women were included, who were
given to the near relations.
Treatment of the relations of a suicide. The relatives of a
person who committed suicide were fined by the chief upon
whose land the deed was committed before they were allowed
to remove the body, or to destroy the house in which the deed
took place or to cut down the tree, should death have been by
hanging. was usually committed by hanging, though

Suicide
a few people strangled themselves. Men and women hanged
themselves either in their house or upon some tree near the
house. It was said to be necessary to destroy a tree upon
which a person had hanged himself and to burn down a house

in which a person had committed suicide, otherwise they would
be a danger to people in general and would influence them to
commit suicide. Suicide was far more common among women
than among men this was especially the case with women
;
who had been unfaithful to their husbands and feared detection.

Men who had been house-breaking or who were suspected of
cattle-lifting and feared detection committed suicide, and
most men preferred death to parting with cattle in payment
of a fine.
Wife beating. Wife beating was not considered a serious
offence and there was no punishment attached to it. The
woman was said to be the property of her husband, and, should
he kill her, the loss was his. Chiefs and wealthy people alone
could afford to kill their wives for an offence, because they alone
could afford to purchase another wife whereas peasants, by
;
reason of their poverty and inability to pay the marriage fee

for another wife, had to be content with flogging the offender.
A wife's only remedy for ill-treatment was to escape to her
clan and to induce the members of it to protect her. If she
had cause husband was asked to come and
for complaint, her
who, if the woman was in the
state his case before witnesses,
right, fined the husband and, before they gave up the wife,
made him promise to treat her better and also to make her
some compensation, such as new clothes and a goat, before
she returned to her home.
Treatment of theft. Petty theft committed by young
children was punished by flogging, but grown up people,
especially slaves, were mutilated, their ears or their hands
being cut off according to the nature of the offence. Slaves
who were disobedient had their ears cut off, and, if they still
continued stubborn, they were put to death.

Method of detecting thieves. In seeking to discover a thief
it was necessary to employ a particular medicine-man called
26 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE [PT. I, CH. II
the "Smeller." This man visited the place from which the
property had been stolen, and, after hearing the account of the
theft and obtaining a description of the lost property, he went
down on his hands and knees and about on the ground
sniffed
until he discovered the direction in which the thieves had gone,
when he followed and tracked them down and captured them.
Imprisonment. There were no special places of detention,
justice being for the most part done by fine, mutilation, or
flogging, which were inflicted at once. Should there be reason
for detention, the person was put in the stocks or else bound
hand and The stocks consisted of a log of wood with a
foot.
hole cut through it, and one of the prisoner's feet was put
through the hole, a peg being run through the log at right
angles to the hole which so narrowed it as to prevent the foot
from being withdrawn. One foot only of a prisoner was put

through the log, so that the prisoner could move about by
dragging the log, but could not escape because of its weight and
also because he was usually guarded. A prisoner had to supply
his own food.Detention was usually given for refusing to pay
a debt or for refusing to work or for doing work badly.
Inheritance. The property of the pastoral clans consisted
in cattle and in women. When a person was ill, he made
known whom he wished to inherit his property at his death.
A son usually became heir, though not necessarily the eldest
son, and if the deceased had been a chief, the heir was intro-
duced to the king and his approval obtained. There was
seldom any difficulty raised. When a peasant settled on a
piece of land and cultivated it, there was no question of the
king's permission or obtaining the right of tenancy, because
the king and wealthy people in general were always glad
to welcome a new freeman and they did not value land except
for pasture, yet they might object to a stranger settling upon
it. Anypeasant might cultivate land in any part of the
country, the only charge upon it would be a basket of grain
to be paid at harvest to the chief in whose district he resided
and whose land he tilled. Peasants from generosity generally
paid much more grain, without any demand being made by
the chief for even the basketful to which he was entitled.
CHAPTER III
CLANS, TOTEMS AND TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP

Different classes in the tribe family— names of clans —clans with their
—
totems terms of relationship.
Different in the tribe.

classes There are two distinct
classes of people in Bunyoro, with an intermediate class, drawn
from the other two, whose members are free to marry into
either the one or the other. The most important class is
entirely pastoral, the members of it forming the aristocracy of
the country. The other class is purely agricultural, and its
members consist of the peasants and labouring people. The
intermediate class is composed of men who devote themselves
to the cultivation of land, but who also possess cattle and whose
diet is partly vegetable and partly milk. They are possibly,
in many cases, men who
once belonged to the pastoral people
but for some reason or other have taken to agriculture. Others
may be peasants who, having become rich, have imitated the
mode of life of the pastoral people and adopted a partial milk
diet. their origin, they possess herds of cattle and
Whatever
some totems are cattle, while others are vegetable or
of their
plant totems; whereas purely pastoral people have totems
relating almost entirely to cattle, and peasants who till the soil
have totems taken from plants or things relating to agriculture.
Totem clans. All three classes of the Banyoro are respec-
tively divided into a number of totem clans. No man is
allowed to marry or have sexual intercourse with a woman of

his own clan, and children belong to the clan of their father ;
in other words, the clans are exogamous with descent in the

male line. The only exception to the rule of exogamy is in
the case of the royal family, who are free to marry women of
their own clan, which is the Babito, with the Bushbuck for its
totem. So strict is the rule of exogamy in all other clans that
formerly breaches of were capital crimes a man who married
it :
a woman of his own totem

clan was put to death.
Family names of clans. In the following list it will be
noticed that some clans bear the same name, but have different
totems, while others have the same totems but a different
family name and it is impossible to say whether they are
;
related in any way, they say they are not. The first totem
mentioned is the principal totem of the clan, but the people
are commonly known by their family name. When people
bearing the same name meet they ask what their totems are,
before they are satisfied that they are related.
Clans with their totems, (a) Clans restricted to pastoral
people :
1. The Babito, whose totem is the Bushbuck, Ngabi,

chief
and the second is Rain-water from the roofs of houses.
Maleghyo. The royal family belong to this clan.
2. The Balisa, whose chief totem is the Red or the Black
Cow, Timba their second totem is Rain-water from the roofs
;
of houses, Maleghyo. Members of this clan may neither eat

the flesh nor drink the milk of red or of black cows.
3. The Bafumambogo, whose principal totem is the Grass-
hopper, Nsenene, their second the Cows with Red Markings,
their third the Buffalo. Members of the clan may not drink
the milk of cows so marked, nor eat the flesh of cows, buffaloes,
or grasshoppers.
4. The Basonga, whose principal totem is the Grasshopper,
Nsenene.
5. The Balanze, whose chief totem is a Mother Nursing a
Female Child, Isereka, and their second the Grasshopper. No
woman during the time she is nursing her infant may enter
the cattle-kraal or any house of a member of this clan.
6. The Basita, whose principal totem is the Milch Cow
which has been with a bull, and their second Dew upon the
Grass. The members of this clan avoid for several days
drinking milk from a cow which has been with a bull, and also
refrain from walking in grass while dew rests on it.
CH. Ill] CLANS, TOTEMS AND TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP 29
7.The Basingo, whose principal totem is the Cow with a

Hump, Murara, and their second totem the Cow about to
calve, Busito. The members of the clan avoid milk and the
fleshfrom such cows.
The Bagimu, whose principal totem is the Red and
8.
White Cow, Mpulu. and their second Rain-water from the

roofs of houses. Members of the clan may not drink the milk
nor eat the flesh of red and white cows, nor use rain-water
which has dripped from the roofs.
9. The Banyakwa, whose chief totem is the Cow with
Straight Horns, Ngabi. Members of the clan may not drink
the milk nor eat the flesh of straight-horned cows.
10. The Bahama, whose chief totem is a Woman who
and solicits the owner's son and is after-
enters a cattle-kraal
wards found to be pregnant by him, Butweke. Such a woman
must never again enter a kraal, nor may a member of the clan
hold any conversation with her.
11. The Basengya, whose principal totem is the Tongue
of Animals, Lulimi.
12. The Basengya, whose principal totem is the Cow with
straight Horns, Ngabi, and their second Rain-water from the
roofs of houses, Muleghya.
13. The Babyasi, whose principal totem is the Milch Cow
with Calf for the Second Time, Ekuluzi. Members of the clan
may not eat the flesh nor drink the milk of such cows.
14. The Bakwekwa, whose principal totem is the Cow
with Straight Horns, Ngabi. Members of the clan may
not drink the milk nor eat the flesh of straight-horned
cows.
15. The Bacwezi, whose principal totem is the Cow which
has drunk salt-water, and their second the Cow which has
been with a bull. They may not, for two days, drink the milk
of cows which have drunk salt-water, nor may they drink the
milk of cows that have been with a bull for five days after-
wards.
16. The Baitira, whose principal totem is the Cow called
Bazi, which means a particular colour ; their second totem is
a Woman Nursing a Female Child.

(b) Clans whose totems combine those of pastoral and

of agricultural people:
17. The Bakwonga, whose principal totem is the Bush-
buck, Ngabi.
18. The Baswa, whose principal totem is the Bushbuck,
Ngabi, and their second Rain-water from the roofs of houses.
19. The Baboro, whose chief totem is the Heart of Animals,
Mutima, and their second the Empty Basket, Kaibo-hasa.
20. The Bayangwe, whose principal totem is a kind of
Monkey, Enkondo, and their second another Monkey, Nkobo.
21. The Bagweju, whose principal totem is a House which
has been burned down, and their second any Vessel taken from
a house which has been burned down. They avoid both the
place where the house stood and also any article rescued from
the fire.
The Batongo, whose principal totem is the Stomach of

22.
Animals, Amara.
23. The Banyawagi, whose principal totem is the Bush-
buck.
24. The Baduku, whose principal totem is the Worn-out
Skin of a Drum.
25. The Basengya, whose totems are the Bushbuck and
Rain-water from roofs of houses.
26. The Banyakwa, whose totem is the Bushbuck.
27. The Bahenga, whose principal totem is a Bird, Kagondo.
28. The Bano, whose principal totem is a Fungus Growing
on Trees, Katozi.
29. The Baisanza, whose principal totem is an Antelope,
Epo.
30. The Bakimbiri, whose principal totem is a Woman
Nursing a Female Child, Isereke. A nursing mother may not
enter the house of any member of this clan.
31. The Bawongo, whose principal totem is the Bushbuck,
and their second a Running Stream. No member of the clan
may cross running water.
32. The Bapima, whose principal totem is the Bushbuck.
33. The Bagombo, whose principal totem is the Hippo-
potamus, Kiroko.
34. The Baisanza, whose principal totem is the Grass-

hopper.
35. The Banyampaka, whose principal totem is a Water
Bird, Kagondo.
(c) Agricultural clans with totems referring to Agri-
culture :
36. The Basambo, whose principal totem is an Empty

Basket, Kaibo-hasa, and their second a Needle, Lukata. Empty
baskets may not be brought into the presence of members of
this clan. Needles must be covered before they are taken into
the house of a member of the clan.
37. The Bayonza, whose principal totem is a kind of Bird,

Nyoza, and their second an Empty Basket.
38. The Bayaga-Abaruka-Omabiba, whose principal totem
is any kind of Bird, and their second Millet, Bulo. Birds may
not be killed or eaten by any member of this clan, nor may
millet which during harvest has been reaped and left in the
field all night be taken away by any member of the clan the
next day.
39. The Batwa, whose
principal totem is the Milch Cow,
and which has been put into the mouth,
their second Grass
Nsugu. Members of the clan must avoid milch cows and any
grass which a person has put into his mouth.
40. The Bakimbire, whose principal totem is a Mother
Nursing a Female Child, Isereke.
41. The Bar aha, whose principal totem is the Wagtail,
Akanyamasole.
42. The Bakimbire, whose principal totem is Potter's
Clay, Bumba, and their second Millet, Bulo, which has been
left in the field all night at harvest after being cut.
43. The Bagimu, whose principal totem is the Yam,
Ngobe.
44. The Baregeya, whose principal totem is a Bird,
Ndegeya.
45. The Bahembo, whose principal totem is the Empty
Basket, Kaibo-hasa.
46. The Basengya, whose principal totem is the Wooden
Spoon, Lugala, which is used in stirring porridge. No member
of this clan may touch a wooden porridge spoon.
:
32 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE
Terms of Relationship (M.S. = man speaks, W.S. = woman

speaks)
1. Forefather, (M.S.) Baisenkuru.
2. Forefather, (W.S.) Isenkuru.
3. Father's mother, Nyina-nkulu.
4. Father's father, Isenkulu.
5. Mother's father, Isenkulu.
6. Mother's mother, Xyina-nkulu.
7. Father, Ise or Tata.
8. Father's brother, Isento.
9. Father's sister, Isenkati.
10. Father's brother's wife, Muka Isento or Mukasi.
11. Father's sister's husband, Iba Isenkati or Mukoi.
12. Mother, Nyina or Mau.
13. Mother's brother, Nyinarumi.
14. Mother's sister, Nyina ento.
15. Mother's brother's wife, Muka nyinarumi.
16. Mother's sister's husband, Mukoi.
17. Brother, (M.S.) Mugenzi.
18. Brother, (W.S.) Munyanya.
19. Elder brother, (M.S.) Mukuru.
20. Elder brother, (W.S.) Munyanya or Mukuru.
21. Younger brother, (M.S.) Muto wange.
22. Younger brother, (W.S.) Muto wange or Munyanya.
23. Sister, (M.S.) Munyanya.
24. Sister, (W.S.) Mugenzi.

25. Elder Munyanya or Mukuru.
sister, (M.S.)
26. Elder sister, (W.S.) Mukuru or Nyakaitu.
27. Younger sister, (M.S.) Muto wange or Munyanya.
28. Younger sister, (W.S.) Muto wange or Nyakaitu or
Lugaihya.
29. Brother (same father but different mother), (M.S.)
Munyanya.
30. Brother (same father but different mother), (W.S.)
Munyanya.
31.Brother (same mother but different father), (M.S.)
Owanyina.
32. Brother (same mother but different father), (W.S.)
Owanyina.
33. Sister (same father but different mother), (M.S.)

Munyanya.
34. Sister (same father but different mother), (W.S.)
Owaise or Mugenzi.
35. Sister (same mother but different father), (M.S.)
Owanyina.
36. Sister (same mother but different father), (W.S.)
Owanyina.
37. Brother's wife, (M.S.) Muramu.
38. Brother's wife, (W.S.) Muramu.
39. Sister's husband, (M.S.) Muramu.
40. Sister's husband, (W.S.) Muramu.
41. Husband, Iba.
42. Wife, Mukazi.
43. Father's brother's son, (M.S.) Omwana wa Isento.
44. Father's brother's son, (W.S.) Omwana wa Isento or
Munyanya.
45. Father's brother's daughter, (M.S.) Omwana wa Isento
or Munyanya.
46. Father's brother's daughter, (W.S.) Mugenzi.
47. Father's sister's son (M.S.) Mwhiwha or Omwana wa
Isenkati.
48. Father's sister's son, (W.S.) Mwhiwha or Omwana wa
Isenkati.
49. Father's sister's daughter, (M.S.) Mwhiwha or Omwana
wa Isenkati.
50. Father's sister's daughter, (W.S.) Nyina ento.
51. Mother's brother's son, (M.S.) Nyina rumi.
52. Mother's brother's son, (W.S.) Nyina rumi.
53. Mother's brother's daughter, (M.S.) Nyina ento.
54. Mother's brother's daughter, (W.S.) Nyina ento.
55. Mother's sister's son, (M.S.) Omwana wa nyina ento.
56. Mother's sister's son, (W.S.) Omwana wa nyina ento.
57. Mother's sister's daughter, (M.S.) Omwana wa nyina
ento.
58. Mother's sister's daughter, (W.S.) Omwana wa nyina
ento.
59. Son, Omutabani.
R. B. T. 3
34 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE
60. Son's wife, (M.S.) Muka mwana.

61. Son's wife, (W.S.) Muka mwana.
62. Daughter, Omuhara.
63. Daughter's husband, (M.S.) Mukoi.
64. Daughter's husband, (W.S.) Mukoi.
65. Brother's son, (M.S.) Omwana wa mugenzi.
66. Brother's son, (W.S.) Omwana wa munyanya.
67. Brother's daughter, (M.S.) Omwana wa mugenzi.
68. Brother's daughter, (W.S.) Omwana wa munyanya.
69. Sister's son, (M.S.) Mwhiwha.
70. Sister's son, (W.S.) Mwhiwha.
71. Sister's son's daughter, (M.S.)Mwhiwha.
72. Sister's son's daughter, (W.S.) Mwhiwha.
73. Brother's son's wife, (M.S.) Muka mwana.
74. Brother's son's wife, (W.S.) Muka mwana.
75. Brother's sister's husband, (M.S.) Muramu.
76. Brother's sister's husband, (W.S.) Muramu.
77. Sister's son's wife, (M.S.) Muka mwana.
78. Sister's son's wife, (W.S.) Muka mwana.
79. Sister's daughter'shusband, (M.S.) Muko wange.

80. Sister's daughter'shusband, (W.S.) Muko wange.
81. Son's son, (M.S.) Mujukuru.
82. Son's son, (W.S.) Mujukuru.
83. Son's daughter, (M.S.) Mujukuru.
84. Son's daughter, (W.S.) Mujukuru.
85. Daughter's son, (M.S.) Mujukuru.
86. Daughter's son, (W.S.) Mujukuru.
87. Daughter's daughter, (M.S.) Mujukuru.
88. Daughter's daughter, (W.S.) Mujukuru.
89. Wife's father, Isezara.
90. Wife's mother, Nyinazara.
91. Wife's brother, Muramu.
92. Wife's brother's wife, Muramu.
93. Wife's brother's son, Omwana wa muramu or muramu.
94. Wife's brother's daughter, Omwana wa muramu or
muramu.
95. Wife's sister, Muramu.
96. Wife's sister's husband, Muramu.
97. Wife's sister's son, Mwana wa muramu or muramu.

98. Wife's sister's daughter, Mwana wa muramu or
muramu.
99. Husband's father, Isezara.
100. Husband's mother, Nyinazara.
101. Husband's brother, Muramu.
102. Husband's brother's wife, Mukaibu or Muka muramu.
103. Husband's brother's son, Omwana wa muramu.
104. Husband's brother's daughter, Omwana wa muramu.
105. Husband's sister, Muramu.
106. Husband's sister's husband, Muko wange.
107. Husband's sister's son, Mwhiwha or Iba.
108. Husband's sister's daughter, Mwhiwha or Iba.
109. Son's wife's father, Muitwe.
110. Son's wife's mother, Muitwe.
in. Parent, Omuzaire, pi. Abazaire.
112. Child, Mwana, pi. Abana.
3—2
—
CHAPTER IV
MARRIAGE AND BIRTH
The king's wives — marriage of —the king's mother—marriage

sisters
of princes —marriage customs pastoral clans—the bride's dress
in
and marriage ceremony —seclusion of bride — marriage customs in
agricultural clans —womens' duties among pastoral people
fetish to ensure conception — methods used to ensure motherhood
—restrictions placed on women during pregnancy—birth—food of
a mother when nursing her child — treatment of a child —naming a
child — birth customs among agricultural people — birth twins
of
death of twins — table of birth rate.
King's wives, marriage of sisters. Though the Banyoro

clans are exogamous, this rule does not apply to royalty ;
for in the royal family brothers frequently marry their

sisters, and as there is no rule to prohibit them from having
offspring, they sometimes have children by them, though
princesses usually kill their children at birth. This seems
to have been done rather to save trouble in nursing them
than from any fear or sense of guilt. The custom of marriage
with a sister is probably due to the fact that the royal
family belong to some other race than the pastoral people
a race who followed the rule of succession through the
female line, and the king married his sister to ensure his son
succeeding him. The king had usually several princesses among
his wives and often had children by them, and such children
took their places with other princes as legitimate heirs to
the throne, no difference being made between them and the
king's sons born of women from pastoral clans. The practice
of marrying a near relative was usually confined to couples
of the same generation, though there was no rule which
forbad a prince from marrying a princess who was either his
aunt or his neice a father, however, refrained from marrying
;
CH. IV] MARRIAGE AND BIRTH 37
his daughter. When a princess became a wife of the king,

she did not leave him to go to some other prince, but re-
garded herself as his sole property. The case was different
with princes who married their sisters with them there was
:
no binding marriage contract, and a princess was free to leave

her brother to go to some other prince, if she elected to do so.
Such marriages being more of the nature of love-matches, the
couple came together for a time and their union was rather of
a secret than of a public nature. It was illegal for any com-
moner to marry a princess and should such a couple be found

;
living together, they would have been put to death. When a

prince married his sister and she had a child by him, she had
to leave the capital for her confinement, as in the case of other
women. Polygamy was general, the only restriction as to the
number of wives a man might marry being the milk-supply for
their food. In the case of the king and wealthy chiefs there
was a plentiful supply, and therefore no limit was fixed to
the number of their wives. It was considered an honour to
give women to the king to become his wives, and their number
was ever increasing. The king seldom had to ask for a woman,
because pastoral chiefs and peasants hoped that, by giving
their daughters to him, they would not only gain immediate
benefit but would become related to the future king, who would
advance their social position. Though the king was freely
supplied with women
for his harem, still, should he hear of
some attractive he would send her some ornament to wear,
girl,
usually a few beads, which indicated that she was engaged

to him. When old enough to marry, such a girl would be
taken to the court and become one of the king's wives. It
was not customary for the king to marry women from agri-
cultural clans he confined himself to members of pastoral
:
clans.
The king's mother. The king's mother was held in great
respect. She lived in her own enclosure near the king's
residence. She was not allowed to remarry after her husband's
death, but she had her paramours of whom no man might
speak to the king. Should the king suspect any man of being
;
unduly familiar with his mother, he would order him to be

executed. The king's mother, his wives, and in fact all women
regarded obesity as a mark of beauty and vied with one
another who should be the stoutest. Their stoutness prevented
them from walking even short distances without many rests.
They took no exercise, but were carried in litters wherever
they wished to go. The king often gave presents of domestic
slaves to his mother and to his wives, in addition to cows.
The slaves were wanted for menial work and to cultivate the
land in order to supply vegetable food for household slaves and
servants, who were seldom allowed a milk-diet.
Marriage of princes. Princes were encouraged to marry
and were given wives by their fathers, chiefs were also allowed
to give women to princes whom they admired or to whom they
wished to be related and further, princes married women
;
from pastoral clans according to the customs of the country,

that is to say by paying a marriage-fee of cattle. Each prince
had his herds of cattle from which he obtained his supply of
milk for himself and his wives. Princes were given estates
by their father, the king, where they could place their peasants
and slaves and whence they could obtain vegetable food for
their households. Their herds of cattle were free to roam
over large tracts of country in company with those of the
king, so long as the ordinary rules not to mix the colours, etc.,
were observed.
Cousin marriage. Among the Banyoro first cousins, the
children of a brother and sister respectively, are forbidden to
marry each other but second cousins, the grandchildren of a
;
brother and sister respectively, are allowed to marry each

other, if the father of the one is a son of that brother, and if
the mother of the other is a daughter of that sister. In other
words, a man's children may not marry his sister's children
but a man's son's children may marry his sister's daughter's
children.
Marriage in pastoral clans. Among pastoral clans a father
arranged for his son's marriage. He sought some girl, who
belonged to a clan different from his own, who was possibly still
a child, and arranged with her parents for her to become the
wife of his son when old enough to marry. He would give
two or more cows to the girl's parents, who would then consider
their daughter as engaged to be married. It was the mother's
duty to keep her daughter pure until marriage. A girl thus
betrothed remained with her parents until she was marriageable.
During the time the couple were too young to marry, they
held no communication one with the other, and the engage-
ment rested entirely with the parents whose duty it was to
keep the bride from forming any attachment to another man.
At the time of marriage some of the bridegroom's female rela-
tives visited the bride to see her anointed with butter and to
examine her and see whether she was free from diseases of the
skin. In like manner some of the bride's male relatives visited
and examined the bridegroom on behalf of the bride and
reported to her whether he was a desirable husband. The
bride's relatives decided the amount the bridegroom should
pay for the marriage fee, and this amount was paid before a
man took his bride. The sum demanded by the wealthier
people was from ten to twenty cows, which were paid to the
bride's parents. It was always pleasant to a bride to make her
prospective husband pay a large sum for her, as it gratified her
vanity and was a measure of her husband's desire to have
her. The marriage took place in the evening. The bride
was veiled with either bark-cloths or well-dressed cow-skins,
and was carried on the shoulders of some strong male relative
to her future home. It was customary for women of pastoral
clans to wear a veil when going out, so that the dress worn at
marriage was that of daily use. The bride was accompanied
by some of her relatives and girl-friends who carried her belong-
ings and sang and danced as they went. They remained for
the night and often during the following day, dancing and
singing. The bride was expected to be in tears when going
to her husband, because she was leaving her parents. These
tears were in many cases forced and feigned expressions of
grief. A bride was in reality glad to marry, Parents usually
gave their daughter a present of cows, some of them in milk,
to ensure her food ; and friends made her presents

relatives
of clothing and ornaments. A bride was taken to live with
her husband's parents who received her as a daughter. She
sat first in the lap of her mother-in-law and afterwards in the
lap of her father-in-law, and was in all respects treated as a
daughter. Until her first child was born, she lived with her
mother-in-law. When her first baby was born, her husband
and father-in-law built her a house near her mother-in-law,
in the same kraal, and she began her duties as a wife and mother.
Marriage was consummated in the evening of the second day
after the marriage ceremony when the guests had departed.
An elderly woman, an aunt of the bride, was present to instruct
the young couple in their matrimonial duties, and remained
with them for several days.
Seclusion of the bride. The bride was secluded for a period
varying from ten days to a year, according to her husband's
wealth and position. Both husband and wife promised to be
faithful to each other, and the wife was charged to be hospitable
to her husband's guests. When the term of seclusion ended,
the bridegroom took his wife to visit her parents, and he was
admitted into their family as a son by first sitting in the lap
of his mother-in-law and afterwards in that of his father-in-law.
When a man married one of his slaves and she became a
mother, she was no longer considered a slave. Should her
husband die before her, the heir recognised her as a free woman.
Women thus freed seldom sought their relatives, if they belonged
to another tribe. They remained with their children.
Marriage in agricultural clans. In agricultural clans, when
a man attained the age of puberty, he was left to manage as
best he could to obtain a wife, though his father assisted him
as much as he was able and gave him the advice necessary to
obtain a woman who was no way related to him. Agri-
in
cultural people seldom possessed more than two or three goats
or sheep, and, as the marriage fee varied from ten to forty goats,
a father could give but little assistance, and a man required
months to obtain the sum demanded. Members of the man's
clan were requested to help, but, even with their assistance,
it often took a man ten months or longer to obtain the number

of goats asked. A
bridegroom paid a number of goats when
he first asked the parents for their daughter. If these were
accepted, the girl was considered betrothed and waited until
the full number was paid, when she was claimed by the man.
The nuptials were conducted by night as in the case of the
pastoral people. The bride was carried veiled in the evening
to her husband. She was accompanied by friends who danced
and sang during the night and the next day, and by an aunt,
the bride's father's sister, who lived with the young couple
some time after marriage to instruct them in their matrimonial
duties. At the time of marriage the guests were regaled with
mutton and porridge made from millet-flour, and were given
beer to drink. When the bride's father's sister returned home,
the bridegroom gave her a present of a sheep. A bride among
agricultural people did not remain secluded many days it was :
necessary that she should go to dig in her husband's garden,

so that, after a few days or at most at the end of a month, she
went to her work of digging. When first going to her garden
after seclusion, a bride left the house secretly in the early
morning and proceeded to the garden and worked for a time
before other people were up when they began to move, she
;
returned as secretly to her home as she had left it, the first
streaks of sunlight indicating that was time for her to return.

it
After the work in the morning had been done, the husband
gave a second feast and both he and his wife publicly promised
to be faithful to each other the wife was then free to go about
:
her household duties. The newly married couple lived near

the bridegroom's parents, and father and son both worked for
the same master. A father invariably helped his son to build
his house. An agricultural peasant avoided his mother-in-law,
and only spoketo her when she was hidden from sight.
Women's duties among pastoral people. In pastoral clans
women do no work beyond churning and washing milk-pots.
Manual work has always been regarded as degrading and
cultivation of the ground as positively injurious to their cattle.
There was no cooking done by women of pastoral clans. Milk
was drunk fresh from the cows and, when beef was obtained,
a man would cut it into small pieces and cook it on wooden
spits or skewers over the log-fire. During menstruation the
wives of wealthy cattle owners were given milk to drink from
old cows which were not expected to have calves again wives
;
of men with only a limited number of cows were prohibited

from drinking milk at all and had to live on vegetable food
during the time of their indisposition, because their condition
was considered harmful to the cows, should they drink milk.
After living on a vegetable diet a woman fasted at least twelve
hours before she ventured to drink milk again. During the
time of her indisposition a woman lived apart from her husband ;
she was careful not to touch anything belonging to him and

took care not to touch any milk-vessels. Her husband also
was excluded from visiting the king and from going to war
until his wife was well again.
Fetish to ensure conception and methods followed to secure
motherhood. A wife expected to become a mother soon after
marriage. To ensure this her husband would obtain a fetish
from a medicine-man for her to wear round her waist. The
fetish was generally two pieces of stick an inch long, a little
thicker than a lead pencil, which were threaded on a string
side by side and encased in goat-skin. They were frequently
decorated with two or four cowry-shells stitched on to the
goat-skin. Should a wife show no signs of pregnancy, a
medicine-man was consulted and he would discover the cause
of her failure to bear by resorting to one of his means of
divination, either by killing a cow, sheep, or a fowl, or by a
water-test. The animal was killed and its intestines examined
for markings which would indicate the cause of the failure ;
or, if the water-test was resorted to, the man cast a number
of short pieces of stick into the vessel and watched how they
floated, and according to the positions they took he gave his
oracle. Women were frequently said to be prevented from
having children by ghosts which had some grievance against
the husband and restrained his wife from child-bearing. To
remedy this defect an offering, either an ox or a sheep, according
to the advice of the medicine-man, was made to the ghost, who

would remove the restriction. Sometimes a medicine-man was
asked to visit a sterile wife of the king or a sterile wife of a
wealthy chief. He was then supplied with a fowl which had
to be a male bird, killed the fowl and smeared the blood on
the inside of the woman's thighs. Sometimes he also poured
the blood into a shallow vessel. The woman stripped and sat
in it and had some of the blood smeared on the lower part of
her body. These remedies were supposed to be sufficient to
bring about pregnancy.
Restrictions placed upon a woman during pregnancy.
During her period of gestation a woman was given powdered
herbs to drink mixed with water : she was careful not to
touch the clothing of any man other than her husband, lest
she should injure her child ; she slept on her own bed apart
from her husband and avoided coming into contact with
other men. A wife of the king at such a time was removed
from the royal residence to some relative who took care of her
and provided her with a woman to act as midwife when her
child was born, and to continue to guard her and her child
until her infant was weaned at the end of three years. At the
time of birth the mother stood in a stooping position for her
delivery by one of the pillars of the house.
Birth customs. When the child was born, the midwife
washed its mouth out with her finger and started respiration,
and she waited for the after-birth before she cut the umbilical
cord. The after-birth was buried near the door of the house.
If the child was a boy, it was buried on the right side of the
doorway if a girl, on the left side of it.
; The mother was
secluded after her confinement for four days, if the child was
a boy for three days, if it was a girl.
; She lay on the floor
near the fire and no person except the midwife and her husband
might enter the house. The fire was watched and kept burning
brightly during the time of seclusion, until the mother was
taken to the back of the house for her purificatory rite. At
the expiration of the mother's seclusion she was washed from
head to foot by the midwife, while other relatives swept out
the house and recarpeted it with newly cut grass, the old
grass from the house and the dust being thrown away on the
dung-heap in the kraal. During her pregnancy and until
she ceased to nurse her child, a woman of the pastoral clans
drank from a wooden cup : she was not given an earthenware
vessel, lest her child should grow up weak or be frail and die
an early death.
Food of a mother when nursing her child. A nursing
mother was restricted to the milk of cows which had lost their
calves, if her child was a boy but she was free to drink milk
;
from any cow, if it was a girl. A small piece of the umbilical

cord was encased in leather, decorated and made into an
ornament for the child to wear round its neck. The child
was not allowed to sit for three months after its birth :
it either lay on its back on a rug on the floor, or it was
carried in its nurse's arms. At the end of the third month the
father's mother came and placed the child to sit on the floor
alone. She did this in the presence of a few relatives,
because the ceremony was considered to make the child grow
strong.
Treatment of a child and naming
it. A mother nursed her
child for three years, unless she became pregnant again, in
which case the child was weaned. In any case she began to
give it cow's milk to drink when it was six months old. A
child wore no clothes, but it had various amulets made into
ornaments which were fastened round its neck, or its wrists
and ankles, and also tied into its hair. The child was named
by its paternal grandmother, when it cut its first lower teeth.
It was given a name of some deceased ancestor of its father's
clan and the ghost of that relative was supposed to guard the
child and to make it thrive. After it was named the mother
took her child a round of visits to the members of her husband's
clan, who welcomed it as a member and gave it presents of
ornaments. Should a female child suffer from abdominal
pains, the mother was accused of adultery but if a male
;
child suffered, the father was accused. In such cases a medicine-

man came and, after he had made his medicine, the guilty
parent had to spit into it, and the child was made to drink the
medicine. There was no punishment if a man was unfaithful
to his wife, though it was believed his child would die, if he
continued to live an immoral life after he had been warned.
A husband would flog his wife severely and might kill her, if
he discovered she had been unfaithful to him.
Birth customs among agricultural clans. Among agricul-
tural people a wife during her period of menstruation continued
to cook for her husband and was in no way restricted from
attending to his wants, but she was not permitted to approach
other men, and her husband never went to the royal enclosure
until his wife was quite recovered. Similar customs to those
adopted by the pastoral people were followed in order to
procure children. A wife consulted the medicine-man, wore
fetishes and drank powdered herbs daily. When pregnant, a
wife avoided food which she considered harmful to her con-
dition, though she had no special rule of food taboo to follow
such as those of the Baganda. No man might touch a woman
when she was with child. She might not even shake hands
with any man, and she drank from her own special cup which
she kept in some place where it would not be used by any
other person. At the time of her confinement her mother-in-
law or some elderly person from her husband's clan undertook
the duties of midwife. The after-birth was buried outside
the house near the door, according to the sex of the child : on
the right side of the doorway for a boy, and on the left side
if was a girl. The mother was secluded four days if the
it
childwas a boy, and three days if it was a girl and she slept ;
on the floor near a brightly burning fire. The child was

nursed for three years, but after the fourth month it was
given artificial food, chiefly ripe plantain made into gruel. A
man have sons he even despised and neglected
liked his wife to :
her if all her children were girls. It was said to be an evil

omen when a child cut its upper teeth before the lower ones,
and a mother watched anxiously for the first teeth and was
greatly relieved when a tooth in the lower jaw appeared first.
A child had its head shaved when the hair became too thick.
Sex made no difference to this rule. During infancy the

mother was responsible for dressing the hair, but when a child
was weaned and taken away from its mother a paternal aunt
performed the office of hair dresser until the child grew up and
married. After marriage a man looked to his wife to shave
his head for him. Among had
pastoral people a child seldom
its hair cut untilwas six years old, and the ceremony of
it
shaving the head was then performed at a special gathering

of relations. A child wore bells on its ankles until it could
walk freely. They were said to encourage walking and to
strengthen the legs.
Birth of twins. The birth of twins was a solemn event.
The children were supposed to be the gift of the gods and were
received accordingly with peculiar rites to celebrate their
birth. The midwife sent for a medicine-man who isolated both
parents, shut them in a house and built up the doorway to
prevent them from coming out and to keep others from entering
the house. When possible a new house was rapidly built
for this purpose and the man and his wife were kept prisoners
for at least a week, and were fed through a small opening
which was only large enough to permit food to be handed in.
The wife had to live in the hut some six months the husband,
;
however, was allowed to find a substitute, a boy from his clan

who had not reached the age of puberty. When possible the
boy was a uterine brother, or at least a brother by the same
father. This boy entered the hut, remained with the mother
of the twins and set the father free to go about his regular
duties. The umbilical cord of each child was cut upon a
thong used to tie the legs of a young cow when it was milked,
and the cow had to be one with a female calf. Should a woman
who belonged to an agricultural clan have twins, the umbilical
cord was cut upon the handle of a hoe. No knife was ever
used for this purpose it was cut with a strip split from a
;
reed, in the case of a first-born child from a dry reed and, for
other children, from a growing reed. It was a common rule
for a father of twins to remain in the hut with his wife until
the new moon appeared, and afterwards, when he went out of
the hut, he refrained from shaving his head until the children
were brought out and named, when the relatives were allowed
to see them. This ceremony took place at the end of six
months. At the time of the birth of twins the father sent a
messenger to let his parents know that there were twins born
and thus prevent his mother from paying a visit to see his
wife. The messenger chosen was a man swift of foot. He
proceeded to the parents' house and called to them from a dis-
tance, " Your daughter has many children," and then turned
and fled, chased by the inmates of the house. Should they
catch him before he reached the hut of the mother of the
twins, he had to pay a fine, and the disgrace of being caught
was very great. As each new moon appeared, a dance was given
at the hut in which the mother and twins lived. This lasted
for two or three days and was continued both by day and by
night by the relatives and friends assembled. At the end of
six months the husband killed an ox near the hut and the twins
were brought out and shown to the relatives. Among the
agricultural clans the parents were taken in the early morning
to some river or pool of water where they were publicly washed
and shaved clean of all hair on head and body, and their nails
were pared on hands and feet. The hair and nail-parings were
taken and deposited by the husband in some secret place
together with the sweepings from the hut. The twins also
had their heads shaved, but the mother preserved the hair.
The after-birth of a twin was kept in the house in a new cook-
ing-pot, and, when dry, it was sealed up. The pot was covered
with a sheep-skin or a cow-skin. After the purificatory rite
the pot was deposited in some unfrequented place and left,
or it was buried in an ant-hillock. Dancing again took place
after the purificatory ceremonies were ended, and this con-
tinued for several months, as each new moon appeared. When
the moon was first seen, the twins had drum-sticks placed in
their hands and were helped to beat a few taps on a drum to
start the dancing. The only difference between pastoral and
agricultural people in the observance of twin ceremonies was
in the kind of food eaten : the agricultural people at the time
of the purificatory ceremonies gave a meal of vegetables with

meat and beer, whereas pastoral people were restricted to
milk.
Death of twins. Should a twin die at birth, it was boned
by a medicine-man, but the after-birth was kept in the house
until the other child was weaned. When both twins died in
infancy, each body was put into a new cooking-pot and dried
by the medicine-man, who then took the pots with the bodies
to an unfrequented place and sought an ant-hillock, where he
dug a hole large enough in the side of the hillock to admit the
pots. He then covered the hole over with the earth he had
dug from the hillock.
It has been stated that twins are regarded by the Banyoro
as unlucky, and that they are exposed to the midday sun at

birth until one dies. It was impossible to find any native to
confirm this statement, and it appears to be contrary to the

common beliefs of the people 1 .
Parents were diligent in making offerings to the gods when

a twin died, because they attributed the death to the god's
displeasure. Parents preferred twins to be a boy and a girl,
because they said the gods were pleased with both parents,
whereas, if both were boys, it was a sign that the mother's clan
was in disfavour and, if both were girls, the father's clan was in
disfavour. The clan which was in disfavour made offerings to
the gods to remove any cause of their ill-willand displeasure.
In agricultural clans the parents of twins sowed a plot of
land with millet and called it " the children's plot." When the
grain was ripe they cooked a meal with the first-fruits and ate it
in the presence of the god, before they ventured to eat any grain
that year.
Birth rate. The birth rate of girls appears to be in excess
of that of boys. Twenty-seven mothers who were questioned by
Miss Attlee of the C.M.S. Bunyoro Mission, however, writes to me " Many
1 :
women state that twins were greatly feared and that it is a custom to expose
the twins until they die and then put the bodies in cooking-pots and fill the
pots with cow-dung. The pot was placed on a slow fire until the whole was
quite dry and the pots were retained in the house fully a year. They were
afterwards thrown into a river or swamp."
Miss Attlee gave the total of children born to them as 101. Of

these, 60 were girls and 41 were boys. Of the 101 children born,
32 died in infancy, 32 died before they reached maturity, leaving
only 37 who came to manhood. The table is as follows :
Women Died Died Grew

questioned Children in before up to
No. born Boys vjtii la 1 111 d. 1 1L \ irieitu n ty maturity
1 6
— 4 3
—3 —
—
2 1
1 — I
— 1
—
3
6
1
2 — 1
4
—4 —4
5
— i
1
5
6
4
3 3
3
1 — 1
2
7 7 4 3 3 2 2
8 2 2 2
4
2 — —1
— 1
9
10 —2 —2 —
11
1
1
1
1 — — 1
1
12 j j
13 7 3 4 4 1 2
M 3 1
2
2
2
1 2
15 4 1 3
16 1 1 1
17 3 1 2 3
18 5 2 3 1 4
19 3 1 2 1 2
20 7 1 6 7
21 13 4 9 3 9 Z
22 5 2 3 1
4
23 4 1 3 4
24 3 1 2 1 2
25 1 1 1
26 3 2 1 1 1 1
27 2 1 1 1 1 1
Totals 101 41 60 32 32 37
R. B. T.
4
CHAPTER V
SICKNESS AND DEATH
—
Death, of the king preparing the royal corpse for burial princes —
fight for the throne—chiefs and widows killed at the grave of the
— —
king cattle offered to the dead king sickness among common
— —
people magical influence the cause of death sickness among
pastoral people —
beliefs in ghostly possession —
disposal of property
by men —ascertaining the cause of death — management
sick a of
sick chamber — death — burial customs pastoral people — mourning
of
customs—introducing the to end mourning — burial
heir princes of
and princesses —burial customs agricultural clans — burial
of of
women.
Death of the king. The Banyoro, in common with other

known tribes of Africa, would not allow their king to lie ill
of any serious sickness. They sought to end his life while he
was in full strength : indeed, the king himself would, when he
felt his strength declining through age, or when he feared he
was about end his life by taking poison. The king's
to fall ill,
chief wife kept herbs ready to hand and prepared a cup at his
bidding he swallowed the drug and in a few moments he
;
was dead. Under other circumstances, for example, when

suffering from any slight indisposition, the king kept his bed
and was attended by his chief wife who obtained assistance
from a chief and a medicine-man, and they nursed him until
he was able to resume his duties, such slight ailments seldom
confining the king to his room for more than one or two days.
If after two days the king did not recover his general health,
he adopted the usual custom of his predecessors by ending

his life. The wife who administered the poison-cup called one
or two of the leading chiefs when the king was dead and made
known to them the real state of affairs, and they kept the
king's death secret until they could make preparations for the
CH. V] SICKNESS AND DEATH 51
wars which would inevitably follow when the princes learned

that their father was dead and the contest for the vacant
throne began. Sometimes a king told some of his chiefs he
was about to die and named the prince he would like to succeed
to the throne, but this express wish in no wise prevented the
princes from entering upon their struggle, and the most
capable warrior invariably obtained the throne.
Preparing the corpse for burial. After the body of the
king was washed, the limbs were bent up into a squatting
position and the hands raised to one side of the head the head
;
was shaved and the nails pared, and the sinews of the back were
cut out and buried apart from the body. The body was
wrapped first in a well-dressed cow-skin and afterwards stitched
in a raw cow-skin that had recently been flayed. Each day
milk was brought from the sacred cows to the dairy for the
king and each night meat was cooked for him as though he
were still alive; and the chiefs and the principal wife kept
guard over the house to prevent the true state of affairs from
becoming known while they made preparations for the coming
struggle for the crown.
Princes fight for the throne. When the death was announced,
the principal chiefs assembled in the royal enclosure and took
their posts as guards over the king's body, while princes set
themselves at the head of their followers to fight for the throne.
During the time the civil wars lasted, the royal widows mourned
daily and paid no attention to the disturbed state of the
country. No fires were allowed to burn during the period of
mourning, they were all extinguished when the king's death
was announced a fire might be lighted by friction with fire sticks
;
for cooking necessary food, but it was extinguished immedi-

ately the cooking was done and fresh fire obtained when it was
wanted. When at length the victorious prince was escorted
in triumph to the royal enclosure and demanded the body of
his father from the leading chiefs who had been neutral during
the wars and guarded the body, the chiefs satisfied themselves
that no prince was left alive to contest the throne before they
admitted the prince into the royal enclosure and when satisfied,
;
they proclaimed him king and gave him the body of his father.
4—2
:
Burial of the king. The first duty of the new king was to
take the body of his father into a particular district of his
country for burial. This district lay to the north-west of the
capital over the important river Kafu. The funeral procession
was conducted more like a festival than a funeral ceremony:
there was no mourning, but drums, flutes and songs resounded
as the procession made its way. There was double cause for
joy: the wars were ended, the country settled, and there was
rejoicing for the new king. When the district in which the
kings were buried was reached, the new king and chiefs selected
a place for the grave and a man was told to prepare a site
where the grave was to be dug this he did by measuring the
;
space required and by digging a trench enclosing it. When

this was done, he announced the fact to the king, whereupon
the order was given to seize the man and he was put to death,
the sinews from his back being cut out and used for cord to
tie the blades on the hoes to be used in digging the grave.
The grave was a large pit with a path leading into it, down
which the bearers carried the body. The pit was lined with
cow-skins and over these bark-cloths were spread, and a bed
was made in the middle of the pit upon which the body was
laid and covered with many more bark-cloths.
Chiefs and widows killed at the king's grave. Two or more
of the principal widows of the dead king were led into the
grave and speared to death beside the body; the boy who
announced the approach of the sacred cows when coming from
pasture to be milked, the chief herdsman, the chief cook and
the chief who had charge of the king's well were also clubbed
to death in the grave. It is a disputed question where the
bodies of these various victims killed in the grave were buried
some say they were removed and buried in graves near the king's
grave, but the weight of evidence is in favour of the bodies
having been left to lie where they fell under the executioner's
club. Many widows came to the funeral and when they saw
the body covered and their companions executed, they drank
poison they had brought with them and fell dead into the
grave. These people who died at the grave were said to
be companions of the late king's ghost : they were sent to
accompany the king into the other world and to continue their
services for him there.
Cattle offered to the dead king. In addition to the people
who were executed, there were numbers of sacred cows killed
by the grave to be the king's cattle in the ghost-world. The
meat of the sacrificed animals was given to the peasants who
dug the grave and built a temple over it. Before the grave
was filled with earth, there were numbers of bark-cloths
thrown into it. When filled a mound of beaten earth was
made over it and a large hut was built over the place. A
guard was appointed to live in the hut to present the offerings
sent to the ghost of the departed. The earth-mound over the
grave was made with a flat surface, covered with a grass
carpet and overlaid with cow-skins and leopard-skins. This
was the throne where the ghost was said to take its seat at
any ceremony. Before this throne offerings were made to the
departed king, and there also requests were made when the
reigning king wished to consult his father upon state matters
or when sickness appeared in the royal household. The departed
king was commonly spoken of as being asleep, but never as
dead. Upon the king's return from the funeral of his father,
sacred was brought to him by the keeper of the sacred fire,
fire
who had the title of Nsansa Namugoye the king took the fire
;
from the keeper and held it for a few moments he then ;
returned it to the keeper and told him to light the fires in the
royal enclosure. All the fires in the country were supposed to
be lighted from this fire. The original fire was said to have
been brought to the country by one of the first kings.
Sickness among the common people. Among common
people sickness was believed to have its origin in magic worked
by some evil-disposed person, or it might be due to a ghost
which had been neglected in some way; but it was seldom
attributed to natural causes. Before any serious illness could
be treated, it was essential to discover the cause whether it
was due to magic or to a ghost. A wife dared not allow her
husband to lie ill many hours without calling in some of his
relatives, lest they should accuse her of being the cause of the
illness. In cases of indisposition such as headache, cold or
mild attacks of fever, the wife and relatives resorted to bleeding

or blistering with hot irons, or they tied a band tightly round
the head, but did not seek the aid of a medicine-man. Should
these remedies prove ineffectual, the medicine-man was called
in to diagnose the case.
Magical influence the cause of death. One common mode
of magical influence was to bury bones of animals or birds,
over which incantations had been made, near the house or
to hide them in the thatch of the house of the person to be
influenced. It was firmly believed that sickness would follow.
A medicine-man was able by his tests to tell whether there
were such magical bones causing the sickness or whether the
illness was due to magic of some other kind, or whether it
was caused by a ghost this he did by the test obtained from
:
a pot of water into which he cast pieces of stick, or by the

markings on the entrails of an animal or a fowl which he was
given to kill for the purpose. Should he declare that bones
had been hidden near the house, he sent for a special medicine-
man known as the "Smeller" and told him what had happened.
This man, after hearing the details of the oracle, began to sniff
about like a dog, first in one place and then in another, until he
discovered the spot where the bones were concealed and un-
earthed them. This work often took hours, because the man
might dig in various places where he detected some peculiar
scent and afterwards find that it was not the right place.
When the bones had been discovered, they were taken away
by the medicine-man and destroyed the sickness would then
:
yield to ordinary treatment and the patient would recover.

Sometimes a sick man accused by name some person of having
worked magic, when the test pointed to magic the medicine-
;
man would then call the accused person and take two fowls,
one to represent the sick man and the other to represent the
person accused of magic, and the fowls would be shut up without
food for two days after which time the medicine-man would
administer an amount of poison, such as was used in the poison-
ordeal, to each fowl and watch to see the effect. The fowl
that died was said to prove the person it represented to be
guilty: should it be that of the sick man, he was said to have
made a false charge and was fined heavily ; but if it was the
fowl of the accused man, he would be burned to death.
Sickness among the pastoral people. When a man of a
pastoral clan a medicine-man was called in to transfer
fell ill,
the sickness to some cow provided by the sick man's relatives.

The sick man was then taken by his wives and relatives to
some place at a distance from the kraal, where the medicine-
man rubbed him all over with herbs ana then tied the herbs to
the neck of the animal chosen, thus transferring the sickness

to the animal. The animal was killed, and its blood was
caught in a vessel and smeared over the company, who then
returned home leaving the medicine-man to dispose of the
meat as he wished, either by eating it or by throwing it on to
waste-land. Sometimes a medicine-man selected a sheep to
which the sickness was to be transferred. He forced it to drink
some fluid he had made from herbs into which the sick man had
expectorated, and the sheep was then turned loose and driven
into some uninhabited part of the country, carrying with it
the man's sickness.

Beliefs in ghostly possession. In a case where a medicine-
man of the agricultural clans was said to be possessed by a
ghost which could not be exorcised, the medicine-man told
him to order a feast to be cooked and to invite a number of
guests to the meal. The food was prepared and the guests
were made to sit in the open near the door of the sick man's
house. When the food was served and the guests were about
to eat the meal, the medicine-man would rush out from some
place of hiding, snatch up the food and run away with it,
leaving the guests disappointed and hungry. This action was
intended to appeal to the ghost and make it understand that
it would cause similar distress by taking away the head of the
house and leaving those dependant upon him without food.

In some cases when a ghost possessed a man, a medicine-man
was called in and given a sheep which he tied to the head of
the sick man for a time, until the ghost was said to have left
the sick man and entered the animal. The sheep was then taken
and kept in a shrine at the grave of the person whose ghost
was said to have been causing the trouble. Another important
method of exorcising ghosts was to call in a special medicine-

man noted for his success in capturing ghosts. This man
was allotted a house near that of the sick man and he was
given a black goat, which he tied in the house until the following
day. He then collected a quantity of herbs, and laid them in
a heap on the floor of his house. In the early morning, having
killed the goat on the heap of herbs by cutting its throat, he
made a fire in the house and placed meat round it to roast
on sticks which were stuck into the floor. When the hut was
filled with a savoury smell of the cooking meat, the sick man
was carried in, laid on a bed near the fire and two of his relatives
were told to sit and watch a water-pot in which a piece of cooked
meat was put, and over the mouth of the pot a few blades of
grass were tied in such a position that they waved with the
slightest movement in the air. The men were told that the
ghost would be tempted to leave the sick man in order to have
a meal of meat and would enter the pot to eat the meat in it,
and that when it would cause the blades of

entered the pot it
grass to wave. They were warned to let the medicine-man

know when the grass moved, so that he might capture the
ghost. The medicine-man took his seat on the opposite side
of the fire and chanted a song in soft tones, and kept time to
his song with a gourd-rattle, bidding the ghost to leave the man
and eat the food. The smell, combined with the chant, caused
the ghost to leave its victim and enter the pot which was an
inviting place with its morsel of meat. 'When it entered the
pot, it caused the grass to move and the men notified the fact
to the medicine-man who quickly covered it with a skin,
smeared it over with clay, carried it away to the nearest river
and thus drowned the ghost. Should there be no river near, he
cast the captive ghost on waste-land and burnt it to death. The
sick man would afterwards be treated for his illness and recover.
Disposal of property by sick men. Sick men usually
appointed a son to be heir to any property they had, and their
express wishes were followed, if possible even the king would
:
recognise the wishes of the departed, confer his title upon the
heir and give him the land of his predecessor, unless he had
some definite reason for rejecting the man. Among wealthy
pastoral people whose property consisted in cattle, the question

of a successor was one for the clan, and it was theirs to decide
whether they would accept the dead man's wishes or not. It
was, however, more usual for men to divide their cattle among
their children during their illness. Should a man neglect this
precaution, the elders of his clan appointed his heir, but in
most instances they gave the property to the eldest son of the
deceased. Women did not inherit property among either
pastoral or agricultural clans ; but girls of pastoral clans were
given a number of cows from their father's estate when they
married. The heir to property, whether from a pastoral or
from an agricultural clan, was in each case presented to the
king,and the king confirmed him in the office or rejected him,
should he have good reason for so doing. When a man suc-
ceeded to property, he visited the king to take the oath of
allegiance and gave him five or six cows and two slaves from
the estate of the deceased.
Ascertaining the cause of death. Whenever a death took
place, was necessary for the relatives to consult a medicine-
it
man to discover by some test the cause of death, and should a

person be accused of working magic, he was clubbed to death,
unless the relatives of the deceased man accepted a fine or the
accused was able to disprove the accusation by a counter-
oracle. Should a ghost be supposed to have caused the death,
it had to be propitiated lest it should continue its destructive
work upon other members of the clan.

Management of a sick chamber. A sick chamber was
usually full of relatives and friends who talked freely about
the illness and the patient's chances of recovery, and from
time to time they made sympathetic remarks to the patient,
so that the sick man had little Should a friend be unable
quiet.
to go in person to the sick chamber, he would send a representa-
tive, lest he should be denounced as unsympathetic and run
the risk of being charged with having worked magic to cause
the illness 1 .
1
Syphilis has for many The people
years been a scourge in Bunyoro.
Bukedi and say it was brought into that
attribute the source of the disease to
country from Egypt. Women whom the Banyoro captured in war in Bukedi
introduced the disease among the Banyoro. It was the custom of mothers
;
Death. When death was announced, the wail for the dead
was raised, the widows being conspicuous by their loud calls
upon the dead to return and by smearing their chests with
wood ashes. The body of the dead man was washed, the head
shaved and the nails pared on hands and feet and the parings
preserved the legs were bent up into a squatting position
;
and the hands raised under the right side of the head.
Burial customs of pastoral people. Among pastoral clans
and agricultural clans burial took place within twenty- four
hours after death. The dung heap in the cow-kraal was the
burial-place for a member of a pastoral clan. The men dug
the grave and the women remained in the house preparing the
body for the grave and bewailing their loss; the body was
never left from the time of death until burial. During the
actual burial there was no sound of mourning anywhere
silence reigned until the body was committed to the grave,
when it began again. The weapons of the dead man, his food
vessels and milk-pots were brought and placed in front of the
house in which the body lay. When the body was ready for
burial, the relatives and friends filed into the house, gazed a
few moments on the face of the dead and rubbed a little butter
upon the forehead from a pot placed for the purpose by the
bedside : this was called taking leave of the dead. The body
was wrapped in a cow-skin and carried to the grave by male
relatives. The grave was lined with cow-skins and the ;
widows, children and relatives stood round until the body was
laid on a prepared bed in the grave and covered with cow-
skins and bark-cloths. They each scraped a little earth with
the elbow into the grave before the men finally filled it, and
the mourners afterwards returned to the house to fast and
mourn. In the evening when the cattle was brought from the
pasture, the milch cows were not milked but were left lowing
for their calves which were shut up in huts near; a bull was
to practise a kind of inoculation upon their infants to ensure their growing

up, which was effected in the following way : some mothers wrapped their
infant in clothing from a person known to be suffering from the disease while
others placed the child to sleep in the same bed with a patient until the child
showed signs of the disease when they nursed it. The custom greatly increased
the infant death-rate, but the survivors generally grew up to maturity.
;
selected from the herd of the deceased and a cord was tied tightly
round its scrotum, which caused it to low with pain. The
rule not to milk any cows of a deceased man on the day he
was buried was and the animals were left
carefully observed,
lowing in discomfort during the night.The widows and
children put aside all ornaments and wore girdles made from
dry plantain-leaves. During the night after the funeral no
one in the kraal was allowed to go to bed or to sleep, fires
were made outside the kraal in the open and the relatives and
friends gathered round these and wailed unceasingly the whole
night. In the early morning when the first glow of the rising
sun appeared, the eldest brother of the deceased man entered
the kraal and speared the bull that was chosen the night before
and killed it and the meat was cut up and divided among
;
the mourners who cooked it at the watch-fires and ate it on

the spot. The cows were milked and driven to pasture and the
eldest brother of the deceased man entered the house, cut down
the wall which divided the sleeping-room from the living-room,
and broke up the bedstead of the deceased. The milk-pots
and weapons were left outside the house, and the widows and
mourners slept outside until the heir appeared to end the
mourning.
Mourning customs. Mourning continued from two to six
months and during this time the mourners were not allowed
to drink milk, relatives and friends of the deceased providing
oxen for meat and beer to be drunk. The oxen were in fact
offered to the ghost, the blood of the animals being poured on
the ground, which was contrary to the usual custom of catching
and cooking it and the meat was divided among the mourners.
Rules of chastity were carefully observed by the mourners, who
avoided contact with other people who were not mourning.
Introducing the heir to end mourning. When the mourning
was to end, the head of. the clan introduced the heir to the
mourners, who offered an ox to the deceased and told the mourn-
ers they were to purify themselves and end the mourning. On
the third day after the heir was introduced, several oxen were
brought and killed and the meat was given to the mourners
a quantity of beer was also given to them. The next day the
;
heir took his seat in an open place near the kraal and heard
the claims of any creditors upon the estate of the deceased.
Should any creditor fail to make his claim on that occasion, he
was unable to do so at any future time. After this ceremony
the grave was enclosed with a reed-fence and a few huts were
built at a short distance from the house of mourning. The
mourners had their heads' shaved and nails pared, the hair
and nail parings being taken and deposited with those of the
deceased by the grave in the enclosure. The pots and weapons
of the deceased were also placed by the grave. The mourners
went to live in the huts which were built for their use, remained
in them four days, and washed daily. On the fourth day they
had their heads shaved again and their nails cut, and the hair
and parings were again taken to the grave. After this purifi-
catory rite the relatives of the deceased came with the parents
or, should they be dead, with some elderly couple who repre-
sented the parents of the dead man, with a large supply of milk
and new clothing for each mourner. The mourners dressed
in new clothing, drank the milk brought and were escorted to
a house where they might meet their friends and talk freely
with them, for during the season of mourning they had been
separated from all members of the clan. The mourners
remained in the house provided for them the following three
days, seeing their friends, and on the fourth day they were
escorted to the king, to whom they took a cow and calf and a
few pots of milk, after which they were free to return to their
ordinary life. No grave except that of a king was ever repaired
or remembered when mourning ceased : even the place of
burial was deserted by the clan and gradually became over-
grown with shrubs and forgotten. When a man died suddenly,
an ox was strangled on the spot where the death occurred
the animal's throat, nose and mouth being held so that it could
not breathe until it suffocated. A medicine-man performed
this ceremony and took the meat of the animal.
Burial of princes and of princesses. When a prince or a
princess died, he or she received greater honour in burial and
the time of mourning was longer than for any ordinary member
of a pastoral clan. The king sent a representative to the
funeral, but he never visited any went to a

sick person or
funeral in fact any person who fell ill in the capital was
:
removed at once to some place at a distance from the royal

residence, lest the king should be affected by the disease.
Burial customs of agricultural clans. In an agricultural
clan any man who died was washed and his head shaved, as
was the custom with the pastoral clans, but the dead man was
buried on waste-land near a garden. The dead was wrapped
in bark-cloths, without any butter being used when taking
leave of the dead. The relatives entered the house and gazed
on the face of the dead man and passed out into the open.
After the funeral the mourners washed near the grave and
continued to mourn for two or three months. Even with the
poorest person the relatives appointed some member of the
clan to be heir and he came to end the mourning: he broke
down the doorposts of the house, and if it had a wall inside, he
cut it down and destroyed the bedstead of the dead man.
A sacred meal was prepared consisting of millet-flour, goat-
flesh and beer. The mourners afterwards shaved their heads
and cut their nails, and the hair was taken and placed by
the grave. All the pots used by the deceased either for
cooking his food or for carrying his water were taken and broken
by the grave, and his sleeping-mat, spear and stick were taken
and placed by the mound over the grave.
Burial of women. When a woman died, her body was
washed and her head shaved, her legs were bent up into a
squatting posture and her hands raised and placed under
the left side of her head. The wife of an agricultural peasant
was seldom washed after death, but her legs were bent up and
her hands were placed under her head on the left side. After
the burial of a wife the husband broke down the house in which
she had lived and built a new house a little distance from the
old site he might, however, use the materials from the old
;
house in building the new house, if he wished to do so few

:
materials were rejected, only those unfit for use being thrown
aside.
—
CHAPTER VI
INDUSTRIES
Cow-keeping —the kraal—milking and herding cows— making butter

—fasting after eating beef and drinking beer
distribution of milk
milk restrictions— agriculture and food of agricultural people
harvest and threshing— granaries— flour and the use of — food
it
of pastoral people — the love of bloodfor food— use of grain

in
pastoral clans— beer and brewing — iron working— smithing— salt
making —fisher-men and fishing—dress and ornaments—pottery
and potters —canoes—basketry.
Cow-keeping. The chief industry of the Banyoro has

always been cow-keeping: in this occupation all classes of
people may take part without any feeling of loss of prestige
in the eyes of the nation. In the ranks of herdsmen princes
and men of mean birth may alike be found whereas no prince
;
nor indeed any poor person from the pastoral clans would
willingly take any part in building, and they carefully avoid
all agricultural pursuits. The king owns the largest number
of cattle in the country, though some of the wealthy chiefs
also own large herds. In addition to the sacred herd which is
reserved solely for his own use, the king has many large herds
which are kept in different parts of the country and from these
cows are brought to the royal residence to supply milk for the
king's wives and household. The cows are divided into herds
according to their colour, each herd being kept apart from
other herds which differ in this respect, because, in breeding,
colour is the chief feature looked to. Little regard is paid to
the breed of cows which give the most milk if a cow is good
:
in rearing her calves, and especially if she gives birth to cow-

calves, she is considered to be a good one whereas a cow that
;
has bull-calves is not liked so well, even though she gives

:
CH. VI] INDUSTRIES 63
a better supply of milk. To remedy the latter evil, that is
that of bearing male calves, herdsmen usually change the bull

because they charge him with the responsibility for the sex of
the calves which are born. One bull was said to suffice fifty
cows, though in large herds numbering from one to two hundred
cows several bulls are kept.The bulls are left to fight their
own battles for thesupremacy in a herd, but the herdsmen
try to prevent one bull from killing another. No care is
taken to prevent inter- breeding, and a bull may pair with his
own offspring without hindrance. When bull-calves are in
excess, or when born which the herdsmen do not
bulls are
like, they perform an operation which has similar effects to
castration, the scrotum being crushed between two stones

and the testicles so injured as to render the animals imperfect.
The operation is performed while the animals are still young:
they do not appear to suffer considerable pain from it and are
soon lively and strong again. Many such animals are reared
for killing purposes only.
The kraal. The pastoral people are essentially nomads.
They move about within given areas on account of the pasture
and health of the cattle, though the king and chiefs have
fixed centres of residence. The herdsmen are limited in their
range of districts because they are obliged to avoid mixing
their cows with those of another colour; still the large extent
of the country offers them ample change of pasturage. The
kraals are only used for keeping the cows together by night
they are very easily constructed and are of a temporary
character, there being little idea of protecting animals from wild
beasts by these structures. The huts of the herdsmen are
first built, forming a circle a little distance from each other
with their doorways opening into the kraal. These huts are
small, seldom more than ten feet in diameter and eight feet
high. They are quickly built by using any kind of tree-
branches near to hand that are suited to make the frame-
work, which consists of branches stuck in the ground to form
a circle, bent inwards and tied together at the upper end.
This frame is thatched with any kind of grass between the huts
;
thorn-bushes are dragged and stakes planted at the intervals

64 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE [PT. 1
to keep the bushes in place: a gateway is left between two

of the huts and thorn-bushes are again dragged into the
opening to close it during the night. The number of huts and
the size of the kraal depends upon the herd it is intended to
receive : four and often five men inhabit a hut with sometimes
one or two women. There is little thought given to comfort
in the huts they are merely a protection against rain or cold
:
by night. The bed is a heap of grass upon which a cow-skin

is thrown by night and which is rolled up by day in each hut :
two or three calves are tied during the night, and a fire in the
middle of the floor completes the furniture of the place. Cook-
ing is seldom required, because vegetable food is forbidden to
herdsmen, and it is said to be dangerous to the health of the
herd for them to partake of such food : hence cooking-pots
are not often wanted and the milk-pots are not numerous, two
or three earthen pots, several gourds, and some wooden pots
being all they need. It is not customary to keep milk many
hours, except the pots set aside for churning herdsmen drink :
milk while milking or as soon after as possible and fast until

the cows are again milked, unless they can obtain meat and
beer, when they abstain from drinking milk for a period of
about twelve hours after the meal of meat and beer. Each
day the kraal is swept and the sweepings are heaped on one
side of the kraal with the exception of some droppings which
are spread in the sun to dry to be used for fuel. A large fire
is kept burning constantly in the kraal near the entrance.
By this fire the cows are milked in the early morning and again
in the evening; it is also a watch fire, because some of the
men are awake during the night, watching over the cows,
though they seldom set any special guard. It is not often a
kraal is visited by wild animals and it is contrary to the methods
of warfare among the adjacent tribes to make an attack during
the night. When the ground in a kraal becomes full of holes
and soft from the feet of the cows, the men move on to some
new place ; or again, if some member of the kraal dies and is
buried in the heap of droppings, the herdsmen remove to new
ground, the peasants who live in the neighbourhood being
hired to build the new kraal, which they are glad to do for butter
or for pay in weapons, hoes or salt which the herdsmen give

them ;some herdsmen, however, have slaves whose duty is to
build for them, and usually the owner of the cows will send his
peasants of the agricultural clans to build a new kraal.
Milking and herding cows. Herdsmen rise with the dawn
(about half-past milk the cows. They first bring out
five) to
the calf of the particular cow to be milked and allow it to suck

for a few moments. It is then held by one man before the
cow while another man milks her, the milkman squatting on
his haunches by the cow's side and milking into a gourd,
using both hands to milk and gripping the pot between his
knees. Should the cow be inclined to kick or be restless, he
binds her hind legs together and milks as much as he considers
sufficient. After the cow is milked, she is turned out near
the kraal with her calf where the latter may finish its meal at
leisure. In this manner all the cows are milked in quick
succession and turned out of the kraal, near which they are
left one or perhaps two hours with their calves before they are
driven to the pastures. The milk-vessels are almost entirely
either of wood or gourds, though a few earthen pots may be
found in a kraal for reserving a little milk for use at mid-day.
Gourd milk-pots are freely used and a particular sized gourd
is the measure by which to gauge the amount of milk to be
taken from each cow. Few cows yield more than a quart of
milk in the morning and a similar amount in the evening, the
remainder being left for the calf, which is considered of much
greater value than the milk. The chief object is to raise a
number of cows and by their number to increase the amount
of milk rather than to improve the cows individually. Milk
is carried daily to the owner of the cows for his consumption,
though chiefs keep a number of milch cows near their resi-

dence to supply their immediate needs. Milk-vessels are
washed daily, when possible by women, though in some kraals
there are no women and the men have to perform this duty.
After being washed out the pots are drained and, when dry,
are held over a smoke-fire in which grass is burned to give a
special flavour to the pot and milk. One part of the cleansing
of pots is to wash them with cows' urine. The mere fact of
R. B. T. c
this custom was all that could be obtained, the people being
No metal vessels are used pastoral
unwilling to give details. :
people do not allow such vessels to have milk poured into

them lest the cows should suffer. Women are not permitted
to herd cows nor to milk them their duties are restricted to
:
washing the milk-pots and to churning.

Butter making. Each day a quantity of milk is set aside
in when the amount required has
large bottle-gourds and,
accumulated, it is churned by one of the women or, failing a
woman, by a man. The gourd for churning rests on an old
garment, or the person in charge of it sits on the ground and
nurses it, rocking it gently to and fro until the butter separates
from the milk. When churned, the butter-milk is poured off
into some vessel and drunk by the herdsmen, and the butter is
shaken from the bottle into a wooden dish and slightly worked
to get the milk from it. Butter is not washed, as it is only
wanted for anointing the body and a little milk, if left in it,
;
is not considered detrimental. The butter is either made up

into packets bound with plantain-fibre or put into large
wooden pots to be carried to the chief. Herdsmen take turns
in going out by day to herd the cattle, four or five men con-
trolling a herd of two hundred and guarding them during the
day against the attacks of wild animals Herdsmen go out in
all weathers and do not return until sunset even when the day
is wet :they are usually armed with a long stick with which
to drive the cattle and also carry a spear for use in case any wild
beast attacks the herd. The men who remain behind in the
kraal sweep it out, take out the grass used for bedding for the
calves to dry,and prepare the fire-wood for the evening others ;
carry the day's milk and butter to the chief the rest guard the
;
calves as they roam about near the kraal and pick up what
herbage they can find. The grass the cows prefer is a short
kind growing on the plains. The animals move along as they
graze, and have often covered several miles when they are
turned back and led to some watering-place to drink before
they are taken into the kraal for the night. No food is given
to the animals by night in the kraal, and there is no attempt
made to provide artificial food for them.
Distribution of milk. Pastoral people are particular about

the distribution of milk: those who drink it are careful to
avoid vegetable and no stranger is offered milk when
diet,
visiting a kraal, because he may have previously eaten some
kind of food which they consider would be harmful to the
herd, should he drink milk without a fast to clear his system
of vegetable food; their hospitality is shown by giving the
visitor some other food such as beef and beer, which will
prepare him for a meal of milk on the following morning.
Should there be milk to supply the needs of the
insufficient
men in the kraal, some them
will be given vegetables in
of
the evening and fast until the following morning.
Custom of fasting after eating beef or vegetables. Should
there be no plantains and the people be reduced to eating
sweet potatoes, it will be necessary to abstain from milk for
two days after eating them, until the system is quite clear,
before they may again drink milk. Chiefs and wealthy men
usually eat meat in the evening and abstain from drinking
milk until the following morning. They drink beer after
eating meat and then retire to sleep. They say it is necessary
to allow an interval of several hours after eating meat before
they venture to drink milk. For the first four days after a
cow calves the milk from it is set aside for women to drink;
on the fifth day men may drink it without injury to the cow
or herd. Women are forbidden milk during their menses and
live upon vegetable diet, unless the husband is a wealthy man,
when they cow which is supposed
are given the milk from an old
to be past bearing and the milk from such a cow is kept
:
separate from the common lot of milk and reserved for the use
of the sick wife alone. No milk may be cooked nor may it
be wanned by fire, because of the harm likely to happen to
the herd. A woman at childbirth may drink milk, but, if the
child a boy, she is given the milk from a cow that has lost
is
her calf whereas, if the child is a girl, she is free to drink the
;
milk from any cow. There is no prohibition placed upon pea-

sants of agricultural clans keeping cattle in fact some peasants
:
do keep them, but they not herd them themselves. This

will
task they leave to their sons, and also that of milking them, if
5—2
they are old enough and know how to milk. Peasants of the
agricultural clans prefer to keep goats and sheep and only use
cows to purchase wives with. It is quite contrary to custom
to kill cows: even the king and the wealthy people refrain
from doing so, unless a cow is past bearing or barren. Bulls
are frequently killed for food, but the loss of a cow is as painful
to a man as the death of a member of his family and his sorrow
and despondency will be as great the death of a favourite
:
cow is at times so trying to a man as to cause him to commit

suicide. In cases of sickness among cows the men treat them
with as much care and anxiety as they would a child, seeking
the aid of the medicine-man, trying remedies and sitting up
to watch the sick animal by night.
The Banyoro are
Agriculture, food of agricultural people.
unlike the Baganda in the matter of agriculture in that they
grow grain freely and live upon porridge made from flour of
millet, whereas the Baganda live entirely upon plantains and
despise all other kinds of food. In Bunyoro, it is true, there
are groves of plantains but they are poorly cultivated, indeed
few women understand the cultivation of the tree. Again, in
Bunyoro cultivationavoided by the pastoral peeple
is it is :
said to be harmful for a wife of a man belonging to a pastoral clan

to till the land as, by doing so, she may injure the cattle. In
Uganda princesses not only possess gardens but are frequently
to be found at work in them. In Bunyoro the agricultural
peasant may be found side by side with his wife tilling the
ground and preparing it for seed, whereas in Uganda no man
works in the fieldand the cultivation of all vegetable-food is
left to the wife. The fields are dug and prepared for the first
rains which begin to fall about September. The chief grain
grown is the small millet (bulo) which has to be kept free
from weeds until it is a foot high, when it is strong enough to
resist the growth of weeds and only needs protection against
wild animals. No other method is employed in working the
fields than that of hoeing the ground with short-handled hoes
two Peasants spend most of their time in their
feet long.
fields when the crops are growing and they build huts in which
to live and protect their fields from wild animals, especially
from pigs which do much harm if left to invade them. As the

crops begin to ripen, it is necessary to guard them against
flocks of birds, pigeons being the worst enemies of the grain.
As these birds would do great harm if left undisturbed, children,
chiefly girls, are employed to scare them away and are provided
with iron bells or some instrument, such as rude wooden
clappers, for the purpose.
Harvest and threshing corn. The harvest begins about
March and is a busy time for the peasants: both men and
women again work together to reap the corn. They cut off
the heads of the corn with small knives and carry them to
some prepared place for threshing. There is seldom any fear
of rain during harvest time, so that the grain can be left
outside in heaps on the threshing-floors during the night until
the field has been reaped. The threshing is a slow process,
the heads of grain being held up singly and the grain beaten
out with a stick. When the threshing is complete, there is
the winnowing, which is by pouring the grain from one

effected
basket to another, one basket being held up and the grain
slowly emptied from it into the other basket on the floor, thus
allowing the wind to carry off the dust and chaff. The clean
grain is then carried home and stored.
The granaries are large wicker-baskets raised
Granaries.
from the ground upon stones or upon a wooden frame resting
upon posts which are let into the ground, the baskets being
placed upon the frame. The granaries are some four feet
deep and from two to three feet in diameter, and have a heavily
thatched lid to carry off the rain. They are smeared inside
with clay and cow-dung to make them water-proof and to
prevent the grain from running out through the crevices.
As a rule each wife has her own granary near to her hut, not
only for convenience but also that she may be able to guard
it. In addition to these granaries the peasants dig pits similar
to wells : these are round holes from eight to ten feet deep and
three feet in diameter and are dug in secret places with some
tree or other natural feature to mark the spot. Grain is
kept in these pits for use during disturbed times and especially
during civil wars, when it is impossible to cultivate the land.
The grain stored in these pits is put into small baskets which
can easily be raised to the surface and the grain dried and kept
from being spoiled by damp. Millet and sweet potatoes are
the principal vegetables grown, though maize and yams with
sesame, beans and marrows are to be found in the gardens of
the more careful and particular house-wives.
Flour-grinding.Millet is ground into flour in the common
mill,which consists of a large stone upon which the grain is
placed by the handful from a basket by the side of the worker
and rubbed with a smaller stone until it is fine enough, when it
is pushed into a basket placed at the end of the large stone.
This method of grinding has the disadvantage of making the

flour full of grits unwholesome, especially to those who
and is
are unaccustomed to the food. The meal is made into thick

porridge and eaten from the pot, round which the family
gather and take the food with their hands from it. A pot of
sauce made from vegetable-leaves boiled and flavoured with
salt accompanies the porridge, or, when possible, meat or fish
is added to flavour the meal, the family taking a little por-
ridge from the pot and dipping it into the sauce as they eat.
Beans are freely grown but are seldom eaten green, being
allowed to ripen and dry when they are soaked in water and
the husks removed before they are cooked. Sweet potatoes are
boiled with the beans and they are mashed together. Maize
is grown by most peasants, but it is grown in small quantities
and is seldom ground into flour to be made into porridge, the

corn being eaten in the cob when young, or, at times, fried in
earthen pots and eaten in small quantities more as a sweet
than as a real meal. Plantains are grown by some women in
small quantities, but few women know how to cook them as
the Baganda women do they usually boil them as they do
:
potatoes, without peeling them, in a pot with water. The

meals are not served up so nicely as the Baganda women dish
up theirs, nor are the women so cleanly in their persons or so
particular in their methods of cooking: this is probably due
to the fact that the upper classes seldom have any cooking
done for them. The middle classes who keep cows and also
cultivate are most careful in their diet not to eat vegetables
and to drink milk near together. Persons who drink milk in

the morning do not eat other food until the evening, and those
who drink milk in the evening eat no vegetables until the next
day. Sweet potatoes and beans are the vegetables they avoid
most all, and each person, after eating such food, is careful
of
to abstain from drinking milk for a period of two days. This
precaution is taken to prevent milk from coming into contact
with either meat or vegetables in the stomach it is believed ;
that food eaten indiscriminately will cause sickness among the

cattle.
Food In the upper classes milk is the
of pastoral people.
chief diet though men who can afford to kill an animal eat
meat in the evening and drink beer after the meal. They
may drink milk several hours after eating beef before going
to rest, if they wish to do so, but this is seldom done. More
often men continue to drink beer until late at night before
they retire to rest. Meat is always roasted on wooden spits,
the meat being cut into small pieces, the spit run through them
and then stuck into the earthen-floor at an angle over the fire.
The meat is cut into small pieces about two inches square so
that, when roasted, it can be handed to the chief and he can
bite it off the spit and eat it without any further trouble in
cutting it. Children live entirely upon milk and are taught to
drink large bowls full at a time : mothers are strict with their
children as to the amount of milk they force them to drink
and often scold and sometimes smack them to make them drink
more, when they wish to leave it. Women live almost entirely
upon milk and become enormously stout, partly from the
amount of milk they drink and partly because they take so
little exercise.
Love of blood for food. Herdsmen frequently bleed young

bulls and cook the blood, though they rarely ever bleed cows.
For the purpose of bleeding they tie a cord tightly round the
animal's neck until the arteries stand out, when one is opened
and the amount of blood which it is thought the animal can
spare without suffering harm is drawn the cord is now re-
:
moved and the bleeding stopped. When an animal is killed,

its blood is caught and cooked, none of it being lost. When
animals are offered to either a god or a ghost, the blood is

poured on the ground at the temple or shrine and not eaten
by the worshippers.
Use of grain in pastoral clans. The king and wealthy
pastoral people need large supplies of grain for brewing and
for the maintenance of their household servants and slaves
whom they cannot supply with milk: the grain is supplied
by the agricultural peasants who tenant their estates. When
the king wants grain, he kills several oxen, cuts up the meat
into portions for the different districts and sends these as
presents by whom they tell
special messengers to the peasants
that the king need of grain. The peasants readily respond
is in
by sending gifts through their district-chiefs. Fowls and eggs
are rarely eaten by agricultural peasants and never by members
of the pastoral clans, as these last consider fish and fowls to be
harmful to their cows, though they frequently keep fowls and
sell them to other tribes in return for spears and salt.
Beer and brewing. Beer is drunk by all classes, it is the

principal drink of the agricultural peasants, who have no milk
and back upon water when beer fails them. Every peasant
fall
understands the method of brewing. Beer is brewed either

from millet or from plantains. The latter kind is brewed in
much smaller quantities than the former. When millet is
to be used for brewing, it is put into water to soak until it
begins to sprout when it is spread on grass or mats to dry in
the sun; when quite dry, it is ground into coarse meal and
soaked for three days when the water is poured off and the
meal dried and gently baked. The meal is again put into
large pots filled with water and stands for two days when it ;
ferments, the liquid is strained off and is now ready to drink.

When millet is plentiful, large quantities of beer are brewed
and the agricultural peasants give themselves up to pleasure-
making, dancing and drinking for several weeks, visiting first
one and then another part of the country where it is known
that beer is to be obtained. Though there is a great amount
of beer drunk each year, there is not much open drunkenness:
when a person gets under the influence of drink, he retires to
sleep off the effects. There are not often quarrels of any serious
nature because it is a recognised rule to lay aside arms when

beer-drinking takes place, in order to avoid bloodshed in heated
quarrels over the cups. Plantain-beer is made, as in Uganda,
from the pulp of the fruit, the juice being fermented with
millet.
Building. In Bunyoro the dwellings are most primitive,
easily constructed and of perishable materials : they are
bee-hive huts, designed to protect the people from the cold
night air and the rainy weather rather than for affording
comfort to their inmates. In fine weather people spend
most of their time in the open air. The king and the wealthier
classes have larger and better-built huts, though the archi-
tecture of their houses is the same as that of the peasants'
houses, and there is a similar lack of furniture, light and ventila-
tion. The materials used
in building are timber and reeds for
the frame-work, which thatched with grass. The larger houses
is
are about fourteen feet in diameter and fourteen feet high, but
peasants' huts are only twelve feet in diameter and twelve feet
high, while the huts of the poorer pastoral people are not
more than eight feet in diameter and eight feet high. A chief's
house and a peasant's house alike are poorly built when compared
with either the Buganda or the Busoga house, and they are
dirty and badly kept In place of a bedstead there is in some
huts a mound of beaten earth covered with grass, but others
have only a heap of grass for a bed. The floors are of beaten
earth carpeted with grass, and in the middle of the floor is
the fire-place where a fire is kept burning constantly.
The king's residence. The king had a number of huts
built for his wives and retainers around his own private house.
The huts were divided into lots, each lot with a court-yard
fenced in with elephant-grass, leaving cow-kraals in different
places for the many cows required for his household. By means
were kept apart from the women
of these fences the retainers
and the king enjoyed a certain amount of privacy, because his
houses were fenced off from others. The entire group of the
king's houses was encircled with a grass-fence intended more
for privacy than security. The principal chiefs had their
houses around the king's enclosure, and they also had their
wives and retainers around them. The chiefs were expected

to protect the king from danger, should it be necessary to do
so, that is to guard him against sudden attacks from other
nations rather than from any internal foe. Both the king and
the chiefs kept large herds of cows in milk in the capital, the
animals being constantly changed by relays from the country-
herds where the pasture was better than that about the
capital. This custom was followed in order to keep the cows
in health and to save the calves from dying from lack of
proper nourishment, because more milk was wanted from the
cows kept in the capital than from those in the country dis-
tricts where the calves were chiefly considered. There were no
well-kept roads to be found anywhere, only tracks made by
people travelling to or from districts in the country or by the
cattle going to their pastures. In the country the agricultural
peasants had their fields dotted about and lived in or near them,
but they seldom lived in communities: the pastoral clans
were more inclined to live in communities than the agricul-
tural clans, because they could thus better defend their cattle
against attacks from enemies or wild beasts.
Modern methods of building. Since the advent of the Eng-
lish and the subjugation of the country the capital has become
more of a town with shops and a market, and there are roads
from one part of the country to another the chiefs have also
;
been induced to build houses of sun-dried bricks roofed with

corrugated iron in place of their old grass-huts.
Iron working. From very early times in the history of the
country the Banyoro have had a knowledge of iron-work,
having for many generations supplied many of the surrounding
Bantu tribes with iron. It is impossible to discover how
the people first learned the art of iron-smelting: they had
their furnaces and men who made iron-smelting their life-
work as far back as their legends carry them. The iron

ore is dug from the hills where it is abundant ;
though at
times the smelters follow a vein of good ore some distance
under the ground, in many instances it is found lying on the
surface or only two feet deep. It is smelted and passed on in
the rough to the smiths who work it into spears, hoes, knives,
Plate II
bells and which are the chief things required in iron.

bracelets,
The men who quarry the ore smelt it. They are a distinct
class from the smiths and rarely work iron after smelting it;
and conversely smiths rarely smelt it. Iron smelters generally
work in companies. They first prepare their charcoal by felling
and burning the special kind of trees until the amount of
charcoal required is obtained. The fires which have been made
to char the wood are extinguished by covering them with
green boughs and grass and heaping earth on the top when the
workers consider the wood sufficiently charred. When cool,
the charcoal is broken up to the size of walnuts and carried
to the place selected for smelting the ore. The chief upon
whose land the iron ore is dug is paid in iron at the rate of a
piece big enough to make a hoe for each furnace of metal
smelted. The iron-smelters offer a fowl to the spirit of the
hill when they are digging ore from a pit, lest they should be
buried in the mine by the angry spirit causing the earth to
fall inand entomb them. When the amount of ore required
has been dug, the workers dig a pit two or three feet deep and
two feet in diameter which they fill with dry reeds. Round
the mouth of the pit the ground is beaten hard and a dome of
clay built overit, leaving a small hole in the centre to serve as
a chimney. Holes are made round the dome for the nozzles
of the bellows and the iron is put into the pit in layers with
charcoal between them, and the fires are now lighted. More
charcoal and iron-stone are added as required and the blast is
kept going until the amount of iron-stone to be dealt with

has been smelted, when the pit is broken open, covered with
green boughs and grass and left to cool. During the time
that the smelters are engaged in making charcoal, digging the
iron-stone and smelting, they live apart from other men and
their wives and observe strict rules of chastity. The smelted
metal is cut into pieces large enough to make a spear or a hoe
and the smiths purchase the pieces with goats, vegetable food
or cowry-shells.
Smithing. Smiths are to be found in all parts of the
country. They work up the rough metal received from the
smelters into spears, hoes, knives or ornaments, as required.
Smithies are mere sheds to protect the smith from the heat
of the sun or from rain. The workman squats when at work
or sits on the floor. His fire-place is a hole in the middle of
the floor of his hut, and his bellows are a pair of covered pots,
as in Uganda, with a stick attached to the middle of the skin
covering the pot. The pots have a nozzle on one side which
isconnected with a tube made of clay which goes into the fire.
The blast is made by raising the sticks and drawing the air into
the pot, the downward stroke forcing it through the nozzle
into the fire. The anvil is a stone, and the hammer for heavy
work is another stone but for finer work a piece of iron ten
;
inches long and an inch thick, tapering to a point, is used. A

smith often has a boy-assistant to blow his fire and use the
large heavy stone to hammer bigger pieces of iron :the boy
is an apprentice who is being taught the work.
Salt-making. Salt-making was an important industry and
the salt had as great a sale as the iron and was possibly more
widely known because the demand was greater. Many men
and women found employment in this trade and made a fairly
good living by it. The two best-known centres for salt-making
were in the north, on a branch of the Nile locally known by the
name of the River Kabiga, and at Katwe on the shores of Lake
Albert Edward, to the south-west of the capital of Bunyoro.
The method of making salt was much the same in each place,
and the account that now follows was given by one of the
workers from the River Kabiga. The surface sand on the
river bank is scraped up and put into large pots specially made
with small holes in the bottom of them. These pots are raised
on wooden stands high enough to receive another pot under-
neath them water is poured over the sand in the pot on the
;
stand and finds its way through into the pot below. The sand
is thus thoroughly washed two or three times, is spread out to
dry and afterwards taken and scattered again in its former

place on the river where it is left for a few days before it is
again scraped up for renewed washing. The water in the lower
pots is evaporated over slow fires and the salt which is left
encrusted in the pots is scraped out and tied in plantain-fibre
packets weighing from thirty to fifty pounds each. Women are
Plate III
(2) Washing sand to extract salt

(Banyoro Tribe)
:
the chief workers in collecting the sand and washing it, though
men assist them to gather fire-wood, boil the salt, tie it into
bundles and dispose of it in the markets. No attempt has ever

been made to purify the salt, which has a brown colour and
contains other chemical substances which make it unpleasant
to the taste of any person unaccustomed to it. During the rains
the salt-workers are compelled to cease work because the river
is in flood and no salt-laden sand can be obtained from the
river-bank. The king and the pastoral people require large

quantities of salt for their cows: they give the animals salt
in water to drink almost monthly. When the king wants salt
he sends a present of meat to the workers who, in return, send
loads of salt. Each year the king sends an offering of a white
cow to the river god Wansemba to induce him to give a plen-
tiful supply of salt. Salt is sent to the principal markets on
the borders of Bunyoro, and in this way it is carried far and
wide to supply the needs of peoples who live upon a vegetable
diet.
Fishermen and fishing. The peasants living on the shores
of Lake Albert and along the banks of the River Nile combine
fishing with agricultural pursuits their chief method of fishing
:
is with traps similar to those used in Uganda, lines being also
used by some men. The sale of fish is limited in Bunyoro

because pastoral people may not eat fish, nor indeed may
they have it in their kraals all people who drink milk
:
abstain from eating fish and from touching it. The agricul-
tural peasants, therefore, are the only people able to eat fish
and they cannot afford to purchase it except in the smallest
amounts. This limits the industry to the few people living
near the Lakes or the Nile, and to various markets on the
frontier which are attended by people of other nations.
Dress and ornaments. The pastoral people wear almost
entirely cow-skins carefully dressed. Women are most partic-
they wear one skin tied round
ular to cover their entire persons ;
the waist and another thrown over the shoulders and, when
they go out, another thrown over the head hanging down to
the waist and leaving only a small opening through which to
see. Men are less careful about their clothing than women
they seldom wear more than a small piece of skin or a calf-

skin thrown over the shoulders. Women of agricultural
clans wear a small goat-skin or sheep-skin roughly dressed
tied round the waist, and the men wear a small skin hanging
in front. Some agricultural peasants make bark-cloth of a
thick coarse kind and wear it as a long garment like a toga.
These garments are square sheets of bark-cloth tied together
by two corners, passed over the head and tied round the waist
with a strip of plantain-fibre. Most clans use a thick roughly
made bark-cloth for their beds. The pastoral people place a
cow-skin upon the floor or make a mound of earth and cover
it with grass and spread their cow-skin upon it. Agricultural
peasants often upon grass and cover themselves with bark-
lie
cloths. ornaments and wear brace-

All the people are fond of
lets of iron, brass and copper. The women of the pastoral
clans wear numbers of anklets of fine iron wire twisted round
elephant-hair from the tail of the animals. Beads are worn
by all who can obtain them. These are strung round the
neck with necklets of elephant-hair. Many people have
markings on their heads, foreheads and temples which they
say are chiefly made by burning-irons when they are ill, and
not with any idea of ornamentation. These scars are almost
universally upon the foreheads of the pastoral people and are
made in a special way by the different clans, so that the people
know to which clan each person belongs. The scars are made
in childhood either by cutting the skin for cupping purposes
to bleed them or by using the burning-iron for blistering, but
always in cases of sickness. Both in pastoral and in agri-
cultural clans the people extract four teeth in the lower jaw,
medicine-men being experts at extracting them. The teeth
are extracted at puberty when boys and girls are taught various
tribal customs by elderly men. People of other nations who
do not extract their teeth are said to be like dogs.
Pottery and potters. Bunyoro 1 pottery is well known in
the neighbouring countries and many people prefer it to that
of their own country. Potters are of the agricultural peasant
class who obtain their clay from swampy ground where they
1
Bunyoro is the country, Banyoro the people.
get clay of a whitish grey, experience having taught them

that this the best kind for their purpose. Potters are a
is
distinct class from the ordinary peasants, and, though they

may be called upon to perform certain duties for their chiefs,
yet regard pot-making as their chief employment. The clay is
dug and carried to the potter's house and kept in some damp
place, portions of it being taken as required. A potter's tools
are few and simple : a pointed stick, a curved piece of gourd, a
small portion of a broken pot are all a man requires. He uses
no wheel but, with his hands or with the curved piece of gourd,
he works the clay into shape. All his clay he kneads with his
hands, mixing as much powdered stone into it as he thinks
necessary to prevent the pot from cracking when drying.
The method of making pots is the same as in Uganda the :
bottom is first made and the sides are built up from it by

adding snake-like coils of clay on to the portion already made
and smoothing them out with the piece of gourd and the pointed
stick as he turns it round. One kind of pot used in the houses of
the wealthier pastoral people is of a pretty greyish tint. The
colour obtained by grinding a stone like mica into powder
is
and mixing it with the clay. The best pots are made much
thinner than those in common use and are reserved for holding
milk. The pots are polished by holding them in the smoke, of
fires made so that they give a thick juicy smoke. The pots
when thoroughly blacked and shining are rubbed over with a
rag and take an excellent polish. A potter is careful to place
his pots when drying where they shall not be stepped over
and where no pregnant woman shall come near them. Should
either of the above precautions be disregarded, it is thought
the pots will break when being baked.
Canoes and canoe-men. Canoes are used on Lake Albert,
Lake Edward and on the Nile, but in all cases the canoes are
solid "dug-out" canoes. Some canoes are large and must
have been made from gigantic trees. Before a tree is felled
for the purpose of making a royal canoe, the king sends a man
or an ox to be offered to the tree-spirit; the victim is killed
beside the tree in a place where the blood runs on the tree
roots if it is an animal that is offered, the flesh of the victim
;
;
is cooked and eaten beside the tree by the medicine-man and

the workmen who are to fell the tree and build the canoe
the body of the human
victim is left by the tree roots. The
prow and "dug-out" canoe are slightly rounded and
stern of a
bevelled from the top to the keel, making the upper part of the
canoe much longer than the keel. As a matter of fact there
is no real keel: the outside bottom of the canoe is rounded
and made thicker and heavier than the sides, and the sides
are thicker near the bottom than at the top, though even at
the top the sides are left quite an inch thick. The bottom of
the canoe is flat inside to enable cattle to stand with comfort,
because canoes are frequently required to ferry cattle over

the lakes and the Nile. When a canoe is complete and ready
to be launched, a sheep or a fowl is killed in it and the blood
left inside for the spirit of the canoe; the flesh is cooked and
eaten by the canoe-men, as they sit either in or near the canoe.

On the river Nile the method of crossing is as follows : canoes
are usually punted into the current of the stream with the
bows kept pointed up the stream and are carried by the water
to the opposite side; the man who holds the punting- pole
uses it as a rudder to steer the canoe and, when he reaches
the shallow water, he again punts the canoe to the landing
place. On the lakes long-handled paddles are often used
and the men stand to paddle, though when they are crossing
the lakes the paddlers sit on the sides of the canoes and use
the common short-handled paddle with a leaf-blade. The
canoe-men are peasants who live on the shores of the lakes
or on the Nile; those on the river are ferry-men and spend
most of their time in ferrying people over the river for a
small fee.
Baskets are made by women belonging to the
Basketry.
agricultural who supply pastoral peoples with any
clans,
baskets they require. Baskets are extensively used by agri-
cultural peoples who require them for carrying grain and food,
whereas pastoral clans have little use for them. Baskets are
made from papyrus-grass and from twigs of a cane-like nature.
They are plaited or worked into cane-baskets by women
during their leisure time.
—
CHAPTER VII
WARFARE
Civil —
wars the most serious in the national history the king leading
the — —
army in person weapons of war duties of women at home
omens which guided a warrior when starting on an expedition
—
treatment of fallen comrades and of foes return of the army
treatment of a general when an expedition failed.
wars the most serious in the national history. The

Civil
Banyoro have not for years been an aggressive people, though
there were occasional punitive expeditions sent against adja-
cent nations. The civil wars which took place at the death of
each king to decide the question of succession were the most
serious events in the national history. There have, however,
been war expeditions which were directed against either the
Bakedi, one of the Nilotic tribes lying to the north-east of
Bunyoro and bordering on Lake Albert, or against the Ban-
T
5 ankole whose country lies to the south-west of Bunyoro;
they had also to resist the inroads of the Baganda on their
southern borders. The Banyoro state that they have not
made attacks upon the Baganda for years, but have only
resisted the attacks made by that nation, whereas upon the
other two nations they made organised attacks in order to
capture cattle.
The king leading the army in person. For many years it
has been customary for the king to remain at home and not
to accompany the army. The people discourage their king
from leading the army in person because they fear that he
might be killed or wounded, and he therefore appoints a deputy
to whom he delegates special powers during the expedition.
The general thus appointed is selected by the king in consulta-
tion with the mediums of gods. Chiefs are ordered to go to
R. B. t. 6
;
war in person, unless the king excuses them and tells them to
send a deputy with a number of men. Chiefs belonging to
pastoral clans callupon their assistant herdsmen to join them
in any war expedition, and agricultural peasants are also
collected from all parts of the country.
Weapons of war. Warriors armed themselves with two
spears, one for throwing and one for hand-to-hand fighting,
should it be necessary, and with a shield made of wood and
decorated with cane-stitching upon the face and a pointed
boss in the centre. When the army started on an expedition,
offerings to the war-god were sent in advance to the border of
the country to be attacked. The offering might be an ox,
or a human being, or a fowl. The medicine-man chosen to
take the sacrifice, killed it on the border of the enemy's country
and invoked the aid war-god to destroy the foe and to
of the
bless the army. Chiefs led their retainers in battle but there
was no order and little discipline in these expeditions, the
chief aim of the army being to capture cattle and to steal women
or children, when possible. The king sent a royal drum and
war-fetishes, and each warrior carried his own particular
fetish. Only chiefs took women with them: they had one or
perhaps two wives accompanying them to nurse them in case
of sickness or should they be wounded these women carried
;
their husband's clothing and assisted to prepare their food.

During punitive expeditions chiefs had to live on a vegetable
diet and the wives selected to accompany them were those
who had some idea of cooking. Peasant warriors marched
with as little baggage as possible and they generally managed
to wear a bark-cloth which they could use as covering by night.
Duties of wives at home. It was incumbent upon all wives
who were left behind to live chaste lives, to make offerings to
the gods and from cutting their hair and to put
to abstain
away all vessels used by their husbands until they returned.
Should a wife shave her head during her husband's absence
on an expedition and he be wounded or killed, she would be
blamed as the cause, and the heir to the property would send
her back to her relatives and claim the original marriage fee
and she would find it difficult to obtain a husband in the
CH. VII] WARFARE 83
future. Should a warrior strike his foot against a tree root

or against a stone, he would attribute the cause of the accident
to his wife who, he would say, was going about visiting and
enjoying herself, instead of making offerings to the gods to
protect him.
Omens supposed to guide a warrior when starting on an
expedition. No would start on an expedition if,
warrior
during the night, his fire went out, or if the brown biting-ant
nsanafu invaded his house during the night and should he
;
meet a woman when he was starting or should he see two

guinea-fowls, he would return and wait until the next day.
Again, if a man owned a dog and it gave birth to puppies
during the night, he would wait a day before starting on the
expedition. When a man fell in battle, no attempt was made
to take the body home by his companions, who buried him
where he fell. Should a wife be proved to have been unfaithful
to her husband during his absence on a punitive expedition,
he either put her to death or sold her into slavery.
Treatment of fallen companions and of foes. Those of the
enemy slain in battle were decapitated, but the remains were
left on the spot where they found the body. The warriors
who buried any comrade who fell in battle were given an ox
to eat, when the task was ended,by the general. They killed
and ate the ox some place apart from the army and did
at
not mingle with their comrades during the day of the funeral.
Return of the army. When an expedition was successful,
the captives and the cattle were led in triumph to the king
and the army returned home with rejoicing. When the army
was some distance from the royal residence, the general sent
a report to the king telling him how the army had fared and
giving an account of the spoil taken. The king at once consulted
the priest whether it was safe for the army to return to the capi-
tal or whether any offering was necessary to cleanse it and to
propitiate the gods before the warriors entered the capital.
The king gave the chiefs and warriors presents of slaves and
some of the cattle taken during the expedition.
Treatment of a general when an expedition failed. Should
the expedition be a failure, the general had to retire into the
6—2
country for ten or twelve months until the king's anger abated.
Any chief who was accused of cowardice and failed to justify
his actions before the king was deposed from office and deprived
of all his goods and wives. The accused person had to sit before
a crowd of warriors, wearing a thin skin, taken from the region
of the heart of an ox, across his chest and was scorned and
jeered at by the other warriors who were feasted with meat
and beer. A warrior who killed one of the enemy was highly
praised at the time by the general and, upon his return home,
his father made a feast in his honour and his chief made him
some present, a slave or a cow.
—
CHAPTER VIII
HUNTING, DRUMS AND THEIR USE
Agricultural people only hunt animals for food —elephant hunting

— and traps
precautions taken by the wife of a huntsman pits for
—
game methods of hunting small game —the use of drums—royal
—
drums the war-drum.
Agricultural people only hunt animals for food. We should

scarcely expect a pastoral people to be hunters, their life is so
contrary to that of a hunter. The meat of most wild animals
is forbidden them, which at once limits the object of hunting
to pure sport and leaves the wider aim of obtaining food
from the chase to people of agricultural clans. On the other
hand it is customary to hunt beasts of prey not only from the
love of sport, but also from necessity, that is, when lions and
leopards become dangerous to the herds. The herdsmen never
hesitate to hunt them and show no lack of courage during the
hunts they will face the fiercest lion and spear it as they would
:
the most timid animal. Hunting is therefore in the main

limited to members of agricultural clans and is engaged in by
them for the sake of meat, there being few men who make the
chase their principal calling in preference to other work.
Elephant hunting. When hunting elephants, the huntsman
first discovers the locality of a herd and chooses one or two
trees in the track the animals will be likely to take to go to

water. He climbs one tree and his companions climb other
trees near, hide in the branches and wait until the animals
pass under them, when they spear the animal chosen, if pos-
sible between the shoulders, and withdraw the spear if they can.
Sometimes they are unable to spear and bring down an animal
at one blow and also escapes the other men, they then have
if it
to follow it through weakness it is separated from the

until
herd and they can surround it and spear it to death. When
ivory is obtained, one tusk is given to the king, the other
the chief-hunter takes for himself, the other hunters with
him sharing the meat, which is dried in the sun to be sold in
the market or retained for home use. Hunters visit the god
of the chase before they undertake an expedition, to secure a
blessing upon their weapons and protection against dangerous
attacks of the animals; they also offer a goat and a pot of
beer to the god. Irunga is the chief god of the chase and has
power over all wild animals he is the same as Dungu of the
:
Baganda.
Precautions taken by a hunter's wife. During his absence,
a hunter's wife has to remain at home she may not visit her
:
friends nor allow any man to come to see her, and she has to
make an offering daily to the fetishes for her husband's safety.
Should a hunter meet a woman when he is going to hunt, he
strikes her: otherwise his expedition will fail and he himself
will run the risk of being killed by an animal.
Pits and traps. Sometimes hunters make deep pits and
put spikes into them to impale animals; they also use foot-
traps which are holes dug in the tracks of animals with a spike
at the bottom. The holes are covered and the animal steps
on the covering, slips into the hole and is lamed by the spike
breaking off in the foot. The hunter then follows up any
such animal and kills it. When hunting buffalo, two or three
men go out together and stalk the animals until one of the
men gets near enough to spear one of them. When it turns
to attack him, one of the other men rises and also spears it
and saves his companions from its charge by diverting the
animal's attention. After spearing an animal the hunter
lies flat upon the ground and awaits his companions to save
him from the attack of the infuriated animal. The man who
first spears an animal takes both legs, the man who spears it
afterwards takes the shoulders, the breast goes to the chief of

the district, and the rest of the meat is divided up among the
other hunters who may be present. Dogs are often used in
CH. VIIl] HUNTING, DRUMS AND THEIR USE 87
hunting buffalo to keep the attention of the animals while

the hunter gets near enough to spear them. The dogs are
given the entrails of the animal killed, and at times some of
the meat, if they have done good work.
Method of hunting small game. In hunting small game
such as antelope, pigs and the large rat, nets are used and the
animals are driven into them by beaters who have dogs, while
other men stand in hiding at intervals along the net ready to
spear any animal that rushes into it. In dividing up small
game the man who first strikes an animal is given a leg, the
second man takes a shoulder, and the rest is divided up and the
dogs are given the entrails. Some meat is reserved from any
good bag for the god.
Drums and their use.
The use drums, royal drums. Drums are used both for
of
pleasure and for work.The king has the monopoly of drummers.
The chief use to which a drum is put is some religious purpose
or other. A number of them is attached to each temple.
They are sounded merely to invigorate the king, and each of
these drums has a fetish in it which is made when the king
comes to the throne. The fetish in the drum gives it its import-
ance. In outward appearance a sacred drum differs in no
respect from others. They all alike have a hollow shell of
wood, usually two feet in diameter and two feet six or three
feet deep, the bottom being smaller than the top. They are
covered with cow-skin at top and bottom, the skin being laced
together on the sides of the drum by twisted thongs of hide.
Inside the drum, however, is a fetish. This may be only a
small object, like a ball of medicated clay, or a stick to which
a number of objects are fastened, but over the fetish the blood
of some victim is poured in the case of royal drums it is the
;
blood of human beings who are decapitated over the drum

for the purpose. The chief of these sacred drums is named
Nyakangubi, and in olden days the blood of three human beings
was allowed to run over the fetish when a new king was pro-
claimed. During the life of the king, should the leather of the
drum wear out by beating an ox was killed to provide a new

it,
skin and the blood of the animal was poured into the drum
over the fetish. Several other drums had one human sacrifice
killed over them when the king began to reign, and a number
of others had blood of oxen poured over them.
The war-drum. There was a special war-drum which was
lent to each general who went to war. This had a peculiar
rhythm. Other drums are used to indicate the office of different
chiefs; and again, special rhythms are used by people when
dancing or beating a drum for pleasure.
—
CHAPTER IX
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
The undeveloped state of religious beliefs — —

the principal gods Wamala,
the god of plenty — Ruhanga, —
the creator Muhingo, the god of
war—Ndhaula, the god of small-pox—Mugizi, the god Lake of
Albert— Kauka, the cattle-god foot-disease — Nyalwa, the
for
cattle-god to preserve the health of the herd — Kagoro, the god
who caused to increase — Kigare, the god interested in the
cattle
general welfare of —Mulindwa and Nyinawhira, goddesses
cattle
who cared royalty— Kaikara, the goddess of harvest— Lubanga,
for
the god of health —Munume, the god of the weather—gods of clans
sacred pythons —cause of earthquakes — fear of ghosts—medicine-
men and their duties —ceremony to avert famine — to prevent
rite
evil from happening during —ceremony to prevent war
feasts
fetishes—amulets—new moon—dreams.
The undeveloped state of religious beliefs. Religious beliefs
are not nearly so developed in Bunyoro as are those of the
Baganda : still, so far as they have advanced, the cult is very
similar. The principal gods, whom the people assert to be
superhuman, were most probably human beings who for some
cause were held in veneration and were deified after death.
So far as the present generation of people know, there never
have been any material objects to represent the gods they :
have ever been merely names, and only a few of the gods had
temples in which priests and mediums resided. The influence
of a god was confined to some locality, as in Uganda, and it
was necessary to have some object to which the mysterious
presence and power of the god could communicate itself so as
to be taken into other parts of the country. For this purpose
fetishes were made and kept in the homes of the people or
carried about for particular purposes. Amulets were worn to
ward off disease or as a protection against wild animals or
:
reptiles, by
while others were intended to be used medicinally
scraping or by rubbing
them on stones and mixing the powder
thus obtained with water for internal use, or by mixing it
with butter for external application.
The principal gods. There were innumerable gods in the
country, each clan having its favourite god; and in many
cases there were gods belonging to private members of a clan,
to whom members resorted for special aid. In addition
the
number of gods to whom the people gave particular
there are a
honour, and whom they call their national gods. Such are
Wamala, the god of plenty. Wamala, the god of plenty,
gave the increase of man and cattle, and of crops He
had a temple near the king's residence, with priests and a
medium. When the medium was about to give an oracle,
he wore two bark-cloths, one tied over each shoulder; he
also tied two white calf-skins round his waist, the skins having
a row of small iron bells along the lower edge. On his ankles
he also wore small bells, and upon his head a special hat. It
was customary for the king, and also for the chiefs, to consult
this god, and cows with bull-calves were offered when they
wished to consult him about their herds and to ask his blessing.
Never less than two cows with their calves were sent to the
temple at a time. These were taken in the evening about
sunset and were milked by the door of the temple, and a pot
of milk was taken into the temple from each cow. The priest
placed the milk in a special place before the throne of the god
and also scattered a little millet on the floor. After this the
medium became possessed by the god and gave the oracle,
telling what should be done if there was sickness among the
people, or what remedies they should apply should there be
some plague in a herd. Should sickness break out among
the people or a plague among
the cattle, it was said that the
god Wamala needed an offering. The priest was then consulted
and told the king what colour the ox should be which was
to be offered. The ox was taken to the temple and killed by
the door, the right shoulder of the animal was presented to
the priest, and the heart and male organs were hung over the
door. The priest now entered the temple with the meat, and
CH. IX] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS 91
cutting off some small pieces threw them about before the
god's throne, saying "Peace, Peace." The remainder of the
shoulder the priests and medium ate by the door of the temple.
The rest of the meat was eaten by the people who gathered
for the ceremony. They lighted a fire and cooked the meat
near the temple and sang and danced during the night. From
time to time the medium mixed with the crowd bellowing
like an ox and uttering the words, "Peace, Peace," in deep
tones. In the early morning the crowd dispersed to their
homes. Sometimes a white ram was offered in addition to
the ox. This animal, however, was kept alive at the temple
and was allowed to roam about at pleasure during the day
and was taken into the temple for the night.
Ruhanga the Creator. The god Ruhanga was said to be
the creator of all things. He was held in esteem by all the
people, but he had neither temple nor priest. People did not
call upon him for assistance, because he had done his work
and there was no need to ask further favours of him. Other
gods could assist in multiplying men, cattle, and crops; they
could also heal sickness and stay plagues. Hence the creator
was not troubled about these matters, nor indeed was he thought
of except when they desired to give him the honour that was
due to him as the Maker of all things.
Muhingo, the god of war. Muhingo was the god of war.
His priest was never allowed to appear before the king. Each
general sent an offering to him before starting on an expedition
and received his blessing; and again, when he returned, he
sent an offering of cows and sheep. A priest accompanied the
general on any punitive expedition, carrying a special drum
which was beaten during the expedition to encourage the
warriors and to make them realise that he was with them.
Ndhaula, the god of small-pox. Ndhaula, the god of small-
pox, was one of the most powerful of the gods. He had a female
medium who seldom left the temple precincts. The temple
of Ndhaula was tombs to the
built in the vicinity of the king's
south-west of Bunyoro. The Baganda were accustomed to
send offerings to the god to propitiate him and to stay a
scourge of small-pox in Uganda.
Mugizi, the god of Lake Albert. Mugizi was the god of Lake
Albert. His medium was a woman who wore a fringe of cowry-
shells and small iron bells on her leather garment. The fringe
was so made that it moved about like the waves of the lake,
when the medium walked. It was to this god the people went
to make offerings when they wished to cross the lake by
canoe.
Kauka, the cattle-god Kauka was a cattle-
of foot-disease.
god, whose special duty was to keep the herds free from
it
foot-disease. The herdsmen resorted to him and sought his

assistance, when any animal fell lame.
Nyalwa, a cattle-god to preserve the health of the herd.
Nyalwa was a cattle-god whose duty it was to keep cows in
good health occasional offerings were made to him.
:
Kagoro, the god to cause cows to increase. Kagoro was

the cattle-god who was able to make cattle prolific and he was
frequently resorted to by herdsmen to assist with particular
animals, to make them breed
quickly. He was also the god
of thunder. The people sent offerings to him when any one
was struck by lightning and begged him to spare the people
and not to be angry with them.
Kigare, the god interested in the welfare of cows. Kigare
also was a cattle-god. He wasone of the most powerful
in fact
of the cattle-gods. His priest did not fear even the king and
would order him to investigate any supposed carelessness on
the part of the herdsmen. The priest of this god waked the
herdsmen in the morning to go to milk the cows and to take
them to their pastures.
Mulindwa and Nyinawhira, goddesses who cared for royalty.
Mulindwa and Nyinawhira were goddesses. They had a temple
within the royal enclosure. Their special duties were to watch
over and care for the health of the royal family.
Kaikara, a goddess of harvest. Kaikara was the goddess
of harvest. Her medium was a woman. Before the harvest
could be reaped, the people brought some cooked millet into
the temple, when the medium, dressed with a special head-
dress and a mantle of two cow-skins, took the food into the
temple. She scattered a little of the food about in the temple
and the people ate the remainder by the door, after which
the harvest might be reaped.
Lubanga, the god of health. Lubanga was a god of healing
to whom the pastoral and agricultural people resorted for
help in any sickness. His temple had a strong stockade of
growing trees. When a suppliant went he took a pot of beer
in which was a drinking tube. The medium sucked a little of
the beer from the tube and squirted it from his mouth on each
side of the temple. He carried a stick decorated with pieces
of bark-cloth, beads, brass ornaments and other things worn
by the people.
Munume, the god of weather. Munume was the god who
had control over the weather. To him the king sent an offering
of an ox and the people sent sheep and fowls which were
sacrificed to the god, the blood being poured out by the temple
and the people eating a sacred meal of meat with the priests
at the temple-door. These offerings were sent when rain was
wanted or when there was a continuous fall of rain and the
people desired fair weather.
Gods of clans. There were many gods known to the various
clans to whom members of the clan went to seek assistance.
These gods, however, did not help the nation at large and could
only be approached by members of the clan to which the god
belonged.
Sacred pythons. Pythons were regarded as sacred in
certain places. Other pythons outside the area were not sacred.
They were spoken of as cows and their young as calves. No
one would kill one of these sacred reptiles nor drive it from
his house, should it enter. The king had a special temple for
pythons named Kisengwa, where the reptiles were daily fed
with milk. It is said that the pythons never killed any one,
or at least very seldom. Should it happen that a person was
caught by a python, the people besought the priests to remove
the reptile because they said, "It has proved itself to be no
god but a dangerous reptile."
Cause of earthquakes. Earthquakes were said to be caused
by the ghosts of departed kings. When the monarchs moved
they caused the earth to tremble.
The fear of ghosts. Ghosts were feared in a lesser degree

than in Uganda and consequently graves were not kept in
repair nor were they remembered. The graves of departed
kings, princes and a few important chiefs only were cared for
and kept free from weeds. When the king had any slight
ailment, he attributed it to the influence of the ghost of an
ancestor, sent an offering to the grave and had the grave
repaired, if necessary. Sometimes ghosts caused people to
fall ill. This was, however, at the instigation of the living.
Medicine-men and their duties. Medicine-men were required
to make and perform ceremonies to stay sickness and
offerings
to prevent the gods from being angry with the people at large.
It was especially necessary for priests to guard the agricul-
tural people at harvest-time, because they were then constantly
feasting and drinking to excess. When sickness made its
appearance in the royal family, the medicine-men told the

king which priest to send for and the what
priest told the king
offering to make The offering was usually
to stay the sickness.
an ox of some special colour. The ox was brought before the
king, who spat upon a piece of plantain-leaf and the ox was
forced to swallow it. It was then kept by the king's house all
the night and, on the following morning, the priests brought

branches from special trees and herbs into the main entrance
of the royal enclosure and spread them on the ground. The
king with the royal family assembled at the entrance and the
ox was marched round them four times. It was afterwards
thrown on its back on the branches and herbs, and one of
the priests quickly cut its throat and watched to see how the
blood flowed from the arteries. Should it spurt out and after-
wards flow gently, it was a bad sign; if, however, it flowed
quickly, it was a good omen. Again, should the artery on
the left side bleed more freely than that on the right side, it
was a bad sign; to flow evenly from both, or for the right
artery to bleed quicker than that on the left, was a good sign.
The blood was caught and set aside until the animal was
opened and the entrails were examined. If all was well, the
priest took some of the herbs from under the ox, dipped them
in the blood and touched the king's forehead, throat and the
back of his shoulder with blood; he also sprinkled each

member of the royal family between the shoulders with blood
and poured the remainder of it over the gate-posts of the
entrance-gate. The priests and the medicine-men took the
meat as their portion. Should the omen be bad, the king
sent for a second animal and went through the ceremony a
second time, to see whether it confirmed the first or whether
the result of the firstwas accidental if the second was a good

;
omen, the results obtained from it were accepted and the first
were ignored.
Ceremony to avert famine. When famine appeared to be
imminent and the cattle were also suffering from lack of food,
the medicine-men looked for the house of a poor man who had
neither wife nor child. The door was taken from the house,
and they also provided themselves with an empty milk-pot,
an empty butter-dish, a potato, a few beans and some millet.
These were then placed in front of the chief medicine-man
with a bunch of herbs. A procession was next formed, headed
by the medicine-man who carried the door, with the various
articles and herbs laid upon it, to some adjacent country in
order to banish from the country hunger, famine, and any
cause that was bringing famine and want, and to cast them
upon another nation.
Rite to prevent evil from happening during feasts. A cere-
mony was observed by the people when feasting and dancing
took place, to prevent the gods from being angry or from
sending evil, should any one incautiously offend them during
the feast. The chief medicine-man would also visit the king
and tell him that the year had been one of plenty and that
the cattle and crops had been blessed, so that food would be
abundant. After the visit the king would appoint a day for
the people to come together and would present the medicine-
man with two white sheep and two white fowls. The medicine-
man would thereupon kill one fowl and one sheep and examine
their entrails for a confirmation of his previous oracle. If the
desired confirmation was obtained, he sprinkled the people
with blood and offered the living sheep and fowl to the god
Wamala to be kept alive at his temple. The people were then
96 THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE [PT. I.
free to enter into the pleasures and joys of harvest. Some-

times, before the harvest festivities were celebrated, a barren
cow, the fattest that could be found, was brought and killed.
Its entrails were then examined by a priest and the blood of
the animal was sprinkled upon the people. The priest also
made a tour round the capital, saying, "We must speak for
the god. Let sickness, evil, war and famine grow fat at a
distance and never come to us or ours!" The priest took the
meat of the animal and ate it in the temple.
Ceremony to prevent war. Should a report arise that an
enemy was about to invade the country, or when some portion
of the country had been raided and some people killed and
others carried away into slavery, the medicine-man procured
a blind cow, a puppy with its eyes still closed and a basket of
food which was carefully wrapped up so that no one could
tell the kind of food it contained. The animals were killed
and cut up into small portions and the food was also divided
into a corresponding number of portions. These were taken
and buried in every road by which it was possible for the foe
to enter the country. This was supposed to be sufficient to
ruin the powers of perception of any expeditionary force,
when the members of it stepped over the hidden portions of
food, minced cow, and minced puppy, in the road.
Fetishes. Members of each clan held fetishes in great
veneration and believed them to be possessed of supernatural
powers. The fetishes were identical with those in Uganda in
appearance and use, though the owners would not acknowledge
that they were possessed by the same gods as those whom the
Baganda worshipped. When some catastrophe happened such
as failure of a punitive expedition, it was said that the vic-
torious party possessed some stronger fetish ; the conquered
party never confessed their fetishes to be useless. The common
fetisheswere made of horns of animals filled with ingredients
by medicine-men. Some were intended to be carried about,
while others were meant to be kept in the house. Offerings
of sheep and fowls were made to them, and at such time the
blood of the victims was smeared over them.
Amulets. Amulets were freely used and, as in Uganda,
Plate IV
(i) Amulets
(Banyoro Tribe)
they were obtained from medicine-men in cases of sickness,

to be powdered and taken internally or externally, as the case
might be. After the illness, the remaining amulets were worn
to stave off similar sickness in the future.
New moon. Each new moon was observed by the king
and all his subjects, more especially by agricultural peasants.
The king made an offering of two or more sheep. In the
evening, when the moon appeared, the meat of the animals
was given to the peasants who were present, and all work was
suspended during the day after the moon was seen.
Dreams. Great faith was placed in dreams. Good dreams
betokened good fortune and bad dreams warned a man to be
on his guard. After a bad dream he would take a handful of
ashes from his fire and holding them in his hand would blow
them away before he attempted to touch his face in the morn-
ing. He would afterwards seek the aid of his fetishes.
A man's shadow was supposed to be a part of himself.
He therefore took care it should not be speared, trodden upon
or in any wise injured, lest he too should suffer in like manner.
R. B. T.
7
PART II
THE BANYANKOLE
A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE
7—2
Plate V
CHAPTER X
THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE
Geographical of Ankole
position — —
physical features the climate,
forest-land — —
and agricultural people the Bahima dress and habits
of the Bahima — —
weapons used by herdsmen cattle-kraals salt —
— — —
given to cows as a tonic milk-vessels kraal watch-fires sheep
— —
a protection to cows against lightning treatment of calves the
duties of women — —
food and milk taboos relationship of the
Bahima to the Banyoro.
Geographical of Ankole.
position Ankole is a country
lying between the 30th and 32nd degrees of longitude and
between the first degree south and the first degree north of the
equator. It is a very small kingdom when measured by our
western ideas and is indeed scarcely worthy of the name. It
is bounded on the north by Toro, on the south by Ruanda, on
the east by Uganda, and on the west by the Albert Lake and
the Congo State. On every side the adjacent tribe is stronger
than that of the Banyankole and might with ease crush them
and reduce them to a state of slavery; their preservation is
possibly due to the friendship made with these surrounding
tribes who are kept in an amicable frame by frequent gifts
of cattle.
Physical features. The country is undulating, a feature
which is pleasant to the traveller and gives something fresh
to gaze upon as he travels along and though the hills are none
;
of them very high, he occasionally climbs some loftier emi-

nence which affords him a more extensive view of the land
lying before him with its waving grass and its few clumps of
forest-land. There are no great swamps like those in Uganda,
the drainage is better, the water is not held up by the vegetable
growth, and consequently papyrus-grass has not had oppor-
tunity to grow and form permanent dams to the floods
caused by rain. The water escapes by the main outlets into
the lakes, and hence the country is much drier, and the atmo-
sphere less humid than in Uganda, where swamps are frequent
;
102 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE [PT. II
and papyrus forms wide marshes extending for miles between

the hills. Then, too, there is an absence of elephant-grass
and a greater abundance of short grass more suited to the large
herds of cattle which roam through the country and keep
down the quickly growing herbage. The seasons are also
more marked than in Uganda fewer showers fall in the months
:
known as the dry season. During these rainless periods the

grass becomes dry and withered and towards the end of the
dry season is burned off by the herdsmen, who have to use
discretion when burning tracts of land in order to retain a
sufficient extent where they can pasture their herds, until the
young and tender blades have sprung up again on the burnt
area before a second tract may be burned off. This method
of burning the grass serves several good purposes it not only
:
clears off the dry useless grass, but it also provides a manure
to the grass roots and stimulates them to fresh growth, while
many kinds of insects and reptiles which are injurious to
cattle are cleared off, the excessive growth of shrubs is checked
and the lairs of wild animals are destroyed.
The climate, forest-land and agricultural people. During the
day the heat is frequently greater than is comfortable, though
it does not often run to one hundred degrees in the shade
by night dew falls heavily and the valleys are very cold. It
is always advisable to camp on more elevated ground to escape
the cold, which is not nearly so great on the hills by night.

There are a few clumps of forest on the borders of the country,
but timber is scarce in the interior and the trees are of little
value for building purposes. It is well for the people that
their huts require little timberand that the short branches of
shrubs supply their needs, while the dung from the herd
forms an important part of their fuel. The land is not so
good for cultivation as in Bunyoro or in Uganda, though there
are a few agricultural peoplewho eke out a miserable existence
upon scanty crops of millet and a few plantain they grow.
These agricultural people are commonly called 'Slaves.'
Baheru, and were in all probability the aborigines who were
not strong enough to resist the incursions of the pastoral people
and thus sank into a state of subjugation which is little removed
Plate VI
Litter for carrying a princess, with the men bearers

(Banyankole Tribe)
:
CH. X] THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 103
from domestic slavery. They are the workers who do all the
menial tasks for the pastoral clans, all the drudgery whether
of transport, or of house and cattle-kraal construction, in
addition to supplying them with beer and any vegetable food
they may These peasants cultivate the smallest
require.
amount of land possible for their existence and adopt the most
primitive methods of cultivation, so that the results they obtain
from the land can scarcely be said to be a satisfactory test
of what the produce would be if it were properly tilled and
given a fair trial.
The Bahima. The pastoral people are commonly called
Bahima though they prefer to be called Banyankole they are ;
a tall, fine race though physically not very strong. Many of

them are over six feet in height, their young king being six
feet six inches and broad in proportion to his height. Yet
this young giant does not appear to be remarkably tall until
some other person stands near him and is dwarfed by the
contrast. It is not only the men who are so tall, the women
also being above the usual stature of their sex among other
tribes, though they do injustice to their height by a fashionable
stoop which makes them appear much shorter than they really
are. The features of these pastoral people are good they :
have straight noses with a bridge, thin lips, finely chiselled

faces, heads well set on fairly developed frames, and a good
carriage; there is in fact nothing but their colour and their
short woolly hair to make you think of them as negroids.
Dress and habits of Bahima. Men go scantily dressed
they are often destitute of clothing except for a small skin-
cape thrown over their shoulders. Women, on the other hand,
are completely clothed with well-dressed cow-hide mantles
covering their heads and reaching to the feet, with only a
small aperture left through which to see. Women are also
as corpulent as the men are thin and spare in flesh; indeed
they consider stoutness to be a mark of great beauty and
Women do
strive to attain the largest possible proportions.
no work beyond washing milk-vessels and churning the small
amount of milk that has been set aside for butter. Neither
men nor women wash, as it is considered to be detrimental
104 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF AXKOLE [PT. II
to the cattle. They therefore use a dry bath for cleansing the
skin, smearing butter and a kind of red earth over the body
instead of water, and, after drying the skin, they rub butter
well into the flesh. For the purpose of smearing the body
butter is required in large quantities in each family. The
more wealthy people are able to perform their anointing
more frequently than the poorer who can only afford to anoint
their persons profusely at long intervals, though they put a
little butter on their faces and hands daily. The chief occu-
pation of the men is cattle rearing and guarding the herds
against attacks of man and beast at pasture, and providing
fuel for the kraal and litter for the calves to lie upon. Men
become warmly attached to their cows some of them they
:
love like children, pet and talk to them, coax them, and weep
over their ailments. Should a favourite cow die, their grief is
extreme and cases are not wanting in which men have com-
mitted suicide through excessive grief at the loss of an animal.
As herdsmen they can manage two hundred cows when grazing
with comparative ease, though it is usual for two or three men
to accompany a herd, their duty being to lead the cows to
the best pasture, and to guard the herd from wild beasts and
from the ravages of hostile tribes. The cows so thoroughly
understand the men that they will come or go as they are told,
and thus give little trouble to the herdsmen.
Weapons used by herdsmen. Herdsmen are armed with
one or two spears and with a long stick with which to drive
the animals. The stick is useful to reach an animal in front
when the cows are crowded together at watering-places, or
when entering the kraal, if an animal is stubborn and resists
when spoken to and has to be tapped gently to remind it of
its duty to walk on and let the others in. W hen herding,
the men have a peculiar habit of standing on one foot, with
the other leg raised and the sole of the foot placed against the
calf of the leg upon which they stand, while they lean upon
the spear or stick. One man stands while the others, who may
be accompanying him in herding, squat about on their haunches
and smoke or talk. Herdsmen do not build permanent houses,
they move about with the herds from place to place according
(i) Banyankole women resting
(2) Banyankole herdsmen

to the state of the pasturage, and build grass-huts which are

all they require for the time. At each camping-place huts
are built a short distance from each other so as to form a circle.
The doors all open into the circle, and between the huts thorny
shrubs are placed to keep the cattle from roaming and also to
prevent wild animals from invading the herd by night. The
kraal has only one entrance which is closed at night by drawing
large thorny bushes into the opening which prevents any one
from entering or from leaving the kraal. A kraal may be
occupied for two or three months if there is good pasturage
in the district ;or it may be left after two or three weeks,
should a better centre for grazing be found. The herds go
out early each morning after milking is done, and return in
the evening at sunset, and all the day the cows roam about
grazing, often making a circuit of twelve to fifteen miles. They
are taken to water twice in the day, about noon and again
towards evening before going into the kraal for the night. The
site chosen for a kraal is as near to water as possible, though
in some places the water is inaccessible to the animals and has
to be drawn by the men ;under such circumstances long clay
troughs are dug and two or three men are appointed to draw
water and fill the troughs, whilst others keep the animals in
order that they may not crowd together, and further to see
that each animal has sufficient to drink. At watering-places
grass fires are lighted to create a smoke which keeps flies from
biting and tormenting the animals ; men also stand about
among them with leafy branches to whisk off the flies and
prevent them from settling while the cows are drinking. As
each batch of cows is watered they move from the water to
the fires a little distance away and wait until all the others
have had sufficient. It is amusing to see how soon the animals
learn to know the benefit they derive from the smoke and
struggle with each other to obtain places nearest the fire.
cows as a tonic. Cows have no artificial food

Salt given to
given them in the kraal, nor are they fed after entering it at
night until they go out again to the pasture in the morning.
Sometimes, if sickness appears in a herd, a little salt is added
to the water which they drink in the evening. This mixture
106 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE PT. II
is supposed to be an excellent tonic, and from observation it

certainly appears to do good. The amount of milk each cow
yields is very small, about five pints in the morning and perhaps
a little more in the evening. The calves are always reared by
the dam and allowed most of the milk they are never reared
;
artificially. Should a cow with a calf die, the herdsmen try

to save the calf by teaching it to drink milk more frequently
;
they try to make some other cow act as foster-mother instead

of having to feed it by hand. Herdsmen assert that a cow
will not yield her milk unless her calf is with her, and for this
reason the calf is allowed to suck before the cow is milked.
When a calf dies, the skin is preserved and produced each time
the cow is milked and is held before her during the time she
is being milked. The men know numerous herbs which they
administer to cows for various diseases, and one herb which
they insert into the uterus to make a cow yield milk when its
calf dies. This medicine has to be administered with care
and not too often, because too frequent applications are said
to cause barrenness.
Milk-vessels. No vessel of iron is allowed to be used for
milk, only wooden bowls, gourds, or earthen pots. The use
of other kinds of vesselswould be injurious, they believe, to the
cattle and might possibly cause the cows to fall ill. Not only
are milk- vessels restricted to the special kinds mentioned, but
even these have to undergo a daily purification of washing and
fumigating with a special kind of grass smoke, which imparts
a particular flavour to the milk and makes it palatable to the
people.
The kraal watch-fire. Each morning and evening a fire,
which is constantly smouldering in the kraal, is stirred up into
flame, and around it the cows arrange themselves to be milked.
The fire gives off quantities of smoke which soothes the cows
and keeps flies from them. It is fed with grass which has
been used for bedding for calves and with dried dung from the
herd, the men seldom using wood or ordinary grass on this
fire. The ash-heap is left undisturbed in the kraal, a little
dung fuel being added during the day to keep it alight while
by night the glow is kept bright by the watchmen. I have
(2) Wooden milk pot, with fumigating furnace
(Banyankole Tribe)
CH. X] THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE IO7
never learned whether this fire has any ceremonial significance,

but the nature of the fuel employed seems to point to a certain
sanctity. Each morning, when the herd has left the kraal,
some of the men who remain at home sweep up the enclosure,
and the refuse is swept to a heap on one side, after the droppings,
which are to be dried and used for fuel, have been removed
and spread out to dry.
Sheep as a protection against lightning. A large sheep is
often kept with a herd of cows and goes to graze with the
animals daily. This sheep is said to be a protection to the
herd during any thunder-storm, and it is thought to ward off
lightning. The sheep is made a pet of by the herdsmen, and
always sleeps in one of the huts.
Treatment of calves. Calves are not taken to the pastures
with the herd until they have been weaned. This happens
when a cow is nearing the time to have another calf and
discards her former one. For the first few days after birth a
calf remains shut up in a hut and is only brought out in the
morning and again in the evening to be suckled. At the end
of ten days it is allowed to wander about the kraal and pick
up what herbage it can, and is brought under shelter during
the heat of the day. Some of the men who rest at home watch
the calves grazing near the kraal and see that they are not
attacked by wild beasts. Calves are suckled twice daily, in
the morning and again in the evening. In the early morning,
as the sun rises, each cow taken in turn to be milked, the
is
calf is loosedfrom the hut in which it sleeps and is allowed to

begin its meal, and after it has sucked a little it is taken away.
For this purpose a man drags it forward and holds it before
the dam, while another milks into a gourd milk-pot as much
as he considers wise, when the calf is again turned loose with
the cow and both are driven outside the kraal where they are
an hour or more, while the others are milked and the
left for
men enjoy their own repast and pipe before going out for the
day with the herd. Again in the evening there is the same task
to perform as in the morning, and after its meal the calf is
shut up for the night.
The duties of women. Women are never allowed to touch
cows : the men alone milk and herd them ; the duties of women
are to wash the work
pots, or to see that they are washed, the
itself upon their maids. The pots are washed
generally falling
with boiling water and left to dry in the sun they are after- ;
wards fumigated. The method of fumigating is to use a small

furnace made like a small milk-pot with a narrow neck three
inches long and a flange at the base upon which the inverted
milk-pot rests with the neck of the furnace inside it. The
furnace is having in the side a hole
six inches in diameter,
two inches wide, and into this is pushed dry grass which has
a sweet smell a hot ember is then put into the grass and gently
;
fanned until the smoke rises into the milk-pot. Sometimes

milk-vessels are purified with cows' urine besides the water.
When men are away herding cattle and have no women with
them to cleanse their vessels, they invariably use urine for
washing their pots and smoke them afterwards. Women also
churn. Their churns are large bottle-gourds into which a
little milk is poured daily as it can be spared. The neck of
the gourd is corked and the gourd rocked to and fro either
upon a grass-pad or upon the knee until the butter separates.
The buttermilk is poured off and the butter shaken out into
a wooden dish or upon a plantain-leaf it is then worked a;
little until the water and milk are got out of it. The chief
use of butter is for anointing their bodies, though at times it
is eaten.
Food and milk taboos. Milk is the food of the Bahima, and
only when there is a shortage will they resort to vegetable
food. Chiefs and wealthy men add beef to their milk diet,
and there are a few kinds of wild animals they wall eat, though
these are limited to such as they consider related to cows, for
example buffalo and one or two kinds of antelope, water-buck
and hartebeest. Beef or other flesh is eaten in the evening only,
and beer is drunk afterwards. They do not eat any kind of
vegetable food with the beef, and milk is avoided for some
hours usually the night intervenes after a meal of beef and
:
beer before milk is again drunk. There is a firm belief that

the cows would sicken should milk and meat or vegetable mix
in the stomach. Milk is drunk while it is fresh they prefer :
Plate IX
(i) Milk vessel being fumigated

(Banyankole Tribe)
(2) Gourd milk measures and milk pots

(Banyankole Tribe)
it warm from the cow, but drink the morning's milk at noon if
it is still sweet ; have turned sour, it

should it is put into
the churn for butter. Any
milk that is over from the meal
at noon is put into the churn, though usually a child is
made to drink it. A mother will scold a child when it
refuses to drink the milk given it and will force it to drink the
amount she thinks it ought to consume. When cattle are
scarce and there is little milk for the family, the men drink
the morning's supply and the women that of the evening.
Men then seek meat of some kind and only when pressed by
;
hunger will they resort to plantains and beer, and then fast
until early morning when they obtain their portion of milk.
Women are permitted to eat beef, but no other kind of meat,
and should they eat vegetables they refrain from drinking
milk. During her menses a woman may not drink milk, except
from an old cow past bearing should her husband fail to
;
procure such a cow she eats vegetables until she is well again.
Should a woman continue to drink milk during her indisposition
it is thought she would injure the cows, especially their generative
powers. Meat is never boiled nor cooked in any other way than
by roasting it upon spits over the wood fires. It is eaten
from the spit without any flavouring. The most intoxicating
drink used by the people is made from honey; they also make
a kind of drink from milk which is said to be intoxicating.
The Bahima related to the Banyoro. These Bahima are
closely related to the Banyoro. The royal family claim a
common ancestor. Their language is a dialect of the same
family group, and members of the one tribe can converse
freely with those of the other. Again, many of their milk
customs are similar. There seems to be no doubt that the two
tribes are derived from a common stock, and that the fact of
living in another part of the country with different surroundings
has modified some customs and beliefs. In certain cases one
tribe has preserved customs while the other has abandoned
them.
They have legends which state that their forefathers came
from another country, some say from the east, while others
point to the north-east.
—
CHAPTER XI
GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE
—
Estimation of wealth difficulty in obtaining the names of kings the —
— —
king the real owner of all cattle the king's court the royal
— —
enclosure the king's duties electing a new king educating —
princes — inheritance —
rape —
divorce — —
murder manslaughter
—
clans and totems slavery among pastoral people long-horned—
cattle — — —
marriage descent through the male line a mother's care
for her daughter's morality —
betrothal of poor pastoral maidens
— —
marriage customs polyandry high code of morality among young
—
unmarried women morality among married women adultery —
treatment of women during their menses.
The king's estimation of wealth. The Bahima will recognise

no man as king who is not of the blood royal, and it is abso-
lutely impossible for a woman Contrary to the usual
to rule.
custom of kings and of the tribes surrounding Ankole, the king
does not reckon his greatness by the area of his kingdom nor
by the number of his subjects nor yet by the amount of land
cultivated, but by the cattle he possesses. His chiefs are
appointed to rule a certain number of cattle with lesser chiefs
under them. True each chief has a district over which his
cattle roam. Such boundaries, however, are only guides
which serve to separate each chief's cattle from those of other
chiefs and to prevent disputes between the herdsmen as to the
best places for pasturing their herds. The land is not regarded
as of any value apart from the qualities of pasturage. Neither
the king nor people ever talk of the land as belonging to
any particular chief his chieftainship is always described in
;
terms of the number of cows he has under his control. What

the land is to other kings and chiefs, so their herds are to
the Bahima.
: ;
CH. XI] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE III
Difficulty in names of kings. Owing to the

obtaining
custom any mention of the dead and of removing
of avoiding
the name of a departed king from the language, should it be
the name of something in ordinary use, which thereafter
receives a new name, it has been found impossible to obtain a
very reliable list of their kings. Should the name of a dead
king be the same as that of some animal, the name of that
animal must be changed for example, one king was called
;
a lion, so after his death the name of the lion was changed
and in like manner if the name should be used in any other
way in ordinary language, a new word has to be coined and
the old word falls into disuse. The following list of kings
was obtained from an elderly person who was induced to
impart the information it is not guaranteed to be correct,
;
all that can be said is that such men were known to have
been kings at some former time
i. Luhinda 2. Kasaira 3. Mirimai

4. Lumongi 5. Machwa 6. Kahiya
7. Wabisenge 8. Gasiyonga 9. Mutambuka
10. Ntale 11. Kahaya
The king is the real owner of The king had power

all cattle.
over all cattle in his kingdom no man considered any cattle

;
his own, though to all intents and purposes he had sole right
to the herd under him during his lifetime. The king could
depose a chief but it was always deemed wise to inflict capital
;
punishment when a man was deposed, because such a person

would certainly seek to kill the king. When a man was
deposed, his means of livelihood were gone as well as all else
that he cared for in life he would therefore rather die than be
;
parted from his cattle. There was in the past little in the
manner of life and in the surroundings of a king to mark him
as sovereign. He had his kraal like any of his subjects, which
only differed in that it was a trifle larger than that of his
chiefs who lived near him, and he had a few more huts for his
wives in other respects the king lived much in the same way,
;
surrounded by his cattle.

112 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF AN'KOLE [PT. II
The king's court. The king's courts were held in the open,
under some tree where he sat on a rug made of lion-skin,
while his chiefs arranged themselves around him, squatting
on their haunches, and the poorer pastoral people remained
at a distance. When any man came to a gathering, he first
greeted the king by going down on his knees, prostrating
himself before him and asking him how he was ;afterward
he would step aside to some vacant place either near the king
or more remote according to his rank. Arms and all kinds of
weapons were left at a distance, no person being permitted to
come into the king's presence with any weapon or instrument
which could be used against him. The poorest subject might
approach the king, there was no attempt made to restrict any
man from coming and speaking to him if he so wished. After
such a meeting or court the king retired into his kraal, where
he was accompanied by his wives, one or two of whom always
attended him at court, sitting immediately behind him. These
wives alone had free permission to pass into the enclosure.
The king would invite any chief he wished to see, or any person
with whom he wished to confer, to follow him. Others might
remain under the tree and continue their meeting or retire to
their own homes as they wished.
The royal enclosure. Inside the king's enclosure there were
a few miserably poor huts into which he welcomed any visitor
or chief and where in bad weather he held his councils. The
king's huts were beehive shaped, bigger than those of a chief
and slightly better built, the floor being carpeted with grass.
On the right side upon entering the hut was a mound about a
foot high, some six feet long and four feet wide ;
grass was
laid on this mound and upon the grass a rug was spread on
which his majesty sat while any visitor took his seat in front
of him. On the other part of the dais milk-pots were arranged
after they had been washed and fumigated and were ready for
use at the next milking-time. In the king's private house part
of the dais was taken up with the king's fetishes, which were
spread out ready for special use. The hut had a wall of
elephant-grass dividing it. On the back side of the division
was a bed, generally a mound of earth covered with grass upon
Plate X
(2) Banyankole huts

CH. XI] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE II3
which bark-cloths could be laid when it was wanted for use to

sleep upon. Each house had a courtyard through which cows
wandered, because even the king liked to have his cattle near
him and see them, though he did nothing more than coax them
and talk to them. The odour from cows, which to most people
would be offensive, is pleasant and welcome to a man of the
pastoral clans, and the loss of it is a great deprivation.
The king's duties. During the day the king would hear
any cases of appeal from a chief and decide any matters
which were brought before him. He talked about the welfare
of his herds, and also learned if there were any complaints
among his people. Most matters of litigation between chief
and chief were in reference to cattle, with an occasional case
relative to a wife or daughter; possibly a case of theft was
brought before him and sometimes rumours of war or of raiding
parties had to be dealt with. The rest of the day was spent in
drinking milk, sleeping or talking any gossip that might be
going about.
Electing a new king. The choice of a king lay with the
chiefs, though a sick king made known which of his sons he
wished to reign after him, and his wishes were followed unless
there was some good reason for not doing so. The choice was
not determined by seniority but by other qualifications, age
having no part in the consideration.
Educating princes. Princes were placed during their
minority in different parts of the country under the guardian-
ship of some responsible chief, who was expected to train them
in the art of cattle-rearing, and also in the customs of the tribe.
When a prince came to the throne, he invariably raised the
chief who had brought him up to the rank of first-grade
chief and gave him one of the best offices, and he was called
"King's father" by the people.
Inheritance and levirate customs. When a man dies, the
representatives of his clan appoint his eldest son to inherit
any cattle he may have had. When there is no son, a brother
of the deceased marries the widow or widows, and the first
male child born becomes heir to the property. A brother by
the same parents is sought to inherit the widows but should ;
R. b. t. 8
such a man have the full number of wives he can support or

should he not wish to increase their number, he may refuse to
have them. Under such circumstances, the widows continue
to live on the milk from their late husband's cattle or go to
live with relatives, and the man is expected to visit them as
their husband, and any children they may have are called the
children of the deceased. Again, should there be a son, the
deceased's brother is expected to visit the wives as then-
husband even though they live with their husband's son.
When a man inherits children of a deceased brother, he
takes the children and places them one by one in the lap of
his chief wife, who receives them and embraces them and thus
accepts them as her own children. Her husband afterwards
brings a thong which he uses for tying the legs of restive cows
during milking and binds it round her waist in the manner
a midwife binds a woman after childbirth. After this ceremony
the children grow up with the family and are counted as part
of it.
Should a man force an unmarried woman, the

Rape.
injured woman will complain and the man will be tried and if
guilty must bring a number of cattle to her parents and marry
the woman. Should a man refuse to marry the woman, he
forfeits all his cattle and is reduced to the status of a herds-
man ; this is a serious punishment which any man fears more
than death in many instances a man will commit suicide
;
rather than part with his cattle.

Divorce. Divorce is almost unknown there are, however,;
a few known cases where a man had divorced his wife because
she had become a prostitute. There are also a few instances
on record where men have sought to put away their wives
owing to their having become quarrelsome and abusive in :
each case the wife was sent back to her clan and the marriage
money demanded. Instances are not wanting in which women
have been irritable and abusive the husband has then accused
;
his wife in court where she has been tried, and when found
guilty she has been sent to the sacred lake of Karagwe for
purification. The priest who undertakes the cleansing first
administers a strong emetic, and, after the woman has been
CH. XI] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE 115
made violently sick, he gives her a purgative and allows that

to work; she is afterwards washed in the lake and restored
to her husband. The mere fact of being sent to the sacred
lake is a punishment a woman
dreads so much that she returns
a changed character.
Murder. When a murder has been committed, it is the
duty of the of the clan of the murdered man to seek
members
their brother'smurderer and to bring him to justice. Should
positive proof be lacking who the murderer is, the relatives
seek a diviner who by his arts discovers the guilty person.
The diviner names the man, and the relatives accuse him to
the chief in whose employ he may be at the time. The accused
man has to prove his innocence or else be condemned. It is
almost impossible for a man to clear himself when accused,
unless he can do so by taking the poison ordeal and by running
the risk of dying from the poison. Any man who premeditates
murder seeks to carry out his decision when he feels sure
he can escape and flee he then commits the deed
the country ;
and leaves never to return. The avenger of

his native land
blood, when he has traced the deed to a man who is absent,
accuses the murderer's clan and they have to pay compensation.
Should a murderer be caught by his accusers, the relatives of
the accused must act promptly and have the case tried, if they
wish to save his life, or he will be condemned and executed.
The king's court alone can save such a man from death and
decide what the fine shall be for the murder. When a suspected
murderer is captured, he is put on his trial and opportunity is
given him either to deny the charge, or, if he confesses, to tell
why he committed the deed. A man who denies a murder is
given the test-ordeal and, should he survive, he is acquitted.
When a fine is imposed upon a clan for murder, part of the sum
is paid at once, the remainder is left to be paid by instalments,
as opportunity arises. Sometimes a clan refuses to pay the
fineimposed by the king, and this is a casus belli between the
two clans. The injured clan awaits its chance until it is either
strong enough to settle the question by force of arms, or else
some person is captured belonging to the other clan, who is
then killed without trial this ends the grievance and the clans
:
8—2
Il6 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE [PT. II
may become apparently friendly again. there will be an

Still
under current of bitter feeling which may

break out at any
moment. When a case of murder is settled by a fine, the
murderer is free to visit and hold friendly relations with the
clan he has injured there is often a ceremony when a fine is
;
paid to which he is invited and when he is publicly proclaimed

free from any blame or further incrimination.
Manslaughter. It sometimes happens that a man may
injure another by accident and the injured man die. The
safest plan is for the person who caused the injury to go at
once to his chief and state the facts, leaving him to call the
relatives of the deceased and try the case. If they are satisfied
that the injury which caused death was accidental and that
there was no malice, they accept compensation and the matter
ends.
Clans and Totems.
Clans and their totems. The nation is divided into clans

each of which owns a common parent and has common totems,
and the line of descent is reckoned through the male line,
that is, men and women belong to the clan of their father, not
of their mother. No man may marry a woman of his own
clan ; in other words, the There are
clans are exogamous.
fourteen clans, each of which bears a special name by which
it is known and called. The totems of a clan are not
often mentioned publicly though they are well known to each
member of the nation with few exceptions the totems refer to
;
cows or to some part of a cow which has to be avoided by the

clan. The only explanation given for the origin of clans and
totems was that an ancestor was made ill by eating or by
drinking the thing they now avoid and regard as taboo.
many benefits and privileges with it, especially
Clanship carries
during times of distress and sickness, or when a person is
wronged by a member of another clan, or should a man be
murdered.
The clans are:
i. Abahinda, whose totem is a Monkey, Nkima ; this clan
is the royal clan.
CH. Xl] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE 117
2. Abasambo, whose totem is a Cow, Ngabi. Cows with

straight horns.
3. Abagahiya, whose totem is a Cow, Ngobe. Striped
cows.
4. Abasingo, whose totem is a Cow with black stripes
from neck to tail, Kitale.
5. Abasiio, whose totem is a Cow, Kigabo.
6. Abasaigi, whose totem is a Cow's tongue, Lulimi.
7. Abami, whose totem is a Cow with black or white
spots, Ente luzimu.
8. Abagai, whose totem is a Striped Cow, Ngobe. Mem-
bers of this clan may not drink the milk from such a cow nor
even touch it.
9. Abasingo, whose totem is a Cow with markings running

from head to tail.
10. Abasikatwa, whose totem is a Cow of dark brown

colour, Ente ya lukungu.
11. Abakimbiri, whose totem is a Cow born feet first.
12. Abatalogo, whose totem is Entrails of a Cow, Ebyenda.
13. Abatwa, whose totem is Twins, Abalongo.
14. whose totem is the human breasts, Mabere.
Abaitira,
Number one is the royal clan which, as with the Banyoro,
has a totem unconnected with cattle.
Number thirteen, that of twins. When a woman of this
clan gives birth to twins, the members of the kraal in which
she is living send her to her mother, with whom she remains
until the twins have cut their first teeth. After the twins have
cut their first teeth, the husband restores his wife to her home
and has intercourse with her. The members of the kraal
move away from their old kraal in which the twins were born,
and build a new kraal at once.
Number fourteen. The human breasts. When a woman
of this clan gives birth to a female child, the husband brings
a piece of cow-dung, draws a little milk from his wife's breast
upon the dung, and throws it into the kraal for the cows to
walk upon during the night.
Slavery among pastoral people. No member of the nation
may enslave another member they
;
are free born and therefore
Il8 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE [PT. II
cannot enslave one another. They possess as slaves men and

women from other nations whom they have purchased or
captured.
Long-horned cattle. The Bahima have a kind of long-
horned cattle of which they are justly proud; some of them
have extremely fine horns measuring five feet from tip to tip.
It is interesting to watch a herd of these animals enter the
kraal through a narrow doorway; they turn their heads on
one side to get their horns through. Their colour is dark red,
almost black, though some are light and sometimes a striped
or a white cow appears. The totems refer chiefly to the colour,
though some refer to the shape of their horns.
Men alone come into immediate contact with cows, women
only wash the pots and churn. The men are responsible for
all work which brings them into contact with the animals.
Marriage.
Betrothal takes place in many instances in infancy. When

parents have a son born they arrange with parents of some
other clan who have a daughter also an infant, that these
children shall marry when they grow up. The compact is
by the boy's parents giving the other parents one and
ratified
sometimes two milch cows. It is the duty of a girl's mother
to watch over her daughter's morals in any case, whether she
be betrothed or not. Marriage restrictions observed by most
Bantu people are observed also by these pastoral people, to
wit: a man may not marry a woman from his father's clan,
nor yet from his mother's clan.
Descent through the male line. All children belong to the
father's clan and take his totems: their father's brothers
are called their fathers and his sisters are called aunts on the
father's side, sengawe. Members of his clan who are of his own
generation a man calls his brothers and sisters, and all children
a generation below him he calls his children. His father's
parents and older people a man calls his grandparents. On his
mother's side a man calls his mother's sisters mother and her
brothers by the term Mujwa. On the mother's side children
Plate XI
(2) Royal milk pans and water ladle

(Banyoro Tribe)
CH. XI] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE 119
soon cease to think of relationship after the generation below

them, whereas on the father's side the relationship remains.
These exogamous rules do not apply to royalty, for in the royal
family endogamy obtains, in so far as princesses may only
marry their brothers, or members of the royal family. Princes
marry and have children by them, but they are
their sisters
not restricted to marry sisters only, they may marry as many
wives as they choose from other clans.
A mother's care for her daughter's morality. Every mother
is responsible for her daughter's conduct until she marries.
Wherever the mother goes the daughter must accompany her
if she is to spend the night away from home, so that she may
guard her. Before marriage a girl does not cut her hair,
nor is she permitted to wear any ornament on her waist or
legs. As her hair grows beads and cowry-shells are worked
into it and are a token that she is unmarried.
Betrothal of poor pastoral maidens. Among the lower
classes of pastoral people there are many parents who are
unable to betroth their sons in infancy these grow up to man-
;
hood and obtain the necessary means for marriage as best

they can. When a young betrothed couple grow up to maturity
and the youth wishes to marry, he brings his future father-in-
law a milch cow and a heifer. This gift confirms the first
promise made by the parents on his behalf and gives the girl's
parents to understand that he means to hold to the early
promise made for him. The young couple do not meet or
see one another. From the time this second gift is taken to
the girl's parents until the time of marriage the girl is kept
constantly veiled; no man, not even her brothers, may see
her face. The number of cows to be given for the marriage
gift isnamed and a provisional date fixed for the marriage.
The prospective bridegroom is given several months in which
to obtain the full number of cows, and when these are paid
the actual day for the marriage is fixed.
Marriage customs. Relatives and friends of both parties
meet at the house of the bride's parents : they represent many
clans. The bride's father supplies a fat oxfor a feast before
the marriage takes place. The ox is killed near the kraal,
;
fires aremade and the meat is roasted and eaten by the guests
who afterwards betake themselves to the kraal for the next
ceremony. The bridegroom enters the kraal and is conducted
to the hut which the bride stands waiting, wearing the usual
in
dress of women which covers her from head to foot. He takes
her right hand and leads her from the house and out of the
kraal to the assembled guests. A strong rope is produced by
one of the bride's relatives and tied to one of the bride's legs.
Sides are then chosen by members of the bride's and bride-
groom's clans and a tug of war takes place. The bride's clan
struggle to retain their sister, and the bridegroom's clan strive
to carry her off. During this contest the bride stands weeping
because she is being taken from her old home and relatives
it is the correct thing to do. The bridegroom stands by her,
still holding her hand, and when the final pull is given in his
favour he slips the rope from her ankle and hurries her away
a few yards to a group waiting near with a cow-hide spread on
the ground. The bride sits upon this and the young men raise
her up and rush off with her in triumph to the bridegroom's
parents' house, chased by friends and relatives. During the
struggle for possession of the bride the bridegroom's parents
have hurried away from the scene of the feast to prepare for
the reception of their daughter-in-law and sit awaiting her
When the party arrives with the bride the bridegroom takes her
and places her in his mother's lap, and after she has embraced
her and welcomed her as a daughter he puts her in his father's
lap and she is received into the family with every token of
affection as a daughter. She is taken by her mother-in-law
and put to rest for a time as a child. The party of friends
dance and celebrate the wedding with rejoicing during the
day and night. An aunt, the father's sister, accompanies a
bride to her new home and remains with her three nights. On
the third night the marriage is consummated and the aunt
returns to her home. When she leaves there is an affectionate
parting and the bridegroom's father gives her a cow as a present.
On the day of her marriage a bride's father gives his daughter
a present of a number of cows, never less than six, to ensure
her having food.
CH. Xl] GOVERNMENT, CLANS AND TOTEMS, MARRIAGE 121
Polyandry. It happens at times that a poor man cannot

afford to pay the necessary number of cows to obtain a wife
and still have sufficient left to supply him and his wife with
milk for their daily need. He therefore seeks the aid of one or
more brothers to join him and together they pay the marriage
fee and the woman becomes the wife of the party. The eldest
brother goes through the marriage customs, but it is under-
stood that she is the wife of all the men in the contract. The
woman lives with each in turn until she is with child, when
she remains with the eldest until the child is born. Any children
born of such a marriage are called the children of the eldest
brother. An agreement of this kind does not prevent any
member of the party from relinquishing his share in this
arrangement and marrying another wife himself, if he wishes
to do so when he has obtained the means.
High code of morality among young women. It is remark-
able how careful women are to avoid all connections with men
until after marriage. Should any woman commit fornication
and have a child before marriage, she is disgraced for life.
The clan condemns and disowns her as soon as the fact is known.
She is sent away to the sacred lake Karagwe, where she remains
until her child is born, after which she may return to her tribe
to the man who disgraced her; and should he refuse to take
her, she becomes a menial, whom no man will marry except
some person who has been disgraced and is unable to obtain
a wife, or perhaps some slave may marry her.
Morality among married women. Though the rule for a
woman to be careful in her relations with men before marriage
is so strict and though after marriage she will cover herself from
head to foot when going out, yet once married every woman
consents to be the wife of any visitor who may come to see
her husband. It is a widely recognised rule for a man to allow
his visitor to sleep on the same bed with him and his wife, and
in the early morning for the husband to go to attend to his
cattle, leaving his wife for the guest's use. Should a husband
be absent from home and a guest arrive, it is the duty of the
wife to entertain him and live with him. The rules of hos-
pitality are such that a man must provide his visitor with a wife
122 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE tPT. II
during his visit: should even a younger brother come, he also

has the use of his brother's wife during his stay. Again when
a man visits a friend taking his wife with him, the men exchange
wives during the visit. This one of the few tribes in Central
is
Africa where polyandry exists side by side with polygamy.

The number of wives is regulated by the food supply and the
means available for obtaining wives.
Adultery. Adultery sometimes made a matter of com-
is
plaint, though the cases are rare when this is done, owing to
the laws of hospitality and the freedom women enjoy in being
able to entertain their husband's friends. Resentment and
anger, however, are felt when a wife cohabits with her husband's
enemy; the husband will then have the case tried and the
man fined if proved to be guilty.
Treatment of women during menses. During her menses
a woman is isolated from members of her family; she sits
apart during the day and at night she must sleep on the floor.
The term used to explain her condition is "Seeking a child."
She is not allowed to drink milk nor may she handle milk-
vessels. She is given vegetable food and drinks beer, unless
she is the wife of a wealthy man who can give her milk from
an old cow past bearing.
CHAPTER XII
BIRTH CUSTOMS, SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL
Midwives, their treatment of patients at birth —purificatory ceremony

after childbirth—infant dentition ceremony—ceremony attending
a girl'sdentition — education of boys —birth of twins —puberty of
—how sickness accounted —death,
girls is for beliefs in transmi-
gration of soul —death customs for king's wives —death customs
among pastoral clans.
Midwives and their treatment of patients. Pregnant women

have no food restrictions because their food consists of milk
only, and a woman takes her usual supplies of milk and con-
tinues her ordinary vocations until she is about to be confined.
A few days before her confinement she undergoes a process of
massage to make her bones supple and thus give her an easy
delivery. An elderly woman remains with her some days before
the day of birth, and, when she sees the actual labour pains
begin, she ties a rope to the roof of the hut for the expectant
mother to hold on by while she herself acts as midwife. A
second woman supports the mother and encourages her during
this time. When the child is born, it is placed on the floor on
a small cow-skin, and respiration is set up by the midwife
who rubs the child's eyes, head, face and nose. She puts a
large thorn of an acacia tree into the child's mouth, because it
is said to make the breath sweet. When the placenta comes
away, the umbilical cord is cut with a strip of wood taken
from a drinking-tube. A hole is dug in the doorway of the
hut, lined with sweet smelling grass, and the placenta buried in
it. Mothers dislike a child to be born feet first, because they fear
the child will grow up to be troublesome and unsatisfactory.
The sex of the child is always a matter of interest to the
parents: in the case of a boy, the father digs up the gate-

posts of the kraal and puts them on the fire in the hut where
the mother lies secluded during the next seven days, during
which time the fire is kept burning brightly by day and by
night. The mother is given the thong her husband uses for
binding the legs of restive cows when milking them; this
she wears as a belt until sheis quite well again. Should the
child be a girl, the mother uses a band taken from her own
clothing and the fire is supplied with ordinary firewood and
not the gate-posts, while she is secluded.
ceremony after childbirth. When the child
Purificatory
is a week old and the stump of umbilical cord falls from it,
a young sucking bull is brought to the hut, a vein in its neck is

opened and a pint of blood is drawn from it the blood is cooked
;
to form a cake, and sometimes a little milk, with the stump

of the umbilical cord cut up finely, is added to it while it is
cooking. Young children belonging to the same clan are
invited to this ceremony and come in numbers, because the
dish is a favourite delicacy. Should the stump of umbilical
cord be reserved and not put into the dish, the mother makes
a small leather bag and stitches the cord in it and wears it in
her girdle. After the meal the children sweep out the hut in
which the mother has been secluded; the dust they collect
and throw on the kraal dung-heap, and to make quite sure
that there is no dust or grass left they sweep the hut out four
times. While the children are sweeping out the hut, the
mother is undergoing a purificatory ceremony: she washes
from head to foot and smears her body with a kind of brown
clay which has a sweet smell and is reserved for ceremonial
uses. The mother discards all her old clothing, her husband
provides her with quite new clothes, she returns to her hut to
receive her relatives and friends, who by this time have congre-
gated to see her baby and to congratulate her, and the baby is
taken and examined by the women.
Infant dentition. From this time until the child cuts its
two teeth there is no ceremony to observe, but the first
first
two teeth are watched for with great anxiety. When the
mother discovers them, she announces the fact to her husband
CH. XII] BIRTH CUSTOMS, SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL 125
who, if the child is a male, brings a miniature bow and

arrows puts the child to sit on the ground and places the
;
bow and arrows in its hands for a few moments, the mother
afterwards putting them away in some place for safety in
the hut. It is considered unlucky for a child to cut its
upper teeth before the lower teeth, and a mother is relieved
when the lower teeth are cut. When these teeth are cast by
the child, mother preserves them with the bow and
the
arrows. The father at this time brings a cow which has
only had one calf and that a female he places the child to
;
sit on its back, and from that time the child is fed upon
the milk from that cow alone, no one else being allowed to
drink the milk from this particular animal. After the cere-
mony of sitting on the ground the child's hair is shaved off
except a tuft on the crown, and on this tuft beads and cowry-
shells are threaded and left. The mother then begins to make
a round of visits to her husband's relatives to show the baby,
and they make presents of a few beads for the child's arms and
legs. When a female child cuts its first teeth, the father places
it to sit on the and brings an empty gourd such as is used
floor
for churning, the child is made to rock it about as is done when
churning, and the mother then stows it away. When the
teeth are cast they are preserved with the gourd. The mother
is more careful to watch over a daughter than over a son and
to train her lest she should learn loose habits and grow up
impure. When a girl is old enough to learn how to handle
and wash up pots, the mother teaches her how to cleanse them
and how to fumigate them, and also how to churn and scent
butter with the juices of sweet smelling grass. Children are
forced by their mother to drink quantities of milk daily;
sometimes she punishes a child if it does not drink enough,
that is to say the amount she thinks it ought to drink during
the day.
Education of boys. At the age of twelve a boy is taken by
his father to the head-man of the clan, who instructs him daily
in the art of cow-keeping and in the beliefs and customs of
the clan. The boy remains some years in the kraal of his
instructor until his education is considered complete. He
then returns to his father's kraal and takes his place with
other herdsmen in tending the cattle. There is no further
ceremony until marriage, at which time the son of a chief is
given a number of cattle which he manages for his father.
Sons of poor people may either assist their father or become
independent herdsmen to some wealthy person, receiving in
return their food and sufficient cows to enable them to marry.
Birth of twins. There are no ceremonies at the birth of
twins except in the Abatwa clan whose totem is twins. In
that clan the mother and her children are taken to her parents'
home and she remains there until the children have cut their
first two teeth and the father has performed the ceremony of
moving from the old home and building a new kraal, as men-
tioned above. The husband brings his wife and children to
their new home and she goes about her duties as before.
In other clans the husband mounts the hut or stands in
the gateway of the kraal and calls in a loud voice " My wife
'
has twins ' until the fact is well known in the vicinity. People
are careful what they say about twins, lest a ghost should
overhear their remarks and be offended and cause sickness
in the clan. Twins sleep in the same hut with their parents,
but they have a separate bed curtained off from the rest of
the hut.
Puberty of girls. The first time a girl menstruates the fact
is kept private by her parents who alone know her condition.
The father provides his daughter with milk from an old cow,
she may not drink the milk of other cows or handle any milk-
vessels and she takes no part in any household duties until
she is quite well again 1 It is thought that should a menstrous
.
woman drink milk from the cows she will cause them injury.
Should the daughter be engaged to be married, the relatives and
the bridegroom are informed that she is old enough to marry
1 The reason for fearing that a menstrous woman may injure the cows is
probably a fear lest she should cause them to become in a like condition and cast
their young. Cows are encouraged to conceive again shortly after giving
birth, hence the precaution applies to all cows except those too old to bear.
This suggestion is only conjecture based on observation and not on any direct
information.
:
CH. XII] BIRTH CUSTOMS, SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL 127
when she has recovered, and preparations are made for the
marriage to take place.
Sickness, Death and Burial.
How sickness is accounted for. Sickness is accounted for

in four ways
1. It may be due to the ghost of a departed king who is
offended by something done which he disapproves, or he may

have been somehow neglected and therefore it is necessary to
make an offering. The cause is discovered by divination, and
the priest of the temple in the sacred wood where kings are
buried is asked to assist by making the offering to the ghost.
Paralysis especially is attributed to departed kings, and the
priest of the temple of kings alone can assist in these cases;
relations bring offerings on behalf of the patient and the priest
makes intercession on their behalf and tells what remedies
should be used to relieve the patient.
2. Magic is supposed to be the cause of many forms of
sickness. A medicine-man is consulted and discovers the
person who has caused the illness. Should a man deny the
charge, he is tried in open court, and, if he still persists in
maintaining his innocence, the case goes to a higher court and
finally the king gives judgment should the man appeal from
;
this decision, he is given the poison ordeal. In most cases a

man will confess he has used magic and will state his reason
for so doing, and, when he has been pacified, he will remove
the spell and allow the patient to recover, and will even find
medicine for him. Most complaints and skin diseases are said
to be due to magic.
3. Fever is said to be due to climatic influences and during
mild attacks common remedies are used. Should a case prove
to be obstinate, or should a man grow worse, a medicine-man
is consulted to tell by divination whether there is magic under-
lying the sickness. When a patient becomes delirious, he is

said to be under the influence of a malevolent ghost. The
medicine-man smokes out such a ghost by burning certain herbs
and the tail feathers of a cock and making the patient inhale
the smoke. Offerings are made to clan-ghosts in order that

they may help the patient.
4. In some cases the illness of a person is attributed to
ghostly possession and the ghost has to be exorcised.
A common complaint among these pastoral people is a
deep-seated abscess. The cure for this is to transfer it to
some other person. A bunch of herbs is rubbed over the place
and buried in a public road, and the first person who steps
over it will catch the sickness and the patient will recover.
Death, the belief in transmigration of the souls of royalty.
When a king dies, the knees are drawn up into a squatting
posture which is the favourite attitude of men when resting.
The body is kept two days in the kraal and is sponged at
intervals with milk. In the evening of the second day a
largecow is killed and the raw hide is wrapped around the
body and stitched together, and the corpse is taken to a
sacred forest called Ensanzi. The ox may not be killed in the
ordinary way by having its throat cut, but is thrown down by
a number of men who quickly twist its head round and break
its neck. This is the first of many cows which are offered to
the spirit of the king; in this case the meat is eaten by the
men on the spot, but later offerings are taken to the forest and
the meat is given to sacred lions. The forest is inhabited by
sacred lions which are said to be animated by the ghosts of de-
parted kings. There is a temple in the forest and a priest lives
in with his family. He has charge of the temple and forest
it
together with the lions he feeds them and holds communion,

;
when necessary, with the departed kings who are said to animate
the beasts. When a king is brought for burial, the priest receives
the body at the temple, removes the cow-hide from and washes
it
it with milk. He keeps it several days until swells and

it
subsides again. The priest has been busy in the meantime

seeking a lion cub, and, when
body subsides, he produces
the
the cub and says this what the king has brought forth and
is
asserts that it has the spirit of the king. The body of the king
may then be buried in the forest and receives no further atten-
tion, because the king is said to live in the lion. For some
days the mourners remain to watch the growth of the cub,
;
CH. XII] BIRTH CUSTOMS, SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL 120/
which is fed with milk at first and then with meat ; when they
are satisfied that the animal is going to live, they return home
and tell the new king all that has taken place. When the cub
has grown big enough to shift for itself, it is turned loose and
takes its place among the other lions of the forest. The priest
bears the title he and his family
of Pleader (Kwegeririra) :
live in this forest and he guards the lions, which are accustomed
to be fed regularly on beef and which, though by no means tame,
are used to this man and know him. Lions in other parts of
the country may be killed with impunity in this forest only :
they are sacred.

Death customs among the king's wives. The idea of
transmigration is not confined to the king only; the royal
family at death pass into animals or reptiles, and the spirits
of the king's wives enter into leopards. Princes and princesses
go into large snakes ; the leopards, that is the king's wives,
have a part of the sacred forest in which the kings are buried
and the snakes, that is the princes and princesses, have another
part of the same forest. Each class has its own temple and
priest who acts as medium to consult the spirits when necessary.
The burial rites are the same for each of these groups of
spirits as for the king; the leopards are fed with meat and
the snakes with milk from cows which are offered to them in
sacrifice.
Death customs among pastoral clans. When any other
member of these pastoral people dies, his legs are bent up
into the favourite squatting position and the body is stitched
in a cow-hide and buried in the dung-heap in the kraal. The
ghost has no special place of abode. It first goes to the sacred
lake Karagwe, but is free to return to its old haunts after a few
days. The heir is appointed as soon after death as possible in
order to be present at the funeral, it being his duty to stand
in the grave to receive the corpse, to place it in position there,
and to help throwing the dung upon it. Mourning con-
in
tinues for months.
three or four When it ends, the sur-
vivors remove to some new site and build another kraal. The
old place falls into decay and is soon overgrown and lost to
sight. At the end of the mourning widows shave their heads
R. B. t. 9
and undergo a cleansing. It is often necessary to guard

widows when a man is about to be buried, because they drink
poison and die at the grave in order to go with their husband
rather than be left behind with an uncertain future. Should
any relative come after the mourning has ceased and wish to
know about the dead, the chief widow takes the man a little
distance from the kraal and tells him all about the illness,
death and burial; they weep together and then return to the
kraal. Mourning is not renewed in the kraal when once the
survivors have removed, even though some important member
of the clan should come to enquire about the dead. Shrines
are, however, built at the entrance of the new kraal where the
ghost may rest and where offerings may be made to it.
—
CHAPTER XIII
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, HUNTING, COUNTING AND

DIVISIONS OF TIME, MUSIC AND GAMES
Brief review of beliefs in gods —the —
war-god the home of ghosts
religious ceremony cow with a newly born calf
in treating a
— —
Clan gods sacred place in the hut for fetishes magic— belief in
— —
ghosts cattle sickness and its treatment taboos against washing
— — —
taboos on the use of milk taboos on the use of food people who
— —
are taboo to the king blood brotherhood hunting as followed
— —
by pastoral people counting division of time the new year—
—
music games.
Review of beliefs in gods. The Bahima are not a very

religious people; the gods do not trouble them and they do
not often trouble the gods except for special reasons. Still
there are occasions when aid is sought from one or other of
their gods through the medium of a priest, for example, in
case of sickness in the family or among the cattle. The chief
deity named Lugaba.
is He dwells in the sky and is really
the Creator. The world belongs to him, his smile brings life,
and the result of his displeasure is sickness and death. As in

Uganda so here in Ankole the Creator has no temple and no
priest and therefore no worship; and the common people
make no offerings to him. Still he is well known and acknow-
ledged by all, he is their great benefactor from whom they
receive all the good in life as a matter of course and without
any thought of an offering in return; nor is prayer made to
him.
The war-god. The war-god is named Zoba he has both a :
temple and a priest who is also the medium of the god. Should
an enemy surprise the people in any part of the country, the
women run into hiding in the scrub, and from their hiding
place call upon Zoba to help their husbands and give them
9—2
132 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE [PT II
victory. At such times they often make promises of offerings

on condition of victory being granted them these offerings they
;
ask their husbands to pay when they return home. When the
danger is over, the women return to their homes and place a
pot of milk in the kraal near the spot where the cows stand
to be milked at the fire. When the men return home they
drink a little and thank the god for their victory,
of the milk
which they attribute to him, and ask him to preserve them from
further danger. In times of peace the deity is left without a
thought. There is no reason for saying the people are without
religion because of this neglect of their chief gods; there are
other gods whom they may be visiting and consulting for other
purposes, and the multitude of ghosts too call for frequent
attention from individual families. The king has often to
send to the sacred forest to feed the lions, and through the
priest to make enquiries of his fathers as to the safety of his
country and as to the political state of his land. In all cases
the priesthood is hereditary, sons being trained by their
fathers in the mystery of caring for the lions and in the art
of calling upon the spirits of the kings. It is in the gloom
of the hut that the spirit of a king takes possession of a priest
and through him makes known the causes of national trouble
or matters concerning the king especially.
The home of ghosts. The sacred lake Karagwe is said to
be the peculiar abode of ghosts, but they are not restricted
to it and at times they return to their old haunts where
the cattle are, and therefore each home has its shrine for a
family ghost. The ghosts take an interest in the affairs of
the family, and hence it is necessary to keep the shrines in order
and to make offerings to them, because they have power to
do good or to cause harm when annoyed. No ghost will
consent to take up his abode in the shrine of another ghost,
and should his own shrine have fallen into neglect or should
there be no food there, he will turn away offended and send
sickness of some kind into the family. A medicine-man will
be able to discover which ghost has caused sickness and also
be able to tell how to satisfy the requirements of the ghost.
Sometimes a ghost becomes rich in cattle and slaves, who have
Plate XII
(2) Weapons of the Banyankole

CH. XIIIJ RELIGION 133
a large hut built for them to live in. When the cows belonging
to a ghost are giving milk, the relatives of the ghost choose
the person, usually a child, who shall drink the milk, and use
any butter which comes from their milk. The child has to
be careful not to drink milk from other cows when he is set
apart for this sacred duty.
Religious ceremony in treating a cow with a newly born
calf. When a cow first calves and the stump of the umbilical
cord still hangs to the calf, some person, usually a boy, is
appointed to drink the milk from that cow he may not drink
;
milk from any other cow and is careful to avoid eating meat
or salt. When the cord falls from the calf, the owner of the
cow takes a new pot which must be perfect without any flaw
or chip. This pot he fills with milk from the cow in question
and carries it to the boy's mother, who drinks as much as she
can and puts it near the fire to keep warm it is not made to
;
boil, but to retain the same heat as when newly milked, until
her son comes and drinks all she has left. The milk from the
cow may then be added to the common supply and is free to
any member of the family to drink.
Clan gods. The Creator and the war-god are common
alike to all clans, but each clan possesses its own particular
god who is supposed to watch over the interests of the clan.
It is to this deity that members resort under ordinary circum-
stances for advice and help. The medium is always a member
of the clan. Members seek this deity for a blessing upon their
marriage, that a wife may become a mother, and they also
ask the aid of this god when the time draws near for a child
to be born, that the wife may be safely delivered. To this
deity members of a clan go first in cases of sickness and it is
the medium of the clan god who advises them to go to some
particular god, to whom a visit may be necessary, and who
advises them which medicine-man to consult.
Sacred place in a hut for fetishes. In each permanent hut
there is a special place upon which the fetishes of the family
are placed. In small houses it is almost always a mound of
earth a foot high, two feet wide and three or four feet long,
but it is larger in larger houses. This mound is beaten hard
and upon it sweet smelling grass is laid neatly, the fetishes
being arranged at one end, and the milk-pots at the other,

after these have been washed and fumigated and are ready
for use. The fetishes are a heterogeneous collection of
objects, the more important being horns or tips of horns of
wild animals, especially of the buffalo and antelope. The
hollow of a horn is filled with a sacred compound and the
open end corked with wood, the wood often having a small
hole the size of a thimble made in it which is used for inserting
the drugs prescribed by some medicine-man for a particular
disease. By putting a little of the medicine prescribed into
this hole and pouring it back to the gourd or
rest in the bottle
by giving the medicine from the fetish
direct to the patient
its potency is increased the power of the drug is thus con-
;
veyed to the sick person with the blessing of the god. Other
fetishes are merely wood decorated with lizard skin or beads,
or they may be compositions of clay, claws of animals and what
not. These objects are made by special vendors and are
dedicated to particular gods. Each fetish has its own duty
to perform. A fetish seldom combines two offices, though
there are a few which are said to have two duties to perform.
Offerings of new milk and small pots of beer are made to these
fetishes daily and they are frequently rubbed with butter.
The king and important chiefs are able to offer cattle to their
fetishes and to smear them with blood of the offerings. Some
fetishes, for example the war fetishes, were on special occasions
carried about during hostilities, thus securing the aid of the
god through his representative. In no instance did a man
claim that his fetish was his deity, but stated decidedly that
it was the representative and contained the essence of the
god. In this sense alone did he possess the power and presence
of the deity. The names of the chief fetishes were Wamala, :
Kagoro, Nyekiriro, Lyagombe, Mugasa, Kyomya and Ndahoro.

Magic. The greatest use to which magic is put is that of
taking revenge on some person for an injury received or for
any insult real or imaginary. The injured or aggrieved person
seeks to obtain something belonging to the man whom he wishes
to hurt by magic ; for this purpose he will seek hair, nail-chips,
Plate XIII
(2) Harp of the Banyankole women

CH. XIII] MAGIC 135
spittle or even a shred from his clothing, in order, by using it

in magic, to bring the person under the spell and so cause him
a serious illness or even kill him. One method, when a man
had failed to obtain what he wanted and was still determined
to carry out his evil design, was to get his sister to make love
to the man he wished to injure and lure him to her couch;
she would thus obtain some of his semen and pass it on to her
brother, who would make the owner impotent so that he would
be childless in the future. In cases of sickness, the chief duty
of a medicine-man was to discover the nature of the sickness,
and, if it was due to magic, to tell how the spell was to be
overcome. The most common method used by a medicine-
man to discover the origin of sickness was by examining the
entrails of an animal for markings : he could also tell how to
treat the disease at the same time. In cases where no animal
was supplied, the medicine-man resorted to a pot of water into
which he cast certain herbs which caused a froth to rise; he
next dropped four coffee-berries into the water, watched to
see the positions they took, and judged according to their
relative positions, the direction to which they pointed, or which
side up they floated. This method of discovering the wishes of
a god is also used to discover the kind of medicine to be used
after the magic has been overcome. Few men who are accused
of magic deny the charge : they find it easier to give a reason
for having recourse to magic than to refute the charge of the
medicine-man ;
they come to terms with the sick man and
remove the spell. Should a man deny the charge of magic,
he is almost certain to be called upon to take the poison ordeal
in order to clear himself, and that frequently ends in death.
When a man is caught in the act of making magic he is de-
prived of all his property and left in abject poverty. This is
a serious matter because no man will employ him as herds-
man, he is an outcast from society and is forced to leave the
country, or to find employment among chiefs of another tribe,
or to sink to the level of a serf and agriculturalist.
Belief in ghosts. There is a great fear of ghosts because,
while they can do much to help, they can also do much to harm
the living. As a rule ghosts of members of a clan are interested
»
136 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF AXKOLE [PT. II
though they will injure them

in the welfare of their clans-folk,
ifthey are neglected or annoyed. Ghostly possession is almost
always said to be the act of a ghost from another clan, sent to
do harm by some member of that clan who has interceded with
his ancestors to cause sickness to an enemy. A medicine-man
ispaid to capture the ghost and destroy it this he does by his
:
magical charms whereby he secures it in a pot, and either

burns it to death or drowns it.
Small children are warned to avoid looking at their own
shadow, because the shadow may become a ghost and
kill them.
When women they are warned to

retire to relieve nature,
be careful when exposed, lest there should be a ghost hovering
about who may enter them. To guard against this danger a
woman carries a small bottle gourd with a long neck to it.
The gourd is filled with tobacco-water which she pours over
her private parts while she is exposed: this prevents any
ghost from coming near her. Abdominal pains and rumbling
noises in the stomach are indications that a ghost has entered
a woman, and the sufferer seeks a medicine-man to exorcise it.
Cattle sickness and its treatment. Sickness among cows is
a serious matter: a medicine-man is called in, he comes to
the kraal, learns the nature of the sickness and resorts to divina-
tion to discover the cause and the remedy. A favourite
method of treatment is to attract the disease to one particular
cow; to do this the medicine-man obtains certain herbs and
ties them in a bundle. In the evening when the herd returns
from the pasture, an animal is selected to bear the illness of
the herd, the bundle of herbs is passed over the other cows
and then tied to the neck of the chosen animal, and several
fetishes are also tied to its neck. This animal is taken out
and driven several times round the kraal when the herd is
inside ; it is then left with the herd during the night. In the
early morning the medicine-man again drives it round the
kraal several times, and with the aid of the herdsmen he kills
it in the gateway by cutting its throat and catching the blood.
The blood is sprinkled over the people of the kraal and also
over all the cows, and the people file out, jumping over the
carcase of the dead cow in the gateway. After the people
;
CH. XIII] TABOOS 137
the cows are driven out and jump over the carcase as they go.
The disease is thus transferred to one cow and the rest escape
the fetishes and herbs are taken from the neck of the dead
animal and hung over the gate of the kraal on the outside to
prevent the disease from entering the kraal again. The
medicine-man takes the meat away no member of the kraal
;
dare touch it lest the disease should return to the herd.

Taboo against washing. Men and women alike are dis-
couraged from using water, especially for washing themselves.
When any person wishes to have a bath, he has to use a
kind of clay mixed with butter; he rubs this over his body
until he is clean and the clay has been rubbed off. After the
clay has been thus used he may rub on butter again. Water
applied to his own body is said to injure his cattle and also
his family.
Taboos on the use of milk. Milk must not be boiled for
food, as the boiling would endanger the health of the herd and
might cause some of the cows to die. For ceremonial use it is
boiled when the umbilical cord falls from a calf and the milk
which has been sacred becomes common. Milk from any cow
that has newly calved is taboo for several days, until the um-
bilical cord falls from the calf during this time some member
;
of the family is set apart to drink the milk, but he must then
be careful to touch no milk from any other cow.
Food taboos. The meat of goats, sheep, fowls, and all kinds
of fish is deemed bad and is absolutely forbidden to any member
of the tribe; also various kinds of vegetables, such as peas,
beans, and sweet potatoes, may not be eaten by any member
of the clans unless he fasts from milk for some hours after a
meal of vegetables. Should a man be forced by hunger to eat
vegetables, he must fast some time after eating them by pre- ;
ference he will eat plantains, but even then he must fast ten
or twelve hours before he again drinks milk. To drink milk
while vegetable food is still in the stomach, is believed to
endanger the health of the cows.
Men who are taboo to the king. Should the king degrade
any chief from his office for some fault and yet spare the
man's life, this man is taboo to both the king and people
;
I38 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF AXKOLE [PT. II
until he has been to the sacred lake at Karagwe and undergone

the regular form of cleansing by taking an emetic and a strong
purgative, and has also been washed in the lake by the priest
he may afterwards return to his people and seek some means of
livelihood.
Blood brotherhood. It sometimes happens that two men
of different clans become deeply attached and wish to make a
lifelong bond of brotherhood. The ceremony for this purpose
is performed who may be called
in the presence of witnesses,
should there be any cause of disagreement in the future.
The two men sit face to face, each pinches up the flesh on his
stomach and cuts it sufficiently to draw a little blood, an
assistant pours a little milk into the hollow of the hand of the
man on his right, who takes a few drops of his own blood on a
knife-blade and drips them into the milk, which his friend then
drinks from his hand ; the second man then takes a little milk
in hishand and adds a few drops of his own blood, and the first
man drinks it. Each promises to be faithful to the other and
to be a brother to him and father to his children, should there
be any need. When milk is not to be had, they use a coffee-
berry instead and smear it with blood.
It is a sign of great friendship to call another person into
the house to drink milk with the family.
Hunting, Counting Time, Music and Games.
Hunting as followed by pastoral people. Hunting is seldom

followed because there are few animals which pastoral people
may eat,but beasts of prey are hunted down wherever they
become troublesome. Other game is left almost entirely to
men of agricultural clans who keep a few dogs and hunt
game for food.
Counting.The Bahima are accustomed to the use of
large numbers owing to their large herds of cattle. They have
special terms for units, and from the number of ten onwards
they have multiples of ten with the necessary unit, until they
reach a hundred. All their herds of cattle are divided into
hundreds and each hundred is called a bull for brevity and
CH. XIII] COUNTING, DIVISIONS OF TIME 139
convenience. In speaking of a number a man not only

mentions but also demonstrates with his hands or fingers
it
the number indicated. Thus:

1. One is indicated by extending the index finger, while
keeping the others folded inside the palm.
2. To indicate two the first two fingers are extended while
the third and fourth fingers and thumb are kept folded.
3. Three is signified by extending the second, third and
fourth fingers, while the index finger is bent beneath the thumb.
4. Four has all the fingers extended, while the thumb is
bent into the palm.
5. Five is indicated by folding all the fingers over the
thumb and presenting the fist.
6 To demonstrate six the first three fingers are extended
while the little finger is bent in and held by the thumb
pressingupon it.
7. Seven is shown by bending in the second finger beneath
the thumb while the first, third and fourth fingers are extended.
8. To express eight the index finger is placed under the tip
of the third and flicked against the second loud enough to make
all those in the room hear.
9.Nine is shown by extending all the fingers and bending
the second finger and extending it again.
10. To show ten the hand is closed with the thumb
placed against the side of the middle joint of the index finger.
Divisions of time. Time is divided into years, months,
days, and the day is divided into periods having reference to
the cattle. A year consists of periods determined by rains.
The longer period is called by the term Kyanda and has usually
six months, the lesser period is called Akanda, and has four
months, and there are two months called Itumba. During the
six months very little rain falls, then come a few days of rain
followed by four months of dry weather, and then there are
two months of rain. The months are lunar and reckoned
from the appearance of one moon to the appearance of the
next. When the moon is first seen, the people come out of
their houses and clap their hands. Each man lights a fire
before his hut and keeps it burning continuously for four days
I40 THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE OF ANKOLE [FT. II
There are also a number of royal drums brought from their

hut into the open and men beat them incessantly for four days.
The people speak of a moon as lasting 29 days 28 it is visible,
;
and for one day it is not seen. Each day is divided thus:
6 a.m. is milking time, Kasese.
9 a.m. Katamyabosi.
12 a.m. rest for the cattle, Baliomubulago.
1 p.m. is the time todraw water, Batola masumba.
2 p.m. is Amasyo ganyuwa.
the time for the cattle to drink,
3 p.m. cattle leave the watering place to graze, Amasyo
gakuka.
4 p.m. the sun shows signs of setting, Ezigoba.
5 p.m. the cattle return home, Ente zehiririri.
6 p.m. the cattle enter the kraal, Ente zataha.
7 p.m. milking time.
The new year. The year begins with the first heavy rains,
and the period of a year lasts until the next heavy rains, so
that a yearmay be a few days longer or shorter it is a matter ;
of no consequence whether it is a week or even three weeks

that are taken off or added to the length. People watch the
euphorbia trees to guide them as to the nearness of rain;
when these trees begin to shoot out new growth, they know the
rains are near.
Music. The Bahima are not a musical people as regards
instrumental music ; the only instrument used is a harp which
the women have and keep for use in the home for accompany-
ing the love-ditties which they sing to their husbands. Men
have songs which they sing at those times when they have a
supply of meat and beer and are abstaining from milk diet.
They use no instrument to accompany their songs, but the
company join in the choruses.
Games. The national game is wrestling, and in this men
and boys seek to excel. There are frequent contests when a
particular chief will bring his man and defy others to match
him. When such an important event occurs, the men give
themselves up to the sport and chiefs, with their king, come
;
to witness the struggle for the championship. To attain this

glory is a constant aim with them, and youths are always
CH. XIII] GAMES I4I
training and striving to surpass their companions in order

to become champion wrestler.
High jumping is another game which boys especially love,
though this form of sport has few competitors in comparison
with wrestling.
Small boys love a game of spinning stones from a fruit
very like the damson in shape and size. The stones are dried
and each boy brings his stones, and two boys spin together
either on a rock or on a plantain leaf; the boy whose stone
knocks up against the other and causes it to fall wins and takes
the other stone, and they play on until one boy has won the
whole lot of stones.
There is a game like nine-pins played by youths, though
the game is said to be a boy's game. The pins are long seeds
some five inches long; nine of these are set in a line, and those
entering the contest stand in a line a few yards away and
have a number them which they throw in order
of stones given
to dislodge the pins from their line. The winner takes forfeits
from his beaten competitors.
PART III
THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS

—
:
CHAPTER XIV
THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS; SOCIOLOGY,
GOVERNMENT, RELIGION, FISHING, BUILDING,
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS
Lake Kyoga and Mpologoma river the home of the lake dwellers the —
—
Bakene allied to the Basoga huts of the Bakene mode of —
travelling — —
description of Lake Palisa totemic clans of the Bakene
—marriage customs—birth of twins—treatment of the placenta of
twins—naming twins—headman as chief and ruler—inheritance
belief in the supernatural, ghosts and
in magic —Gasani, the
in
principal god — the god Kibumba— water —methods of
spirits
fishing — net-making and taboos —hut-building on floating founda-
tions — canoes and —physical appearance of the Bakene
rafts
clothing of men —clothing of women.
The district of the Bakene. The district to which the

Bakene belong has necessarily a limited area, because their
mode of life, together with their staple article of food, restricts
them to the few stretches of water in which papyrus-grass
grows freely; forms the foundation for their
for that grass
floating houses, and is also the chief material used in building
them, while fresh water fish is their principal article of food.
Hence the sources of the Nile and its feeders are the home of
these people and their domain is one of water rather than of
land. Their houses are to be found either on the floating roots
of papyrus on the sunny waters of small lakes or in the forest-
like growth of papyrus on the rivers flowing into the Nile.
Floating houses. The Bakene are a small Bantu tribe
dwelling in floating huts on the Mpologoma river, on Lake
Kyoga, on Lake Salisbury, and I believe also on Lake Rudolf
they cannot exceed three thousand in number.
Lake Kyoga and Mpologoma River the homes of the Bakene.
The River Mpologoma rises on Mount Elgon, runs for some
R. B. T. 10
146 THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS [PT. Ill
miles in a southerly direction, then winds to the west and

rapidly widens until it empties Lake Kyoga. The
itself into
water of the river is held up by the enormous growth of papyrus
and spreads over a vast area, in some places several miles
wide; the current is sluggish, almost imperceptible, and it is
only where the river narrows that the flow is discernible:
there is no great depth at any place. It is well named by the
natives Mpologoma, which means a lion, because of its width
and the perfect protective barrier it forms to a population who
cannot cross it except with canoes and at established fords. The
river has formed a complete line of separation between Bantu
people and the Nilotic tribes as far as Lake Kyoga, and the
Nile has continued the division to Lake Albert. The river is
said to be the original home of the Bakene, for there the tall
papyrus forms a perfect shelter for their floating huts and the
fish from its waters provides them with ample food.
The Bakene allied to the Basoga. In customs, language
and appearance these people are closely allied to the Basoga
of the north-east, and there is a tradition that their forefathers
came from Busoga 1 In each tribe both sexes extract the two
.
front lower teeth and many of the women pierce the under
lip in order to admit the pointed stone which they wear in their
lips ;
they have no scarifications and do not disfigure themselves
in any other way by mutilations.
Huts of the On the lakes their huts are exposed
Bakene.
to view,though thej^ are always at a safe distance from the shore,
which prevents any aggressors from molesting the inmates
without the aid of a canoe. The men of the lakes build their
huts on papyrus-roots, some of which are mere tufts little more
than eight feet in diameter and the hut takes up the whole
area of the root with the door opening immediately upon the
water; other huts built on larger clumps have small landing-
places two feet wide before the door and to these the canoe is
secured. On the river the huts are well concealed by tall
papyrus and are reached by tortuous water-tracks. When

sitting in a canoe, paddled by a man standing to his work,
the traveller's mind is carried to Venice and its gondolas here, ;
1
Basoga are the people and Busoga the country.
Plate XIV
Bakene huts built on papyrus roots

2
CH. XI V] LAKE PALISA 147
however, instead of stately stone walls there are walls of tall

papyrus towering fourteen or sixteen feet above the water.
Every few moments, as the canoe is paddled along the main
water-way, there are side streets passed which lead to the
homes of some of the people, these short cul-de-sac passages
being numerous because, in most cases, each passage has only
one family or at most two families living in it, every family
preferring the seclusion of its own surroundings.
Modes of travelling. The only means of getting about
from house to house is by canoe, but the art of managing a
canoe is not confined to men, women and children too being
expert in handling the dug-out canoes, many of which are
merely wooden shells capable of supporting a child only;
even small children of four or five years old have to find their
amusement in canoes and get their exercise by paddling about,
though at times they play on the banks of the river or shores
of the lakes.
Lake Palisa. It was my fortune to reach Lake Palisa,
which is a wide open space in the river Mpologoma, in the early
morning soon after sunrise. Standing on the shore, awaiting
some means of being ferried over the lake, I watched the people
engaged in their various duties. Both men and women were
busy with their fishing operations, some emptying fish-traps,
others fishing with lines in the deeper water, while some women
were up to their waists in thewater catching fish from walled-in
spaces along the shore into which small fish had found their
way during the night. Numbers of small children were pad-
dling about from tuft to tuft of papyrus in tiny canoes, enjoying
life as much as the happiest of English children could do under
more congenial circumstances. In the distance was a huge

crocodile floating lazily away into deep water, while some
children in a larger canoe were watching it as they fished,
and were calling to their companions to notice the monster.
On some of the smaller tufts of papyrus-roots were fetish huts
and shrines made for the ghosts of some departed relatives, in
which offerings of clothing, drink, and so forth, were placed in
order to propitiate individual ghosts and thus keep them from
troubling the community. It was a pleasant sight, the bright
10 —
:;
sun shining upon the dazzling water and these busy people,
who were occupied with their immediate surroundings and
unconscious of the great world stretching away beyond them.
Sociology — Clans, Totems and Marriage.
Totemic clans of the Bakene. There was great difficulty

in obtaining much information from the people about them-
selves, as they were all taken up with their own affairs and
distrusted curious questions concerning their social life from a
stranger. They were at first unwilling to come to shore to
tell about their ancestors and their private life still, after a ;
little coaxing and gentle persuasion, a few came and were found
to be fairly intelligent and communicative. Their clans are

1. The Bakene, who take for their totem the husk of millet,
Bulo,
2. The Bagola, who take for their totem a small animal
of the cat family, Kyachuli.
3. The Bagolwa, who take for their totem the guinea-
fowl.
4. The Babira, who take for their totem the otter, Xgotigc.
5. The Bahngo; their totem was not discovered.
6. The Bagule.
7. The
Bahohanda.
There may be many other clans and totems in other parts
the above named were given as the chief totems of the limited
sphere near the river Mpologoma.
Marriage customs. The tribe is polygamous and the clans
exogamous a man may marry as many women as he can obtain
;
so long as he follows the tribal rule of not marrying into his

father's clan or into his mother's clan. They follow paternal
descent, the children being reckoned as members of the father's
clan and taking his totems as theirs, and his relations being
considered theirs, though at the same time their mother's
sisters are called mother, and her brothers are called father,
and this relationship debars any man from marrying any of
his mother's sisters or their children, and a girl is not given
in marriage to any man whom her mother calls brother or
;
CH. XIV] MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 149
child. When a youth comes to puberty and wishes to marry,

he first builds a hut for his prospective wife. This custom is
contrary to that of most Bantu tribes, who do not build a
house until the marriage is a completed fact. In this work of
building the man may obtain the assistance of his friends and
of his father. In the choice of a wife it may be that the man
has seen some girl who has taken his fancy, on the other hand
he may have thought of no particular woman. Sometimes a
man will take all the responsibility upon himself and go boldly
to the girl's parents and ask for their daughter, but as a rule he
leaves it to his father or to some near relative to make the
arrangements for him. In either case the girl has the right to
accept or to reject a man's offer in her choice the girl is invari-
;
ably guided by her parents and friends, and usually accepts

their decision without any questioning. In some cases a youth,
after having asked the girl's father for permission to marry
his daughter, goes to her house and places a native hoe in the
doorway this the maid understands to be an offer of marriage,
;
and if she takes the hoe, it is a token that she accepts the offer
whereas, if she leaves it, the youth understands that his offer
is rejected. When a girl has accepted a man's offer, he returns
home and takes a present for each of her parents, a male goat
for the father and a female goat for the mother. This present
ratifies the engagement and is a pledge between the parents
and the youth that his offer for their daughter's hand is
accepted; should any difficulty arise between them through
some other lover coming upon the scene, he refers to the
present as a sign of having done everything in order. Members
of the clan decide the amount the man is to bring for the wed-
ding gift it may be ten goats or more, and a number of bark-
;
cloths, or they may ask for other things in addition to those

mentioned. Before he can claim his bride a man must
procure the amount demanded and present it to appointed
representatives who become his witnesses as to the legality
of the marriage at any future they
dispute, should one arise ;
also hear the bride's promises tobe faithful and obedient to

her husband. The bride is taken to her new home by her
brother, who is the chief person concerned in the marriage,
and has the right to give her away or to refuse to allow her to
marry a person he does not like. He takes his sister in his
canoe to her new home and is accompanied by numbers of the
bride's friends in their canoes. They start from the bride's
home in the evening, allowing time to reach the bridegroom's
about sunset on the way the party sing songs and keep time
;
to the music with their paddles. The party stays the night
with the bride and are regaled with a good meal consisting of
a plentiful supply of fresh meat and such vegetables as they
can obtain, the meat being the chief item in the feast with
most tribes, and at the close of the meal plaintain beer is handed
round. They seldom drink to excess. When dancing takes
place they have to find some place on the shore near at hand,
where they can dance without being molested. The next
morning after the marriage the bridegroom gives each of the
guests a small present and they depart to their homes, leaving
one girl who is either a sister or some person nearly related to
the bride. This girl remains about ten days, when she is sent
back with a present of a fowl or a goat, according to the
bridegroom's circumstances. The bride is veiled when she is
taken to her new home, a large bark-cloth being thrown over

her head reaching to her feet. This she retains from four to
ten days after she enters her husband's house, and, when she
removes it, her husband gives her sister, who has remained
with her, a present of a fowl as a thank offering because every-
thing has proceeded favourably. The girl must not stay
another night with the young couple after she has received her
present, but returns home. The bride holds the right to
break off the marriage and refuse to remain with the man,
should she during these first days discover any reason for
disliking him.
Life of a newly married woman. After a few weeks of
married life them and
a bride returns to her parents to see
two fowls for them without this present
carries a present of :
they would understand she was unhapp} and wished to return

7
home. The visit is for one day only, and in the evening the
bride returns to her husband, laden with a variety of food
which she cooks for him and his special friends; this meal
Plate XV
Man and wife of the Bakene tribe

CH. XI V] BIRTH CUSTOMS 151
ends the marriage ceremonies and is the last token which

shows that the bride is satisfied with her new home and her
husband. After this meal the wife enters upon her full
duties as a married woman she assists her husband in fishing,
;
cooks for him, and attends to all her domestic duties.

Birth customs. No Mukene 1 woman can endure to be
childless; the condition is considered to be a disgrace to the
home, and a wife who shows no signs of becoming a mother
will lose her husband's favour. The husband will assist his
wife in every possible way to have a child bear the ; he will
expense of consulting medicine-men and with the deities
greatest cheerfulness, if subsequently the means prove success-
ful; for not only is their home thus happier, but also their
future happiness in the spirit-world depends largely upon
their children. Should all efforts prove futile, the husband
may send his wife back to her parents and they will either
give him another wife, if there is a sister to take the place of
the former wife, or, failing that, they return the marriage
gift. Many a woman who is childless elects to remain with
her husband rather than return to her clan, as she realises
that there is no longer any chance of marriage for her because
no man will knowingly marry a barren woman. Though a
wife cannot hope to retain the chief place in her husband's
affections without a child, she may yet enjoy some of the
privileges of married life, for example, in having a hut of her
own, and may be extremely happy if she can hold a place
in her husband's affections by being attentive and useful
to him.
Women and healthy, and have children,
are as a rule strong
though few them ever have more than six, three being the
of
average number for a wife. When a man has more than one
wife he builds a hut for each near his own and lives with first
one and then another of them. When the time draws near for
an expectant mother to be confined, she calls some woman who
has had experience in midwifery to come and assist her: the
woman called in is from the husband's clan, and a friend also
comes to render assistance. At the time of birth the mother
1
Mukene is the singular form, Bakene the plural.
stoops and supported by the friend while the midwife delivers

is
her. The placenta

is awaited before the umbilical cord is cut
with a strip of papyrus-grass stem. The mother remains in

the house secluded with the midwife for five days after the
birth in the evening of the fifth day she is taken out and bathed,
;
and her hut is cleansed by a woman of her husband's clan.

The mother and midwife have a meal together, the husband
pays the midwife a sum for her duties and she returns to her
home. The husband's mother with a number of members
from his clan now come to name the child they remain the
;
night and on the following day give it the name of some

deceased member of the clan the stump of the umbilical
:
cord, which the mother retains when it falls from the child, is
enclosed in a ball of clay and hidden away among the papyrus
near the hut.
Birth customs of twins. When twins are born the father
announces the fact to all members of the tribe by beating a
drum, and the signal is taken up by his neighbours. The
rhythm employed at this time is a particular beat which is
known to the people as the 'Twin' drum beat. Having made
the fact known to the people the father takes two fowls to his
parents and two to his wife's parents and presents them without
any explanation, as they well understand the meaning. The
term 'Twins' is avoided by all members of the clan until the
'Twin' ceremonies are complete. The father's sister's son
when he hears of the birth goes and closes the door of the hut
in which the mother lies with her children, secures it and makes
a new doorway in the hut at the back this youth is from that
;
time a leading person in all the 'Twin' ceremonies during their

seclusion, and it is he who performs most of the ceremonies
when the twins are brought out to be named. The parents
each wear two cowry-shells on their foreheads wilich indicate
that they are observing the 'Twin' ceremonies. Each child
has its own nurse one is chosen from the father's clan and the
:
other from the mother's clan. The father has to collect food,
chiefly animals, for the final ceremonial meal which is given
when the twins are brought out from seclusion, receive their
names, and are shown to their relatives.
CH. XIV] TWINS, GOVERNMENT 153
Treatment of the placenta of twins. The afterbirths of

twins are put into new cooking-pots, that of each child being
kept separate; they are dried over a slow fire, and, when
dry, are taken to the shore and left in tall grass near some
garden cultivated by a member of the tribe.
Naming twins. When a father has procured all the animals
he needs for the final sacred meal, he consults the medicine-
man who settles with him the day on which the twins are to
be shown publicly and named the relatives are told the date
;
and come together for the ceremony. Some place on land

near the house is selected where the relatives can assemble for
the meal, and, after the meal, the twins are brought and
named by the father's mother and are shown to the assembled
relatives. There follows a day of dancing and singing, while
they rejoice together.
Government.
Headman as chief and ruler. There is no person respon-

sible for thegovernment of the whole tribe of Bakene; each
clan has its headman to whom members look for advice and
redress, should there be any dispute among the members.
The headman is chosen by the clan when a vacancy occurs
through death. When chosen a man holds office until death,
unless he forfeits his right through vice, or in some way shows
he is unworthy and incapable of fulfilling the duties. Such
cases are rare ;
still, the clan has power to depose an unworthy
chief. There are no taxes levied by the headman, but, when

there is a case tried, the parties pay an amount of fish to the
headman before the action is commenced; they sometimes
pay as much as a goat. The decision given by the headman
is final, unless the parties appeal to the ordeal. Theft is most
uncommon and there are not many cases of adultery to be
tried; should there be such a case and should the man accused
be proved guilty, he is punished by a fine. The headman's
authority is acknowledged by each household giving him a
yearly present of fish or it may be a goat.
Inheritance. The property of a deceased person is divided
among the members of the clan who choose the heir and give
him the canoe and fishing tackle of the deceased and some of
the household goods together with the hut. The wives and
any cattle the man may have are divided amongst the clan-
members. In some instances the heir is given a wife and some
of the cattle, though this is quite exceptional, the hut, canoe,
fish-traps and nets being the only things he may claim as his
right.
Womendo not inherit property. Widows are taken away
after themourning ceases and are assigned to their new homes,
the children of a deceased man being taken by some relative
and growing up as his children.
Religion.
Belief in the supernatural, in ghosts, and in magic. The

religious opinions of the people are akin to those of the Basoga.
There are medicine-men who use divination when a person is
ill, in order to tell whether the sickness is the outcome of magic
or is caused by some ghost when the cause has been ascertained,

;
the spell of magic broken or the ghost appeased, the patient

can be treated for the sickness from which he suffers and which
will now yield to treatment.
Gasani, the principal god. The chief god they call Gasani
who has power over the sky and water. This deity has a temple
and a priest officiates in it. The god Gasani is consulted more
especially in cases of sickness and when an epidemic appears.
The god Kibumba. Kibumba is a second deity to whom
they go, if they do not obtain the help they need from
Gasani.
Water spirits. There is a water spirit whom they propitiate
when they go fishing by offering a fow l over the side of the boat.
T
The fowl is killed in the canoe and the blood allowed to drip
over the side into the water. The entrails are thrown into
the water, and the flesh is roasted by the occupants of the
canoe, who now expect to be able to take a good haul of fish
after this offering.
Fishing.
Methods of fishing. The occupation of the Bakene is
fishing, though there may be found a few who till small plots
CH. XIV] FISHING AND NET-MAKING 155
of land. The fish they take forms their chief article of diet,
but with some of it they obtain other kinds of food from their
neighbours. Various methods are adopted in fishing, though
the large traps yield the principal supply. Men often fish with
the rod and line from their canoes, or they place deep-water
lines attached to floats, or again they sink traps in deep water.
Along the banks of the river and the shores of the lakes they
build traps, which are enclosures of wickerwork attached to
stakes, an opening with winding inlet leading to the middle
of the first part of the enclosure, while another inlet leads into
a second enclosure from the first. Men enter these enclosures
and either spear the fish or catch them in hand-nets and throw
them into large baskets carried for the purpose. Some of the
fish they smoke over wood fires and carry it to local markets
for barter, and in this way they obtain such household pots
and vegetables as they need.
Net-making. When a man
making a new line or net, his
is
father's wives must keep away from him lest they should
accidentally step over the materials of his work such an action ;
would have a disastrous effect, as the line or net would not

catch thereafter unless he learned what had happened, and
was able to propitiate the spirit of the net by an offering
of food which he fastened to the material where the woman
had stepped over it. If this is not done, they say no
net over which a woman has stepped will retain fish, they
will merely pass through its meshes, unless the spirit is
propitiated.
Floating Huts.
Huts built on floating foundations. The huts, as stated, are

built on papyrus-roots which grow in the river or in the lakes.
The roots are as a rule firm and strong in shallow water they
;
strike down into the ground and become fixed to one place,
though in deep water they merely hang and are carried about
from place to place by the wind. The method of building is
to cut or break down the stems of papyrus on the root to
form the foundation for the hut; other stems are laid across
the first layer in the opposite direction and layer upon layer is
;;
added there is a strong floor raised above the water

until
line. Stout branches of trees are inserted deeply into this
foundation in a circle, according to the size of the hut required
the branches are then bent inwards and their tops bound
together with shreds from papyrus stems, thus forming the
frame of the hut. Between the branches which form the strong
ribs of the hut, papyrus stems are inserted and tied in place
horizontal rows of papyrus are next tied round the frame
at intervals from the bottom to the top, and thus a kind of
inverted basket is made over which thatch is laid, thus com-
pleting the hut. The erection is sometimes fifteen feet high
at the apex, though the usual height is ten or twelve feet
by twelve feet wide. Inside the hut there are no poles to
support the structure, the ribs are strong enough when bent
into this dome to carry the thatch. Some huts have a hole left at
the apex for smoke to escape. The thatch is gathered from
the shore and laid layer overlapping layer from the bottom to
the top, a few blades of grass being twisted into the frame at
intervals to make it secure. The floor is rough and uneven, and
has grass laid upon the papyrus stems for carpeting; and in
one place near the centre there is a square of thick mud plas-
tered for a hearth on which the fire is kept smouldering by
day and by night. The bedstead is the only furniture in a
hut. This by placing strong forked stakes in the floor
is built
and binding them together by side pieces, and by head and foot
pieces. This frame is laced together by rope of papyrus
fibre, or, it may be, a cow-hide is tied on it which forms the
spring mattress. As a rule a bedstead is five feet high in huts built
on the river, because the water often rises quickly and, should
the house be flooded before the papyrus platform on which
the hut is* built can rise, the inmates are thus by the height
rendered from immersion. Again, some huts are
safe, if in bed,
fixed so that they cannot rise when the river is in flood and,
as the water often rises three feet in a short time, the doorway
becomes impassable and a new exit has to be made to reach
the canoe, should the flood occur during the night when
the inmates are asleep. There is no need to make a door,
nor to close the huts by night, the inhabitants being safe from
CH. XIV] CANOES, DRESS AND ORNAMENTS 157
the approach of wild animals and also from their enemies who
cannot reach them without canoes. As a rule the doorway
opens immediately upon the water so that the owner steps
out of his hut into his canoe, but some of the better finished
houses have a small landing in front and a path leading from
one hut to another, if the owner has more than one wife. The
paths are made by cutting the papyrus down and throwing
other stems across the first layer until there is a structure
strong enough to walk upon.
Canoes and rafts. All the canoes used are of the dug-out
kind, some of them being merely slabs of wood upon which the
people can sit and paddle about. The larger canoes are some
twenty feet long and two feet wide and are made from one tree,
some of the smaller being not more than six feet long. The
paddles are often four feet long with leaf-shaped blades. Rafts
made of papyrus stems tied together several layers deep are
used on the lake in shallow water for fishing purposes. When
paddling, both men and women stand in the canoe and paddle
first on one side and then on the other, as they guide their
crafts about at will. For years the Bakene have held the ferries
on the river and charge a small fee to convey passengers
from one side to the other. Sometimes they ferry cows over
the river in these canoes.
Dress and Ornaments.
Physical appearance. In appearance and build the Bakene

are like the Basoga. The nose is inclined to be flat and broad,
though there is no mark of the protruding jaw of the negro.
They are straight in the back with a good carriage and well
developed limbs having little spare flesh. They have short
curly hair, and pleasing features always ready to smile. They
are from five feet eight to a over six feet in height
little the ;
women in most cases are about seven or eight inches

five feet
in height. They are naturally better developed in the arm
than in the leg owing to their living always in canoes with little
opportunity for walking. Both men and women extract the

two lower incisors, and the women also pierce the lower lip to
insert the lip stone.
Clothing of men. When engaged in their work in the canoe,

the men wear merely a strip of bark-cloth fastened to a waist-
band in front, passed between the legs and secured to the
waist-belt at the back. When idle, they throw a bark-cloth
over the left shoulder and pass it under the left arm, and the
end is also thrown over the right shoulder, the left arm being
thus uncovered while the right is covered.
Clothing of women. Women
wear short girdles of bark-
cloth round their loins and
wear belts decorated with
also
cowry-shells those who can afford it wear bracelets and
;
anklets made from brass and iron wire. Both men and
women wear their hair short and shave their heads from time
to time.
PART IV
THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE
CHAPTER XV
THE BAGESU, CULTIVATION, FOOD AND GOVERNMENT
The Bagesu one of the most primitive of Bantu tribes the higher —
slopes of Mount Elgon the original home of the people — type
of people — —
staple food, method of cultivation increasing arable
land— offered to the deity —
first-fruits rearing followed on a
cattle
limited —custom bleeding young —the
scale of bullsthe clan chief of
the paramount —taxation—punishment
chief theft— punish-
for
ment murder—punishment
for manslaughter—punishment
for for
adultery.
The Bagesu one of the most primitive of Bantu tribes. The

Bagesu are a Bantu tribe living upon the eastern and south-
eastern slopes of Mount Elgon. They are a numerous people
when judged by the numerical standard of other African
tribes, being estimated at not less than a miUion souls. They
are a very primitive race and stand low in the human scale,
though it is somewhat difficult to understand why they should
be so intellectually inferior, surrounded as they are by other
Bantu tribes much more highly cultivated and civilised than
themselves. They are treacherous and unreliable to persons
outside their own clan, even members of their own tribe being
unable safely to walk about alone among other clans, except
at certain periods of the year when a truce is proclaimed in
order to fulfil certain tribal customs and ceremonies. The
land may truly be called a land without graves, because the
dead are not buried but cast out of the villages in the evening,
and during the night portions are cut from the corpse for a
ceremonial meal, the rest being left for wild animals.
The higher slopes of Mount Elgon the original homes of
the people. The part of the country visited by me was the
south-east end of the mountain. The people have their villages
l62 THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [PT. IV
on the ridges, which stand out like the ribs of some monster
running up the sides of the mountain and leaving deep valleys
between them with streams of water which drain the mountain
and country. It is in these villages and on the mountain sides
that the people grow most of their crops. The natives say
that it is only during recent years they have ventured to
live on the lower slopes of the mountain within the memory
;
of man they lived much higher for safety from foes, and there
was a time when they only ventured down from the heights to
cultivate their crops during the daytime and climbed back
to their homes in the evening. As years passed they followed
the richer land to the lower slopes, where they found the warmth
more congenial and better suited to their labours. New sites
for villageswere then occupied and the old heights were
abandoned, though certain caves were still kept provisioned
as refuges to which they could flee, should any powerful foe
appear. The paths to these caves are difficult to climb, and
in many places they only afford room for persons to walk in
single file ;hence they can be guarded with comparative ease
by a few men. In their descent from their old homes the
clans appear to have followed ridges or ribs of the mountain
which have thus formed land-marks, indicating divisions of
territory. B*y this means clans have been kept from in-
fringing upon the agricultural possessions of other clans,
this method of reclaiming land serving to delimit the clans
and to preserve them from intermingling, so that clan is shut
off from clan and has no reason for invading the district of
any other. During the few years that the British have been
in residence in that part of the country and the people have
felt safe from the incursions of foes, they have descended lower
into the plains and have thus extended far from their original
homes. The cultivated tracts of land are regarded by members
of a clan as freehold property and are jealously guarded
against any encroachment by fellow tribesmen. The sides of
the mountain have many natural terraces which afford ample
space for a village, with land for cultivation both in the valleys
and up the sides of the ridges. Copious streams of excellent
water, gushing from springs on the mountain, supply the needs
CH. XV] THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 163
of the people and irrigate the land through which they flow.
Many of these streams have their origin in beautiful waterfalls
which dash down hundreds of feet of sheer precipitous rock.
Down the faces of these rocky walls lovely ferns, maiden-hair
and many other kinds, grow in profusion, while exquisite tropical
and semi-tropical plants also flourish in the moisture and spray
from the falling water, which affords the necessary humidity.
Most of these waterfalls, if not all, are sacred and are supposed
to possess healing powers of which the natives seek to avail
themselves when necessity arises. The streams from these
falls rapidly drain into the great Mpologoma river which empties
itself into the Nile.

The physical appearance of the people. In appearance the
Bagesu are of the common negroid type they are of medium :
height, have broad noses lacking any pretensions to a bridge,

and are brachy-cephalic with short woolly hair curling into tufts.
The features on the whole have a pleasing character, there
being nothing repulsive about them as is the case in some
cannibal tribes met with nearer the West Coast. The people
are well formed and developed, though they cannot be said to
be of a heavy build. Few have any spare flesh, yet they are
strong for the work they follow, that is cultivation of their
fields of millet and plantains but they are not suited for heavy
;
work such as lifting and carrying, or for that of general porters.

The women of this tribe are much more independent and more
inclined to assert themselves than is usual among Bantu
tribes; there are instances related where women are said to
have resented the treatment meted out to them by their hus-
bands and have made stout resistance, even returning their
blows. The tribe is agricultural, though there are traces
that they were once more dependent on their cattle and have
since passed from that stage to the present state of agriculture.
They still retain small herds of cattle and a few goats and sheep,
and each village has its fowls. These herds and flocks are left
to children to guard as they graze on the mountain sides,
their elders being thus set free to labour in the fields.
The tribe and its clans. The tribe is divided into a number
of clans which are exogamous, that is, no man may marry
:
164 THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [PT. IV
a woman of his own clan : children belong to the clan of their

father, not of their mother. Each clan keeps separate from
its neighbour and retains an entire independence in regard
to mutual intercourse and common action, except when some
person has special reason to visit another clan, e.g. when it is
necessary to make matrimonial arrangements and also during
the annual feasts of wine-drinking. The clans bear the
following names
1. Babesi 2. Banyuwaka 3. Baukoki

4. Baholasi 5- Bahuku 6. Baduda
7. Basukuye 8. Baliyenda 9. Baluke
10. Balage 11. Bakike 12. Bapete
13. Bakikaye 14- Baheva 15. Bakumunya
16. Basihu 17- Bamasiki 18. Bakonde
19. Bayobe 20. Basave 21. Balusekya
22. Balukulu 23- Bamoni 24. Batunduye
25. Babangobe 26. Batiru 27. Bambobi
28. Bakumana 29. Bafumbe
Though the men of the clans are commonly hostile to each
other yet women are free to go about as they choose, and no
woman would be molested by any man of any other clan and ;
thus it is largely through women that intercourse between the

clans is maintained.
Only a limited number of people wear clothing. Both
boys and girls go nude until initiation ceremonies take place.
This period may be said to be the most important in the life
of a man or of a woman. It is the time of decision whether
the person is to be admitted into full membership of the clan
and undertake the promises of membership or not. The cere-
mony will be described later here it is sufficient to say that a
;
man wears the regulation goat-skin round his neck, with the
right arm through the loop of the skin which keeps it in place,
and hanging down the right side to the thigh. Young women
at the time of initiation often begin to wear a waist-band of
plantain fibre. To this band at the back long threads of
twisted plantain fibre are woven by married women, the lower
ends of these strings being bound together, and the owTier is
CH. XV] ORNAMENTS AND SCARIFICATIONS 165
most particular to tie the ends herself, no other woman may do

this for her. These strands mayonly be worn by women
when they are married. This fringe is frequently eighteen inches
long and is passed between the legs from the back to the front
and secured by passing it under the band.
Ornaments and scarifications. Many young unmarried
women may be found wearing a bead apron in front six inches
wide and three inches deep as their only garment, while others
wear a similar apron of plaited grass. These aprons seem to
have been recently introduced from their neighbours, the
Bateso. The two incisors of the lower jaw are extracted, and
round the edge of the ear small holes are pierced in which
straws or iron rings are stuck. The lower lip is also pierced for
inserting the lip-stone. This is a tapering stone half an inch in
diameter and two inches long. Iron finger-rings and bracelets
are commonly worn by all classes and by both sexes. Women
are fond of wearing several coils of wire round the upper arms,
such ornaments being indications of wealth. Women scarify
their bodies freely, from the breasts to the pit of the stomach
and also on the forehead, thus forming rows of small almond-
shaped swellings. These are produced before initiation and
their production is a painful and often prolonged operation.
Those on the stomach a girl usually makes herself, while those
on the forehead are made for her. The instrument used for
making the scarifications is an iron hook some four inches
long, a quarter of an inch thick and bent to a crescent. One
end is beaten fine to a needle point, the other end has a ring
to slip on the finger to carry it on the back of the hand when
not in use. The flesh is pinched up between the thumb and
finger and the hook run through it. This is done in several
places at a time and fine wood-ashes are rubbed over to stop
the bleeding; the wounds heal, leaving raised flesh. It is
also a common custom for a woman to wear rings on her toes.
Cultivation and Food.

The staple food and methods of cultivation. Plantains are
grown freely, but they are not so prolific nor is their quality
so good as in Busoga or Uganda; doubtless this is due to the
i66 THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [PT. rv
cold nights and the altitude. Plantains like warmth with

moisture, whereas the nights in the Elgon district are decidedly
cold, and often there is little moisture in the air. It is perhaps
well the people do not rely entirely upon these trees
that
but also grow small millet and sweet potatoes, which enable
them to have a supply back upon when their
of grain to fall
plantains fail them. Men work
by side with the women,
side
hoeing the fields ready for sowing, and they share also in the
toils of sowing. Seed-sowing is done by two persons; one
goes in front with a hoe making holes for the grain while the
second person, following, drops in the seed and covers it with
the side of the foot. A few more energetic people sow sesame,
beans and maize, though the majority only grow plantains,
millet and sweet potatoes.
Increasing arable land. When a man wishes to increase
the amount of his land for cultivation, he asks permission
from the headman of the village, who makes sure that the re-
quired plot does not belong to any other person before he grants
the request for, should it have been cultivated in the past by
;
another person, he will be sure to claim it, and occupation by

some other member of the clan would cause friction. When
breaking up new land, a wife does the initial digging and her
husband follows to prepare it for seed. This is the reverse
order to that of most tribes. A portion of seed to be sown on
new land is taken to a medicine-man, who mixes herbs with it
and pronounces a formula over it which ensures its growing.
This pot of seed is mixed with the whole seed necessary for
the new plot of land and imparts blessing to the whole. A pot
of beer poured over a new field to secure the favour of the
is
earth-spirit before the sowing takes place. The task of weeding

young plants is left to men, though women assist in weeding the
plantain groves. At harvest men again help in reaping the
corn. The heads of millet are cut off, put into baskets and carried
to the threshing floor, where the corn is stored in large baskets
until it is threshed, the straw being left standing in the field
until the next digging-time, when it is burned. The method
of threshing and of winnowing is most primitive and
of the
laborious kind: the heads of corn are held up and the grain
CH. XV] WINNOWING, FOOD, FIRST-FRUITS 167
is beaten out with a short stick, the grain being then swept
up from the floor and put into baskets ready for winnowing.
A dry windy day is selected for winnowing. Small baskets
of grain are held high and the grain is slowly poured out into
a basket on the floor, the wind carrying off the dust and chaff.
This action is repeated until the grain is quite clean,when it
is carried away to the village and stored in the granary. Each
house has its own store, and most of the granaries are built on
stakes, though some rest on stones. They are large baskets
varying in size from two feet in diameter and from four to
five feet deep. The inside is smeared over with clay and
cow-dung and the baskets are thus made weather-proof. The
roofis a conical structure which hangs well over the sides
and can be raised to allow the owner to look in and take any
grain required.
Sweet potatoes are grown in large quantities to meet any
emergency, so that, should a crop of millet fail, the people are
not left with insufficient food. Their staple food is porridge
and plantain boiled and mashed. Millet is ground between
two stones and in consequence the flour contains a certain
amount of grit. The chief meal of the family is in the evening.
Other meals are merely aids to enable a person to go on com-
fortably through the day until the real meal in the evening.
The family dines together, husband, wife and children sitting
in a circle round a common vessel from which each person
takes the food until it is finished. Here, as in most parts of
Africa, animal food is highly prized and is a luxury only
provided on special occasions; at other times edible weeds,
such as common spinach which grows wild in every garden,
form a relish to the vegetable food. This relish is especially
welcome if there is salt to season it. When spinach is not to
be had, a little sesame may be pounded into a cake and handed
round in small quantities to each member at the meal.
First-fruits offered to the deity. At harvest, before any of
the new cornused for food, some of the first-fruits are gathered
is
and sent with a little of the last year's corn and a fowl to the
medicine-man, who offers them to the special deity before any
one in the village may partake of the new corn. Such an
i68 THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [PT. IV
offering frees the village from taboo and enables its members
to begin eating the new crops of the year.
Cattle-rearing followed on a small scale. Cattle-rearing is
not a great feature in the lifeBagesu or a great aim

of the
with them. The more wealthy people keep a few cows, and a
village may have from ten to twenty in it, though it seldom
has fifty. The cows are a small breed and are herded on
the mountain, together with flocks of goats and sheep, by
boys and girls who play together while they herd. The
principal use of cows is to obtain wives, though elders of
villages like to have their small herds. Girls are permitted
to herd cattle with boys until they attain the age of puberty,
and at times a married woman may be found herding cattle
when her husband has gone to the field and they have no
child or servant who can undertake the duty. Cows are
milked by either men or women in this tribe, there being no
restrictions placed upon women dealing with the animals.
It is also a singular fact that milk is boiled, with grain
added as it boils, to make a kind of porridge; it is seldom
drunk fresh, and in almost every instance it is cooked in
earthen pots, which are the common vessels used for milk,
whether for milking into or for holding the milk set aside for
future use. Should it be necessary for a woman to herd cows,
her husband will relieve her as early as possible. If he has
work to do in the field, he goes early and returns about ten
o'clock to enable her to go to her household duties. Women
churn and also wash the milk- vessels, though the vessels are not
in any wise considered sacred. When a cow calves, the calf
has the milk on the first day; on the second day the cow is
milked and the milk is slowly boiled until it forms a cake,
and the owner of the cow with his wife and a few relatives
eat this cake. The day after this ceremony the cow is milked
at the ordinary milking-times, and the milk is added to the
common supply.
Custom young bulls. Young bulls are
of using blood of
frequently bled, and the bloodis baked for a special dish with
salt added to it. This is considered a great delicacy. The

animal from which the blood is to be drawn has a cord tied
CH. XV] GOVERNMENT 169
around its neck to make the artery swell, and a man takes an
arrow with a guard on it, which prevents it from penetrating
too deeply into the flesh, and shoots it into the artery. From
two to three pints of blood are drawn, and the bleeding is
then stopped. The animal soon recovers from the loss of
blood, and it is said to be none the worse after a day or two.
Government.
The chief of the clan the paramount ruler. The great source
of weakness in this large tribe of Bagesu is their lack of
a leader to bring together all the clans and form a united
nation. Eachclan keeps aloof from its neighbour and jealously
strives to maintain its own rights and independence. An
elder in each village holds the place of chief and manages the
affairs of his small circle. This man is the magistrate and is
assisted by one or two of the senior members of the village. In
any serious question affecting the clan there member
is a senior
of the clan who presides in council, but every initiated man and
youth has a voice in the meeting. There are not many serious
questions arising in a village. Should any member of another
village wish to accuse a person, he pays the elder a goat as a
fee, or even a cow, if the matter is at all serious, in order to
have his case tried. Should the litigants be dissatisfied with

the decision, they can appeal to the ordeal test. A medicine-
man administers this test, and is paid a fowl by each of the
men concerned to come and conduct the trial. His favourite
test is that of taking an iron hoe, heating it and applying it
to the thigh of first one and then the other litigant. He then
examines each to see which of them is burned, and the man who
bears any marks of burn is judged to be in fault; should both
suffer, they are judged to be equally guilty and the case is
dismissed.
Taxation. There are no taxes paid to elders or chiefs,
though it is customary for members of a village to acknowledge
the position of their elder by giving him presents of corn
during harvest sometimes a man gives a goat or even a cow,
;
but these gifts are made for some special reason such as boons
conferred. The only compulsory payment is the court-fee
which must be paid before a person can accuse another and have
his case tried.
Punishment Theft committed by day is punish-
for theft.
able by a fine. A
medicine-man is asked to divine in cases
where the thief has not been caught in the act, or when the
culprit cannot be discovered; the punishment for theft is
usually the fine of a cow. Theft committed by night or house-
breaking, which is done by digging under the walls of the
house and thus entering it by a tunnel, is a more serious matter.
If the inmates are roused by the thief, the householder takes
his spear and silently awaits the appearance of the head of the
thief, and all who are in the house remain silent as though asleep
until the head appears, when it is speared and the alarm raised.
Neighbours run to the help of their companion and the thief if
not dead already is despatched without mercy. In the morning
the body is taken to the nearest waste land and burned.
Murder. It seldom happens that a man murders another
of the same clan, for he stands to him in the relationship of
brother. But it is a frequent occurrence for a man to lie in
wait for and kill a member
another clan. Such murders
of
are the outcome of old feuds passed on from generation to
generation. They are cases of blood revenge, where themembers
of a clan wait for years to appease the ghost for some murder
in the past, the perpetrator of which has escaped, while a son
perhaps or a grandson of the murderer is being watched and
waited for until he attains manhood. A man who has had the
charge laid upon him to avenge the death of some relative will
wait for years, and, should he be unable to carry out the deed of
expiation, will charge his son to do so, and he in turn may have
to wait some years before he can effect it. Such murders are
the causes of clan wars which at times end in bloodshed and
severe wounds, though fortunately seldom in deaths. When
two make peace, the chiefs of the
clans thus contending wish to
clans come together to some spot away from their villages,
where they discuss the matter and fix the terms. To ratify these
a dog is brought, and one chief holds the head while the other
takes the hind legs and a third man at one stroke with a large
knife cuts the animal in two. The body is then thrown away in
CH. XV] MANSLAUGHTER, ADULTERY 171
the bush and left. The members two clans may after
of the
this ceremony freely intermingle without any fear of trouble
or danger.
Manslaughter. Should there be a case of manslaughter,
the chief of the clan tries the guilty man and arranges the fine,
if proved to be manslaughter. It is always necessary

the case is
to prove that there was no previous bitterness, and that there

is no cause was design and intention in the
for thinking there
deed. When a guilty person belongs to the same clan and
village as the slain man, he has to leave it and to find some new
home, even though the case is settled amicably. The smallest
fine ever imposed for manslaughter is the amount needed to
procure another wife, and this is paid to the father of the slain
man, who is expected to have by her another son in the place of
the dead man. The guilty man has to take a goat, kill it, smear
his chest with the contents of the stomach, take the remainder
and throw it upon the roof of the house of the murdered man
to appease the ghost.
Adultery. Any man who caught in adultery, or proved
is
to be guilty of adultery, is heavily fined, and the fine

is paid
to the injured man. Cases of adultery are rare, for married

women are seldom tempted to do wrong, and the idea of
appropriating another man's wife is contrary to public feeling.
If an unmarried girl is discovered to be with child, she is com-
pelled to confess her lover's name, and he is asked to bring the
dowry-money and marry the woman. Should he refuse to do
so, the woman is given in marriage to some other man who also
takes the child, and the real father loses all claim to it. Few
men are willing to allow a child to pass from their own clan
into another. It is no disgrace to a young woman to become
a mother before marriage, nor does it prevent her from obtaining
a husband; indeed men like to know that a woman can bear
children, and her fault thus rather adds to her value than
detracts from it.
—
CHAPTER XVI
MARRIAGE, BIRTH, SICKNESS AND DEATH
— —
Marriage customs polygamy practised birth ceremonies taboos —
observed by husband and wife before child-birth ceremony of —
— —
naming a child birth of twins the cause and treatment of
sickness —transferring sickness to others —ghostly possession
death and treatment of the dead.
Marriage customs. Marriage among the Bagesu is a matter

of expediency rather than of love, because children are the
means of assisting the ghost after death; during life it is an
investment, because a wife materially helps to make a man
happy and comfortable and married life gives him a better
position among his clansmen. no such thing as love-
There is
making before marriage and there is seldom a marriage from

love. The man realises the advantages of married life with a
family, and a woman gains by having a home of her own and
loves to have children who look to her for sympathy and help
during infancy and youth, who protect her when they attain
and provide for her in her old age. The
to years of discretion,
man without doubt reaps greater benefits from marriage than
the wife, but an unmarried and childless woman finds no place
in social life among woman's principal
primitive people, for
function is and in the second place that of making
child-bearing
a home for some man. With the male section of a clan the
marriage of a woman belonging to it is of importance because
of the marriage fee they receive. There are no arrangements
made for marriage between couples until adolescence and until
after the initiation ceremonies have taken place; then it is a
man seeks a wife. She must be from some clan other than his
own, and he avoids women from his mother's clan. The young
man's father has the right to arrange the matrimonial affairs
Plate XVI
(2) Sick woman standing by fetish hut

{Bagesu Tribe)
CH. XVI] MARRIAGE, BIRTH, SICKNESS AND DEATH 173
of his son and to see that the bride is in no wise related to him.
A high price is usually asked as the marriage fee : as much as
six cows and a number of goats, from six to twelve, and a few
fowls is a common price. This is a large sum for a man to obtain
and it often takes eighteen months or even two years to realise

the amount, and during this time he trades in various ways, or
begs and borrows when possible. When the man pays the
sum demanded, the day for the marriage is arranged, which is
usually a month later to enable the bride to undergo the
special treatment for her marriage and to make her final prepa-
rations. She has to be fed upon the best food in order that
she may grow fat, she is washed and oil is rubbed on her body
daily to make her skin smooth and soft and free from any
eruptions or skin disease. On the day of the marriage the bride
is taken from her village to that of her husband by a few
relations and friends, chiefly women. The women friends
remain with the bride three days and go each morning to the
bridegroom's field and dig until nearly noon. The more
land they can dig and prepare for seed the greater honour is
given the bride. The bridegroom's mother cooks daily for
these guests and invites them to have their meal with her;
custom, however, forbids them from complying with this
invitation, and they have to take the food prepared for them
and eat it secretly when other women are absent from the house.
On the fourth day they return home to the bride's parents,
taking the bride with them. A substantial meal awaits them
and after the meal they spend the day and night dancing, and
disperse to their homes in the early morning. The bride remains
a fullmonth with her parents, who during the time brew large
pots of beer, which are taken to the bridegroom with a goat by
the bride on her return to her husband. She takes only one
relative to stay the night with her and the maid returns to
her home the next day. The marriage is thus completed and
married life commences, the bride hereafter going about her
daily duties as an ordinary woman.
Polygamy. The tribe is polygamous, though men generally
find it difficult to obtain the means to procure more than
two wives and many men are satisfied with one. There is no
restriction against marrying sisters and a wife never objects

to her husband marrying as many wives as he can afford to
secure, whether they be her sisters or other women, the one
stipulation she makes being that she insists upon having her
own house and field.
Birth ceremonies. In this tribe, as in most primitive
tribes, a childless wife is of no value. A wife soon realises
whether she is going to become a mother or not, and, if the signs
are not forthcoming within the first few months, she begins to
call for assistance from gods and fetishes and spares no pains
to bring about the longed-for condition. A husband will also
help his wife in every possible way; no pains are spared and
fees are paid ungrudgingly to medicine-men, and every detail
of their advice is followed to secure a child. Should all efforts
fail, the wife's value in the eyes of her husband gone; he

is
returns her to her parents, who supply him with a sister or with
some other woman from the clan, or, failing that, they refund
the marriage fee.
Taboos observed by husband and wife before child-birth.
An expectant mother has great freedom in her choice of food
and also in her actions: there are no food taboos for her to
follow, though she is careful as to the kind of food she eats,
but more attention is paid to the amount of work she undertakes,
lest she should over-tire herself and so injure her unborn child.
The husband is also restricted in his doings he must not work
;
too hard nor may he take violent exercise, such as hunting, he

must avoid climbing trees, rocks, or even mounting a house,
lest he should slip and thus injure his wife and cause untimely
birth. At the time of the confinement an elderly woman comes
and remains with the expectant mother. Should the woman
be of a nervous disposition a second woman comes in at the
time of delivery to hold her and to cheer her, thus leaving the
midwife free to attend to her duty of delivering the woman.
Everything is simple at a birth: there are no elaborate cere-
monies, the afterbirth is awaited before the cord is cut, and,
when it appears, the cord is cut quite short with any knife and
the placenta is buried near the fire-place in the hut. The
mother remains in the house three days secluded from her
CH. XVI] MARRIAGE, BIRTH, SICKNESS AND DEATH 175
friends and attended by the midwife. On the fourth day

is
she is purifiedby washing from head to foot, and the hut is

carefully swept up; the mother then resumes her ordinary
duties.
Naming a child. A
mother nurses her child without any
ceremony taking place it is old enough and strong enough
until
to sit alone unsupported, when the father puts it to sit on the
floor and names it after a deceased ancestor, the particular ghost
thus invoked being supposed to have charge of the child. Should
the child be illegitimate, the ghost will because
kill it it does
not belong to the husband. Instances are recorded of women
having changed the names of illegitimate children and given
them names of ancestors of the real fathers, calling upon their
ghosts to protect the children against the ghosts of their hus-
bands' ancestors.
Should a child appear sickly and delicate after it has been
named, the parents consult a medicine-man who divines the
cause. Sometimes he attributes the cause of illness to the
child having been given a wrong name of an ancestor and
the guardian spirit resenting the name. The parents, therefore,
change the name and thus please the spirit, and the child
recovers and thrives.
Birth of twins. The birth of twins is a solemn event,
though it is a joyful occasion. There are so many risks to be
feared and taboos to be observed that the parents are full of
apprehension lest they should offend the god of plenty, the
giver of twins. The event is heralded by special drum-beatings.
These not only acquaint the relatives with the event, but also
summon them to the spot. A new hut is hastily built into
which both parents and children are put and the entrance is
built up, leaving only a small hole through which food and
firewood can be handed to the inmates. On the third day a
male relative comes and cuts a doorway into the hut, and
both parents come out bringing the children with them. It
is a day of rejoicing, feasting, music, and dancing which con-
tinues throughout the night. The parents bathe and are thus
purified, and are then permitted to see their friends and also
to visit friends and members of the clan in other villages.
176 THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [FT. IV
During this period of visiting friends and relatives, dances

are held and the parents are careful to take their meals together,
as they fear that one may
eat something which may give an
advantage to the child he or she represents and thus cause
the god to be angry on account of the other child which has
suffered neglect, and to take it away in displeasure. Each child
is said to be connected with a parent in a special way according
to their sex; the mother represents and is attached to a girl
and the father to a boy. Should both children be of one
sex, they are both attached to the parent whose sex they
follow; and, should this happen, the parents realise that one
of them is in favour with the god and the other parent in
displeasure. Hence parents like twins to be of different
sexes. The parent of whose sex the twins are not makes
special offerings to propitiate the god and remove the supposed
disfavour.
Sickness and Death.
The cause and treatment of sickness. The chief cause of

sickness is said to be magic, and, to discover its source, the
relatives of the sick person seek a medicine-man and from him
obtain a verdict by divination. He may discover some object
hidden in the thatch or buried near the house which he pro-
nounces to have been the cause. It has, he informs the rela-
tives, been hidden there by some ill disposed person and the
magical spell has to be broken and the object in question
destroyed before the sickness will yield to treatment. When
once the spell of magic has been broken, the medicine-man
finds no difficulty in dealing with the sickness. At times
counter-magic has to be used to heal a sick person, because a
ghost has seized him. In such cases the medicine-man is
supplied with a fowl which he divides into four parts, placing
them in four shallow holes made on a plot of waste land.
Having thus divided the fowl he goes through a form of incan-
tation in which he commands the ghost to leave the sick person
and trouble him no more. He
then removes the meat from
three of the holes; one piece is taken, cooked and given to
the sick man, a second is taken to the deity of the clan, a third
Plate XVII
(2) Bagesu huts

CH. XVI] MARRIAGE, BIRTH, DEATH AND SICKNESS 177
piece the medicine-man himself takes, cooks and eats, while

the fourth piece is left in the hole on the waste land for the
ghost.
Transferring sickness. At other times, it may be, the
illness has to be transferred to some other person by means
of herbs. The medicine-man chooses his bunch of herbs
from an uninhabited part of the country, ties them neatly
into a bunch, brushes them over the patient and then carries
them to a distant path where, by night, he buries them,
covering the spot in such a manner as not to attract attention.
The first unsuspecting person who passes contracts the disease
and the patient recovers.
Ghostly possession. A
medicine-man sometimes attributes
sickness to ghostly possession, which he says must be cured by
propitiating the ghost. He will probably tell the attendants
of the sick person that it is the ghost of some relative who has
been offended in some way and has therefore sent sickness.
Should the person be a rich man, a hut is built as a shrine
in honour of the ghost, with a long pole standing through
the centre of the thatch at the apex. The patient gives the
medicine-man a goat or an ox to offer to the ghost; the
animal is killed near the shrine, the blood is caught in a vessel
and put into the shrine with a portion of the meat. The
people assemble in numbers to take part in this ceremony.
The medicine-man climbs the hut after making the offering of
blood, spikes a large piece of meat on- the pole and proceeds
to cut it into small pieces which he throws among the crowd,
who eagerly scramble for them and eat them. The sickness
is supposed to be widely scattered by this ceremony and thus
rendered harmless, and the patient quickly regains his usual

health. Any meat that is left the medicine-man takes away
with him for his own use.
When a case of sickness proves fatal, the relatives again
appeal to the medicine-man to discover who has caused the
death that they may seek the accused person in order to put
him to death. When discovered he is tried, but sometimes
he may succeed in escaping death by paying a heavy fine.
Death and treatment of the dead. When a person dies, the
R. B. t. 12
body is only kept a few hours in the house. The relatives have
previously been summoned when it was seen that the patient
was dying, and they are present when death takes place. There
are no ceremonies to be performed such as washing the dead,
taking leave of him or preparing a grave. There is a short
period of wailing near the body during the day of death until a
little after dusk, when the body is carried from the village and
deposited on the nearest waste land. Soon after the relatives

have returned from casting out the dead, certain old women
proceed stealthily to the spot, cut up the body and carry
back portions to the village. These they cook for a sacred
meal. This meal is restricted to relatives who have been fully
initiated and are now invited to partake of it in secret during
the night. The rest of the body is left for wild animals,
especially for hyaenas which are numerous, and it is usually
devoured before daybreak. Mourning continues during the
following three days. On the fourth day the mourners shave
their heads and the majority of them return to their homes
and regular duties. The near relations and widows continue
to mourn in the house of the deceased for the following three
months. When mourning ends, an ox is killed and the
mourners have a sacred meal with the principal members of
the clan. At this feast the heir is announced, the property
and the widows of the dead man are divided among the clan,
the heir taking a share with the members of the clan. He is
also given the hut and the utensils in it.

—
CHAPTER XVII
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Primitive condition of religion —snake-worship— belief in ghosts —rock-
spirits —waterfall-spirits —rain-making— initiation of boys — initi-
ation of girls —purificatory

ceremony at the end of initiation
dancing and drinking to celebrate the membership of the young
people.
Primitive condition of religion. Bagesu religion is in a

primitive state. There are no permanent temples, nor are
there any objects of veneration which represent gods, though
there are fetishes and amulets. There are no priests, the medi-
cine-men being the repositories of wisdom and skill, with the
elders of the village,and acting as mediums for the gods.
When occasion requires,a shrine, which is a rude hut, is built in
the place the medicine-man indicates, and offerings according
to his directions are made
but as soon as the cause of anxiety
;
passes and the danger is gone, the shrine is neglected and soon
falls into ruin, and the god is forgotten until a new cause of
trouble necessitates building a new shrine.
Snake-worship. The people have great faith in snake-
worship, the serpent being worshipped under the name of
Mwanga and having which the devotees resort.
a special hill to
There is a particular medicine-man attached to this worship

whose official title is Namwangala, and he is the priest and
medium of the deity. This god has power over disease, makes
known the cause of sickness when an ordinary medicine-man
has failed, and he also prescribes for the patient. Childless
women seek his aid when all other efforts have failed to bring
about the desired motherhood. In each case a suppliant
takes an offering of a goat or, should the person be very poor,
a fowl is accepted.
l8o THE BAGESU A CANNIBAL TRIBE [PT. IV
Belief in ghosts. In each clan ghosts of members who have

passed away have special provision made for them, these dis-
embodied spirits being regarded as the particular guardians of
children. There is no fear attached to the presence of ghosts.
They are supposed to dwell in their old haunts and large stones
are frequently placed near the doorway of a house in which
a person has passed away in order that the ghost may rest
there under the projecting roof, sheltered from rain or the
fierce rays of the noonday sun. Any wants a ghost may have
are made known by dreams to the inmates of the house, as
it thought that ghosts hold communication with the spirit
is
of a sleeping man. It behoves the man, when he wakes and

recalls his dream, to act at once and supply the things he
heard the ghost say it wanted. The necessary things are then
placed by the stones near the door. Food and drink are
regularly placed beside these stones, and, when the person
puts them out, he addresses the ghost saying, "Be kind to the
children, do them no harm." Ghostly possession is believed
to be due to hatred or enmity on the part of some person of
another clan who has prevailed on a ghost of his own clan to
seize the person and, if necessary, kill him or her. Hence
such ghosts are captured, and are destroyed when exorcised.
An offended ghost of a clan may cause sickness to a member,
but it rarely enters a person and there is no exorcism used,
but rather propitiation.
Rock-spirits. Almost every rock is supposed to be animated
by a spirit which is capable of rendering service in the neigh-
bourhood or of causing trouble, should it be offended. Rock-
spirits use the elder of the village as their priest and make
their wishes known to him by dreams. When a spirit appears
to an elder he announces the and order? a
fact to his village
shrine to be built at the base of some rock and offerings to
be made. The wealthier people take goats, others take fowls,
and the children carry plantains or sweet potatoes. The
animals are offered and killed, the blood is caught in a vessel
and left in the shrine for the spirit, and the meat and food are
cooked and eaten by the people on the spot. After one of
these visions the elder of the village takes two fowls to ths
CH. XVII] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS 181
rock and dedicates them to the spirit. One fowl he kills and
eats on the spot, the other he takes home to breed, the eggs
from the fowl being saved and hatched, and the chickens reared
and cared for until there are enough to exchange for a female
goat. The goat is then kept, together with any young it has,
until the elder is able to exchange them for a cow, when this
and any calves it has are kept for the spirit by the elder,
though he may use the milk, and the animals continue to breed
and form a herd of cows.
Mothers frequently betake themselves to a rock-spirit when
a child falls sick, or when it does not make the progress it
should. An offering is made at the base of some rock and she
calls to the spirit to have pity on her child and make it well
and strong. A man or a woman who is in delicate health
will also go to a rock, make an offering and ask the spirit to
make them well.
Waterfall-spirits. Each waterfall is supposed to have a
spirit, and these spirits are thought to be of the greatest help
to mothers to make their children thrive. A mother will take
her water-pot and climb the steep side of the mountain, get
between the rock and the falling water, fill a pot with it and
carry it home. It is a dangerous and a difficult task, calling
for a cool head and strong nerves. The water is used to sprinkle
over the head of the child and is said to give it health and to
make it thrive.
Rain-making. The most gifted men in the art of rain-
making are medicine-men. This body of men approach the
nearest of all primitive people to what we should term educated
persons. They are men who have inherited a certain amount
of information from their predecessors, to which store of
knowledge they have been able to add by personal experi-
ments and observations. Their unbounded faith in their art
works upon their fellow-men, inducing them to accept what
they say and inspiring confidence in their abilities. They
are able to hold their tongues, when anything said would be
harmful, and they are astute enough to make careful study of
human nature and make use of their knowledge, when occasion
arises. Such are the chief characteristics of a rain-maker.
By constantly using their magical arts and seeking to influence

others, and by their effort to regulate the supply of sun-
shine and rain, they have come to believe that they can
bring about what is wanted, and the people have the utmost
faith in their powers. These men have not always the happiest
existence. There are days which for them are decidedly
unpleasant, anxious days, full of evil omens. Rain does not
always fall at the right moment, and crops suffer in conse-
quence. The people then betake themselves to the rain-maker,
carrying offerings and making requests for immediate showers
of rain. If the rain comes in a day or two, all is well; but
should weeks pass without a shower, then the crops wither up
and the people become angry and remonstrate with the rain-
maker for not exerting himself and giving them what they
require. Should the rain still be delayed, they attack him,
rob him, burn down his house, and roughly handle him, even
to doing him bodily injury.
The usual procedure of a rain-maker is to take two fowls
which some suppliant has brought. One fowl he kills by hitting
it on the head with a sacred stick ; he then cuts it open from
the underside of the beak to the tail, removes the entrails
and examines them for marks, these markings being the signs
which enable him to give the oracle when the rains may be
expected. Some markings cause him to replace the entrails
in the fowl and expose it to the heat of the sun ;after a time
he shakes the fowl about and, if the entrails make a noise, he
announces that there will be a strong wind which will destroy
the crops. The second fowl is killed after the manner of the first,
and is intended to confirm the inferences drawn from the former.
Should the rain still delay, the people threaten the man and,
unless it comes then, they carry out their threats and punish
him because they are convinced he has the ability to help
them and is not using his influence. In most instances, after
making an attack upon the rain-maker, the people restore his
property, thinking that otherwise the god will be angry with
them for their doings, and make special offerings to the man
for the damage they have done. The rain-maker may consent
to take the extreme measure of climbing the mountain and
CH. XVII] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS l8 3
paying a visit to the deity on the top, a step which he asserts

is fraught with danger to him and may cost him his life. A
black ox is brought and a quantity of beer, which are taken
up the mountain by several village elders who accompany the
rain-maker to a plateau near the mountain top. Here the ox
is killed and eaten by the company, with the exception of one
leg, at a sacred meal at which the blood is offered to the god.

The leg is carried up the mountain to a priest who lives near a
sacred pool in which is said to be a large snake which is the
god. This pool is the spring which supplies many of the water-
falls upon the mountain. The priest takes the meat and hears
the request of the rain-maker. and rain-maker now
The priest
make a trough and pour the beer into it.
of clay near the pool
The priest then stands near the trough and puts a long beer-
tube into the spring in order to suck a little water through it.
The snake resents this, for it guards the spring against any
person drawing water from the pool. It is said to capture
any man who rashly attempts to do so. When, therefore, the
priest attempts to draw water, the snake darts forth and winds
its deadly coils round him, but the odour of the beer saves
him, for the reptile smells it, hastily uncoils itself, drinks the
beer and is soon helplessly drunk. As soon as the men see
it is helpless they break its fangs and proceed rapidly to fill a
number of water-pots from the sacred spring, arranging them

round the pool. The water thus drawn and set on the top of
the mountain will without fail bring rain which will continue
it by emptying
to fall daily until the priest takes steps to stop
the pots again. The rain-maker descends the mountain with
the elders who have waited for him on the upper plateau and
in a short time rain begins to pour down. The rain-maker
now waits, knowing that the people will soon come with offer-
ingsand requests to have the rain stopped. When the people
have had enough rain and see that their crops will spoil for
want of sunshine, they go in a body to the rain-maker to beg
for sunshine. The rain-maker has now to make a second visit
to the serpent-god with an offering of beer,and has to go with
the priest through a similar performance to that above de-
scribed in order to make the god drunk, after which he empties
the pots and turns them bottom upwards to ensure sunshine.

Thus the harvest is assured, the seasons are readjusted and
the year proceeds in its proper course.
Initiation ceremony of boys. Initiation ceremonies are a
vital part of the religion of these primitive people ; hence they
are placed here under the head of religious observances rather
than before marriage customs. Both sexes have a prescribed
form to follow, and undergo a course of instruction, before
the rite of circumcision is administered to boys and a corre-
sponding rite is administered to girls. Among primitive people
no person keeps a register of his age some event which happens
;
about the time of his birth is all they require to mark the
period and this is handed down to fix his approximate age.
Hence boys and girls are judged to have attained the right age
to be admitted to the rite by their physical development.
Boys about fourteen years old are expected to present themselves
for training and circumcision, and girls may be a little younger.
The vows and compulsory observances of the ritual, with all the
mysteries of the clan and the solemn traditional oaths to redress
wrong and to avenge blood, often have a greater weight of
awe and fear and cause boys to hesitate more than the actual
physical suffering. The preparations for the ceremonies are
made after harvest, when there is an abundance of food and
a supply of beer can be obtained. A fortnight before the
operation of circumcision boys meet at some house in a village
where an elder is appointed to give them daily instruction;
their bodies, hands and faces are smeared with white clay leaving
only their hair black, and in this guise they parade the villages
of their own clan. A boy from any village of the clan may
present himself for instruction, and these youths decorated
and parading about, singing and dancing, impress the young
people with their importance and inspire in them the desire
to join the band. When their term of instruction is ended,
the day is arranged for the operation of circumcision it is;
usually fixed to fall near full moon, rather before the full
moon than after it. In the morning of this particular day the
boys are smeared from head to foot with black clay and each
of them proceeds to his village to beg for animals and fowls
Plate XVIII
(2) Dancing at the initiation ceremony

(Bagesu Tribe)
for the feast which precedes circumcision; and in addition

to these animals the chief in whose village the ceremony takes
place kills an ox for the occasion. A large joint of meat is
put upon the pinnacle of the hut in which the boys live, and
this is reserved for the end of the ceremony. When the boys
have gone their round begging, they return together to the
village in which they are to undergo the operation. Before
entering the village they collect stones and other missiles
which they take with them and, as they enter the village,
they commence an attack upon an unseen foe, shouting and
rushing about, beating the air and throwing stones until the
foe, which is said to be hostile ghosts, is driven out from the
village. A special meal is provided, and after it the elder of
the village comes and draws up the boys in a line facing an
admiring crowd of people composed of both sexes and all ages,
who stand to watch the performance. In front of each boy a'
pad of grass is laid on the ground with an egg on it, after which
an old man walks along the line and gives to each boy a small
piece of root to chew, which is said to possess a medicinal
property which stops bleeding. As the boys stand with their
toes to the grass pad the elder of the village comes and gives
them a charge concerning customs, history, marriage, and
other things they have been taught during the weeks of resi-
dence: he tells them they be expected to be faithful to
will
friends and unrelenting to enemies of the clan, and above all
he impresses upon them the necessity of being brave in
war and ready to fight on behalf of the clan. After this
charge is delivered, another man comes and smears each boy
on his chest with a mixture of undigested food taken from the
stomach of a newly killed goat. The old man next stands in
front of each boy and recites a formula which the boy repeats
after him word for word to the end, and, when he has said it,
he jumps into the air three times alighting twice with his legs
astride of the grass pad and the egg, but the third time he
leaps he comes down on the egg breaking it into pieces. Each
boy performs this ceremony until they have all made their
public profession and given the sign of faithfulness by breaking
the egg. Another village elder now steps forward and examines
each boy and pulls forward the foreskin as he passes along the
line. While these matters have been going forward, the surgeon
has kept out of sight in one of the huts near he has sharpened
;
his knives for the operation and is quite ready to perform his
part when the elder has completed his investigation along the
line of waiting boys. When all is declared satisfactory, the
surgeon steps out quickly to the first boy, seizes the foreskin,
pulls it well forward and cuts it off, throwing it over his
shoulder. Having looked to see that the operation is correctly
done, he passes rapidly to the next boy and thus circumcises
each of them before they fully realise what has happened.
Should any boy require further attention after the first sharp
cut, the surgeon's examination detects the fault, he quickly
corrects it and passes on along the line. It is seldom that the
man requires to make a second cut on a boy and, when his work
is done, he hurries away as quickly as he came and passes into
a house out of sight until all the people have dispersed. Old
women follow the surgeon to see that the operation has been
correctly performed and make sure everything is satisfactory.
Other friends and relatives carry plantain stems and place
them behind the boys for them to sit upon in case they are
faint and need to sit down. Another elder advances along the
line, takes a little blood from the wound and rubs it on the
chest of each boy as he stands rigid with his legs apart on either
side of the grass pad waiting until the bleeding ceases.
The foreskins are collected and buried near the chief's
hut and, when these have been buried, a man mounts the hut
on which the meat is spiked, cuts it into small pieces and
throws it among the people, who struggle to obtain it and eat
it. This meat is supposed to bring good fortune to the man
or woman who can secure it. \Mien the bleeding ceases, the
boys are conducted to their house and remain in it until they
are quite healed.
Initiation of girls. During the time boys are undergoing
number
their period of instruction previous to circumcision, a
of girls who
some months, seldom less than twelve, have been
for
preparing for their ceremony and have scarified their bodies
with special clan-markings, are set apart in some hut where
an elderly woman them in their duties as wives and

instructs
mothers. The final ceremony is to cut away some portion of
the genital organs and to correct the scarifications on their
bodies or to complete what is lacking. Both boys and girls
have two teeth in the lower jaw extracted and girls have the
lower lip pierced for the lip-stone. Sometimes men too have
their lip pierced for this stone, though it is usually regarded
as the proper ornamentation of the women.
Purificatory ceremony at the close of initiation. When the
wounds of both groups are healed, a period of general drinking
and feasting ensues. It seldom happens that a boy or girl
dies at this time in consequence, though some have died
afterwards from excessive bleeding due to the operation.
The elder in whose village the young people are assembled goes
through another ceremony with a companion, when he knows
that all the boj^s and girls are well: they take a goat and a
fowl to a sacred tree in the early morning, the goat and fowl
are killed at the root of the tree and blood is made to flow upon
the root, the meat of the goat is then cooked and eaten near
the tree, but the fowl is laid on the root and left as an offering
to the spirit of the tree. After the meal they proceed to a
sacred pool in the neighbourhood which is said to be guarded
by a snake. They go armed with a pot of strong beer which
they place on the bank of the pool and wait until the snake
has been attracted by the smell and has drunk itself helplessly
drunk, when they break its fangs and leave it harmless. While
the snake is in this condition, the young people who have
been circumcised follow the two men to the pool and bathe.
Sons of chiefs first enter the water and wash, followed by the
other boys, and afterwards by the girls. This bath is supposed
to make them strong and well, and above all it makes the young
women able to have children.
Dancing and drinking to celebrate the close of initiation
ceremonies. In the evening public dancing begins when
members from other clans come and join. No weapons are
brought but only bamboo rods in which are their long beer-
tubes, and drinking and dancing continue for several days.
At this time the fullest license is given to both sexes, marriage
ties are disregarded and men and women live together promis-
cuously without any restraint. When the beer is ended in one
village, they move on to another where
has been prepared,
it
and continue the festivities from village to village until all the
beer is drunk in the district. These dances end the initiation
rites. Initiated youths are no longer boys but men, and hence-
forth take part in the affairs of state, having the right to sit
in councils and on important subjects and also to

to speak
wear the regulation goat-skin dress strung round the neck
and hanging low enough to cover the circumcised organ as
they stand. Young people are now able to marry, for, until
these ceremonies are performed, no woman will marry a man
and no man will marry a woman. Should a couple who have
not fulfilled the customs and have not been circumcised marry,
they are ignored by the clan and their children are outcasts,
they are outside the sphere of the gods' protection and are cut
off from all rights as members.
Plate XIX
—
CHAPTER XVIII
MUSIC, DANCING,WARFARE, BUILDING,

AMUSEMENTS AND HUNTING
Musical instruments —
dancing and the use of thigh bells warfare —
ceremony to cleanse a warrior who has killed one of the foe
villages — —
and huts furniture of huts amusements hunting —
customs.
Musical instruments. These people are fond of music:

they have a primitive harp, and also a rude kind of drum which
accompanies songs and dances. The harp is used to accompany
songs in the house, but is not used in public songs and dances.
In dances the drum only is used, and bells, attached to the
thighs and to the ankles, are made to clang by stamping
the feet to the rhythm of the drum. Songs are sung during
the dances, which take place almost monthly when the
moon is nearing the full and the evenings are light. Girls
make a small instrument of reeds after the pattern of a zither.
This instrument is used by a girl as she sings her love
ditties.
Dancing and the use of the thigh bells. In dances both men
and women take part and form sides, the men use the thigh
bells and stamp with their feet to make the bells sound and
produce a thud from the stamp the women only sing as they
;
dance. The parties move in circles as they dance, or march from

opposite sides of a square to meet in the middle and retreat.
The season most devoted to dances is after harvest when each
village is able to make its brew of beer and contribute to the
village supply for the dancing. It is at this time, when all
feuds are dropped and members of clans can intermingle with-

out fear, when weapons are put away and there is nothing but
the most cordial relations, that men seek wives and make their
matrimonial arrangements.
Warfare.Only on rare occasions are there wars. These
are, ordinarily,wars within the tribe and are due to some case
of murder or bloodshed the more serious wars take place when
;
some other tribe makes a raid and the clans combine to resist
the common foe. In the more frequent fights between clans
warriors arm and meet at some place near. The weapons
—
used are bows and arrows the latter with roughly made iron
tips —
spears, shields, and stones. There is no order in the
army it is an unorganised mass, any man may rush out and
:
attack or he may hold back as he wishes. The combatants

shoot arrows and sling stones, they seek cover and strive to
get within shooting-range unobserved, and again at times one
or two men from either side will rush out and engage in a
hand to hand fight while the armies look on, till possibly one
man is seriously wounded or perhaps killed. Such a combat
of champions will end the battle, and the winning side will
dictate the terms of peace.
Ceremony to cleanse a warrior who has killed one of the foe.
A warrior who has killed another in battle does not return
home the same day ; he returns to his
but spends the
village,
night in the house of a friend. In the evening he
kills a goat
or sheep and takes the contents of the stomach in a pot and

with them he smears his head, chest and arms. If he has any
children, they too are brought and smeared in like manner,
and return home. After having thus fortified himself and his
children, the man proceeds to his house and paints each door-
post with the mixture, throwing the remainder on the roof of
the house. For a day the man does not touch food with his
hands, but conveys it to his mouth with two sticks cut for
the purpose. On the second day he is free to return home and
to his ordinary life. These restrictions do not extend to a

wife of the slayer : she is not only free from them but may go,
if she wishes, to mourn over the slain man and take part
in the ceremonies of the dead.
CH. XVIII] VILLAGES AND HUTS igi
Building.
Villagesand huts. Villages of the Bagesu are clusters of

huts built on fairly level ground on the slopes of the mountain.
From some prominence on a mountain ridge numbers of vil-
lages may be seen, some high up the mountain sides, others on
lower slopes little removed from the great plains which stretch
away to the far distance. Some of the villages have only
two or three huts, whereas others have fully forty, a number
which betokens some competent leader who commands respect
through bravery or other such personal power to attract. With
few exceptions villages are open on all sides, the few have
growing fences round them, the chief protection being their
position. Each clan may have many such villages dotted
about in the district it claims as its property. As a rule at
marriage a man builds his hut near his father's house, and he
seeks help from his parents both to collect the materials for
the hut and also to build it. The elder of a village is consulted
about the site on which to build, and, having obtained his
consent, the man levels the place and traces a circle on the
ground the size he wishes to build his hut. The walls are
composed of short stakes about four feet long above the
ground. He digs holes a few inches deep for each stake and
puts them side by side. They are bound together at the
top and at the bottom by creepers and form a strong wall.
A stout pole is erected in the centre of this circular wall ; the
top is tapered and a few feet down it is notched. Rafters are
tied to this pole and extend to the wall. The pitch of the
roof determined by the builder, it is usually acute. The
is
rafters are secured to the wall and rows of strong twigs are
tied on to the rafters at intervals from the wall until the apex
is reached. This roof is thatched with common grass which
abounds in the neighbourhood, the grass being fully two feet
long and forming good thatch. The centre pole stands out
three feet above the thatch. The roof projects some eighteen
inches or two feet beyond the walls and carries off rain to a safe
distance from the hut. The walls are plastered on the inside
with clay which is thrown with force against the stakes and
:
;
smoothed with the flat of the hand. As the clay dries, all
cracks are filled until a smooth surface. The floor is

there is
made by digging up the earth and adding, if necessary, more

earth of clay composition and beating it hard with short
sticks while it is still damp.
Furniture in a hut. The furniture in a house and kitchen
isscanty; in fact furniture does not exist, though in one or
two huts a stool may be found. There is seldom any attempt
to make a bed: the family lie down on the floor round the
fire without any clothing or even grass to he upon, and contact
with one another is the only means of warmth apart from the
fire. The door is closed soon after sunset to keep out the cold
wind and to make the room warm and cheerful. The door
consists of either reeds or twigs laid side by side upon cross-
bars and bound together, and is held in position over the door-
way by a post on either side, behind which it slides when
opened. The fire burns middle of the room on the
in the
floor and the smoke finds
its way out as best it can through the
roof, as there is no chimney. While the family is absent
during the day, the hut is closed but not secured in any way
few people attempt to rob a neighbour. To make a house doubly
secure during the day when the owner is absent, if he thinks
it is likely to be entered, a man will lay his stick along the step.
Any person who crosses that stick may be dealt with as a thief
it also carries with it a magical power which will affect the thief.
There are no attempts made to secure sanitary conditions
in any village: the grass and scrub round the village are left
to grow as they will, and hither members of the community
retire to relieve nature. Atmospheric action alone keeps the
place from becoming too offensive for people to endure the
smell, and it alone prevents the spread of disease.
Amusements. The chief amusement is dancing each new :
moon is celebrated by the beating of drums, and dancing then

takes place. The moon is watched for by all and the first
person who sees it calls attention to it men and women dance,
;
and mothers carry out their infants to see it because it is said

to make them thrive. Often, a few nights before full moon,
village dances are performed by the young people.
;
CH. XVIIl] HUNTING 193
Among youths and boys wrestling is a never-failing source

of interest one village will challenge another and com-
:
petitions are often going forward. Small boys have a game

of kicking which affords great amusement they choose sides :
and pit one boy against another, the combatants stand on one
leg and with the other foot try to kick their opponent with
the sole of the foot on the thigh, knock him down and then
claim him as their man. This is a game of agility rather
than of strength, the art being to avoid a kick and then to
kick out quickly and overthrow the other before he has time
to recover his balance.
Hunting. Beasts of prey, especially leopards, are hunted
down when there is special danger from them, when for example
an animal has attacked a man in the daylight, or has entered

a house or village by night and carried off some one. The men
from several villages then assemble and track the animal to
its lair, when they surround the thicket beating down the
grass with heavy and singing at the topmost
clubs, shouting
pitch of their voices. Each man
carries a shield on his left
arm which he presents should the animal spring before he
can club it. The beast seldom escapes and rarely injures any
of the beaters. The noise seems to bewilder the animal and it
is clubbed and killed before it knows which way to turn to
flee. It is speared after being clubbed to ensure death.

Hyaenas wander about as they will
are usually left to
but, should one of them take a goat from a herd, it is followed
and clubbed to death. Hyaenas are useful scavengers to clear
off the remains of the dead and all offal, and are respected as
connected with the dead.
Elephants are hunted at times, the method of hunting
being for two or three men to hide in trees while others go
out as beaters and turn the animals to the trees. The men in
hiding choose an animal with large tusks and spear it as it
passes under them. A wounded animal invariably seeks its
foe, and, should one of the beaters be discovered, it will give
chase and, if it captures him, it will crush him to death by
kneeling on him. The man who first spears an animal claims
the tusks, the other men share the meat, which is eaten by the
R. B. T. 13
tribe. A wounded animal is followed sometimes for several

days before it can be surrounded and killed.
Antelopes and small game are hunted with the spear and
club. Several men combine and run an animal down by
turning it first to one and then to another of their party until
it is breathless and tired, when they club it. The division of
meat is a frequent source of angry words and at times the cause
of a fight.
Boys are fond of trapping herbivorous rats which they
eat and consider a delicacy even their elders are fond of a
;
share of the spoil.

PART V
THE BASOGA
13—2
—
CHAPTER XIX
NORTH-WESTERN DISTRICT, CENTRAL DISTRICT
AND THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT
The country with divisions — the North-western District — the Central
its
District—the Southern District—physical features of the country
—the people and their occupation— of list the Northern
chiefs in
District — a successor—death of a
chief's appointing his
chief,
successor — mourning a chief—arrival of the heir—how
for
mourning isended —ceremony to ensure a new health and
chief's
prosperity—disposal of widows of a deceased chief—removing the
jaw-bone of a dead chief— list of the Central District
chiefs in
appointing a new chief—clans the Northern District—clans
in in
the Central District.
The country with its divisions. Busoga, which to-day

forms part of the Eastern Province of the Uganda Protectorate,
has from time immemorial been tributary to one or other of
the surrounding nations. For many years the Baganda have
governed the whole of Busoga, but formerly the country was
divided among and governed by three nations: the North-
western District was governed by the Banyoro, the Central
District was under the rule of the Bateso chiefs, while the
Southern District was governed by the Baganda. The whole
area of Busoga is small it falls between the equator and
:
the first degree north of it, and its longitude lies between
33 and 34 degrees east of Greenwich.
The North-western District. The North-western District is
commonly called Nadiope's country or Kamuli after the chief's
capital, and has had a young chief governing it for some years.
He has recently died and the district is now under the manage-
ment of regents until the young son of Nadiope shall be old
enough to take control under the British Resident. The
THE BASOGA [PT. V
original chief of this country is said to have been a man named

Kitembo to whom the Banyoro gave the country 1
The people .
claim, through thisman, affinity with the Banyoro royal family,

for they say Kitembo was a Munyoro prince. When the
Banyoro were still the overlords of this part of Busoga, it was
customary for the chief to send his son to be servant to the
king of Bunyoro but, when the Baganda wrested the country
;
from Bunyoro, the chief's son was sent to the Uganda court.
Even to the present time there is a link of affection with the
Banyoro, and the people still look upon the Banyoro as their
friends.
The Central District. In the Central District, Zibondo's
country, or Kaliro as it is have come
called, the people claim to
from Bukedi and, though for many years
in the first instance ;
they have been under the rule of the Baganda and have had
their representatives in the court of Uganda, they still lean
to the Bakedi as their friends. This district is much smaller
than either the North-western District or the Southern Dis-
trict.
The Southern District. The Southern District, commonly

known as Luba's country, has been under the rule of the kings
of Uganda for many years its previous history is unknown.
;
It is bounded on the south by Lake Victoria, while Kavi-

side
rondo winds round it from the south and along its eastern side ;
on the west the river Nile is the boundary for all Busoga and
divides it from Uganda. It has been the custom for many
years for the chief's sons of the Southern District to be sent
as pages to the Uganda king ; and the language of the country
is purely Luganda, though it is spoken with a foreign accent.
With these three important divisions in the country it can
readily be understood that the language, though asserted in
some parts to be an independent language, has always been
influenced by that of the ruling sovereign and is of a mixed
character, and that for many years the language of Uganda
has been the dominant language spoken. There are two or
three other small chiefs, but, as they belong to one or other
1
Banyoro, the people in the plural; Munyoro, singular; Bunyoro, the
country — similarly Baganda,MUganda, Buganda or Uganda.
CH. XIX] THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 199
of the three divisions already mentioned, the reader need not

be troubled by having them enumerated.
Physical features of the country. The chief physical feature
of the country is its fertility ; amount of arable land,
the vast
with extensive groves of plantains and plots of sweet potatoes
and millet interspersed, has always been a matter of comment
among travellers. The atmosphere of Busoga is much moister
than that of Uganda. There are a few clumps of forest
which supply the people with building materials and firewood,
and there is a limited amount of uncultivated land which
affords pasture for their herds. The country is undulating
and has one or two good rivers beside the Nile, which, as
stated above, flows along the western side.
The people and their occupation. The population is large
for the area of the country, and women preponderate, though
this has been a fruitful field for slave raiding and for years
the Baganda looked to Busoga 1 especially for their supply
of domestic women-slaves. The temperament of the Basoga
is much more submissive than either that of the Baganda or
that of the Banyoro, and they dislike warfare though they

have had their intertribal battles, chiefly due to cult and taboo
which often involved bloodshed for their settlement and caused
retaliation on the part of the injured tribe. The features of
the Basoga are those generally known as negroid; the nose
is almost bridgeless and flat, the face round with thickish
lips which do not as a rule protrude. Both men and women

are of a medium height, from five feet six inches to five feet
ten inches. In each district the chief industry is agriculture,
though cows, goats and sheep are reared and almost every
peasant breeds a few fowls many peasants keep one or two
;
cows and take them into their huts by night to protect them
from wild animals. The flocks of goats and sheep are the
chief means by which the people obtain meat; the peasants
are almost vegetarians owing to the difficulty of procuring the
money to buy meat. Goats and sheep are the chief means by
which a man purchases his wife and pays his taxes, so that he
1
Busoga, the country, Basoga the people
200 THE BASOGA [PT. V
cannot afford to eat his animals freely. In Busoga is to be

found the long-haired goat which thrives here, though in other
countries it deteriorates rapidly and loses its hairy coat. Here
also may be found the sheep with the extraordinary fat
tail, reaching to and at times trailing on the ground. There
are considerable differences in the customs of the several
districts which will need to be noted, and this may lead at
times to some repetition. Where there are no differences, the
story will run as that of the North-western District, because
ithas been possible to get fuller notes from thence than from
other places. From Southern Busoga no notes are given
because famine was too severe there to allow men to come and
give the necessary information.
The North-western District.
North-western District. The first great

List of chiefs in the
chief recorded was Kitembo, who was said to be a Munyoro
prince and who came to rule Busoga with his brother Muzaya.
2. Mawevu, the son of Kitembo 3. Nadiope
4. Kagoda 5. Gabula
6. Kajumbula 7. Mutimbwa
8. Naika, deposed by the British 9. Nadiope
This list is incomplete, but it is the best that could be

obtained during the short time available when I was passing
through the country.
A chief and his successor. The heir to the chief is always
the son of his principal wife ;
or, if she happens to be childless,
she adopts a child of her sister whom she has induced to become
a wife of her husband. It is a common custom for a wife to
entice her sisters to become wives of her husband they ;
stipulate, however, that they shall each have their own house.
Should the chief wife have children who are all girls, or should
she be childless, she adopts a son of one of her sisters and brings
him up to be the heir. Such a child, when old enough to leave
home and enter the service of the king, was sent to the court
of Bunyoro to be trained as a page. As the king had numbers
of boys who were pages, the duties of each were light and
CH. XIX] DEATH AND MOURNING 201
consisted chiefly in running errands, laying the king's mats in

the co\irt-house and carrying them from one place to another,
or spreading other mats in the path for the king to walk upon
as he went from one house to another, or playing flutes before
his majesty as he went from one court to another. Such were
the duties of pages. The son of a Busoga chief usually remained
in Bunyoro until his father died, when he was sent back by
the king with a responsible escort to establish him in the chief-
tainship of his father. He was given a shield and two spears,
a wooden dish and a stool which he afterwards used as his
seat of office.
Deathof a chief and appointment of his successor. When

the chief dies, the people send messengers to Bunyoro to tell
the king and to ask him to appoint the successor. The body of
the chief is not buried until the heir comes and covers it with
a bark-cloth. This ceremony can only be performed by the
heir. The grave is in the house in which the chief died, and is
a large pit dug in the middle of the floor. A bedstead is built in
the grave and numbers of bark-cloths are put in it and under it,
and upon this bedstead the body is laid to await the heir who
has to cover it with a specially prepared bark-cloth. A large
house is built near the tomb and is surrounded by a fence
of reeds hung over with dry plantain-fibre. When the heir
arrives, he enters the house and remains there mourning three
months or more. No woman is permitted to enter this house,
but the sisters and relatives of the heir have small huts built
round the tomb and strictly observe the rules of chastity.
All mourners are forbidden to leave the precincts of the tomb.
Should they do so, or should they break any mourning taboo,
such as that of chastity or the abstaining from cutting nails
and hair, they must leave the place of mourning at once. When
the heir arrives, the sub-chiefs gather and build huts at a
distance from the tomb; they may eat and drink freely, as
they are not restricted from the usages of ordinary life by any
mourning taboos.
Mourning for a chief. Each morning at daybreak the
mourners gather at the tomb to mourn and continue wailing
some three hours first one and then another throws himself
;
;
or herself upon the grave, dead to return and

calling to the
asking him how they At the close of
are to live without him.
the morning's wailing the mourners return to their huts and
remain about, idly talking and gleaning any gossip they can,
for they are good talkers and seldom lack a subject for
conversation. Mourners do not wash, they never trim their
nails or hair, but allow them to grow until they cease mourning
when about to have a meal, they sponge their hands with
plantain sponges, this being the only washing they may in-
dulge in, even when the period of mourning lasts six months.
Arrival of the heir. When the heir arrives from Bunyoro,
he takes the bracelet from his father's right arm and wears it
on his own right arm, this being the token of office and passing
from chief to chief. A second son of the deceased chief is
chosen by the members of the chief's clan to take charge of
his younger brothers and sisters, to be their representative in
any dispute among them; he is given his father's waist-band
to wear as his badge of office. Each Musoga wears a string
waist-band under this band, it is usual to put a strip of bark-
;
cloth some six inches wide and to pass it from back to front
between the legs. This is looked upon as an important item
of clothing and is in fact the only article which to the Musoga
mind is essential to decency, for without it a man is said to be
naked.
How mourning is ended. To end mourning the chief calls
upon his sub-chiefs to bring a number of oxen and pots of
beer. When these arrive, one of the finest oxen is selected
and taken to the door of the tomb, the heir is presented with
a spear and kills the animal with one sharp thrust should he
;
fail to kill it by the one thrust, it is a token that he will not
prosper in his office. The deceased chief's sister's son takes

charge of the meat of the animal and presides over the meal
which follows. The meat is cooked on the spot, and only
relatives and friends who have observed all the mourning
taboos are allowed to partake. Should any man or woman
have yielded to sexual desires, which is a serious fault and is
the worst form of infringement of the taboos, he or she is
excluded from the meal if any guilty person presumes to
;
CH. XIX] CEREMONY TO ENSURE CHIEF'S HEALTH 203
eat, it is believed he will die —the ghost will kill him. The
next morning after this meal the new chief shaves his head
and puts aside his mourning garments, and all the people
follow his example.
Ceremony to ensure a chief's health and prosperity. The
chief's hair which was shaved off is made up into a small ball,
wrapped in bark-cloth, and taken the following day by two
or three warriors into the next district of Busoga. Here they
lie in wait for some man to come along the road they first greet
;
the man and then seize him, thrust the ball of hair into his
mouth and strangle him the body is left in the road and the
;
warriors escape back to their own chief. When the body of the
murdered man is discovered by the relatives, they hasten to
acquaint their chief with the outrage. This outrage leads to
a tribal war, for the meaning of the ball in the man's mouth
is well understood: it contains any evil which otherwise
might befall the new chief, but which has now been transferred
to the murdered man. The two chiefs meet in battle and for
a few days there are petty skirmishes. Peace is made after
blood has been shed, but it does not follow that there has been
a death, it being enough to spill blood; though of course
some one may have been killed or seriously wounded and may
die of his wounds. The new chief gives the first man who has
wounded one of the enemy in battle a wife, and others who
have distinguished themselves receive a cow each. The new
chief's brother after this war appoints one of his sisters to be
the principal sister to the chief. This is an office much coveted
among women because of the wealth and privileges it carries.
The sister is to all intents and purposes a wife, but is not ex-
pected to have children and takes precautions that there are
none born. One of the daughters of the late chief boils a pot
of butter and smears the grave with it in the early morning
of the day when the meal is given which ends the period of
mourning.
The fence enclosing the chief's house is rebuilt and all
signs of mourning are removed, care being taken when the new
fence is built to make the gateway opposite the tomb of the
chief's grandfather and not in front of his father's tomb.
Disposal of widows of a deceased chief. The widows of the

deceased chief become wives of the new chief; but, should
any of them some of his brothers as wives they
prefer to go to
may do so. Should any widow have children by her late
husband, it does not debar her from becoming a wife of the
new chief he only avoids his own mother or a woman of her
;
clan.
Removing the jaw-bone of a dead chief. At the end of six
months the grave of the late chief is opened and the jaw-bone
removed. This is cleansed and put into a shrine, situated
some distance from the chief's residence, wherein are the
jaw-bones of all former chiefs, which are preserved and guarded
by a man appointed for this office. Attached to the shrine is
an estate which provides food for the guardian and his assist-
ants.
The Central and North-western Districts.
List of chiefs of the Central District. The chiefs of the

Central District claim affinity with the Bateso. They say
that their first chief came from Bukedi. The names of the
chiefs, in so far as they are known, are:
i. Lubogo 2. Soba
3. Mukenya Bwainda 4. Wako Kibondo
5. Kisira 6. Wambuzi, deposed by the
7. Zibondo (Ezekieri) British
Appointing a chief. The heir is appointed to succeed a
deceased chief by the principal medicine-man who lives at a
place called Kaduweri. The usual custom is to choose the
eldest son of the deceased chief, unless the medicine-man says
he is unsuited to rule. Should this son die before his father,
one of his brothers is chosen, unless there is a grandson, that
is a son of the deceased eldest son, who is old enough to rule,
in which case he is chosen to inherit in the place of his grand-

father. The heir is given a spear and a shield as his insignia
of office.
Clans of the North-western District. The North-western
District is divided between fifty-seven families, which are indeed
small clans. Each clan is known by a particular name and
:
CH. XIX] TOTEM CLANS 205
has its own totems. In most cases it was impossible to obtain

the names of the second totem of each clan, though there
is no doubt that they exist.
The names of the clans are as follows
1. Bulondo, whose totem is a Monkey.
2. Basekwe, whose totem is the Mushroom and the second
is a vegetable, Tabutantyo.
3. Senkwanga, whose totem is the Elephant and the second
is an Antelope, Kongone.
4- Semwayo, whose totem is Birds, Akasende.
5- Ngobe, whose totem is an Antelope, Mpongo.
6. Basubo, whose totem is Birds, Kamyali.
7- Magamba, whose totem is Yams, Ziriamiri.
8. Gaga, whose totem is Husks of Millet.
9- Sensolya, whose totem is the Otter, Ngonge.
10. Bakike, whose totem is Buffalo.
11. Njene.
12. Banangwe, whose totem
is a Sheep that has cast its
young, Mbuzi akasowole.

13. Bakoyo, whose totem is Lung-fish, Nabibalu.
14. Semugaya, whose totem is a large Water-lizard,
Mubulu.
15. Bagaya, whose totem is the Crocodile, Ngonyi.
16. Mwasi, whose totem is an Antelope, Njazi.
17. Basekula, whose totem is the Wild-pig, Mbizi.
18. Kitamwe, whose totem is Guinea-fowl, Nkofu.
19. Mwangu, whose totem is an Antelope, Ngabi.
20. Nono, whose totem is Cooked Plantain, Nfuka.
21. Senyulya, whose totem is a Bird, Kasenke.
22. Tambe.
23. Mabiro, whose totem is Dry Slices of Vegetable Mar-
row, Bikukuju.
24. Katuma, whose totem is the Flea, Nkukunyi.
25. Mulinda, whose totem is Swallows, Katai.
26. Nyana, whose totem is the small Calves.
27. Muluta, whose totem is Colobus Monkeys.
28. Muyombo, whose totem is a Bird, Kasusima.
29. Musere, whose totem is Overflowing Rivers, Miga-
ejude. The clan may not draw water from such rivers nor
attempt to cross them.
30. Mugwano.
31. Sendasi, whose totem is an Antelope, Ngabi.
32. Mutediba.
33. Bango, whose totem is a Bird, Sosolyo.
34. Toli, whose totem is an Antelope, Mpongo.
35- Bere.
36. Mayanja.
37. Kisuwi, whose totem is the Leopard, Mpara.
38. Basuswe, whose totem is the Hyaena, Mpisi.
39. Mwebya, whose totem is a kind of Grass, Buyanja.
40. Semagoba, whose totem is the Hippopotamus, Nvubu.
41. Wenzu, whose totem is a kind of Monkey, Kamu-
minya.
42. whose totem is Doves, Emba.
Busigisigi,
43. Baego, whose totem
is an Antelope, Nfume.
44. Sekijugu, whose totem is Lung-fish, Nakibala.
45. Bakose, whose totem is Chaff of Sesame.

46. Umbwe, whose totem is White-ants, Nswa.
47. Basoko, whose totem is an Antelope, Mpongo.
48. Bambade, whose totem is Husks of corn, Musisi.
49. Eboka, whose totem is the Snail, Kovwa.
50. Sango, whose totem is Guinea-fowl, Nkofu.
51. Kaima, whose totem is an Antelope, Njaza.
52. Gulu, whose totem is the mouth of an old water pot.
The clan may not touch it nor have it in their presence.
53. Kiembwa, whose totem is Lusambya posts. The clan
may not use such posts in building their houses or fences.
54. Kaibare, whose totem is Dogs, Mbwa.
55. Kigoma, whose totem is that they may not eat during
the day of full-moon.
56. Lubanga.
57 Sabwiri, whose totem is Lung-fish, Nabibalu.
Clans of the Central District. In the Central District there
are thirty-one clans. Here also only the principal totem was
obtainable, the second having fallen almost entirely out of use.
The names of the clans are:
CH. XIX] TOTEM CLANS 207
1. Ngobe, whose totem is an Antelope, Mpongo. This is
the chief's clan.

2. Baigage, whose totem is Chaff of Millet.
3. Bahoya.
4. Kwanga, whose totem is the Elephant, Njovu.
5. Soswa, whose totem is the Hyaena, Mpisi,
6. Baisonga, whose totem is Civet Cat, Mondo.
7. Mulondo, whose totem is a Monkey, Nkima.
8. Lemu, whose totem is the Leopard, Mpala.
9. Wiro, whose totem is Female organs. A man of the
clan may not approach a woman for sexual purposes during
the daytime.
10. Ruba, whose totem is Gazelle, Kasiri.
11. Mucwa, whose totem is Female Antelopes, Mpongo.
12. Mpanzira, whose totem is Water-buck, Ngobe.
13. Mwanga.
14. Mugonya, whose totem is Mushrooms, Butiko.
15. Kiminya, whose totem is Hyaena, Mpisi.
16. Kitengya, whose totem is Wild-pig, Mbizi.
17. Mukose, whose totem is Chaff of Millet.
18. Mulamya.
19. Segaga, whose totem is Chaff of Millet.
20. Miyangwa.
21. Mwoya, whose totem is an Antelope, Ngabi.
22. Kadodo, whose totem is the Frog, Kikere.
23. Banyakatamya, whose totem is Water-buck, Ngobe.
24. Mulandya.
25. Nsanga, whose totem is Birds, Kamonyi.
26. Nyanzi.
27. Nsubo, whose totem is Birds, Kamonyi.
28. Nsweza, whose totem is Mushroom, Butiko.
29. Mbala, whose totem is Rats, Mpube.
30. Semasoza, whose totem is an Antelope, Njaza.
31. Sempunda, whose totem is a small bird which builds
in plantains, Kasanki.
The clans are exogamous, that is, no man may marry a
woman of his own clan. The children belong to the clan of
their father, not of their mother.
—
CHAPTER XX
MARRIAGE AND BIRTH CUSTOMS
Methods of choosing a wife —cousin marriage—the marriage-fee—elope-
ment —marriage customs the North-western District—ending
in
the period of marriage seclusion — marriage customs in the Central
District—differences in marriage customs in the North-western
District and the Central District — birth customs in the North-
western District—tonic given to a pregnant woman —acknowledging
a child as a clan-member —children kept at home until marriage
birth customs in the Central District—disposal of the umbilical
cord —proving the legitimacy of a child —customs concerned with
the birth of twins in the North-western District— preparing for
the ceremony of naming twins—birth of twins in the Central
District — announcing the birth twins to the chief—the mother's
of
period of seclusion —purificatory after the period of seclusion.
rites
Methods of choosing a wife. A youth is considered fully

grown at about the age of seventeen and begins to think of
marriage. No record of age is kept and it is only by his physical
appearance and actions that it is decided whether he is old
enough or not to have a wife. In the north-western part of
Busoga a youth has much to say on the question as to whom he
isto marry. He will tell his father or his father's brother that
he wishes to marry and also name the woman he desires to have
to wife. It then becomes the duty of the father to investigate
the matter and to find out whether the woman is a desirable
person, whether she is eligible and outside the forbidden circle
of relationship, and whether she is free to marry. Should all
prove to be satisfactory, he will arrange the matter and settle
with the woman's relatives the amount to be paid as the
marriage-fee. The regular rules of exogamy must be followed ;
a man must refrain from marrying a woman from his father's

clan, nor may he marry a woman from his mother's clan.
:
CH. XX] MARRIAGE AND BIRTH CUSTOMS 209
and, should a couple marry and afterwards discover that

there was a mistake and that they are too closely related,
they part at once and make an offering to the gods to atone
for the offence. Such cases are rare; it is almost impossible
to make such a mistake, though it has been known to
happen.
Cousin marriage. The marriage of first cousins is forbidden,
that is, the children of a brother and sister are forbidden to
marry, though they have different totems, but second cousins
may marry each other, if they are the grandchildren of the
brother and sister respectively, and if the father of one of them
was a son of that brother, and if the mother of one of them
was a daughter of that sister.
The marriage-fee. When a father has approached a woman's
relatives and they consent to the match, the youth is told the
amount he has to pay as the marriage-fee, and the two
are considered an engaged couple. The amount for the
marriage-fee varies according to the circumstances of the man
chiefs are expected to pay more than peasants, the payment
in their case being from two to five cows, whereas a peasant
is not expected to pay more than ten or twelve goats and
sheep, which are equal in value to one cow. Women are

fond of making their intended husbands pay large sums for
the marriage-fee it is a form their pride takes, as they can
:
afterwards boast of the sum that was paid for them and
its amount gives them honour in the eyes of their com-
panions.
Elopement. Sometimes young people arrange their own
matrimonial affairs and the bridegroom elopes with his bride
and carries her off to his father's house or to the house of a
brother of his father or to that of some friend. The bride's
relations have to hunt when she is discovered,
for her and,
the bridegroom is amount he has to pay as the marriage-
told the
fee. In such cases the bride remains with her husband and
the fee is paid as soon as he can find the money. There is no
punishment for this runaway marriage. The time it will take
to obtain the marriage-fee sometimes makes a young couple
impatient, and so they run away and marry, for it may be
R. B. t. . 14
fully a year before the man can obtain the amount demanded,
and during this time the young people may not meet or see
each other.
Marriage customs. When the marriage-fee is paid, the
bride's relations assemble at her parents' house in the evening
and escort the bride to her new home. They sleep in the
house with the bride the first night, and on the following day
the bridegroom's relatives entertain them at a grand meal
which is always well provided with such things as the natives
consider dainties, especially with butcher's meat. The bride
is present at this meal but is fed by a sister; and from this
time on to the end of her period of seclusion she is not allowed
to touch food with her hands, but is fed by her sister. She is
fed like a child, her sister smearing the food over her mouth
exactly as a mother does with her baby. The marriage day is
a day of music and dancing and of general rejoicing. After
this day and night of festivities the relatives return to their
homes, leaving the sister to remain with the bride and minister
to her. At the time the bride leaves her home her parents
admonish her to be faithful to her husband, to cook well, to
be obedient to him, to treat his guests with courtesy and to
give them of her best cooking. She is warned that, if she
neglects to follow these instructions and incurs her husband's
anger, they will not help her nor intercede for her and it will
be useless for her to come to them for help. The bridegroom's
father also admonishes his son to care for his wife and never
to be rough or unkind to her. When a bride arrives at her
new home, she stands outside until her husband comes out
and welcomes her and gives her a small present. A new
bark-cloth is spread on the floor for the bride to sit on, and
this becomes the property of the bride's aunt. The sister,

who remains with the bride during her period of seclusion and
attends to her wants, often becomes a second wife to the
bridegroom and does not return home, but allows the man
to find another marriage-fee for her and lives with him as his
wife. In the case of such a wife the preparatory ceremonies for
marriage are dispensed with, and she falls into her place as a
wife at once. The husband avoids his mother-in-law should ;
he wish to hold any communication with her he does so when

she is in another room.
Ending the period of marriage seclusion. At the end of the
month the bride begins her normal life, goes to dig her field
and undertakes her household duties. When three months are
completed, a bride returns home to her parents, is enter-
tained by them for one night and tells them all about her
life, and how she likes her husband; on the following day,
when she leaves for home, she is given a large supply of food
which is carried for her by relatives. This food she cooks and
prepares a special meal for her husband, who invites his friends
to join him and give their opinion of his wife's cooking abilities.
This meal is the ratification of the marriage, because it is a
voluntary act on the part of the wife and testifies that she
is satisfied with her new life. Should a wife be dissatisfied
with her husband, she goes home at the end of three months
and refuses to return to him. The relatives who were witnesses
at the engagement try to settle any misunderstanding; but
should the cause of disagreement be of such a nature as to
justify the breaking off of marriage relations, they return the
marriage-fee and the marriage is dissolved.
Marriage customs in the Central District. In the Central
District a youth is at times given an opportunity of choosing
his own wife and, when he has found the woman and possibly
spoken to her about marriage, he will tell his father whom he
wishes to marry. Another method which gives to the youth,
and also to the woman, an opportunity of deciding the ques-
tion of marriage for themselves is as follows the father makes:
a round of visits to parents who have daughters of a marriage-

able age and invites the women to assemble at some particular
house on a stated day at a fixed time. At the time appointed
the young women sit together in front of the house and the
youth walks out and sits before them. After greeting them
and talking to them for a short while, during which time they
scrutinise each other, the youth asks for a little water to drink
and the woman who rises to give it to him is the person who
agrees to become his wife. If he does not like the appearance of
the women, he does not ask for water and, if they do not like
;
14—2
;
his appearance, no one responds to his invitation to give it.

When everything is satisfactory, arrangements are made for
the marriage, the amount for the fee is decided and the young
people are engaged.
Another method by which a youth discovers whether a
woman will marry him is by taking a hoe which he places by
the door, and, after a short talk with the young woman, he
leaves her for a time and returns to see if she has taken the hoe.
If she has removed it, he accepts the token that she consents
to become his wife; should she have left it, he knows she
refuses to marry him.
It is a serious offence for a youth to try to get a woman
who is already betrothed to another to change her mind and
accept him. The relatives of the first suitor insist upon the
case being tried in court, and the guilty man is fined and
loses any gifts he may have given the woman or her parents
with a view to marrying their daughter.
Difference in marriage customs between the North-western
and Central Districts. Another difference in custom from the
North-western District is in the actual marriage, when the
bride is taken by her relatives to the bridegroom's house.
In the Central District a house is set apart for the bride
and her party and they reside in it for several days. Each
morning the party goes forth to dig the field which is to be
the bride's and they work hard until noon. During four days
they continue to dig, the bridegroom not being seen but pro-
viding the best possible food for these workers. On the fourth
day he sends a messenger to them with a present of fowls
and food and says he wishes to claim his bride in the evening
the bride's party thereupon make ready in the afternoon and
await the bridegroom, who goes at dusk to the house in which
they are assembled and scatters cowry-shells from the door of
own house, and the party follow picking up the
the house to his
cowry-shells as they go. A public meal takes place and the
bride enters upon the period of seclusion, but before she goes
into her house, she is taken to visit any female relatives of her
husband who live near and is introduced to them and to any
wives the man may have, if he is already married.
Birth.
Birth customs in the North-western District. After marriage

the husband and wife are anxious that there should soon be signs
of maternity ; there can be no true home-life for them where
there are no children, and the husband seeks to divorce a
barren wife. A
husband does not abandon his wife at once,
but, should she not have a child within her first year of marriage,
he becomes anxious and spares no pains to help her to obtain
the remedies and advice from medicine-men and gods. He
will take his wife to a god and ask help, and there are times
when the god tells the suppliant to go to some greater deity.
Walumba is the greatest god and should the local god advise
;
the couple to go to Walumba, he also tells them what offering

to take and instructs them how to approach the god and secure
his favour. Should there be no signs of birth after two years,
the wife is returned to her clan and another woman is given
in her place. Sometimes such a woman may elect to remain
with her husband, but her life is not happy without children.
Should a wife become a mother after seeking the aid of the god,
she makes a thank-offering to the god at the temple and very
probably calls the child after the name of the deity.
Tonic given to a pregnant woman. An expectant mother is
given various kinds of herbs to mix with water to drink daily.
The object of these herbs is twofold; they are expected to
assist the mother by giving her an easy delivery, and also they
make her offspring strong and healthy. During her period of
pregnancy the mother eats little salt and in many instances
none at all, because it is likely to give the child skin-disease.
Parents like their first child to be a girl, because the mother
will live longer and have more children, whereas, should the
child be a boy, the mother is likely to die without having any
more children. At birth, when the midwife has ascertained
the sex of the infant, she cuts the navel cord accordingly:
that of a boy is cut on a weeding-stick with a strip of reed taken
from the ceiling near the right side of the door that of a girl
;
is cut upon the mother's hoe handle with a strip of reed
taken from the ceiling on the left hand of the door. The
strip of reed used to cut the cord is tied to the middle pole of
the house and preserved until the child is received into the
clan. When the stump of cord falls from the child, the mother
preserves it, wraps it in plantain-fibre, and wears it in her
belt. The placenta is buried at the root of a plantain- tree,
the tree being chosen according to the sex of the child: the
tree chosen for the placenta of a girl is the kind used as a
vegetable, and that for a boy's is the kind used for making
beer. In each case the trees must have their flower-stem
pointing to Bunyoro. Some clans bury the afterbirth near the
door of the house, on the right side if the child is a boy, and
on the left if it is a girl. When the time comes for the child
to be named, the mother sits outside the house on the left of
the doorway and the midwife on the The relatives
right side.
place a pot of water before the midwife and she washes the
child, singing as she does so. This ceremony is said to
strengthen the child, and they say that it lengthens its life.
Children of wealthy parents are washed in a pot of milk which

is mixed with beer.
Acknowledging a child in a clan. The mother takes the
stump of umbilical cord and throws it on the floor on one side
of the house. The child is then received into the clan as a
full member. Some days later the father takes the child
to his father who gives it the name of some ancestor; a
child is never given the name of a living grandparent. The
mother continues to nurse her child until it is at least three
years old, and sometimes for a longer time. Names are
chosen of people who were known to have been fond of children.
Should a child die in infancy, the ghost after whom it was
called is said to have been the cause and, should two children
;
die, who have been named after that particular ghost, the
name is dropped and no child is called by it afterwards.
Children kept at home until marriage. Both boys and
girls live at home with their parents but boys have a small
;
house built for them near their father's house and live in it
until marriage, while girls live in the house with their parents
until they grow up. When a girl grows up and has her first
menses, she is taken to reside with a married brother with
whom she remains until marriage. Every woman during her

periods of menstruation is separated from men especially,
and usually from all members of her family, nor does she cook
for her husband or touch anything belonging to him.
Birth customs in the Central District. In the Central
District, when a woman finds the months passing after her
marriage without any signs of maternity appearing, she seeks
the aid of the god Gasani this is not done by going to any
:
temple, but rather by going to some spot where there is a large

ant-hillock which she climbs and faces first one quarter and
then another, calling upon the god to help her. She also
vows that an offering of a goat or of a fowl, according to
her circumstances, shall be made when the child is born.
After this visit to the god a medicine-man gives the woman
a mixture of herbs to drink daily, and also tells her how she
is to diet herself: she may

be called upon to eat alone and to
use special drinking cups, while salt and some other kinds
of food, especially certain vegetables, are forbidden until the
childis born. Should all go well and a child be born, the parents
with a few relatives take a goat and a fowl to the ant-hillock
upon which the woman stood when she called to the god,
build a shrine at the base of the hillock, and kill both the goat
and fowl; the blood of them is then offered to the god and
placed in a vessel in the shrine, the meat being cooked and
eaten near the shrine in the presence of the god. They thank
the god for hearing and answering their request and ask for a
blessing upon the child.
Disposal of the umbilical cord. At childbirth a woman,
besides undergoing similar rites to those performed in the
North-western District, pays more attention to the stump of
the umbilical cord. When it falls from the child, she goes
with the midwife into the plantation and seeks a tree about
to bear fruit which is of the same sex as the child and buries
the stump of the cord at the roots of the tree. The fruit,
when ripe, is given to the midwife who eats it alone, and the
plantain-tree from that time belongs to her, the parents never
eating the fruit from it.
Proving the legitimacy of a child. There is a much more
;
2l6 THE BASOGA [PT. V
severe test of legitimacy in this part than in the North-western

District. After the week of separation the midwife and her
assistant have a meal at which a small kind of fish and goat-
mutton are supplied. At this meal the midwife is given some
uncooked beans and sesame to eat; and, if the child sickens,
it is said to be illegitimate, whereas, if the wife has been faithful,
this ceremony makes the child stronger than before.

If it should happen that a child is proved to be illegitimate
either at the ceremony of naming it or at that of testing it at
the sacred meal, the mother is tied up to a post in the house
until she confesses who is the father of the child. The accused
man isbrought to confront the woman and is charged with
adultery. They are then taken out of the house both the man ;
and woman are stripped entirely naked and a wild gourd vine
is tied round the waist of each of them. The woman thereupon
stands with her legs apart and the man creeps through them
he then rises and comes to the woman, and possibly confesses
his guilt. Should he deny the charge of adultery he takes hold
of the woman's breast and asks her, "Shall I suck?" She
knows that, if she is telling a lie in accusing him, then, if she
consents to his tasting her milk, she will die; consequently
she will not permit him to taste it. Whereas
if she is speaking
the truth and the man is a he in denying

telling the charge,
she believes that he will die if he dares to taste her milk.
When, therefore, a woman consents to a man's sucking her
breast, he is condemned by the judges and is not often given
time for the milk to work his death; he is at once believed
to be guilty and the people kill him. In recent years the sen-
tence of death has been remitted and the fine of a cow and five
goats is now imposed.
When a child is three years old, vows are made by the
parents to the god on behalf of the child, if the god will protect
it. They go to the ant-hillock upon which the mother stood
before its birth, offer a white goat and a white fowl, and ask
the god Gasani to care for it. They then eat a meal and offer
the blood to the god. A medicine-man is called who shaves off
the hair of the mother and child, and takes the hair away with.
him. For his services he is paid a goat.
Should a child cut upper teeth before the lower, the

its
parents fear it will comebad end and they give a dance to

to a
the gods to preserve it from evil, because such a child will
cause the death of its parents, if it is allowed to live without
this ceremony being performed to avert the evil.
A woman who becomes the mother of several children is
commended by members of her own clan, who send and claim
every second child, that is to say half the number the father ;
has to redeem them with the assistance of his clan.

Birth of twins in North-western District. The birth of
twins is a joyous event. If the birth takes place in the
open, as most births do when children are born during the
day, the mother is taken into a small enclosure at the back
of the house, until a special house can be prepared for
her and her children. When the house is ready, the mother
and children enter and the door is closed and secured, a
fresh doorway being cut through the thatch at the back.
The house itself is divided into two parts, and the mother
and her children use one room which is kept private for
her use alone. The mother remains in her house for a
period varying from one to six months according to the
medicine-man's decision, while her husband obtains food for a
sacred meal to be given when the children are brought out.
During the day-time the mother is not allowed to come out
into the open, unless she covers her head and keeps her eyes
cast down to the ground. When the twins and their mother
have been secluded, the father goes to his parents carrying a
creeper of a wild gourd which he drops upon the doorstep and
departs quickly without a word he does the same at the house
;
of his wife's parents and then returns home. The grandparents

choose representatives to go and live in the house with the
twins, the paternal grandparents sending a boy and the
maternal grandparents sending a girl. These representatives
remain in the house until the twin ceremonies are completed.
Preparations for naming the twins. The afterbirths are
buried but the stumps of the umbilical cords are preserved by
the mother. The father goes about during his wife's period of
seclusion paying visits to his relatives and friends, and obtains
presents of food and animals for the final meal when the
ceremonies end. While the father is going about paying
these visits he may not eat food with any member of his clan
unless the person first pays him a few cowry-shells which are
kept for decorating the stumps of the umbilical cords he is

;
always welcomed by those he visits because he is supposed to

carry blessing wherever he goes. He reserves a little food
from each meal and carries it to his wife. The persons of both
husband and wife are sacred, and no man would dare speak a
sharp word to either of them at this time because they are
believed to be under divine protection. The father names the
day when the period of seclusion shall end, arranging the time
with the priest. Any member of his clan who has had a child
born during the period of twin-seclusion brings it to the house in
which these twins live to go through the ceremony of naming
it with the twins. In the morning of the day chosen to show
the twins to the relatives the mother makes a tour round the
nearer houses, singing and dancing, and food is given to her
which she carries home for the feast. While she is absent
from home, her husband sits by the door outside the house
with the thumb of his right hand bent into the palm of the
hand and the fingers closed over it he may not speak nor open
;
his hand until his wife returns. The remainder of the day is
spent in showing the children to friends, naming them, and in
dancing and rejoicing. In the early morning before daybreak
the boy who is the representative from the father's clan and
has lived in the house with the mother of the twins is brought
into the room in which the mother of the twins is dwelling, a
rope is tied round his waist and they lie on the bed a little
distance apart. The rope is held by two or three men who stand
outside. A lighted torch being held high to give light to them,
the boy works himself nearer to the woman, who welcomes
him and also draws near him. When he is about to embrace
her, the men pull the rope and drag him away. The woman
immediately rushes out of the room into the next room where
she meets her husband, and he has sexual relations with her.
The door of the house which has been closed during the time
of seclusion is now opened and the man and his wife come out,
the man by the original door and the wife by the door at the
back, and they run round the house naked in opposite direc-
tions. They next dress and the twin-ceremonies are ended;
the relatives and friends have an early meal and leave for their
homes. The boy from the father's clan and the girl from the
mother's clan are each given a goat and return to their homes.
After this the parents pay visits to relatives and friends as
they wish, with their children.
Birth of twins in the Central District. In the Central
District the birth of twins,though it brings a time of rejoicing,
is a cause of fear: the children are considered to be of
also
divine origin and any mistake in the ceremonies or in treating
them may be visited with divine displeasure, perhaps with
death. When twins are born, the midwife and her attendant
raise a shrill cry such as women raise to give the alarm when
they are in danger. All who hear this cry refrain from eating
any food until evening. This danger-call always causes
considerable excitement every person who hears it runs to
;
find out whether he is wanted and if he can be of assistance to

those in trouble or in danger. When the hearers of the cry
learn the cause, that it is the birth of twins, they have to fast
until evening. The newly-born children must not be removed,
nor may the umbilical cords be cut until a medicine-man has
come and sanctioned their removal. Most mothers are confined
out-of-doors, and the children are kept in the open until the
arrival of the medicine-man. This sage is summoned with
all haste and, after seeing the twins and giving advice, he
orders the midwife to remove them and to care for them. The
umbilical cords are cut with a knife which is only used as a
razor, and each afterbirth is put into a new cooking-pot and
kept in the house until the ceremonies end When the twins
are a boy and a girl, each child has its medicine-man to care for
it,and both of these men, as also the parents of the twins,
wear two cowry-shells on their foreheads to mark them as
connected with twins.
Announcing thebirth of twins to the chief. The husband's
son takes a bark-cloth to the district chief and drops it
sister's
at the door saying, "I have brought the children," and then
turns and flees. The people of the place try to catch him,
and should they do so, his relatives have to pay the ransom
of a goat for his release in order that he may continue his
duties in connection with the twins. This youth has to go
both to the father's and to the mother's parents he takes a
;
hoe to each house, drops it by the door, and flees back to the
house in which the twins live. A representative is sent from the
clan of each of the grandparents of the children, a boy from
the paternal grandparents and a girl from the maternal grand-
parents. These two representatives are directly responsible
for the welfare of the twins, whom they must not leave by
day or by night until all the ceremonies of birth are fulfilled.
The mother's period of seclusion. The door of the house
in which the mother and children live is closed and a new door-
way is cut at the back of the house and enclosed by a fence to
prevent outside friends from approaching it. Thus the mother
and her children can move about without risk of being seen.
The mother, however, is not allowed outside the house during
the day time. Should circumstances compel her to go out,
she covers her head with a bark-cloth and keeps her eyes
fixed on the ground lest she should see the sun, because this
would cause the death of the twins. The father of the twins is
free to go about when the representatives have arrived and
taken charge of the children It is his duty to pay visits to
his relatives and to those of his wife and to obtain goats and
fowls for the final meal which takes place when the ceremonies
end. During the time of preparation for the final ceremonies
the parents are not allowed to see blood, and the father is
expected to return each night to sleep at home. Should he

find this impossible, he may not sleep in any house without
first paying the woman to allow him to stay there. When
the husband has collected sufficient goats and fowls for the
final meal, he announces to the relatives the day for this special
meal at which the naming of the twins is to take place, and
he calls upon them to brew beer and prepare vegetable food
for the occasion.
Purificatory rites at the end of the seclusion period. Early
in the morning the parents, accompanied by the two medicine-
men and the father's sister's son, take the two pots containing
the afterbirths to some ant-hillock near and deposit them at
the base of it. The hut is swept out during their absence and
on their return a goat, a sheep and a fowl are killed in the house
in the presence of the parents and the blood is made to flow
into the fireplace on to the ashes. The skins of these animals
are made up into two bags and the stump of each child's umbili-
cal cord is put into them and preserved. A bark-cloth is
spread before the door of the house and the father of the twins
sits on it; the two medicine-men come and beg from him and
he gives a present to each of them. The twins are then
brought out and the midwife washes them in a mixture of
beer and water. The father's sister's son shaves the heads
of the children and of the parents and, as he does so, each of
them receives five cowry-shells.
Any child born during the time the twin-ceremonies have
been in performance is brought and washed in the bowl of
beer and water in which the twins have been washed. He is
then named and receives a blessing. On the following morning
the mother and boy go through the ceremonies as in the North-
western District.
CHAPTER XXI
SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL
The cause Methods of diagnosing sickness— treatment of
of sickness.
the dead —the grave in the house—setting the ghost —mourning free
—ceremony to end mourning—burial customs the Central in
District — disposal of the skull of a chief — treatment of dead
peasants — burial of women, unmarried men and children.
The causes of sickness. Methods of diagnosing sickness.

Sickness is rarely if ever attributed to natural causes, but is
generally said to be the result of magic or of ghostly possession ;
a medicine-man is required to discover the cause of sickness

and inform the relatives who is its author; he also destroys
the magic and prescribes remedies for the sick person after
the spell has been removed. There are various tests used to
discover whether it is magic which is causing the sickness and
if so who the guilty person is who has worked it. A favourite
method used to discover magic
a pot with water and
is to fill
place the pot in a sling used for carrying milk-pots; the

medicine-man swings it round his head and, as he does so, he
mentions the name of the man supposed to have been guiltv
of magic-making. If, after swinging the pot round several
times, no water is spilled, the man is declared to be innocent,
whereas, if some of it spills, he is pronounced to be guilty;
should no water spill another name is repeated and the medicine-
man again performs the ceremony and goes on with name after
name until the guilty person is discovered. The intestines of
a goat or fowl are often used to discover the origin of sickness,
when people can afford to supply the medicine-man with a
goat or fowl. Some men prefer to cast nine leather slips,
and, according to the position they take, the case is judged.
Sometimes, when the sickness is pronounced to be due to
;
CH. XXI] SICKNESS, DEATH AND BURIAL 223
magic, a fetish, Nakalondo, is asked to help to discover the

person guilty of working magic. The god comes by night and
calls through the closed door the name of the person and also
describes what he has done. Any person thus accused by a
medicine-man is brought before the local authority and asked
to explain why he has worked magic. The chief is thus able
to settle the case, if it is due to some dispute; the spell is
removed and the medicine-man can treat and cure the patient.
In certain cases a medicine-man will decide to transfer the
illness to a goat or fowl or a bunch of herbs, after consulting
his oracle. The animal is brought into the sick man's presence
and tied to him if it is a fowl or bunch of herbs, the patient
;
is brushed over with it and the sickness is commanded to leave
him. The animal, bird, or bunch of herbs is taken to waste

land, and is killed and left there, unless, in the case of an
animal, the medicine-man takes the meat and eats it himself.
At other times an oracle may declare sickness to be due to
ghostly possession and the medicine-man has to exorcise the
ghost ;after capturing it, he takes it away and destroys it.
Pain, such as headache or any other ache, the oracle may
declare to be due to a bone or to some insect having got
into the body, and the medicine-man has to extract it.
Medicine is given to cause the object to come to the sur-
face and poultices made and applied to the place
of herbs are
until the object have been brought to the surface,
is said to
when the medicine-man makes an incision and a bone or an
insect is produced and pronounced to have been the cause of
the pain.
Death.
Treatment of the dead. Should all the skill of the medicine-

man fail and death ensue, the faithful watchers who have been
caring for the sick person give no sign to cause others to suspect
that death has taken place until they have removed as much
of the patient's wealth from the house as is possible without
incriminating themselves to some place of safety. When all
is safe, wailing begins and members of the clan assemble to
take part in the mourning and burial, and to appoint the heir
:
leading members of the clan now remove everything of value

left in the house of the dead and place the property in some place
ready and commence the funeral preparations.
for distribution,
The body is washed by the widows, but the deceased man's
sister's son has to carry the water and make the sponges for
washing the body; the legs are straightened, the arms are
crossed on the breast, and the corpse, wrapped in a bark-
cloth, is carried out of the house until the grave is dug.
The grave in the house. A deep pit is dug in the house
in which death took place if the deceased was a chief, the pit
;
is dug much larger than is necessary to receive the body.
This is lined with bark-cloths, a bed is made in the middle of

the pit and the corpse is laid on it, after the members of the
clan have taken leave of the dead in the open where the body
lay. After the body is laid in the grave, it is covered with
bark-cloths and is guarded until the heir arrives. The leading
members of the clan choose the heir, they also accompany
him to the house and announce him to the mourners. When
the heir arrives, an ox is brought to the door and he spears it
and rushes away to a house prepared for him to live in during
the season of mourning; he thus seeks to escape the poor
members of the clan who try to capture him and beat him with
sticks to extort promises of presents and beer from him. Those
who remain in the house of the dead take the ox and cut it up
and divide the meat for a meal in the presence of the dead.
A portion of the meat is cooked for the ghost of the corpse
this is placed in the grave at his feet, the remainder being
eaten by the assembled mourners. The meat
for the dead is
put into a wooden vessel and covered with bark-cloths, while
another empty vessel is put under the head of the dead man,
intended to catch the skull when it drops from the body.
Every member of the clan brings one or more bark-cloths
according to his circumstances and these are spread in the
grave and almost fill it, leaving only a little room for earth.
Two young men or boys, sons of the deceased man's sister,
go into the garden and break off two leaves from a plantain
tree, cut out the midrib and come and stand one at the head
and the other at the foot of the grave holding the midribs in
:
the grave as the earth is thrown in when a quantity of earth

;
has been thrown in upon them, they draw them out, carry
them away and hide them in the garden.
Setting the ghost of the dead free. When all is ready for
the earth to be thrown into the grave, the chief widow steps
into the grave and catches two handfuls of earth as it is thrown.
That in her right hand is from the first spadeful of earth and
that in her left hand is from the second. She steps from the
grave, rolls the earth into a ball and carries it to the nearest
bush or small tree and throws it over it saying, "If they have
caught you, fly free." This precaution is taken because it is
said that the person who caused the death may

have also
captured the ghost with the object of tormenting it and of
killing it. This ball of earth from a grave is said to have
greater efficacy than the strongest magic and can therefore
release a captive ghost. The grave is filled with earth and the
floor is made level, and the widows now occupy the house
during the season of mourning. It is the office of the heir
to regulate the daily mourning and he states when it is to end.
Should the heir be a chief of importance, his sub-chiefs build
temporary huts in the vicinity and await their new chief's
instructions, but they take no part in the mourning, their
duties being purely concerned with matters of state. They
therefore eat and drink freely and indulge themselves in every
respect.
Mourning for the dead. On the day of the funeral the
mourners sleep round the grave and on the following day they
build huts around the tomb, in which they live until the mourn-
ing ends. Each mourner wears a girdle of dried plantain
leaves round the waist, the knot by which the girdle is tied
being made at the back, this is a distinctive feature of
mourning; they also wear a band of plantain fibre round the
head. At dawn of each day the mourners prostrate themselves
on the grave and wail, calling upon the dead to return, asking
why he has left them, and what they are to do without him
they remain at the grave wailing from two to three hours,
taking turns to prostrate themselves and utter their cry. At
the end of three weeks a quantity of beer is brought by relatives
r. b. t. 15
who have not been able to take part in the mourning; those
mourners who feel unable to continue mourning, or who are
disinclined to remain longer, drink the beer and return to

their ordinary occupations. Some of the beer is poured on
the ground at the head of the grave before any is drunk, the
remainder is drunk and those who drink it must retire, as must
also any who have not kept the strict rule of sexual avoidance
or who have broken any other taboo of mourning. No married
woman may return home alone; her husband must come for
her, and he must redeem her by bringing a pot of beer and a goat,
for unless he does this she must remain in the neighbourhood
with members of her clan even when the mourning ends. A
wife is not allowed to drink beer with the others who wish to
retire at the end of three weeks, unless her husband has come
for her. Mourners are always members of one clan and are
so related that there is seldom any danger of their yielding to
sexual desires; and the widows live apart in the tomb itself
and are thus safe from temptation. It is believed that the
earth on the grave will crack and that the couple who do wrong
will be killed by the ghost, should any mourner yield to such
desires during the period of mourning. When therefore any
man or woman is guilty of any breach of continence, he or she
flees away in order to be safe from the ghost.
Ceremony to end mourning. When the heir announces
that the mourning is to end, the clan and friends bring pots of
beer to the grave. The mourners open the grave, removing all
the earth from the uppermost bark-cloths and spreading a
number of new bark-cloths over the old ones. The earth is
replaced and beer is poured on it for the dead, as it is thrown
in ; this binds and a small mound is made over

it together,
the grave, beaten hard, and rubbed smooth. In the morning
the sisters of the deceased man boil butter and smear the
mound over the grave with it and make the clay perfectly
smooth after this ceremony the mourners shave their heads
;
and bathe in some stream and return for a meal which is eaten
together. They are then free to return to their homes. Before
the mourning ends the lower jaw-bone of a chief is removed,
cleansed and wrapped in a skin well decorated with cowry-
shells. then taken to a temple in a remote part of the

It is
district where the jaw-bones of all former chiefs have been
placed and are preserved. The guardian is a priest and
medium he holds converse with the ghost and conveys any
;
message to the ruling chief.

During the time of mourning the door of the house is
thrown into the open space before the gateway and is left
there as a sign to other people not to enter the enclosure
because of the mourning. When the rites end and the mourn-
ing ceases, the house is deserted and never repaired; no
person may live in it, though the chief's house is built near
the site.
Burial customs in the Central District. In the Central

been buried some months, his ghost
District, after a chief has
appears to one of the relatives and tells him, " I wish to
move." The new chief is told and at once orders the grave
to be opened and the skull, which has by this time dropped
into the wooden bowl mentioned above, is taken out of
the grave, and the earth is filled in again. The skull is
cleansed and three skins are made ready to enclose it, one
being that of a cow, the second that of a sheep, and the third
that of a gazelle; the beads the chief wore round his neck
are used to fill in the eye-sockets. Before the first skin is
wrapped around the skull, it is damped and stretched tightly

round the skull and stitched when it dries, it becomes very
;
tight. The second skin is treated in the same manner and,

when it is dry, the last skin is added in the same way. The
outside is then decorated with cowry-shells.
Disposal of the skull of a chief. A woman is sought from the
clan to which the nurse of the deceased chief belonged and she is
taken to the new chief, who explains to her the duty of guarding
the skull and how she is to become the medium of the ghost
and attend to its wants. She is furnished with a female goat,
a cow and a hen, which are intended to provide food for the
ghost. A special escort conducts the woman to a place called
Nakazungu, which is on the Mpologoma river, where a large
house is built for her. The skull is put into a shrine, which is
more of the nature of a temple it is the house of the ghost.
;
15—2
In this temple the skull of the last chief is always kept in state
until another chief dies, when his skull takes the place of the
former. The skull which is removed is taken to a forest on an
island in the river Mpologoma, where it is deposited in the open
with the skulls of former chiefs a spear is also taken from the
;
temple and is stuck into the ground beside the skull. The
woman who was guardian of the skull and medium of the
ghost of the previous chief goes to live in the forest, there to
continue her duties as medium to the ghost which she still
represents, though few people ever seek any oracle from this
chief when there is the new ghost in the temple. This sacred
forest has a special guardian who has general charge of the
skulls and mediums. When a skull is removed from the
temple and added to the number in the forest, special offerings
are made a cow, a sheep and a goat are offered, which must
:
be white, the offering being made in the forest and the meat
being left with the guardian, who is also given a woman to
wife. When the escort returns to the chief and gives him the
account of their journey and all they have done, how the skull
is installed and the other taken to the forest, he kills an ox and
they have a special meal with a free supply of beer. The new
chief sends offerings to the ghost of his father, and the medium
becomes possessed by the ghost and reveals the wishes of the
deceased.
Treatment of dead peasants. When a peasant dies, the
death-wail begins as soon as the man is known to be dead and
the funeral rites take place at once. The grave is dug in the
house while the body, after being washed and prepared for
the funeral, lies outside for the final farewell ceremony, when
the relatives file past and gaze on the features. The burial
takes place the same day, when the grave is filled in and
the earth beaten hard over it; the main posts of the house
are removed and the roof is allowed to fall down upon the
grave.
Burial of women, unmarried men and children. Women,
young unmarried men and children are buried in the gardens
near the house in which they lived, because they have no house
of their own. Ornaments are frequently put upon the dead
to enrich them in the ghost-world. When a man's wife dies,

her relatives supply her husband with another wife to become
heir to the dead woman. The husband makes a present to
the clan, but pays no marriage-fee. At harvest time shrines
are usually rebuilt near graves, and offerings to the dead are
made to secure their blessing upon the harvest and full enjoy-
ment of the crops.
—
CHAPTER XXII
GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRIES, PLEASURES, BUILDING
AND WARFARE
The chief the owner of —sub-chiefs and their powers
the land
inheritance — —adultery
disposal of property in the Central District
— fornication condoned—magistrates—theft—agriculture the chief
pursuit — sowing seed and harvest customs — blessing twins of
sought when sowing seed—cow-keeping —cow-keeping in the
Central District— breeding sheep and goats—women forbidden to
eat fowls and eggs the Central District—hunting customs
in
hunting the hippopotamus —hunting small game—building methods
—building customs the Central District—dress and ornaments
in
—causes of war—weapons and methods of fighting
scarifications
making peace the Central District—insecurity of
in —blood
life
feuds.
The owner of the land.

chief the Each of these three
districts of Busoga is governed by a paramount chief who is
said to be the owner of the land. His family has for many
generations been the head of the tribe and his relatives have
been the undisputed rulers. For many years the chief of a
district has been under the suzerainty of another country:
for some time this has been Uganda, though all the details of
government of each district have been left with the paramount
chief and there has been no appeal to Uganda, except in the
question of a man taking his place as heir to a deceased chief
when there have usually been several claimants for possession.
Each has numbers of sub-chiefs
district indeed a peasant
;
may become a chief at any time,

if he can so advance himself
as to be able to provide enough cattle to pay the paramount

chief a handsome present, and if he also has a few men at his
command. Once a sub-chief is established in office, he pays
no taxes because there are no taxes levied in the country by
CH. XXTl] CHIEFS AND INHERITANCE 231
any chief;still, a peasant acknowledges his over-chief by
giving him presents of goats, sheep and, sometimes, a cow,

and by making him gifts of beer and food, and especially at
harvest by sending to him quantities of grain. The para-
mount chief appoints sub-chiefs, and has the power to depose
them if he wishes to do so, but he seldom deposes a man
except for some flagrant fault. Chiefs who purchase their
land regard it as freehold and cannot be deposed.
Sub-chiefs and their powers. These sub-chiefs have little
power over their peasants and it is when they

only in disputes,
act as magistrates, that the majority of peasants look up to
them for any guidance. Should a man wish to have the free-
hold rights of a plot of land, he first consults the medicine-
man, who divines whether the place is free from ghosts and
ascertains that be a healthy spot for the man and his

it will
family and also likely to yield good crops. Having received
satisfactory accounts of a site the man pays the District chief
a sum for the land; the next thing is to dig a portion of his
ground and in the cultivated plot to dig a pit. He then calls
a few friends and members of his clan to come and witness a
ceremony and assist him in it. He kills a goat over the pit
as an offering to the earth-god and lets the blood of his victim
run into the pit. The animal's head is laid in the pit together
with the head of a tortoise, and he then cooks the meat of the
goat and eats a meal with his friends by the pit, afterwards
filling in the earth and burying the heads of the goat and
tortoise. He may then plant his field with plantains and sow
his seeds and the earth-god gives his blessing. He also knows
that no man can ever turn him off that plot of land it is his :
and his children's after him.

Inheritance. At death a man's property passes to the
possession of the clan ; it is the duty, of the leading members of
the clan to decide who
be the successor to any deceased
shall
person. A son of the deceased is given the first consideration,
but the members do not feel obliged to make a son heir because,
by the laws of the tribe, all men of the clan are related and there-
fore have an equal right to any property a man may leave at
his death. If, therefore, the responsible members of the clan
;
consider another man better qualified to become the heir

than one of the real sons, they do not hesitate to appoint him.
The sons feel no grievance, if they are overlooked in the dis-
posal of their father's property they hope they may be chosen
;
to inherit the goods of some other person in the near future.

When a man dies having a large herd of cattle, it is usual to
give some to each of his children if there are only a few beasts,
;
they are given to the heir, who is responsible for the debts of the
deceased and has to settle them, if the claims are made within
a reasonable time after the death of the debtor. One ox is
set aside to be speared by the heir at the funeral. The clan-
bracelet is taken from the wrist of the dead man and is put on
the wrist of the heir. Household property is usually divided
among the children. Widows are given the choice to go to
the heir, to go to the sons, or to return to their own clan.
Should they decide to go to their own clan, their relatives are
requested to restore the sum that was paid them at the time
of marriage. There are times when a widow elects to go to
some member of the clan of her deceased husband other than
a son, and this is permissible. It is permissible for a man to
marry any of his father's widows provided they are not from
the same clan as his own mother.
Disposal of property in the Central District. In the Central
District it is the custom when any man dies, having grown-up
sons, for these young men to try to remove all their father's
property and leave the clan and heir the land only. The bailiff
tries to rescue the property and often has to resort to force of
arms to preserve it, especially to secure any cattle there may be.
Adultery. Men are much more lenient with their wives in
Busoga when they have yielded to sexual desires than in
Uganda. A husband will pardon his wife for two or three
offences, if she promises to be faithful in the future; should
she continue her evil course, after being warned, the husband
divorces her and demands the marriage- fee from her clan.
If the woman returns to her clan, they refund the money
but, if she goes to live with her lover, he has to pay the
amount. This plan of divorce and repayment is the usual and
common form of law for settling cases of adultery.
CH. XXII] CRIMES 233
In the Central District when a man is proved to be guilty

of adultery, he is fined a cow.
Fornication condoned. An unmarried woman is not con-
demned for unchastity, unless she becomes with child. Should
a man discover his sister in this condition, he questions her
as to her lover ; the man
then questioned and asked to marry
is
the woman and amount he is expected to pay. If

told the
he does not pay this fee and take the woman to wife, the
brother turns her adrift in disgrace and she has to find a home
with some member of another clan. Such outcasts are wel-
comed by other clans who take care of the woman and, when
her child is born, they provide for her and her infant until
she marries, when they claim the marriage-fee. When a
sister is thus turned out by her brother, he calls in a medicine-
man who kills a goat and cooks a meal for the inmates, thus
purifying the house from any taint and propitiating the god
of the family the skin of the sacrificial animal, with any food
;
that is over, the medicine-man carries away with him and

thus removes all evil from the family.
Treatment of fornication in the Central District. In the
Central District when an unmarried woman is found with
child she must not eat with her parents or any member of her
family, she has her meals alone. When she confesses the name
of her seducer, he is tried and if proved guilty, the woman
is sent to live with him as his wife. When the child is born,
the man takes a sheep and a goat as a peace-offering to the
woman's parents, a medicine-man comes and purifies the
guilty couple, the animals are killed and all eat a meal together
in the open air. The man then brings the marriage-fee and
the woman is his legitimate wife.
Magistrates. Each chief is a magistrate in his neighbour-
hood ; to him any man may if he has a complaint to make.
go,
He pays his fee of a fowl or a goat or, it may be, only a few
cowry-shells, and the chief summons the accused to appear
and account for his doings. The case is tried and the punish-
ment inflicted according to the offence. The judge is paid a
goat by the man who wins the case.
Theft. Theft is common in Busoga; the people bear the
name throughout this part of Africa of being the greatest

adepts at thieving. a man is accused of theft, he may
When
appeal to some test a favourite test is for a medicine-man to
;
flick a glass-bead into the accused man's eye, and, should it
stick, he is guilty but if it falls out he is innocent. Another

test is to heat an ordinary earthen pot with fire and apply it to
the stomach of the accused man : if it sticks to the flesh, the
man is guilty but, if it comes away leaving no mark, he is inno-
cent. The punishment for theft is to deprive the guilty
person of all his property.
Industries.
Agriculture the chief pursuit. Agriculture is the chief

pursuit of these people ;
every household has and the
its field
house is built on or adjoining the field or arable land, whether the

householder be a tenant or the owner. Chiefs generally build
a high fence round their houses with only one gateway leading
through it which can be shut and guarded against intrusion. In
this enclosure the chief may have several wives and some
slaves in addition to his retainers sometimes they number
:
over a hundred in all. To keep these wives and retainers

supplied with food he has extensive groves of plantains each ;
wife has her plot of land and has room on one side or other to
reclaim more land, should she desire to do so. As the man
adds to the number of his wives he also increases the land
under cultivation. A man assists his wife or wives in their
work in the fields and does the heavier work in the plantain
groves. The chief food is plantain supplemented by sweet
potatoes. Millet is grown for brewing beer; few people ever
grow it for flour, the majority use it for making malt for
fermenting their beer, the kind usually grown being a bitter
kind unfit for flour. Many women have a plot of sesame and
yams, and a few grow beans and peas with a little maize, but
these are all luxuries and not necessaries of life. Before
grain sown the owner carries a little seed to the medicine-
is
man, who powders certain herbs over it to cause it to grow and

also to keep off insects and birds; the owner also carries back
CH. XXII] AGRICULTURE 235
some herbs to spread over the field. When the seed grows
and is in ear and the people are afraid of birds robbing it,
they obtain powdered herbs from the medicine-man and scatter
this powder over the field the workers must remain quiet
;
for some time after scattering the powder as otherwise it will

lose its efficacy. Should any person passing salute the workers,
they must not reply but ignore the greeting; the period for
which silence is enjoined is the day on which the herb-powder
is scattered.
When a newly-married couple begin housekeeping and cul-
tivate their crop of millet, they take a little of the first-
first
fruits to the husband's father before they use any of the harvest
themselves.
Sowing and harvest customs. At the beginning of each
season, before sowing, a medicine-man is consulted and gives
his blessing to the land and seed; and, when the harvest is
reaped, the people take a few grains of corn in each hand and
throw them over their shoulders, first the right and then the left,
saying, "Give us blessing in eating." A few grains are then
thrown in front and the words are repeated.
The blessing of twins sought at sowing seed in the
Central District. In the Central District, when a woman has
twins, the people to whose clan she belongs do not sow any
seed until the twins have been brought to the field. A pot of
cooked grain is set before the children with a cake of sesame
and all the seed that is to be sown. The food is eaten by
the people assembled and afterwards the field is sown in the
presence of the twins; the plot is then said to be the field of
the twins. The mother of twins must sow her seed before
any person of her clan will sow theirs. The medicine-man
sends special herbs to mix with the seed which is to be sown.
When the harvest is ripe, the people take a little of each kind
of food from the field and put it in the road to be walked on
by all passers. This action is said to ensure safety in eating
the food.
When a woman is about to sow beans, she adds a little
butter to the basket of seeds and stirs them up until all the seed
is well greased, and in this greasy state they are put into a
bag generally used for keeping salt. This seed is said to be

certain to grow with the butter and any salt that may cling
to it from the sides of the bag. It is also customary for a
woman to smear butter on her body when she goes to weed
and hoe her plot of beans, because it is said to impart powers
of fertilization to the beans.
Cow-keeping. The tribe of Basoga are fond of cows ; even
a peasant strives to have his cow.The kind of cow commonly
known as the Busoga cow is a smaller breed than either the
Uganda or the Ankole breeds and is mostly black or black and
white, with an inclination to a hump.
Chiefs keep their cows
in a small kraal and the always in the open by night,
cattle are
whereas peasants keep their animals in the house with the
family, the cow having its special place near the door. When
a cow has a calf, its milk is taboo for general use, and some
male member of the family is set apart to drink it during the first
few days until the navel-cord falls from the calf. The boy or
man who drinks the milk observes certain restrictions such as
not drinking milk from any other cow, and he eats no salt.
When the stump of cord falls from the calf, a number of rela-
tives come together and drink the first lot of milk, and after
the ceremony the milk becomes common to all members of
the family. Women are strictly excluded from milking or
herding or from having anything to do with the cows; they
must not come into contact with the animals, they may churn,
wash the milk-vessels and smoke them only. Butter is chiefly
used for anointing the body, but it is also used as food with
their plantains when desired.
Cow-keeping in the Central District. In the Central District,
when a cow calves, it is milked, but the milk is boiled and set
aside until the stump of the umbilical cord falls from the calf.
When this takes place, the owner of the cow calls his friends
together and provides each of them with a small cup made of
plantain-leaf,and they drink the milk. The cow is tied near
by during the ceremony and, when the milk is drunk the men
pass the cow and tap it on the head between the horns with
the cups, as they pass. The calf is next brought out of the
house into the open for all to see, this being the first time that
CH. XXII] SHEEP AND GOATS 237
it comes out of the house from the time of its birth. After
this ceremony the milk is common to all and women may also
drink it.
Sheep and goats. Few sheep are kept in comparison with

goats, though there is why they should not
no special reason
be more commonly bred, except that the people find that goats
are more prolific and they have moreover come to like the
flesh better than that of sheep. Busoga is noted for a kind of
long-haired goat which seems to thrive there, whereas in other
parts of the country its coat is not nearly so good. The hair
is often ten and sometimes twelve inches long and is used for
decorative purposes head-dresses, shields, drums and trumpets

:
are frequently decorated with this beautiful hair. Some chiefs

also wear aprons of this skin, when going to war. Women are
forbidden to eat mutton and fowls, though they may freely
eat goat's flesh. Sheep are said to be much hardier than
goats, and lambs go out to pasture at birth with the mother,
though kids are kept at home until about a month old. The
Busoga sheep is much larger and finer than the sheep of Uganda
and has an enormous tail which trails on the ground. Sheep
are clubbed to death, as in Uganda; it is thought to be a
sure token of some misfortune, should a sheep see the man
who comes forward to kill it. Goats are kept in large flocks
and are bred chiefly for paying off debts and for purchasing
wives. Every peasant has a number of goats which sleep in
the houses of his wives, tethered by a foot to a peg in the
ground near the wall. Children herd the flocks in the vicinity
of their houses. Few people will kill and eat goats, except
they be chiefs or wealthy men. The common people, though
very fond of butcher's meat, live almost entirely upon vege-
table food.
Women forbidden to eat fowls and eggs. In the Central
District women may eat the flesh of either sheep or goats.
There are no restrictions forbidding mutton, as in so many parts
of Africa among Bantu tribes; fowls only are forbidden and
their eggs are also forbidden to women.
Fishing. Along the banks of the river Nile, and also
along the shores of the Lake Victoria, there are fishermen
who give their time to this industry and, though they have
fields and grow plantains, still their principal occupation is
fishing, agriculture being left to their wives. Basket-traps

and lines let down in deep water with the end of the rope
attached to floats are the chief means of fishing on the Lake,
though the rod and line are also used. On the river Nile
basket-traps form the principal method of fishing. A large
quantity of the fish caught is smoked over wood fires so that
it keep several weeks. Smoked fish is carried many
will
miles to inland markets where it is bartered for food, or for
things such as household utensils, salt, iron and clothing.
Hunting customs. The country does not furnish extensive
hunting-grounds, and is too small in area and too thickly
populated to be a home for wild animals. Herds of elephants,
however, at times cross the country when passing from one
feeding-ground to another; and there are men who are ever
ready to risk their lives in the hope of obtaining a tusk of ivory
and meat which they can turn to profit. Before going out on
an expedition a hunter pays a visit to the god of the chase.
The god is supposed to inhabit uncultivated land, and thither
the hunter with some of his followers repairs, taking with him
a goat and a fowl. These victims are killed and their blood,
with the heads, is offered to the god. The meat is then cooked
and eaten by the worshippers, who ask the god to give them
success and to protect them from danger. After this meal the
man collects his beaters, of whom he likes to have a large num-
ber, even a hundred when possible. The only weapon they
use when going out to hunt elephants is the spear. The
elephant-spear is a special kind, the blade of it is of the
usual leaf-shape pattern; but it has a long iron shank, some
eighteen inches long, with a socket into which a short heavy
wooden shaft is fitted. The end of the shaft has a large knob
to make the spear heavy, and to it a long cord is attached, the
other end being tied to the tree where the hunter hides. He
selectsa tree with branches hanging over the path, and upon
this he takes his stand and throws his spear as the animal
passes under him. Several huntsmen climb trees and hide,
while the beaters surround the herd of animals and drive
CH. XXII] HUNTING 239
them under the trees, the chief huntsman being given time to
choose and strike his animal before the others attempt to
spear any of them. When an animal is speared, it usually
stops and trumpets and looks for its foe, which enables the
other huntsmen to discover it. One of them now calls to it
and, as it rushes forward to the place whence the sound comes,
it is again speared The rope attached to the spear tears it
out of the flesh, as the animal flees away, and gives the man
time to recover his weapon and use it again, when possible.
By calling to an animal, huntsmen can usually detain and kill
it, though at times they have to follow a wounded beast for
several days before they can come up with it. One tusk of an
animal becomes the property of the chief huntsman, and the
second belongs to the chief in whose district the beast is killed.
The meat is cut up and dried for sale. The men usually build
huts where the animal drops and cut up the flesh, dry it upon
frames over wood fires and then carry it off for sale. After
a successful hunt an offering is taken to the god of the chase.
During their expedition huntsmen are careful to abstain from
washing and from any contact with women.
Hunting the hippopotamus. Preparations for hunting the
hippopotamus are much the same as those for elephant hunt-
ing. Weapons are taken to the god of the chase for his blessing
and are sharpened. The weapon used in this case is a harpoon
attached to a float. The men go out in canoes to a place
known .to be frequented by hippopotamuses and wait for an
animal to rise in the water. The hunter throws his harpoon
with sufficient force to drive it home and the men paddle
away to some place of safety. When an animal is thus har-
pooned, it tries to escape by diving, unless it sees the canoe,
when it will make an effort to come up with it and, if successful,
it will destroy it and possibly kill some of the men or they ;
may be drowned, as few canoe-men can swim. A speared

animal is awaited until it has to rise to breathe, when it is
again harpooned and possibly killed. When dead it is towed
to the shore and its flesh is cut up and dried in the sun. The
meat very fat and only a few people care to eat it.
is
Small game. Small game is hunted into nets which are

stretched to enclose some yards of scrub, and beaters drive
the animals into them with clubs and dogs. Beaters go armed
with clubs and spears and also have a number of dogs, two or
three of which have bells tied round their bodies to indicate
where they are; the people also say that bells protect dogs
from the attacks of snakes. These men drive game into the
nets, and other men are stationed beside the net, hidden behind
some bush where they await the animals and spear them down
when they become entangled in the net. Before going to hunt
the chief huntsman goes into the bush, taking a fowl with him,
and calls upon the god of the chase to help them and to give
them success. He kills the fowl and pours the blood on the
ground and afterwards burns the fowl to dust which he scatters
in all directions, as he calls upon the god for success. Meat
taken in a hunt is divided before the men leave the spot where
it was taken, the entrails of the animal being given to the dogs,
a leg reserved for the chief of the district, and the remainder
divided equally among all who took part in the hunt. During
an expedition no hunter may wash his hands or body.
Building. The style of architecture is similar to that of
Uganda. A dome framework of reeds or thin canes, resting upon
pillars of stout trees and thatched thickly, is the Busoga house.
When about to build, a man measures out the site he wants
for his house and levels it; he then plants his poles, which are
to support the frame, in lines ranging in height from the
central poles to those near the sides. The roof always comes
down to the ground on all sides and the doorway is cut into
this dome, and a porch is built over it. Thatching begins at
the ground and ends with a pinnacle at the top. The
poles are always the most difficult part of the work and often
have to be carried long distances, and frequently twenty-nine
or more men are necessary to carry each tree to make a pole.
The reeds and grass are brought by each workman as he goes
to his work daily. Men go to work about seven o'clock in
the morning and leave at about two o'clock in the afternoon.
The floor is of clay beaten hard and smeared over with cow-
dung. Each house is divided into two rooms, the back room
being used as the sleeping apartment. Often, in peasants'
;
CH. XXII] HOUSES, BUILDING, DRESS 24I
houses, the division is made by a bark-cloth only; in good

nouses the division is a reed- wall. The fire is made in the
middle of the where a log of
floor, wood smoulders by day and
is made to blaze by There are no sanitary arrangements
night.
in connection with a house; the garden is the usual place to
relieve nature, and the excretions are covered with a little
earth, thus keeping the place from becoming foul. When a
man enters a new hut, his wife cooks a special meal, and a few
friends are called in to share it and thus give the house its
warming.
Building customs in the Central District. In the Central
District, when a man is building a new house, he must live
with his first wife only, during the time the building is proceed-
ing ;should he fail to observe this restriction, it is believed
that mishap will befall the house. It is customary with
wealthy people to have their special sleeping-house and to
invite first one wife and then another to come and share it
but in the case of poorer men, with only one or at most three
wives, the husband goes to live in the house of first one wife
and then another.
Dress. The universal dress is a bark-cloth dyed black or
a dark-grey, nearly black. The dye is a black clay frequently
found in swamps. In earlier times skins of animals were
commonly worn as loin-cloths, but the introduction of bark-
cloth has entirely superseded the skin-garment and the latter
is seldom seen. Almost every man wears a waist-belt with
a piece of bark-cloth threaded under it and passed between
the legs from back to front. This is the essential dress
and without it men are said to be naked; it is the only
dress worn by men when at work. The larger bark-cloth
is thrown over the left shoulder and passes under the
right arm with the end thrown over the left shoulder again,
thus leaving the right arm free for use. Women wear their
bark-cloth wrapped round the body, passing under the arms
and secured round the waist by a girdle of the same material.
They thus have both arms free for use, without discarding the
bark-cloth when they wish to work, as is done by men. The
upper part of the body is mostly naked when women are at
R. B. T. 16
work and their bark-cloth falls down to the waist. Most

boys have only the strip of bark-cloth passed between the
legs secured under their waist-band, girls frequently go naked
until grown up, when they wear bark-cloth loin-cloths. Among
poor people the bark-cloth worn by day is their only bedclothing
by night. This is due to idleness and want of the application
needed to make more cloth rather than to any other cause,
for each man grows the trees in his field and can himself make
the cloth, if he wishes to do so.
Ornaments. There are no special tribal markings by
mutilation beyond the extraction of the two front lower incisors.
The loss of these teeth has a marked effect upon the pronun-
ciation which gives the Basoga a peculiar dialect. Both men
and women wear bracelets of brass and iron, and are fond of
carrying one or two on each wrist. Each clan has its large
heavy bracelet which is passed down from chief to chief as a
valuable possession to be guarded for the clan.
Warfare.
Causes of war, weapons and methods of fighting. The

Basoga are a peaceful people. There have never been any
prolonged wars of a serious nature, the only wars they have to
record being tribal conflicts when, owing to some ceremonial
customs, a man of another tribe has been captured and
killed to end a taboo and thus has been the means of inter-
rupting friendly relations and embroiling the two tribes or ;
again, when there has been a disagreement, perhaps through

theft or infringement of their rights by members of another
tribe, and, it being impossible to obtain redress, they have
resorted to arms. The call to war is by the sounding of a
special rhythm on large drums. Immediately men, old and
young, arm themselves with shields, spears and slings, assemble
at the residence of their overchief and march to the paramount
chief, who leads the army in person to some place on the border
where they are sure to meet a force of the other tribe. The
opposing armies face each other until some braver and bolder
warriors rush out of the ranks and meet one or two of their
2
CH. XXII] WARFARE, BLOOD FEUDS 243
opponents, when a hand-to-hand fight takes place and one or

more may be wounded or killed. The men with slings often
do the most damage by slinging stones which injure the heads
of their enemies and frequently cause ugly wounds which at
times result in death. Three or four days may be spent in
this peculiar kind of fighting; each night the armies withdraw
and sleep in peace, and begin operations again in the morning.
After two or three days, when one or two men have been killed
and a number wounded, peace is declared, the chiefs settle the
dispute, and the armies return home.
Warfare in the Central District. When peace is declared
after any war, in the Central District, the party desiring peace
plant young plantain-trees in the sight of their enemies, which
betokens the desire for an armistice and for the opening of
peace negotiations.
Insecurity of life. It is never safe for a man to walk about
alone on the frontier of a district, as he is always liable to be
caught by people wanting to end some sacred ceremony with
the life-blood of another person. When men from different
tribes attend a beer-drinking feast, they go armed, and,
should a quarrel ensue over their cups, they will fight it
out. At times it happens that one or two of the party may be
killed. Such deaths cause feuds and lay on the clans the task
of avenging the blood, unless the matter can be settled amic-
ably. The clan whose member has been killed will seek to
capture a man from the offending clan and kill him. Sometimes
they succeed in capturing one of its members, most often a
youth in the road. The captive is dragged away to the grave
of the man who was killed and has his throat cut over the grave,
the body being left near it in order to make atonement to the
ghost. Women are never caught or punished for the offences
of the men. They are exempt, and sometimes a woman will
marry into a clan which is hostile to her own, even though
the members cannot meet to make any marriage arrangements.
In such cases she will go forth, fully understanding that she
is breaking with her own clan in marrying the man of her
choice who belongs to its sworn foes.

Blood feuds. In the Central District the blood-feud may
—
16
last for months and even for years, and several people may be
killed before the question can be settled. The injured party
will capture some person from the murderer's clan and kill
him, whereupon the other party will retaliate by capturing
and killing some one else, and this state of things will continue
for months, one party killing a man and then the other,
first
until at length they decide to come to terms and settle the

question by arbitration.
—
CHAPTER XXIII
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
Worship of the dead and worship of the gods — the goddess Nalongo the —
— —
goddess Nawandyo the god Ingo the gods Male and Luhanga —
—
the goddess Nakiwulo who detects thieves the god of plague
religious beliefs in the Central District— the god of death Mukama—
— —
the Creator Gasani, the giver of children tree-spirits tree- —
spirits in the Central District — rock-spirits —
the earth god of the
— —
Central District Kumbya the rock-spirit fetishes the fetish —
— —
Nakalondo the fetish Nambaga Gomba, the fetish of women
fetishes of the Central District — —
rain-making human sacrifices in
—
rain-making statistics from the North-western District.
Worship of the dead and worship of the gods. In all parts

of Busoga worship of the dead forms a most important part
of the religion of the people, and the belief in ghosts and the
propitiation of them are the chief features of their most constant
and regular acts of worship. The gods, with fetishes and amulets,
are able to do great things for the living but, after all, it is the
;
ghost that is most feared and obtains the most marked attention
In childbirth, in sickness, in prosperity, and in death, ghosts
materially help or hinder matters ; hence it behoves the living
to keep on good terms with them. It is because of this
belief that people frequently make sacrifices of fowls and
other animals to the dead and constantly seek their help.
First and foremost, it is because of the firm conviction of the
presence of ghosts that the elaborate funeral ceremonies are
performed which have been noted above. In the beliefs of
these primitive people we must relegate gods to a secondary
place after the worship of the dead. It will be noticed that no
god is believed to influence the future life of man nor do they
think of ghosts as dwelling with the gods.
There are a few temples in which are priests and mediums,

but the worship is not developed to any great extent the chief ;
gods are given below with brief accounts of their worship and
their special functions.
The goddess Nalongo. Nalongo is a goddess and receives
the greatest honour in the North-western District. Her temple
iskept in good repair by the state and there is a portion of
land attached to her temple sufficient to provide food for her
following of priests and servants. Any man or woman in the
country with a large navel is sent to this temple as a servant
to the goddess. The aid of this goddess is sought when any
epidemic, such as small-pox, plague, or fever, attacks the
inhabitants of the district. The people offer cows, sheep, and
fowls when they make their requests at her temple.
The goddess Nawandyo. Nawandyo is another goddess who
is provided for by the state, has a portion of land attached to
her temple, and has offerings made to her of servants, cows,

sheep, goats, fowls, and beer. Her aid is sought for in any
private case of sickness or when any trouble comes upon a
family. The suppliants never go empty-handed when they
seek her aid.
The god Ingo. Ingo is also a public god who attends to
the general needs of the people. His temple is built by the
state and he possesses land and slaves. The principal feature
in his worship is that only members of the chief families and
aristocracy may provide grass for carpeting the temple. When
offerings of cows, sheep or goats are taken to him they have
garlands of wild creepers festooned round their necks.
The gods Male and Luhanga. Male is another god of great
power. He never accepts any women-slaves or servants;
men only are allowed to come near him. Luhanga is also an
important god to whom supplications may be made on ordinary
occasions.
The goddess Nakiwulo, who detects thieves. Nakiwulo is a
goddess who detects thieves and is able to trace lost property
and missing cattle. When a suppliant goes to this deity he
takes his offering of a sheep or a fowl, and makes his state-
ment of the lost property. The priest then resorts to the
;
CH. XXIII] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS 247
medium, who seeks the desired information from the deity,

becomes possessed by the goddess and tells where the lost
property is and who has stolen it. The matter then becomes
a question for the magistrate, who will send and capture the
thief, obtain the missing property, and punish the thief.
The god of plague. Bijungo is the god of plague and is a
rock-spirit. He is greatly feared, though he has no temple nor
indeed any permanent shrine, nor has he any regular priest or
medium. When the god wishes to make his desires known,
he takes possession of some person, it may be a man or a woman
the person mounts a rock and calls out to the people, who
assemble to hear what the god has to say. They are told
that plague is imminent and are informed what offering they
ought to make and when a sacred meal should be held at the
base of the rock to avert plague. Should the plague have
already begun, and should there be any patients, they are
told the remedies to use in order to restore them to health.
Offerings may be of sheep or goats and the meal is eaten at
the base of the rock where the blood is offered to the god.
Other gods are Kabaganya, Nende and Kagulu, whose
worship is much the same as those mentioned above.
Religious beliefs in the Central District. In the Central
District worship is more highly developed than in the North-
western District ; there are more temples and a higher and
more elaborate cult is followed.
The god of death. The god of death is known by the name
Semuganda. He is a python, having five sons whose names
are Kintu, Kiwanuka, Bijingo, Kabamba and Meru, and each
of whom is a god. Offerings of black cows, goats, sheep and
fowls are made to the deity. Women seek the aid of this god
to give children. When a woman has asked such a favour
and she gives birth to a child, she dedicates the child to the
god in recognition of the boon granted. Men seek the assist-
ance of this god when they wish to become wealthy and
important land owners. Should one of these pythons die or be
accidentally killed when it has left the temple and is wandering
about, the people beat drums and wail as they carry it to a
place of burial. It is buried in some place near the temple,
where it is covered with creepers of wild gourd. After the

burial another python is appointed to take the place of the
dead reptile.
Mukama, the creator. Mukama is the great creator who
made man and beast. At one period he is said to have lived
in a deep hole on Mount Elgon, where, with his sons, he worked
iron and forged all the hoes which were first introduced into
the land. He is also the creator of all rivers, which are said
to have their source at his home. Should a child be born
with teeth already cut, it is said to be a reincarnation of
Mukama a hut is built for the child and a high fence built
;
around it, and the mother with the infant is placed there
during her seclusion. When this period ends, the child is
shown to relatives and friends. A vessel of water is brought
from Lake Kyoga and also a reed from the papyrus-grass
by the husband's sister's son, who has to go secretly to the
lake he must not be seen by any person, neither as he goes
;
nor as he returns. He takes with him four coffee-berries which

he offers to the water-spirit of the lake, as he draws the water.
Two houses are built for the reception of the child when the
period of seclusion ends ; one is intended for a sleeping-house
and the other for a living-house. The mother with her child
isconducted to this new home with great ceremony. In front
walks the sister's son, carrying the papyrus-reed as a spear,
and behind him follow a number of medicine-men. Next
comes a woman carrying a native iron hoe which she brandishes
as she walks. She utters a shrill cry as women do when in
danger, in order to warn people of their approach. Behind
this woman come members of the parents' clan, and. last of
all, The mother is escorted into
the parents with the child.
the where a sacred meal is eaten, and after
living-room
the meal the child is brought out and has its head shaved,
the water brought from the lake being used to wet the head
for shaving and to wash it after the shaving has taken place.
After the ceremony of shaving is ended, the father gives his
shield to the child. The company remain three days with
the mother and her child. On the third day the papyrus-reed
is handed to the chi!d. who is appointed governor over a
portion of land. The mother remains with her child, her

husband giving her up to this duty, and her clan presents him
with another wife instead of the mother of Mukama. The child
is now regarded as a god, and people come to him to make
requests for any purpose. When he dies, a medium is appointed

to hold converse with him and to give his replies to suppliants.
Gasani, the giver of children. Gasani is the god who has
control over the births of children in general ; twins are always
ascribed to him. When twins are born and the medicine-men
have been appointed to take care of them, they go to a place
where two roads cross and dig up some of the earth from the
path the earth is put into a basket with a few beans, a little
;
sesame and a little millet, two fowls are also brought with the
basket to the house in which the mother with her children
is secluded. The man who carries the basket sings special
songs at the highest pitch of his voice as he carries the earth,
a shrine is built near the house in which the twins live and the
basket with its contents and the fowls are deposited in it after
being solemnly offered to the god Gasani. This shrine is the

place to which barren women go to make offerings to the god,
to ask his blessing and seek the gift of children.
Tree-spirits. Every large tree has a resident spirit, and this
makes a man careful not to cut down any tree unless proper
precautions are taken. There is one kind of large tree from
which drums are made which is an exception to the rule ; this
tree may be felled without any ceremony being performed.
When a large tree is wanted for building or for a canoe, the man
who is going to fell it takes a goat or a fowl for an offering,
kills it by the roots of the tree and pours out the blood on the
roots. He
cooks the meat and eats it with his companions
who are going to work with him. After the meal he strikes one
sharp cut into the tree with his axe and waits until the sap
begins to flow, when he stoops and drinks some of it from the
incision and thus becomes a brother of the tree. He may then
fell the tree and use the timber as he wishes without any
danger to himself or to his family.
Tree-spirits in the Central District. In the Central District
there is a large sacred tree named Kaliro, which gives its name
to the district. This tree receives all offerings made for per-
mission to cut down any tree in the district ; it is the father
of all the trees in this part of the country. There is a medicine-
man connected with the tree who lives near it. When any
person wishes to get timber he comes to the medicine-man
and asks him to ascertain by oracle whether the particular
tree he wants may be cut down or not. The suppliant
who wishes to have the timber of the tree takes with him
either a goat when seeking permission to cut it
or a fowl
down. The medicine-man makes the offering to the tree-
spirit and as medium declares the wishes of the spirit. If
all is well, the suppliant eats a meal near the tree with the
medicine-man and any followers who may be present. Should

a tree be cut down without seeking the spirit's permission or
contrary to the spirit's wishes, the chief or one of his people
will die in consequence.
Rock-spirits. Each piece of rock and large stone is said
to have its spirit, which
always active in a district either
is
for good or for evil. Various kinds of diseases, especially

plague, are attributed to the malevolence of rock-spirits.
When sickness or plague breaks out, the spirit invariably
takes possession of some person of the place, either a man or
a woman and, under the influence of the spirit, the person
;
mounts the rock and calls from it to the people. The chief
and the medicine-men assemble the people, make an offering
of a goat or a fowl to the spirit, and are then told how to act
in order to stay the disease. After making known its wishes
to the people, the spirit leaves the person and returns to the
rock, and the medium goes home to his or her ordinary pur-
suits and may possibly never be used again by the spirit.
The earth god of the Central District. In the Central Dis-
trict Kitaka is the god of earthquakes he is regarded as present
;
in the form of a great stone or rock. A shrine is built beside

this rock to receive offerings and is the place to which people
go to pray to the god. Sometimes men disappear from the
district and are said to have been spirited away by the god.
Fowls and goats are offered at the rock, the blood is poured on
the ground by the shrine, and the head of the goat or fowl
CH. XXIII] RELIGIOUS BELIEFS *
251
sacrificed is buried by it. The meat is cooked and eaten in

the vicinity of the rock.
Sometimes the god is said to journey through the land and
to cause the earth to quake, as he passes on his way. He is
always followed by another god, Kibaho, who is greatly feared

because plague or sickness of some kind will almost be sure
to happen, unless it can be averted. When, therefore, Kitaka
passes, medicine-men set to work to avert the evil which his
follower will cause. He passes, they say, from Mount Elgon
to Lake Kyoga, and they call upon the people to cut a path
for the god Kibaho that he may pass as rapidly as possible.
In each sub-district the people cut down the grass and shrubs
and smooth a road some ten feet wide, while others bring
food and place it at the border of their territory to be carried
on by those in the next sub-district. This road is said to
expedite the god and to carry him through to Lake Kyoga
without doing any harm. The people of the next region take
up the work and pass on the food to their boundary; and in
this manner the path is made and the food carried on with the
additions from each sub-district, until Lake Kyoga is reached.
There a canoe is ready, and the food is put into it and rowed
to an island where a priest takes the food and offers it to
the god by scattering it upon the water. This offering averts
plague and death.
Kumbya, the rock-spirit. Kumbya is a large rock which
gives the name to the Central District. From this rock a spring
flows, and prayers and offerings are made there to avert sick-
ness. Should any sickness appear in the district, the god is
asked to heal the sick and to remove the cause of illness.
There are many rocks and large stones which are sacred
in this part of the country, and are called Misambwe. They
are, indeed, local deities and to them the people go
; under all
manner of circumstances to pray for help.

Fetishes. There is an extensive use of fetishes throughout
Busoga. Here, as in Uganda, the object of veneration is
supposed to have the powers of the god it represents, by
whose name it is called. In many instances peasants say the
fetish is the embodiment of the god, so that to have a fetish
is to them the assurance of the presence of the god and they

speak and act in its presence with the greatest reverence.
Only skilled medicine-men are able to make fetishes, and they
keep their knowledge secret and pass it on to men whom
they train as their assistants and successors. These men use
various stones, herbs, clay, and so on, which they pound and
mix with the blood of fowls and goats to bind the compound
together. Sometimes horns of various animals are the recep-
tacles into which the compound is put at other times it is
;
moulded, dried, and stitched in leather cases. The medicine-

men have the skins of various wild animals in which the com-
pound is put, when horns are not used. These fetishes are
sold to the people at high prices and the large amount asked
for them keeps them from becoming common. The one on the
accompanying plate cost a woman the man who purchased it
;
paid a slave-woman for it, and at his death passed it on to his son.
The fetish Nakalondo. Nakalondo is the fetish which a
medicine-man uses when he is asked to discover who the cul-
prit is that has caused the death of any one. The medicine-
man goes to the house in which the dead man lies, or, should
it be after the funeral has taken place, he repairs to the house
in which the man died; he calls the relatives of the deceased

together and in the evening they cover the doorway with
a bark-cloth, sit in the dark and sing songs which the medicine-
man leads, clapping their hands as they sing to the time of
the songs. After some time the medicine-man calls tor
silence, and all sit listening. They may be kept waiting
some time or they may receive the answer after a few moments
of waiting; the answer comes in distinct words, spoken at
the door, telling the name of the person who made the magic
and caused the death. A reason frequently pleaded by a
person who is thus accused of causing the death of a man is
that the deceased contemplated murdering hurt and that in
self-defence he was forced to work magic. He had been warned
of the contemplated murder and acted first, thus causing the
man's death.
The fetish Nambaga. Nambaga is the fetish that brings
wealth to a man. The owner sits outside his house in the
Plate XX
(i) Fetish drum

(Basoga Tyibe)
(2) Basoga fetishes

evening, smokes his pipe and holds his fetish in both hands,
waving it to and fro as he puffs smoke on it. After a time the
spirit of the fetish comes upon the man and instructs him
how to act that he may become wealthy.
Gomba, the fetish of women. Gomba is a fetish which is
able to assist women to become mothers. Women, especially
young and newly-married women, seek the aid of this fetish.
They tie a string of cowry-shells round it and make their
requests to it for a child. Should the prayer be answered the
woman after her purification shaves her head, pares the nails
of both hands and feet, takes the hair and parings, ties them
up into a ball with a strip of bark-cloth covering, and fastens
them to the fetish. The woman's husband, or the owner of
the fetish, now carries the ball and throws it away upon waste
land, because it contains the evil that was upon the woman
and which may work harm to other people if left about.
Fetishes of the Central District. In the Central District
Gomba is a fetish said to protect the family. It is a long
wand decorated with ivory discs, which are glued to the fetish
with blood of goats and fowls which have been offered to it.
The discs themselves are money offerings, being a kind of
early currency. One end of the fetish has an iron prod, which
can be stuck into the ground; and thus the fetish is made to
stand upright, a position necessary for daily use. The fetish
is used each morning to cleanse the family and remove any
magical spell which may have been worked upon them during
the night. Each morning the owner carries the fetish and places
it by the door outside the house and, as each member of the
;
family passes it, he or she is cleansed, should there be any

spell resting upon them which would have caused sickness
and possibly death.
There are two fetishes of great renown, Nambaga and
Namusisi, which are used in warfare. These fetishes are
always made of sheep's horns. Warriors carry them about
with them to make them brave and also to give them strength
of arm and a sure aim when they direct their blow at a man.
When a man carries either of these, the foe is also rendered
incapable of injuring the wearer of the fetish.
Kazimba Kuigira is the fetish which protects the army

against surprise and assures victory.
Kalera Baba is a fetish to guard children against illness
in general, against evil-disposed persons and against ghosts.
The child wears the fetish and is thus placed under the pro-
tection of the god.
Rain-making.
Rain-making. In the Central District there are very

special ceremonies for rain-making. The chief of the district
is responsible for the weather. He is believed to have power
to send either rain or sunshine at will; he can give or with-
hold as he pleases. Hence, when there is a prolonged drought
and the crops are suffering, the people go in a body and beg
rain from him, asking him to use his influence to make the rain
fall. Should it come in a few days, they are happy; but,
should it still delay, they re-assemble and abuse the chief
roundly for his callous behaviour and demand that he shall
exert himself and cease to be so idle. This generally has the
effect of rousing the chief, who makes an effort to obtain the
needed rain. He calls together the leading medicine-men of
the district and commands them to bring the herbs needed for
the great ceremony of rain-making. Three black animals are
brought, a black cow, goat, and fowl these are killed and their
;
blood is caught in vessels. Fires are lighted in an open space

near the chief's house and large pots are set on them con-
taining the blood of the animals, mixed with water and herbs,
which is boiled until only a thick substance remains. As
the steam rises, prayers are offered to the god of rain. The
meat of these animals is eaten by the chief and the medicine-
men. The medicine-men mix the blood and the herbs from
the pots into two balls, one for the house of the chief and the
other for the house of the principal medicine-man. Each
ball has a stick in it, and a medicine-man carries them and
puts one on each house. Each day these balls are smeared
with some of the fat taken from the animals sacrificed, until
the rain comes. When rain comes and food is obtained, the
people take pots of beer to the chief as a thank offering, and
a black ox to the medicine-man, in order that he may have

fat for his fetishes.
Human sacrifice for rain-making. Another way of obtaining
rain is by offering a human to the god Kahango.
sacrifice
This god is said to live in a deep hole in a part of the country
known as The Pit of Kahango, where a priest dwells. A man is
chosen by divination and is carried to the place of sacrifice.
The victim is usually a cripple. He is laid near the edge of
the pit on a bed of wild gourd creepers. The bearers are
from a special clan who have this duty to perform. They
also take with them an offering of a goat for a sacrifice and to
supply the sacred meal with meat. As the victim is laid by
the pit, the people say: "You, Kahango, if it is you who are
keeping off the rain, accept this offering and let the rain come.
If it is not you, then give this man strength to get up and walk
back to us." The people retire some distance away, and
after a reasonable time has been given and the man has not
come, they look to see whether he has been drawn into the
pit or not. Should he be missing, they kill the ox and eat a
meal near the pit. The people say that it is seldom a man
returns: he usually falls into the pit. The rain, they assert,
invariably comes after such an offering. When the first-
fruits are ready, some are taken god and presented to

to the
the priest, and afterwards the food may be consumed by all
the clans concerned.
2
1
STATISTICS FROM THE NORTH-WESTERN DISTRICT.

Women Died Grew
luestioned. Children Boys Girls in Died to
JNO. Born Infancy Young Maturity
I 3 2 1 1 1 1
2 7 2 5 5 2
3 7 4 3 4 1 2
4 \J
3 3 4 2
8
O 2 0
5 5 3
O IO 5 5 4 0
7 2 1 I 2
Q a
O 0 5 3 2 0
9 D 4 5
IO 2 1 1 I 1
1 5 3 2 3 2
1 0 2 4 4
J 3 4 2 2 1 3
O 4 2 2 3 1
15 IO 4 0
ft
3 4 3
16 5 2 3 2 2 1
17 7 4 3 2 2 3
18 8 3 5 4 3 1
19 4 2 2 1 3
20 5 5 3 3 2 3
21 7 3 4 4 3
22 10 4 0 3 4 3
23 9 5 4 2 3 4
24 0 2 4 3 1 2
25 15 O 9 8 2 5
Q
26 O 4 4 3 3 2
27 IO 4 6 5 2 3
28 4 3 I 2 2
29 6 2 4 1 3 2
30 6 4 2 4 1 1
31 8 3 5 3 2 3
32 5 3 2 4 1
33 10 5 5 2 4 4
34 11 5 6 4 5 2
35 7 4 3 2 3 2
36 9 6 3 4 2 3
253 126 127 98 64 9 -

PART VI
THE NILOTIC TRIBES
THE BATESO
AND
THE KAVIRONDO
Plate XXI
(2) Basoga band

2 —
CHAPTER XXIV
THE BATESO AND THEIR COUNTRY, GOVERNMENT,
SOCIAL CUSTOMS AND RELIGION
The people and their country — form of Government — murder
adultery —inheritance—totemism—marriage customs—birth cus-
toms — birth of twins—treatment of sickness—death customs
disposal of widows — methods of building — agricultural pursuits
brewing and beer drinking—cowkeeping—huntsmen and methods
of hunting — methods of fighting — love of ornaments — undeveloped
religious ideas— terms of relationship.
The Bateso and their country. The Bateso are a tribe

belonging to the Nilotic group, living in the Central Province
of the Uganda Protectorate, and are supposed to number
about a million people.Their country borders on Lake Kyoga
and extends some miles to the north of it. The country
is almost level, but has a few rocky hills with megaliths
supported upon each other and looking as though a slight
breeze would dislodge them and hurl them into the fields
below. Many have sacred associations connected
of the rocks
with them, though there is no definite belief that they are
tenanted by spirits. There is little wood in the country for
household use and cooking, and timber for building purposes
has to be carried long distances. The seasons are clearly
defined rain seldom falls during the dry season, but a strong
:
dry wind blows daily. The people are commonly known as

Bakedi, that is, 'naked people,' by their Bantu neighbours,
because they wear no clothing. Both men and women are
well built, their height being from five feet six inches to six
feet; their features approach more nearly the Hamitic type
than do those of the Bantu tribes their lips are not so pro-
;
minent nor are their noses so broad, and there appears to be

a nearer approach to a nasal bridge. In other respects they
17 —
260 THE BATESO [PT. VI
resemble Bantu peoples, having dark skin and short woolly

hair. They are neither cleanly in person nor sanitary in their
habits, and they suffer considerably from syphilis, which, they
say, was introduced into their country from Egypt. They are
a quiet, inoffensive people who dislike war and have never
intermarried with Bantu tribes.
Form of government. There are six principal chiefs who
claim to be the owners of the land, and each of whom has
a large tract of country which he governs through sub-chiefs.
The people of a sub-district appeal to the principal chief for
justice when they are dissatisfied with the ruling of a sub-
chief, or when they desire to have a case tried and the person
accused belongs to another sub-chief over whom their own
sub-chief exercises no control. The principal chief levies no
taxes, but his subjects make him presents of cattle, and also
of grain after each harvest. The Bateso live in communities
having numbers of families within a growing stockade. The
stockade has a gate which can be closed by night or when
there is danger. It is the duty of the chief of the community
to try all cases within his village, to punish wrongdoing, to
see that peace is kept, and to put down theft. The method
of punishment is invariably by fine; there are no places of
detention, and people are seldom executed for crime. The
chief tries all cases of dispute about land, and he is the guardian
of the rights of his village. The fields are often at a distance
from the village; and, as people from different villages have
the same locality which often border on those of their
fields in
neighbours from other parts, it thus frequently happens that
one family tries to encroach upon the rights of another, making
the intervention of a chief, and at times arbitration, necessary,
in order to settlesome boundary dispute.
Murder.Murder is punished by death, unless the relations
of the murderer are able to appease the members of the
murdered man's clan by sending offerings. These include a
marriageable girl for the bereaved father, and also cattle for
the other clan-members.
Adultery. Adultery is punished by fine ; but there is little
morality among young unmarried women, who are allowed to
;
CH. XXIV] INHERITANCE, CLANS 26l
follow their own inclinations until claimed in marriage, after

which they become wonderfully moral.
Inheritance. The eldest son inherits his father's property.
If a man is childless, he sometimes adopts a slave to be his
son and makes him heir to his property. It sometimes happens
that a girl is adopted and is recognised as a man's daughter so
that when she marries her adoptive father demands the full
wedding-fee for her. Women
seldom inherit property, though
they are not prohibited by law from doing so. In a few isolated
cases men have been known to give their property to their
daughters; such property is managed by their husbands.
Clans.
Totemism. The Bateso are divided into a number of totemic

clans, the general clan-names of which are well known, and in
fact
it is by the clan-name that a family is ordinarily distinguished
but, as several clans bear the same name yet have different
totems, it is at times necessary to mention the totem for the sake
of more exact distinction. Few people know the totems of other
clans and, owing to the difficulty of understanding the language
and the limited time available for seeking information, it was
out of question to pursue the subject very far, and therefore only
the names of a few clans with their totems, about which opinion
was unanimous, are here given. It is impossible, with this
limited knowledge, to say whether the groups which bear the
same name are one clan with sub-divisions or whether they
are distinct clans. On the other hand, certain groups have
the same totems, but bear different clan-names. As in Busoga
the children take the totems of their father. Descent in the
clans is in the paternal line; that is, the children belong to
the clan of their father, not of their mother. The names
of the clans, with their totems, are:
1. The Katikoko, who take the Sheep and the Edoro tree
for their totems.
2. The Paramo,, who take the Tamarind tree for their
totem.
;
3. The Maditoko, who take the Bones

of animals for their
totem they avoid contact with the bones of animals.
;
4. The Eraraka, who take for their totem the Gazelle,

which they may not look at nor touch.
5. The Koroko, who take for their totem the Gazelle, of
which they may not eat the flesh.
6. The Kiribwoko, who take the Mushroom for their
totem; they abstain from eating mushrooms.
7. The Bararaka, who take Broken Bones of animals for
their totem they avoid all contact with the bones of animals.
;
8. The Igorya, who take Antelopes for their totem they ;
may not eat the flesh of Antelopes.

9. The Pokoro, who may not shave the heads of their
babies.
10. The Madokya, who take Antelopes for their totem and
may not eat the flesh.
11. The Katikoko, who take the Edoro tree for their totem
they will not use the timber for any purpose.
Marriage.
Marriage customs. The totemic clans of the Bateso are
exogamous, that is, no man may marry a woman of his own clan.
There are, however, no restrictions as to the number of women
a man may marry; but he is forbidden to marry more than
one daughter of the same man. Each wife likes to have her
own house, but she will live in the same enclosure with her
husband's other wives. It is the regular custom for a wife to
leave her own home and clan at marriage and join that of her
husband. As soon as a man marries a woman, he is forbidden to
speak to his mother-in-law or to pass her on the same path he ;
must turn out of the path, should he chance to find her coming
in his direction. Parents betroth their children in infancy,
who frequently grow up together, if they belong to the same
district, and play together while they are small. The boy's
father, usually, bespeaks another man's daughter, and, if the
man and his wife consent to the arrangement, the boy's father
gives them a cow which is the token of the formal betrothal
CH. XXIV] MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 263
of the children. In some instances a grown man becomes

engaged to an infant, making his arrangements with the child's
parents and waiting until she grows up, when he marries her.
Children thus engaged in infancy are made acquainted with
the fact when they are old enough to understand it and,
;
when they come to years of puberty, they marry. Widows

belong to the heir, and should the clan select as heir a brother
of the deceased, he marries the childless widows as a matter
of course.
With regard to cousin marriages the rule of the Bateso
seems to agree with that of the Basoga that is, first cousins,
;
the children of a brother and a sister respectively, are for-

bidden to marry each other; but second cousins are allowed
to marry each other, provided that they are the grandchildren
of a brother and a and that the father of
sister respectively,
the one was the son of that brother, and that the mother of
the other was a daughter of that sister. In other words, a man's
children may not marry his sister's children, but a man's son's
children may marry his sister's daughter's children.
Before marriage the boy takes the marriage-fee which is ten
cows, fifty goats, two pots of beer and a quantity of grain to
the bride's parents. The month previous to the marriage the
bride spends in seclusion, during which time she is daily washed
and oiled from head to foot. On the day of her marriage a
bride is conducted to her new home by many friends and rela-
tions who remain with her two days; she is not veiled when
going to her husband, for, according to the custom of her tribe,
she wears no clothing, only an abundance of ornaments, numbers
of them being lent by friends. A party of girls accompanies
the bride and remains with her a few days, and a house is
placed at their disposal. Early each morning they go out
to dig a plot of ground which is to be the bride's field ; after
their morning's work they return to the bridegroom's village
where the bridegroom's mother entertains them. After a
meal they spend the day and most of the night dancing
and singing. For two days the bride's party work hard in
the field, and each afternoon and evening feast and dance;
on the third day the bridegroom presents four of the bride's
sisters with a goat each, which they kill and cook for a final
wedding feast. Some of the meat is reserved and carried
to the bride's parents. When the
bride first enters her
husband's house, he presents her with a goat which she keeps
alive for breeding. During the first month the bride is treated
as a child at meals ; her mother-in-law sits beside her and
feeds her, nor is she allowed to touch any food with her hands.
At the end of the month she enters upon her ordinary life.
Birth.
Birth customs. Should a woman show no signs of pregnancv

when she has been married some six months, her husband
consults a medicine-man who supplies him with medicine for
his wife to produce the desired effect. The medicine-man is
rewarded at the time with a meal only; but, when a child is
born, he is paid three goats. When a woman becomes aware
that she is with child, she leaves her husband and lives in a
separate house near, and has no further sexual relations with
him until she has weaned her child. Some two or three weeks
before the birth of her child a trustworthy woman, who is
herself amother and has had experience as a midwife, is called
in and remains in the house with the expectant mother to
attend to her and direct her how to act. At the time of birth
a second woman is called in to assist. The expectant mother
sits on the floor with her back resting against the assistant
who kneels to support her; the midwife stands in front and

delivers the mother. The umbilical cord is cut with a blade
of coarse grass and the afterbirth is buried near the door
outside the house, on the left side as the house is entered.
When the stump of umbilical cord falls from the child, it is
placed upon the spot where the afterbirth is buried. For
three days the mother and child remain secluded with the
midwife, who attends upon the mother and does the cooking.
On the fourth day the husband's mother comes and washes her
daughter-in-law outside the house with warm water. During
the time she is thus engaged other women sweep the house
;
ch. xxrv] BIRTH CUST0M5 -'65
out and throw the sweepings into the cow-kraal. Should the
woman who has become a mother be a second wife, the husband's
first wife comes and washes her in the place of her mother-in-
law. It is the duty of the husband's mother to name the child
soon after its birth.
It is considered unlucky for a child to be born feet first
parents like such a child to die in infancy. Amother does no

cooking for her husband for a period of two months after the
birth of a child.
Birth of twins. The birth of twins is a welcome event.
The midwife announces the fact to the father, who immediately
orders the special drum-rhythm to be beaten to make the fact
known, and women soon gather at the house uttering a peculiar
shrill cry of pleasure. The mother remains secluded for three
months, and during this time the father pays visits to members
of his own and of his wife's clans, from whom he receives
presents of food and animals for a special feast to be held
when the period of seclusion is ended and the twins are pre-
sented to the members of the clans. Should no hospitality be
offered to the father and no present be given at a place
when he is making his round of visits, he refuses to enter the
house and passes on elsewhere. This is regarded by its occu-
pants as a loss, because the blessing of increase which rests
upon the father of twins is not communicated to the inhos-
pitable family. The day before the period of seclusion ends
the husband's sister's son closes the door of the house in which
the mother and twins are living, and on the following morning
he opens it for them to be brought out and presented to the
members of the clan. The mother now brings out her children
for inspection, and members of both the husband's and the
wife's clans meet for the purpose and a sham-fight takes place
;
which is rather rough play, and often during the fight some
of the people are wounded by stones or by the spears w hich
are at times used. One twin is claimed by the members of
each clan, though it is not taken away from its parents, and
each clan provides a nurse to take care of their particular
child. The husband's mother names the twins before the
sham-fight takes place, and after the fight there is a dance.
At dance there is the great feast and the clans bring two
this
fine sheep, one from each clan these are killed and their meat
;
is added to the meat which the father of the twins provides.
The skins from these two sheep are presented to the nurses
of the children to make the slings in which to carry the children
on their backs. The husband's sister's son is given a goat for
closing and opening the door. These ceremonies appear to
be imitations borrowed from the Basoga, though it is possible
that they are purely Nilotic.
Sick7iess and Death.

Treatment of sickness. There are no particular ceremonies
connected with sickness. The medicine-man is called in and
tries by various tests to discover whether the cause is magic,
and also to find the nature of the illness. Members of the sick
man's clan assemble to assist in carrying out the treatment
prescribed by the medicine-man and also to sympathise with
the patient.
Death customs. When death takes place, wailing com-
mences at once and some of the widows wash the body,
straighten the limbs and bend the left arm, if it be a man, or
the right arm, if it is a woman, so as to put it under the head.
An ox and a sheep are killed, the skin of the sheep is wrapped
round the dead man's head and that of the ox is wrapped
round the body. The grave is dug in the house in which the
man lived and died, and the widows continue to five in it
during the time of mourning. It is necessary to guard widows
when the funeral takes place to prevent them from committing
suicide. The mourning for a rich man may last twelve months,
and seldom less than six months even for a poor man. The
heir occupies a house near that which contains the grave and
he conducts the mourning ceremonies. After the body is
committed to the grave the mourners shave their heads ;
but, from that time until the mourning ends, they neither
shave any part of their body nor do they pare their nails.
Each morning at daybreak a drum sounds, and the mourners
assemble at the grave and wail for fully an hour. During the
CH. XXIV] MOURNING, BUILDING 267
rest of the day the women go to cultivate their fields and the
men pursue their ordinary occupations. Strict rules of chas-
tity are observed during the season of mourning. Should the
deceased man have been a chief, his relations and friends send
an ox daily for the mourners' food other kinds of food and
;
beer are freely supplied as offerings to the dead, and some

portion is left by the grave for the ghost. The heir gives
notice when the mourning is to end. For three days after the
notice is given the mourners remain wailing at the grave
a much longer time each day on the fourth day they shave
;
their heads and bodies, cut their nails and wash, and are then
free to return to their homes.
Disposal of widows. The widows take up their abode
with the heir as his wives, unless they wish to return to their
relatives, in which case the original sum paid for them at their
marriage has to be refunded. The children and property pass
to the heir. As soon as the mourning ends the house in which
the grave lies is deserted and falls into decay, no one attempting
to keep it in repair.
Building.
Methods of building. Bateso houses are round huts with

conical roofs. They by planting a circle
are built of stakes
four feet long and two inches thick some two or three
inches deep in the ground. These form the outer wall. The
roof may be compared to a huge umbrella, the central pole
being the stick, the stout rafters radiating from it to the wall
being the ribs and the grass thatch the cloth covering of the
umbrella. The size of a house is determined by the builder,
who is either the man who intends to live in it or some one who
is providing it for one of his wives. He marks out a circle on
the ground and digs holes a few inches deep for the stakes
which he plants side by side, leaving a space for the doorway.
The stakes are bound together at the top and bottom by a
cord-like creeper. A long stout pole is erected in the centre
of the house which has to support the roof, and to this pole
strong saplings are tied at the height which will give the
desired pitch to the roof and radiating to different points of
the wall. Between the saplings either reeds or sticks fill in

the interstices to carry the thatch, while the ends of the sap-
lings, which serve as roof timbers, are left long enough to project
twelve inches over the wall so as to protect the sides of the house
from rain. The thatch is laid on with the stem-ends of the
grass downwards, and the ends are evenly cut. Each suc-
ceeding layer of thatch is laid with the ends ten inches higher
than the last layer so that when the thatching is done, it
presents a series of ridges like the rows of slates on a roof.

When the top is reached at the central pole, the thatch is tied
neatly round and the summit of the pole is often rudely
it
carved, or it may have the horns of some animal put on it

or be ornamented with large snail-shells. The walls are plas-
tered with mud which is thrown with force against the stakes
from within the house. This mud fills all the crevices and is
smoothed with the hand on the inside but left rough on the
outside of the house. The floor is dug up, levelled and beaten
hard, and is finally smeared with a mixture of cow-dung and
clay. A rough door is made of basket-work which is secured
in the doorway by night and also during the day when the
family is absent. A man is welcome to build his house in
any village, but the newcomer must recognise the headman as
chief of the community. When a man marries another wife he
builds a house for her near his first wife's house. Sometimes
a person prefers to begin house-keeping away from other
people and builds his house upon a site which he selects at a
distance from any village. As he adds houses for his wives,
or as other people join him, he plants a growing fence of
euphorbia round the houses which becomes a living stockade,
and inside it he makes a kraal for his cattle.
Agriculture.
Agricultural The Bateso are mainly an agri-

pursuits.
cultural people. Both men and women spend most of their
time in the fields while the crops are growing, and their chief
food is porridge made from flour of millet. Each year when
the rains are expected, the men and the women work together
in the fields and roughly hoe up the ground. The seed is sown
CH. XXIV] AGRICULTURE 269
as soon as the rains begin, small holes being made in the ground
with a hoe and two or three grains of seed dropped into each
hole and covered with the foot. The crops are weeded once
or twice until the corn is strong enough to suffer no harm
from further growths, when it is left to fight its own battle.
The people erect temporary huts in the fields and live in them
for a time when the crops spring up and begin to put forth
the ears, in order to protect them against wild animals by
night and to frighten off the birds by day, pigeons being
especially guarded against as great robbers. Millet is reaped
by both men and women, who cut off the heads of grain and
carry them to the threshing-floors, which are usually level
places in the field beaten hard and in some cases smeared over
with cow-dung to get a smooth surface. The grain is beaten
out of the husk with a stick, each head of corn being held and
beaten, and is winnowed by pouring it from a basket held up
into a basket set on the ground, and the wind carries off
the chaff. The granaries are large wicker-baskets six feet
deep by four feet wide, smeared inside with clay and cow-
dung and having conical thatched lids which project and
carry off rain from the sides of the baskets. The granaries
are placed near the owner's house in the compound, and are
raised one or two feet from the ground to keep them dry.
Each wife has her own granary and corn-supply. Other grains
grown are maize and sesame, though these cereals are not
regarded as staple food. Sweet potatoes are freely grown and
two or three kinds of beans and marrows, which add to the
variety of their vegetable diet. The sower, when sowing the
crops, wears a gourd vine round his or her waist and arms, and
mixes powdered herbs with the seed to fructify it. At harvest
the people kill a goat, make some of the grain into porridge
and eat the meal in the field, throwing a little of the grain into
the road leading to the field and along the border of the field.
Potatoes and other vegetables are welcomed as a change of diet,
for there are several months when they live almost entirely
upon porridge made from millet-flour. Women grind the
flour daily between two stones. A large smooth stone is
sought for the under stone, and is slightly raised at one end
where the woman kneels as she grinds with a smaller hard

stone. She pours the grain on the large stone from a basket
at her side, grinds it into flour and sweeps it down into a small
basket set at the lower end of the stone to catch it. As the
flour accumulates, it is shaken in the basket and the coarser meal
and husks are re-ground, but women do not trouble to grind
the flour very fine except for their husbands or masters. The
porridge made from millet is red, coarse and gritty, and only
people accustomed to it can digest it.
Brewing and beer-drinking. After a good harvest a
quantity of beer is brewed and villagers enjoy themselves for
a time, as no work can be done in the fields from harvest until
sowing-time comes round again, a period of six months.
During the dry season men spend most of their days in going
from village to village drinking beer a large pot is placed in
:
some open space either in the village or near the gate, and the
men sit round and put the ends of their long beer-tubes into
the pot and suck the beer through them, while they discuss
public affairs. Sometimes these tubes are six feet long they ;
are neatly made from a stick from which the pith is extracted,
and are encased with plaited palm fronds to strengthen and
decorate them. The end put into the pot has a finely worked
cane sieve which prevents the thick fluid from entering the
tube, whose orifice is the eighth of an inch in diameter, being
the thickness of the pith which has been pushed out of the
thin cane-like stick. When not in use, the tube is inserted
into a bamboo-rod which is the usual staff carried when men
go to a beer-drinking feast. Women do not attend the public
drinking, as they have their own beer-pots in some house where
they drink as freely as the men. There is not so much
drunkenness as might be expected when these feasts are going
forward, nor do men often quarrel over their drink, though
they may be going about from place to place for several weeks.
Weapons are not taken to a drinking-party, it being a recognised
rule that they shall be left behind lest a man should use them
when under the influence of drink.
CH. XXIV] CATTLE, HUNTING, WAR 271
Cows and Domestic Animals.

Cow-keeping. The Bateso keep cows in almost every
and sheep. Boys
village in addition to large flocks of goats
herd the animals. no attempt to keep the herds
There is
and flocks separate, so that cows, goats and sheep are to be

found together in one pasture. The boys may often be seen
riding on the backs of the cows as they wander grazing quite
regardless of their burdens Women are not allowed to herd
cattle nor to go among them. After a cow has calved, the
calf is given all the milk for three days; on the fourth day
the animal is milked, the milk is boiled and both husband and
wife partake of it after this ceremony the milk may be drunk
;
by any of the family. Both goat and sheep mutton is eaten in

common by men and women alike without any restrictions.
Hunting.
Huntsmen and methods of hunting. There is no distinct
class of huntsmen among the tribe, but small game is hunted
for the sake of meat by any man who wants it. Men armed
with clubs and spears surround a space in which some small
animal is thought to be lurking, the grass is beaten down as
they advance, and, should an animal be found, it is clubbed or
speared. The men are swift of foot aim so that an
and sure of
animal has little chance of escape. A few men hunt elephants
from time to time when a herd passes through the country. The
men go where there are trees, climb up into them, wait for the
animals to pass beneath, and spear them from their point of
vantage. Wounded animals are followed for several days until
they sicken and can be surrounded and speared to death.
The man who first spears an animal claims one tusk the second ;
tusk and the flesh belong to the party.
Warfare.
Methods of fighting. The Bateso are a pacific tribe,
who rarely make war upon other tribes and prefer to live at
peace with all men. From time to time, however, tribal
quarrels arise owing to some conjugal dispute or to men quar-
relling under the influence of drink. Begun in words between
;;
individuals, their clans take up the dispute and eventually

resort to arms. The weapons carried by each warrior are a
large leather shield five feet long and eighteen inches wide, two
spears and a club, and often a warrior is further armed with
a sling for hurling stones. In their fights one or two men are
often badly bruised by the stones from the slings, it is seldom
a man is killed. As a rule the fight ends on the same day ;
after the fight a conference is held where the parties meet,

share a sacred meal, settle their differences, and take leave of
each other amicably.
Ornaments.
Love of ornaments. Though neither of the sexes wear
any clothing, they are particularly fond of ornaments. Both
men and women wear their hair long and twist string into it
to increase its length, and on the string they thread cowry-
shells. The edges of the ears are perforated with a number of
small holes through which they run iron rings with beads on
them or insert pieces of grass, when they are unable to obtain
wire and beads. The lobes of the ears are often greatly
enlarged by having these weighty rings of beads hung upon
them. The neck-ornaments vary greatly: some people wear
large coils of wire made into collars, while others have only
strings of beads or cowry-shells round their necks. Many
women wear small brass rings through the tips of their tongues
they also have the lower lip pierced for a stone, and almost all
women have the cartilage of the nose pierced for a ring. Some
women pinch up the flesh on the chest, pierce it and put a ring
through the hole. Strings of beads are worn round the waist,
and often a small bead or string apron four inches wide and
two inches deep is also worn. On the wrists and ankles they
wear brass and iron rings. Ornaments are often bartered, when
the wearer is in need.
Religion.
Undeveloped religious ideas. The religious ideas of the
Bateso are less developed than those of their Bantu neighbours
they have no temples nor shrines nor indeed any sacred cere-
monies apart from mourning and rain-making. Rain-making
CH. XXIV] RELIGION, RELATIONSHIP 273
is the chief ceremony observed. The medicine-man calls the

people together to some rock, the chief of the district supplies
an animal, usually an ox, for a sacred meal to be eaten by
the people, the medicine-man sprinkles water on all sides, and
the people dance and sing during the rest of the day. It was
impossible to find the name of any supreme being whom they
recognise. There seems to be no idea of a deity apart from
ghosts, and the rain-making ceremony has more the nature of
public magic than of worship. A Muganda teacher who had
lived some years among these people said he had been unable
to find any word for god. We may with some degree of cer-
tainty say that there is no active belief in any higher powers,
and worship is almost entirely restricted to ghosts and the
dead.
Terms of Relationship.
The following table of relationships was made by the
Rev. L. Kitching on a form supplied by Dr Rivers, Fellow
of St John's College, Cambridge:
(m.s. = man speaks; w.s. = woman speaks).

Father, Paka, Okoka.
Mother, Totoka, Okoka.
Elder brother (m.s.), Onacika, Onacika.
Elder sister (w.s.), Kinacika, Konacika.
Sister (m.s.), Kinacika, Onacika.
Father's brother, Onaci kapaka, Okoka or amororuka.
Father's sister, Ejaka, Ojojayitika.
Father's sister's child, Onacika (fem. Kivacika).
Mother's brother, Mamayika, Ocenika.
Mother's brother's wife, Amororuka.
Mother's sister, Totoka.
Mother's sister's husband, Paka, Okoka.
Mother's sister's child, Onacika (fem. Kivacika).
Sister's son's wife (m.s.), Amororuka.
Sister's son's child, Etatayitika, Pataka.
Sister's daughter's child, Epapayutika, Epapataka.
Father's father, Papaka, Okokokoka.
Father's mother, Tataka, Otatayitika.
r. b. t. 18
Mother's father, Papaka.

Mother's mother, Tataka.
Husband, Okilinika, Aberoka.
Wife's father, Akamuranika.
Wife's mother, Akamuranika.
Husband's father, Papaka.
Husband's mother, Tataka.
Wife's brother, Ekamuran.
Wife's sister, Akamuran.
Husband's brother, Ekamuran.
Husband's sister, Akamuran
—
CHAPTER XXV
THE NILOTIC KAVIRONDO AND THEIR COUNTRY,
GOVERNMENT, MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND PUBERTY
The tribe and their district— origin of the tribe— chiefs as rulers
land tenure —the chief as the magistrate of
local —courts
his village
and court —making peace between two sections of the tribe
fees
theft — adultery — murder — inheritance — marriage customs — dis
tinctive dress of married women — birth customs —birth of twins —
initiation at puberty.
The tribe and The Nilotic Kavirondo are

their district.
so named to them from the Bantu tribes of
distinguish
Kavirondo. They are a branch of the great family known
as Nilotic tribes or tribes of the Nile Valley, and are quite
distinct in language and custom from Bantu tribes. This
particular branch may be found extending southwards from
Mount Elgon along the coast of Lake Victoria Nyanza into
German territory. They are settled in groups of villages
among the Bantu and yet are quite distinct from them and do
not intermarry with them. The clans met with live chiefly
in the hills bordering on Lake Victoria. The mornings and
evenings are comparatively cold in these hills, yet the people
are absolutely destitute of clothing; indeed they consider
clothing as indecent, and members who have been abroad and
have adopted clothing are requested to put it away during
their residence in their old homes. The features of the people
are more closely allied to those of the pastoral tribes than to
the Bantu. In stature the men are not, however, quite so
tall as the Bahima, few of them reach six feet, five feet six
to five feet eight being more usual. Their frame is slim like
that of the Bahima, and the nose inclined to have a bridge.
Again their love for cows is stronger than that of the Bantu.
The women are shorter than the men, they are slim and
athletic, a stout woman being seldom found this may be ;
accounted for by the amount of exercise they take and their

276 THE NILOTIC KAVIRONDO [PT. VI
constant activity in the and home. The freedom with

field
which the young women
mingle with the men is striking,
they may be seen among them, leaning on their shoulders
when standing, as unrestrainedly as the men with men. The
absence of clothing in no wise embarrasses them nor does it
cause either sex a moment's thought they are accustomed to
;
this state of nature from childhood and feel no constraint in

mingling freely together. They are extremely fond of orna-
ments and of painting themselves with different coloured clays,
and often make patterns upon their bodies which they retain
until the clay wears off. Their hair is often allowed to grow
long, and youths frequently increase the length of it by
twisting cords into it, greasing the whole with castor or
other vegetable oil and rubbing red clay into it. Men and
women mix freely together and often work in parties on the
same field, singing songs as they work and keeping time with
their hoes as they dig. Their homes in the hills are exposed
and cold. Still, they do not appear to feel the cold winds and
move about and work as freely as well-clothed tribes. As
a tribe they combine agriculture with pastoral pursuits and
their diet consists of milk and vegetables.
According to their traditions they come
Origin of the tribe.
from the north-west. Their ancestor Ramogi, they say, had
seven sons named Kwenda, Nyakal, Owede, Nyadwat, Sakwa,
Alego and Langho and he adopted another son, Ugenya.
;
Langho, they say, is the father of the Masai and Setik tribes.
They trace their own descent from Owede who had two sons,
Omwa and Sagam. We thus have two groups forming the
tribe, as follows Omwa, whose descendants formed eight
:
clans; Sagam, whose descendants form seven.

The descendants of Omwa:
1. Dongo 2. Nyuto 3. Orando
4. Kwamudi 5. Nyamwegi 6. Ndalo
7. Ogonyo 8. Nyakwal
The descendants of Sagam:
1. Pwonja 2. Hadedi 3. Waranja
4. Rateng 5. Wango 6. Menya
7. Nyameda
Plate XXII
(2) Young women ready for initiation ceremony

(Bagesu Tribe)
CH. XXV] CHIEFS, LAND TENURE, COURTS 277
Government.
Chiefs as rulers. There is no king of the country, nor is
there any single paramount chief ; the Bantu chiefs claim equal,
if not superior, rights to the land. Certain chiefs rule over
extensive districts inhabited by the Nilotics, and their rights
as leaders are considered to be hereditary ;
they are also looked
to in cases requiring settlement or legislation.
Land tenure. Land which has not been cultivated in the
past may be tilled by any family; but, when once it has
been tilled, the community regard it as the property of the
family whose ancestor first cultivated it. Should it be left fallow
for a number of years, no other family may appropriate and
till it without first obtaining the original owner's permission.
Few people seek such permission, preferring to dig virgin-land
which will afterwards belong to their children.
Local chiefs as the magistrates. The people live in com-
munities. They build their houses in close proximity and in
most cases surround them with a growing fence, leaving a
gateway which can be closed during the night or in times of
danger. Such a village group is ruled by a sub-chief who
is under the authority of the district-chief. The chief of a
village is magistrate and controls the general affairs of his
people. This chief levies no taxes, but his people make him
presents of goats and sheep, and of grain also at harvest time.
Courts and court fees. Any person wishing to bring a
charge against another for any offence, real or imaginary,
pays a small fee to the chief of the village before whom he lays
his complaint or accusation. The chief or elder then summons
the accused person and appoints a time when the case shall
be heard. The chief sits with one or two village elders and
gives his judgment. A person may appeal from a village
chief to the principal chief in the district, and the elder who
first tried the case will then go to the superior chief to be
present when the case is reheard. The parties appealing have
topay fresh court-fees before the case is retried. The punish-
ment in almost every case is a fine and the amount is deter-
mined by the gravity of the case. The losing party has to
pay the and from the amount the judge takes a portion
fine,
for himself and passes the remainder to the successful litigant.

Making peace between sections of the tribe. Should there
be a quarrel between two sections of the tribe and a desire be
felt to end the strife, the chief of one section goes to the chief
of the other with a few of his principal men, and they spend
the afternoon and night together discussing the difficulty and
finally coming to terms. The following day a goat is killed,
some of the contents of the stomach are smeared over the
chests of those present, and a little of the meat is pounded in a
mortar and eaten as a sacred meal to ratify the terms of peace.
As they eat the meal, they promise to live at peace, the form
of oath taken being "By the dead dog."
Theft. Cattle lifting is the most common form of serious
theft. Men seek to steal cattle from members of the same tribe
living at a distance from their own district, because the animals
stolen can thus be more easily secreted. A man who intends
to rob a kraal first visits the place with his son in order to work
magic and to make his preparations. He takes with him a
number of sticks pointed and prepared for the magic, and
indicates certain spots to his son, who drives a stick into the
ground at each place. These are magical sticks which cast a
spell upon owners of cattle. The magic is followed up at night
by the man's going to the kraal, opening the gate and driving
away the cattle while the people are sleeping. Should the
animals make any noise or prove stubborn and refuse to leave
the kraal, it is a sign that the owners have received some
intimation of the intended theft and have taken precautions
to make more potent magic to frustrate the robbery. Under
such circumstances the cattle-lifter beats a hasty retreat
before he is discovered and captured, as he knows that he will
receive no quarter, but will certainly be put to death.
Chiefs possessing, large herds of cattle take the precaution
to keep a supply of powerful medicine over the gateway
leading into the kraal, and also place it in various parts of
the kraal so that, when a thief enters the kraal,he loses his
strength, is unable to walk and so is captured and put to
death. A successful cattle-lifter soon becomes a noted man
CH. XXV] THEFT, ADULTERY, MURDER 279
and secures a large following, and thus becomes a powerful

chief.
Petty thefts from houses are dealt with by a medicine-man
who discovers the culprit. He goes to the village in which
the suspected person lives, takes an ordinary stool, sets it in
an open space in the village, fills the hollow of the seat with
water and covers it with an inverted cooking-pot. Having
done this he goes through a formula mentioning the names of
the families of the village, and at length mentions the names of
the suspected family individually, until at last he names the
person accused. When the name of the guilty person is
mentioned, the water on the stool is said to flow from under
the pot. The person thus convicted is fined and, in addition
to his fine, he is compelled to restore the full amount of property
he has stolen.
Adultery. When a man is accused of adultery, he is tried
and, if found guilty, is fined an ox which is given to the
injured man. An unfaithful wife, who leaves her husband,
may be restored to him and he will not think the worse of her.
Should she refuse to return to her husband, her father must
either supply the husband with another wife, a sister of his
former wife, or restore the marriage-fee. Unmarried women
are given great license and are not considered guilty of an
immoral action when they have sexual relations before marriage.
Murder. A murderer is discovered by means of the oracle.
A medicine-man is asked to discover the murderer and, when
he names the person, the relatives of the murdered man accuse
the murderer. The accused is ordered to bring his son, and
the medicine-man, after making incantations over a pot of
drugs, gives the boy a cup of it to drink. If the father is guilty,
the son will die at once whereas, if he is innocent, the boy will
;
suffer no harm. When a man is proved to be guilty or acknow-

ledges his guilt, he is fined a number of cows and has to give
his daughter or sister to the father of the murdered man.
A murderer seldom seeks safety by flight when he has com-
mitted his deed, and often confesses his guilt without any trial,
avowing the motives of his act. There is a special ceremony to
purify a murderer. He is first separated from the members
of his village and lives in a hut with an old woman who attends
to his wants, cooks for also feeds him, because he may
him and
not touch food with his hands. Separation lasts for three days,
and on the fourth day a man who is himself a murderer, or
who has at some time killed a man in battle, takes the murderer
to a stream where he washes him all over. He then kills a
goat and cooks the meat, takes four sticks and places a piece
of meat on each stick and gives the man the meat to eat from
each in turn. When the meat has been eaten, he gives him four
pieces of porridge made into balls and put on the sticks.
After this meal the goat-skin is exit into strips, one strip
being put on the neck and one strip round each wrist of the
murderer. This ceremony is performed by the two men who
are alone at the river, and after it the murderer is free to
return home. It is said that, until this ceremony is performed,
the ghost cannot take its departure for the place of the dead,
but hovers about the murderer.
Inheritance. It is usual for a son to inherit property.
While a manis still in health, he makes known his wishes as
to whom he desires to inherit his property, and his wishes will

be observed. Should a son be loo young to succeed to his
father's estate at the time of death, the deceased man's brother
manages the property until the son is old enough to take
control. Should a man with property die intestate, the mem-
bers of his clan elect one of his sons to be heir. There is no
fixed law as to which son shall inherit. It is not a question
of age nor may the son of a particular wife claim precedence
over the sons of other wives, but the clan-members are at
liberty to choose the man
they consider the most suited for
the office. Women inherit or hold property.
never The
father's stool and bracelet are given to the heir and are the
insignia of lawful succession.
Marriage, Birth and Puberty.

Marriage customs. It was impossible to discover the
ritual of marriage or the groups into which a man might or
might not marry, all that could with certainty be learned
being that there are exogamous divisions within the tribe.
CH. XXV] MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 28l
There are no restrictions as to the number of women a man

may marry nor as to the number of his wife's sisters whom
he may take to wife. Previous to her marriage a young
woman may have as many lovers as she wishes, she is only
careful to avoid incestuous The unmarried
connections.
women have their own quarters in a village and the young
men theirs, and they seldom have any further intercourse
than that of brothers and sisters; the young men, however,
from another village pay visits to the young women during
the day and make love to them, and in the evening the
women return the men's visit and have sexual relations with
them, while other young people sing songs of an obscene
character and dance outside the house. Such intercourse is
not stopped nor discountenanced by the elder people, as it is
a recognised custom. Should any children be born from such
relations, no punishment ensues nor are the couple blamed.
When a father considers his son old enough to marry, he chooses
a woman to be his wife. He then takes a cow and a goat to
the parents of the young woman and arranges with them the
amount be paid for the marriage-fee.
to If the parents
consent to the match, when an instalment of the fee has been

paid, the bride is conducted by her friends to the home of the
young man and lives with him as his wife for ten days during :
this time there is daily singing and dancing outside the house
where the bride and bridegroom reside, and they take part
in the dances. At the end of ten days the bridegroom's parents
give a feast to all those who have gathered, and after the feast
the friends of the bride escort her back to her parents, who in
turn give a feast to the people that accompany their daughter.
The bride remains with her parents until her husband is able to
obtain and pay the full sum asked for as the marriage-fee.
During this time, while the bride is waiting for her husband
to bring the marriage-fee, there is no obligation upon her to
live a chaste life, and she is free to have as many lovers as
before. When, however, the fee has been paid and the bride
claimed, she ceases to live a loose life and becomes most chaste.
The husband builds his house, either in or near his father's
village, and his wife is brought thither. When a man marries
a second or third wife, he may select another place for his new
wife, either in the village near his former wife, or he may elect
to take her to some other village. A man who
has wives
dwelling in different places lives with them in turn. Married
women are careful in regard to their relations with men.
Should a woman be lax in her behaviour or encourage men to
visit her, her husband will send her back to her parents and
divorce her.
A wife who is proved to be sterile is not divorced, but her
parents send her sister to become the man's wife, and he is
expected to pay another sum as a marriage-fee for her; but

there is no stated time when the sum shall be paid after the
woman goes to live with him. The former wife continues to
live with him as his wife.
Distinctive dress of married women. Each woman after
marriage makes a girdle with a long fringe at the back and ties
the ends together, which gives it the appearance of a tail.
The girdle is worn constantly during the husband's life-time,
but, should he die, she takes it off and puts it on the house-
roof over the door during the season of mourning to show that
she is a widow and is mourning. After marriage a wife scarifies
her sides and back in addition to the scarifications she made
at puberty. When a woman has a son born, she makes a
clay-mound in the middle of the floor in her house for the
food pot to rest on when the family are at meals.
Birth customs. A wife who expects her confinement calls
in an elderly woman to act as midwife. This woman is a per-
son who has had experience in such matters and is herself a
mother. When the child is born, the midwife cuts the umbilical
cord on an axe handle if the child is a boy, and on a hoe handle
if it is a girl. The placenta of a boy is buried outside on the
right side of the doorway and that of a girl on the left side.
During the first three days the father remains near the house
in which his wife and child lie, but the midwife alone enters
and attends to the wants of the mother and child. On the
third day the father takes a fowl and rubs it on the child's
chest and turns it loose, when it becomes the property of the
child. When the new moon appears, the parents bathe, and
CH. XX V] TWINS, INITIATION 283
shave their heads, taking care to keep separate the hair which
is cut off. This hair is hidden away in some place near,
by preference in a rat-hole or in some hole where it is not
likely to be found again.
Birth of twins. At the birth of twins the parents remain
together in one house for ten days, and the midwife waits on
them. When this time of seclusion ends, a small pot of blood is
drawn from the neck of an ox, cooked and given to the parents
to eat. After the meal they are escorted to the river, washed,
and their heads shaved. Their house is then swept and the
floor smeared with cow-dung, and friends come and dance in
the village and drink beer. The mother takes the twins a
round of visits which but she returns home
lasts several days,
each night to sleep. At each house she visits the people give
her presents of grain. When the visits have been made the
mother brews beer with the grain she has received in presents,
and her friends again gather to dance and to drink the beer.
Initiation ceremonies. Children live in the same village
with their parents and under their control. Until marriage
they lead a free and happy life, with few wants and cares.
The boys assist in herding cattle, and the girls help their mothers
in their fields and also carry wood and water and assist in
cooking. Their duties are light and there is no force beyond
argument used to make them work. Children imitate their
elders in seeking ornaments to wear and in smearing their
bodies with oil and red or white paint. When they come
to the age of puberty, their four front teeth in the lower
jaw are extracted and they are initiated in the customs of the
clan. For four days they remain in the house, after which
they go about visiting their friends and receive presents of
fowls. Girls go through the same ceremony as boys in having
their teeth extracted, but, in addition, their bodies are scarified
on the sides and back. Should there be excessive haemorrhage
when teeth are extracted, the parents send to the man who
has the bracelets of the deceased person after whom the boy
is named and borrow them, and the youth wears them until
the bleeding ceases. When the ceremony of extracting the

teeth is over, the boys are sent to live in the boys' quarters
with the youths of the village, and girls go to the young women's
quarters, and both cease to live in the house of their parents.
From this time until marriage these young people live in
their communities and have much freedom, their morals not
being considered, but each following the leading of natural
impulse.
—;
CHAPTER XXVI
SICKNESS, DEATH, BURIAL, WARFARE, INDUSTRIES,
RELIGION AND RELATIONSHIPS
—
——
Treatment of the sick ghostly possession death and mourning
death of a wife manner of conducting warfare treatment of a—
—
warrior who has slain one of the enemy agricultural pursuits
— —
cow-keeping oxen used as riding animals mode of building
religious beliefs —
terms of relationships.
Treatment of the sick. Sickness is thought to be due to
one of two causes: it may and the people think most

be,
frequently is, the result of magic which has been worked by
some person who wishes to give pain or even to cause death
because of a grievance, real or imaginary or it may be due to
;
some ghost. Under either circumstance, when a serious case

of sickness occurs, the family seek the aid of a medicine-man
who by his various tests and incantations discovers the cause
and, in a case where magic has been worked, he not only
discovers the cause but also discloses the name of the culprit,
who is thereupon sought and asked to give his motive for
afflicting the sick person, and is paid to release him from the
spell. Should the man have intended to kill the other because
he has suffered some discourtesy or received some offence at
his hands, he would probably have speared his shadow, so that
the sick person will die unless the spell or magic is removed.
Again, it may
be that some magic has been worked and
certain objects have been hidden near the house which are
causing the sickness these have to be removed and the spell
;
broken before any drugs or treatment will avail the sick man.
The perpetrator will only remove these when his grievance
has been settled and he has received the needful compensation.
In the case of a ghost, the medicine-man will tell which ghost
is working the trouble and why it is thus causing sickness.
The ghosts are usually those of grandparents who afflict

grandchildren because their father has failed to fulfil the
duties of a son to his father in his old age, either by direct
unkindness or by neglect. The medicine-man will now order
a shrine to be built by the grave of the grandparent concerned,
and the sick person's father offers a goat or a sheep at the
grave, pouring out the blood as an offeringupon the ground,
and then eating the meat on the spot with a few relatives.
The medicine-man is afterwards able to treat the sick man
with reasonable hope of restoring him to health, because the
offended ghost has now been pacified and will allow the sick
man to benefit by the treatment. Sometimes sickness is
transferred to another person by rubbing herbs over the sick
man and burying them in the road for some other person to
walk over and thus contract the disease.
Ghostly possession. Fits are supposed to be the manifesta-
tion of ghostly possession. They can often be overcome by
giving the person warm
blood to drink drawn from the veins
of an ox and by feeding the patient with a generous diet.
During the time a fit lasts the man is held down, if he is violent,
until the attack is over. Should a man fall into the fire during
a fit, no help is rendered and he is allowed to burn to death,
because it is said that the ghost has claimed him and would
resent any interference and would affect the person who
attempted to rescue the stricken man with a similar malady.
A drum beaten near a person subject to fits is said to bring on
an attack of the malady.
Death and mourning. When a person dies, his legs are
bent up into a squatting posture, the right arm is raised under
the head and the death-wail commences. The dead are not
washed but merely have their ornaments stripped off; an ox
or a cow is then killed and the body is wrapped in the skin and
is stitched up tightly in it. The grave is dug in the house.
When the body is laid in it, all the relatives stand round with
their backs towards it and, at a given signal, they stoop down
and with their hands scrape the earth into the grave without
looking where it falls. After they have scraped in earth for
some moments they walk out of the house, and the brother of
CH. XXVI] DEATH AND MOURNING 287
the deceased enters with a son of the dead man and together
they fill in the grave and beat the floor hard. Some of the
blood of the animal that was killed is poured into the grave as
it is being filled with earth;
and, after the grave is filled up, four
pieces of meat are taken and one piece is placed at each corner
of it. A pot of newly brewed beer is placed on the grave and
left to ferment until it runs over the sides when the relatives
drink it. When the duty of filling in the grave is completed,

all the mourners wash, shave their heads and have a meal
of the meat of the animal that was killed. The widows

remove their girdles and place them on the roof of the house
containing the grave. A goat is killed, and an elderly woman
related to the deceased man ties a portion of the entrails of
the goat round the waist and neck of each widow, and also
winds a portion round her own neck and this is worn by each
;
widow during the period of mourning. On the following

morning a grandson climbs the house and breaks the end off
the central pole which stands out above the thatch; he also
breaks the cooking-pot in which the deceased man's food was
cooked. On the second day after the funeral a goat is brought
into the house and each of the mourners strikes it with his
fist and kicks it ; it is then taken and killed, and its flesh is
cooked in part of the broken cooking-pot and eaten by the

mourners. After this meal the male relatives go to war against
some group of their tribe who are said to have been the cause of
the man's death. After mourning four days the party shave
their heads and continue to the end of the mourning period
without further shaving their heads or paring their nails.
The widows continue to live in the house which contains the
grave. When the ox or cow for the funeral ceremonies is
killed, if the deceased is a man, it is speared to the heart ;
but,
when the deceased is a woman, it is speared in the head between
the horns. When the mourning ceremonies are ended, each
widow makes a girdle, with the fringe at the back, which she
wears for a year while she continues to live in the house con-
taining the grave. At the end of the year she burns the girdle,
goes to the river and washes, takes her old girdle from the house-
roof with her and leaves it in the river-bed. After washing
she makes a new girdle from papyrus while still at the river,
and wears it as she returns to her village. She is then free to
remarry.
Dead people are sometimes said to come to life again.
This is reported to take place within a short time after death.
It is said that the spirit had gone on a journey and had returned
after the man was
thought to be dead, but in time to stop the
funeral. The supposed dead person sneezes and revives, the
sneezing being thought to be the signal that the spirit has
returned from his journey.
Death of a wife. Should a wife die before her husband,
her body is buried in the house, and, when the husband dies, he
is buried in the goat-house near. He may not be buried in
the same house with his wife. The animal offered at a man's
funeral is always an ox, while it is an old cow that is offered
at a woman's funeral. The skin from the animal is used to
wrap the body as a shroud. The meat from the animal is
divided in the following manner: a shoulder is retained for
the dead and is eaten by the mourners at the grave, the second
shoulder is for the relatives in the village, and the remainder,
with the exception of the neck, is for the guests who live at
a distance the neck is given to the medicine-man.
:
A suicide is buried in the open, never in a house. Should

the death have taken place in a house, it is burned down, for
no one will live in it.
Warfare.
Mode of conducting wars. The people are not fond of war

and fortunately their wars are never very serious matters.
Cattle-lifting and women-stealing are the chief causes of fighting.
The battles take place after short notice, when it is found that
cattle have been robbed or when the alarm is given that a
woman has been captured by some other clan. When a fight
is impending, the attacking party drive a few cows to some
spot where the other party may see them and challenge the
others to come and take them. The party challenged must
either attempt to carry off the cows while the others protect
them, or they must pay a fine imposed by the attacking army.
CH. XXVI] WARFARE 289
The warriors arearmed with long-bladed spears and use large

shields three feet high and of a V shape, behind which the
bearer crouches and is completely hidden. The shields are made
of cow-hide and are so dried that they are hard enough to resist
a spear-thrust. Each warrior is painted with red and white clay
in fantastic designs and wears a head-dress. Some of the head-
dresses are like helmets adorned with ostrich feathers, while
others are small straw hats such as a child's doll might wear.
The battle is decided when the cattle are carried off by the
one party or when the other party prove themselves strong
enough to retain them. The victors dictate terms of peace
and the vanquished pay a fine in cattle and women.
Treatment of a warrior who has slain one of the enemy.
When a warrior kills another in battle, he is isolated from his
village, lives in a separate hut some four days, and an old
woman cooks his food and feeds him like a child because
he is forbidden to touch any food. On the fifth day he is
escorted to the river by another man who washes him, a white
goat is killed and cooked by the attendant, who feeds the
man with the meat, the goat-skin is cut into strips and put
upon the man's wrists and round his head, and he returns
to his temporary home for the night. The next day he is
again taken to the river and washed, and a white fowl is
presented him. He kills it and it is cooked for him, and he is
again fed with the meat. He is then pronounced to be clean
and may return to his home. It sometimes happens that a
warrior spears another man in battle and the latter dies from
the wound some time after. When death takes place, the
relatives go to the warrior and tell him of the death, and he is
separated at once from the community until the ceremonies
above described have been performed. The people say that
the ceremonies are necessary in order to release the ghost of
the dead man, which is bound to the warrior who slew him and
is only released on the fulfilment of the ceremonies. Should
a warrior refuse to fulfil the ceremonies, the ghost will ask,
"Why don't you fulfil the ceremonies and let me ?
go " Should
the man still refuse to comply, the ghost will take him by the
throat and strangle him.
r. b t. 19
Industries.
Agricultural pursuits. Agriculture is the principal pursuit

of the people and they have now become dependant upon
their crops for the grain which forms their chief food. Millet
and maize are grown freely and are ground into flour for making
porridge. Men and women work together in the fields and dig
them for the seed. They use the common hoe with a long
handle when digging, and roughly hoe the ground, when rains
are expected. Sweet potatoes, beans and sesame are grown
more for change of diet and as additions, such as we should call
savouries, to the porridge than as necessaries of life. When
the crops are a few inches high, the chief and all his people
shave their heads, and from that time till harvest no one is
allowed to shave again. After harvest the headman shaves
and all the people follow his example. Should any one neglect
this custom and shave before the time, it is said to be injurious
to the crops and to prevent the grain from ripening. The
culprit is therefore fined for his heedless conduct. When the
corn is a goat is killed and the contents of the
in the ear,
stomach are scattered about the field to prevent blight and to
preserve the crops from being injured by hail-storms.
Cow-keeping. Cows form the principal wealth of the
people. The numbers vary in a village according to the pros-
perity and success of the community. Milk is used as an article
of food, especially when sour and clotted, but it is more of a
luxury, in the present progressive stage of the tribe, than a
necessity; and the meat of the animals is almost entirely
reserved for ceremonial use. Cattle are herded by boys and
young men, who mix their herds and flocks of goats and sheep.
Women and girls are strictly forbidden to herd or to milk
cows they may churn and wash the milk-vessels, but there
;
their duties in connection with cows end. Each village has its
cattle, and the young men and boys of the place are responsible
for their safety during the day, while they graze on the hill-side.
When a cow calves, the calf is left with the dam during the first
ten days and the cow is not milked. On the morning of the
eleventh day the cow is milked and the milk is churned, the
2
CH. XXVI] INDUSTRIES, RELIGION 29I
butter being used for cooking a special meal which is eaten

by the owner of the cow and his wife; a little of the butter
is and they smear it on their lips, but none of it may
set aside
be smeared on their bodies. After the meal has been eaten,
the cow is milked regularly and the milk may now be drunk
by all the family.
Oxen used for riding. Oxen are frequently used for riding.
The young men train the animals to this and ride them con-
stantly. They turn them as they wish by prodding the side
of the animal's cheek with a stick from which it turns away.
The animals are trained, however, to obey the voice rather
than wait for the stick. They trot along at a fast rate and
cover the ground quicker than a man can walk.
Sheep and goats. Sheep and goats are kept by all villagers.
Goats especially are eaten by men and women without any
restrictions. Fowls are also kept, though, as is usual among
most African tribes, fowls have to find their own food, and
their chickens are constantly preyed upon by hawks and kites,
and those that grow up are of a poor and miserable kind.
Building.
Architecture and mode of building. The houses are round
huts with conical thatched roofs They have an outer wall
of stakes three and sometimes four feet high with mud smeared
over them on the inside and a central pole passing through
the roof, to which the rafters are attached. The roof is thatched
with grass and the end of the central pole, which passes through
the roof, is rudely carved. The houses are grouped together,
leaving room enough to pass between them, and a growing fence
surrounds them. Many villages have no outer fence, but are
built high up the hill-sides for protection from hostile clans.
Religion.
Apart from worship of the dead and a

Religious beliefs.
have little religion. They call the
belief in ghosts, the people
supreme being Nyasi, who, they say, is to be found in large
trees. In times of trouble or sickness they make offerings to
him of an animal which is killed under a large tree, and the
19 —
flesh is cooked and eaten near by, though sometimes the meat
is taken a little distance away and is not eaten under the
shadow of the tree.
Rain-making. Rain-making is an important ceremony,
but it is performed by a Musoga priest who lives among the
people for the purpose of assisting them in discharging those

religious obligations which they consider necessary yet do not
themselves understand how to perform. The man is treated
with great respect and has a comfortable existence among them.
Relationships.
Terms of relationship. The following terms of relationship

were supplied by the Rev. J. J. Willis, now Bishop of Uganda,
formerly a C.M.S. Missionary at Maseno, Kavirondo, who says
that the pronominal forms for Father and Mother are used,
that is, each person says "My father" or "My mother" (m.s.
-
man speaks, w.s. = woman speaks).
Father, won, wora
Mother, min, mama
Eldest brother (m.s.), kayo, ng'amodwong'ena
Eldest sister nyamin madwong', nyamera madwong'
(w.s.),
Sister (m.s.),Nyamin, Nyamera.

Father's brother, omin won, omin worwa
Father's brother's wife, min, minwa mama
Father's brother's child, owat, owadwa
Father's sister, wa, waya
Father's sister's husband, chwor wa, chwor waya
Father's sister's child (boy), wod wa, wod waya
Father's sister's child (girl), nyar wa, nyar waya
Mother's brother, ner, nera
Mother's brother's wife, chi ner, chi nera
Mother's brother's child (boy), woda ner, woda nera
Mother's brother's child (girl), min, mama
Mother's sister, min, mama
Mother's sister's husband, won, wonwa
Mother's sister's child (boy), owat mar nyina hao, owadwa
mar nyina hao
CH. XXVI] RELATIONSHIPS 293
Mother's sister's child (girl), nyamin mar nyina hao, ny-

amera mar nyina hao
Sister's son's wife (m.s.), chi nyakweo, chi nyakwewa
Sister's son's child (m.s.), nyakwar, nyakwara
Sister's daughter's husband (m.s.), chwor nyakewo,
chwor nyakewa
Sister's daughter's child (m.s.), nyakwar, nyakwara
Father's father, Kwar, kwara
Father's mother, da, dana
Mother's father, Kwar, kwara
Mother's mother, da, dana
Husband, chwor, chwora
Wife's father, or, ora
Wife's mother, mar, mara
Husband's mother, mar, mara
Husband's father, or kwar, ora kwara
Wife's brother, or, ora
Wife's sister, yu or, yu ora
Husband's brother, yu or, yu ora
Husband's sister, yu or, yu ora
Wife's sister's husband, omin, omera
Husband's brother's wife, nyek, nyeka
Son's wife's parents, nyawana, nyawanana
;; ;
INDEX
Adopting children 114 government 169; hunting cus-
Adultery 122, 171, 232, 279; and its toms 193; huts 190; initiation
punishment 22 by a chief's wife
;
ceremonies 184 marriage customs
;
23 ; punished by fine 260 172; men and women at work

After birth of twins 47, 153,219; treat- 166; musicalinstruments 189;
ment of 43, 121, 174, 214, 282 ornaments 165 physical appear-
;
Agricultural clan, youth of, obtaining ance of the people 163 polygamy
;
a wife 40 clans of the Banyoro

,
173; punishment for crime 170;
4; peoples of Ankole 102: pur- religious beliefs 179 scarifications
;
suits 270 1 65; treatment of sickness 1 76

Agriculture 68, 165, 234 in Busoga ; warfare 190; women 163
234, 268 ; in Kavirondo 290 Bahima, belief in ghosts 135 belief in ;
Amulets 96 transmigration of soul 128; birth

Amusements of the Bagesu 192 customs 123 birth of twins custom
;
Animals eaten by pastoral clans 108 126 blood brotherhood 138 cattle
; ;
Ankole, agricultural peoples of 102, 118; clans and totems 116:

118; climate of 102; domestic courts of justice 114; customs at
slavery of 103 geographical posi-
;
death 127; customs at dentition
tion 1 01 physical features of 101
; 124; customs at puberty of girls
position of 101 126; customs of cleansing milk
Announcing the birth of twins 47, pots 108; custom of education
175, 217, 219, 265 125 custom of electing a king 113
; ;
Announcing the death of the king 14, customs of giving salt to cows
5i 105; custom of inheritance 118;
Anvil of stone 76 custom of polyandry 121 customs ;
Appealing from a lower to a higher of slavery 117; division of time

court 20 137; dress and habits 103;
Army purified before entering the duties of women 107 food and ;
capital 83 ; welcome on its return milk taboos 108; games 140;

from war 83 gods 131 government 1 10 herds-
; ;
Aunt accompanying her niece when men 104; hunting customs 138;
married 120 king's court 112; king's duties
Avenger of blood 115 113; king the owner of all cattle
Averting sickness in royal family 94 ill kraal watch fire 106 levirate
; ;
Avoidance of mother-in-law 41, 210, custom 113; list of kings III;

262; naming the dead 111; love of cattle 104 marriage
;
of women by huntsmen 86 customs 118; method of counting

138; milk vessels 106; morality
Bagesu, the 161 ; amusements 192 121; music 140; punishment for
birth custom 174; birth of twins murder 115; punishment for
175; building 191; cattle rearing various vices 114; related to
168; clans 163; clothing 164; the Banyoro 109; religious beliefs
court fees 169; cows 168; culti- 131; royal residence 112; taboos
vation 166; custom of first-fruits 137; treatment of calves 107;
167; dancing 187; death customs treatment of sick cattle 136;
177; district 161; food 165; weapons of herdsmen 104
;;; ;
INDEX 295
Bakene allied to the Basoga 146; habits of dress 241 hunting ;
birth customs 1 51 birth of twins ; customs 238; industries 234 laws ;
152; canoes 157; chief god 154; of inheritance 231 list of ;
clans and totems 148 district ; chiefs 204 marriage customs 208
; ;
145; dress 157; huts 155; method modes of building 240 mourning ;
of fishing 154; floating houses 145, 202 ;ornaments 242 prince ;
x 55; government 153; marriage sent to Bunyoro for education

customs 145; modes of travelling 198; punishment for crime 232;
147; religion 154; women fishing rain-making 254 religious beliefs ;
147 245 ;sickness customs 222 sub- ;
Banishing a prince when a king is chiefs 231; taboos 237; their

crowned 16; a wife of the king occupation 199; warfare 243
for adultery 23 Bastard children 23
Banyoro a pastoral tribe of the Bateso birth customs 264 clans and ;
Bantu 4 ; agricultural clans 4 totems 261 cow-keeping customs

;
agricultural people 68 basketry ; 271; customs of agriculture 268;

80; birth customs 43; birth of customs of brewing 270; death
twins 47 birth rate 48 building
; ;
customs 266 district 259
; gov- ;
73 ; canoe-men 79 clans and ; ernment 260 hunting customs

;
totems 27; coronation customs 271 ;

marriage customs 262 mode ;
15 ; courts of appeal 22 courts ; of building 267 mourning 266 ; ;
of trial 24 cow-keeping 62 ; ;
ornaments 272 punishment for ;
custom of banishing a prince crime 260 religious beliefs 272

; ;
16; death of twins 48; district terms of relationship 273 warfare ;
chiefs 18; dress and ornaments 5, 271

77; drums 87; fishermen 77; Beasts of prey hunted 138
food of agricultural peoples 70 ;
Beer brewing 72; drinking 71, 72,
food of pastoral peoples 71 ; 270 ;
drinking in Busoga 243
government 18; harvest customs from plantains 72
69;
hunting customs 85 indus- ; Belief in ghosts 132, 180; in gods 131
tries 62 inheritance 26
; iron ; Beliefs as to the cause of sickness 53
workers 74 kings 6 king's
; ;
Bellows used in iron working 75
death 14; king's meals 13; king's Bells used in dancing 189; used
mother 21 king's residence 21
; ;
when hunting 240 worn by ;
land taxes 19 law of succession ; children 46

19; list of kings 16; magistrates Betrothal in pastoral clan 38, 118;
20 ;
marriage customs 36 milk ; in agricultural clan 41, 119; of
customs 65 minor chiefs 20
; Bagesu 173; of children 118; in
new moon customs 97 ; omens Busoga 208; in Kavirondo 281
83;
pastoral clans of 4 poison ;
Birds and beasts foes to crops 69
ordeals 23 potters 78
;
princes ;
Birth customs 43, 123, 151, 174, 264,
and princesses 21 punishment for ; 282; in agricultural clan 45; in
adultery 22; religious beliefs 89; Central District of Busoga 215;
royal milk customs 12; sacred in the North-Western District 213
cows 10 salt making 76 sickness
; ; Birth of a boy a cause of joy 124;
and death customs 50 terms of ; of calf, ceremony 236 ; of twins
relationship 32 trial of royalty ;
46, 47, 126, 152, 175, 217, 265,
24; use of beer 72; warfare 81 283 ;of twins in Central Busoga
Bark cloth 241 dresses 78 ; 218; rate 48
Basketry 80 Blistering for sickness 54
Basoga, agricultural customs 234 ;
Blood as food 71; avenger 24;
birth customs 213; birth of avoided by parents of twins 220;
twins 217; birth statistics 256; brotherhood 138 ; feuds 170; feud
blood feuds 243 ceremony to ; in Busoga 243 offered in sacrifice
;
secure health 203 chiefs 200 ; to gods 72 of human beings in

;
chief's successor 200 clans and ; drums 87 of oxen in drums 88 ;

;
totems 205 cow-keeping customs

; from slaughtered animals eaten
236; death customs 201, 223; 71; revenge 170; from young
dress 241; fetishes 251; fishing bulls 71 ; blood used for food
customs 237; government 230; 168
;
; ;;
296 INDEX
Boy attached to the special herdsman Canoes 79 ; and rafts of the Bakene
XI ; substitute for the father of 157; building 79; travelling 147
twins 46 Capital punishment of chiefs 1 1 1
Brewing beer 72, 270 for theft 25
Bride accepted as a daughter by her Capturing a ghost 56, 136, 180
mother-in-law 40 in agricultural ; Cases of appeals brought to the king
clan 41 and her companions 39
; ; 113; tried in court 22
carried off to her husband 120; Cattle belonging to a ghost 132;
entering upon normal duties 41; divided into herds of one hundred
fed like a child 210; home of 40; 138; given to a bride 120; given
in tears 39; secluded 150, 263; to chiefs in lieu of land 110;
taken to her husband 1 49 treated ; lifting 22 lifting a cause of war
;
as a child 120; bridal party 288; long-horned 118; observ-

263 ance of colour of 38 offered to;
Bridegroom of the pastoral clan 39, the dead king 53 owned by the
;
119; of the agricultural clans 41; king in; rearing 63, 168; sick-
of the Bakene 150; of the Bagesu ness 136; rules for breeding 38;
172; of the Basoga 209; of the totems 118
Kavirondo 281 Causes for divorce 114, 151, 174, 213,
Brother the person to sanction his 232
sister's marriage 150 Causes of war 8i, 190, 242, 271, 288
Building 191, 240, 267; canoes 79; Caves on Mount Elgon 162
a kraal 63 nouses 73 huts 63
; ; ;
Central District of Busoga 198;
mode of 291 burial customs 227
Bunyoro, Bacwezi, the priestly clan Ceremonies at birth 43, 123, 174,
of 6 boundaries 5
; burial-place ; 213, 264, 282 before childbirth 174
;
of kings 5 class distinctions 27

; Ceremony at the birth of twins 126,
extent of 3 four dynasties of ; 152, 175, 217; at the birth of a
kings given of 5 its geographical ; calf 133, 236 at burial of the dead
;
position 3 name of a dead ; 224, 287; at new moon

97; for
king never mentioned 5 origin ;
cleansing men
138; for ending
of the royal house 5 physical ;
marriage seclusion 211 of Bagesu ;
features 5 rocky hills venerated

;
marriage 173; of making blood-
in 5 royal house 5
;
story of the ;
brothers 138; of eating the dead
first two kings of 6 terms of ; 178; of first fruits 235; of
relationship 32 initiation 184, 283; of marriage
Burial 129, 224; customs 58; cus- 149; of naming children born
toms among agricultural people during twin birth ceremonies 221
61 ; customs in Central Busoga of naming twins 153, 217; of
227 customs of women and
; purification after childbirth 124;
unmarried men 228 of a chief of ; of purification after initiation
Busoga 201 a fallen warrior 83 ; 187; of smearing butter on the
of dead 286; of a king 52, 60, body when sowing beans 236
128; of a suicide 288; of twins of adopting children 114; per-
48 ;of women 61 place of pla- ;
formed over newly cultivated
centa 45 land 166; to announce the new
Burning iron used in sickness 54 moon 139; to avert famine 95 to ;
Butter making 108; smeared on the bring rain 183, 292; to celebrate
body 104 a child's first tooth 125; to
Busoga 197; architecture 240 ;
chief, cleanse a warrior who has killed
mourning for a 201 chiefs ; of the a man 190 to discover cause of
;
Central District 204 districts ; sickness 222 to end mourning

;
197 fetishes 251

; owner of land ; 226; to ensure a chief's health
230; physical features of 199; 203; to heal sick cattle 136;
rain makers 254 rock spirits ; to keep birds from crops 235 to ;
250 ; statistics 256 make peace 170; to make known

the death of the king 14; to
Calves fed by cow 106 ; treatment obtain good crops 234 to prevent ;
of 107 war 96 to prove a man guilty of

;
Cannibalism of the Bagesu 161 adultery 216 to purify a man guilty

;
;
;; ; ;;;
INDEX 297
ofmanslaughter 171 to purify a ; Country of the Bateso 259

murderer 280 to purify mourners
; Court fees 22, 277 held in the open;
60; to purify the parents of 112; houses 21; house for state
twins 175; to release a ghost 225, secrets 22
280, 287; to secure freehold Courts of appeal 22 of the Bagesu ;
land 231 ;to stave off evil during 169

feasts 95 to stay sickness 94
; Cousin marriage 38, 209, 262
when a child is named 214 Cowardice in war punished 84
Charcoal making 74 Cow-dung as fuel 64
Chief of Busoga, death of a 201 Cow-keeping 62, 271, 290; in Central
Chiefs appointed to rule over cattle Busoga 236 by peasants 67
;
no; giving the body of the dead Cow kraal 105

king to the victorious prince 51 Cows, amount of milk from 106; for
guarding the king's body 51 ; milk in the capital 74 given ;
huts surrounding the royal en- salt 77, 105 love for a fire 64
;
closure 73 in Busoga 200, 230

; love for smoke 105; made to
killed at the king's grave 52 low on the day of a death 59
not allowed to take part in the never fed in a kraal 66 not ;
civil wars 15; of the Central milked on the day of a death 58

District of Busoga 204 of the ; offered to dead king 128; rarely
Kavirondo 276 the guardian of ; killed 68 treatment of sick 68
;
the body of the dead king 15 Cow-skins, garments made of 77

Childbirth customs 215 placed in the grave 58; robes of
Childless wife discarded 151 pastoral women 5
Children betrothed 118; forced to Creator without a temple 131
drink large quantities of milk 71, Creditors claim upon an estate 60
125; given a portion of their Crowning the new king 15
father's property 232 living at ; Cultivation of millet 70 of sweet ;
home until marriage 214; playing potatoes 70

in canoes 147 Custom of awe and reverence when
Choosing a wife 149, 172, 208, 211 the king took a meal of milk 12;
Churning 41, 66 of bleeding bulls 168 of choosing ;
Churns 108 a wife 208 of extracting lower

;
Circumcision 184 teeth 157, 187; of making peace

Civilwars 81 to secure the throne 14
; 278; of marriage 39, 119, 148,
Claims on the children of a woman by 210, 281 of marriage in Bagesu
;
the clan 217 172; of marriage in the Central

Clan family names 29; gods 133; District 211; of placing a child
in Bunyoro 27 obligations in ; to sit alone 44 of placing a pot
;
a case of murder 115 of milk at a kraal fire for warriors

Clans and totems 28, 116; of the to drink 132
Bagesu 164; of the Bakene 148; Customs adopted during period of
of Busoga 204 menstruation 42 adopted to ;
Clothing of Bakene women 158; of obtain children 42 followed at ;
the Kavirondo 276; of men 158; childbirth 123, 213, 215, 264,
of the Bagesu 164 282 followed by pregnant women
;
Companion to the king's ghost 52 44 at death 266 at harvest 269

; ;
;
Compensation for manslaughter 116 of building in Central Busoga 241

Conception 42, 123, 174, 213, 264, of burial of women and unmarried
282 men 228; of hospitality 122; of
Confirming the betrothal promise hunting 193, 238 of sowing and ;
made in infancy 119 of harvest 235

Consent of a woman sought in mar- Cutting the teeth 217
riage 212
Consummation of marriage 40 Dances 189; drums used in 88; in
Contest for the vacant throne 51 connection with twins 47 to end ;
Cooking never done by women in initiation ceremony 187

pastoral clans 41 Daughter-in-law received by her
Corn stored 69 threshing 69
; husband's parents 120
Counting 138 Dead buried in the dung-hill 58 ;
19—5
;; ;
298 INDEX
king spoken of as being asleep 53 ;

of minor chiefs 20 of the boy ;
not mentioned 1 1 1 disposal of ;

"caller" of the sacred cows it;
weapons and milk vessels of the of the medicine-man at the birth
59; worshipped in Busoga 245 of twins 46 of pastoral women
;
Death 128, 176, 177, 223, 286; 65, 107

ceremony performed at sudden Duty of a District Chief to obtain
death 60 customs 266 customs
; ; permission to leave the capital 21
among agricultural clans 61 ; cus- Dwellings of ghosts 180
toms among pastoral clans 129;
discovering the cause of 57 of ; Earth god of Busoga 250
a chief of Busoga 201 of the ; Earthquakes 93
king 14, 50; of twins 48; of a Earth rubbed on the body to cleanse
wife 288 sentence for adultery
; it 104
22 wail 58
; Eating the dead 178
Dentition 45, 124, 217 Education of children 125; of
Deposed chiefs put to death 111 princes 113
Deposing a chief 20 Electing a new king 113
Descent through male line 118 Elephant hunting 85, 193 meat ;
Diagnosing sickness 222 dried and sold 86

Discovering a murderer 279; a Elopement 209
thief 25, 170; magic in sickness Ending mourning 59, 129, 178, 202,
54; the cause of death 57; the 226, 267, 287
magician 223 Engagement, marriage 149
Disposal of property in Central Estates of princes and princesses 21
Busoga 232 of the skull of a; Evening meal of pastoral chiefs 108
dead chief 227 of the widows of ; Exogamy 27
a chief 204 of widows 267 ; Exorcising a ghost 55
Distribution of milk 67 Extracting teeth 78, 157, 187
District chiefs 18
Districts, names of 20 Family meals 167
70,
Dividing the meat of small game 87 Fasting afterdrinking milk 108;
Divination in rain-making 182; to from milk 67
discover the cause of sickness 176 Father's avoidance of his daughter
Division of ivory 86 in marriage 36
Divisions of Busoga 197 of the day ; Fear of ghosts 135; of shadows 136
140; of time 139 Feasts given after the funeral of a
Divorce 114 warrior 82
Dog killed to make peace 170 Fee for marriage 39, 209
Dogs fed after a successful hunt 87; Fences of grass 73
used to stalk buffalo 87 Ferry-men 80
Domestic animals 271, 291 slavery ;
Fetishes 96; in Busoga 251; in
of Ankole 103 drums 87;
kept in a special
Dreams 97 place in a hut 136; of Central
Dress 77 ; of Bagesu women 164 Busoga 252 of war S2
; to heal ;
of Basoga 241 ; of a married sick cattle 136

woman 282 ; of pastoral clans Fetish Gomba used by women 253
5 ; of the Bahima 103 ; of the huts on papyrus roots 147;
priests of Wamala 90 Nambaga 252 Nakalondo 252
; ;
Drums as musical instruments 189; to ensure conception 42

beaten at the appearance of the Fine for adultery 171; for man-
moon 140; containing human slaughter 171; imposed on the
blood 87 making 87 the use of
; ; relatives of a suicide 24 paid ;
87 sacred
; 9 used for pleasure 88
; to save a murderer 115
Drunkenness little known 72 Fire kept burning at childbirth 43,
"Dug-out" canoe 80, 157 124; sticks 51; for cattle 105
Duties of a huntsman's wife 86; of Fires extinguished 51 rekindled ;
a midwife 215 of Bahima women ; after the king's funeral 53

103 of District Chiefs in the
; First-fruits 235 offered
; to the
capital 20 of herdsmen in a
; deity 167
kraal 66 of medicine-men 94
; Fishing 77, 154. 237
;; ;
INDEX 299
Fish traps 155, 238 of death 247
of foot disease,;
Flesh of wild animals eaten by Kauka of health, Lubanga

92 ;
pastoral people 108 93 of Lake Albert, Mugizi 92

;
;
Floating houses 145 of plagues 247; of rain 183; Ru-

Flogging for theft 25 hanga 91 of small-pox Ndhaula
;
Flour, grinding millet 70 mill 70 ; 91 ; of the chase 86 of the earth ;
Food of a baby in the agricultural in Busoga religion 250 Wamala ;
clans 45 of menstruant woman

; 90; of war, Muhingo 91; of war,
122; of mourners 59; of pastoral Zoba 131 of weather, Munume
;
people 71; of the Bagesu 165; 93

regulations for nursing mother 44 ;
Gods of clans 93, 133; Male and
restrictions for a pregnant woman Luhanga 246 propitiated before;
215; restrictions the cause for warriors enter the capital 83

polyandry 121; sent to the king Government of the Bagesu 169; of
after his death 51 taboo 137 ; the Bateso 260
Forest land of Ankole 102 Grain hidden in pits 69 growing ;
Fornication a lifelong disgrace 121; 68 used by pastoral people 72

;
condoned 232 sanctioned 281

; Granaries 69, 167, 269
Fowls and eggs avoided 237; for- Graves in the house 224 of the ;
bidden pastoral people 72 used ; king 52 smeared with butter

;
to discover cause of sickness 54 203

Freeing the ghost 225 Grinding millet flour 70
Fuels for kraal fire 107 Guardians of the royal enclosure 9
Funeral feast of a warrior 83 of the ;
Guarding the dead king 51
king 15; preparation 51, 58;
procession to bury the king 52 Habits of the Bahima 103
Furnace for iron smelting 75 Hair dressing 46
Furniture in a hut 192 Harp used by women 140
Harvest customs 69, 166, 235, 269
Game for food 138, 238 Headman or ruler 153
Games 140; for boys 141 Heir appointed on the day of death
General banished from capital for 129; arrival of the 202; a son
failing in war 84 usually the 26 appointing the ;
Generals of an expedition 81 19 ending mourning 59, 226, 267

; ;
Geographical position of Ankole 101 introduced to the mourners 59

Ghost, capturing a 136; made presented to the king 56 receiving ;
prisoner 225 setting free a 280

;
claims upon an estate 60 to a ;
shrines on papyrus roots 147; chief of Busoga 200 to a dead ;
supposed to care for a child 175; man 1 78 to property 56 taking

; ;
releasing a 289 the cause of

; the oath of allegiance 57
sickness 128, 132 Herding cows 66, 104
Ghostly possession 55, 136, 177, 286 Herds of cows kept according to
Ghosts and magic 154 belief in 135 ; ;
colour 62
believed to hinder child bearing Herdsmen of the sacred cows 10
42 ;fears of 94 Herdsmen's love for their cows 68 ;
Glazing pots 79 weapons 104

Goat- and sheep-skins for dress 5 Home of the Bakene 145 ; of ghosts
Goats and sheep reared by peasants 132
68 Homicide, the punishment for 24
Goat-skin dresses 78 Houses for the lung's wives 73
Goddess Nawandyo 246 ;
Nakiwulo, Human offerings to drums 87 sacri- ;
who detects thieves 246 Nalongo ;

fices at the burial of the king 52 ;
246 of harvest,
; Kaikare 92 in rain-making 255
of royalty, Mulindwa 92 of ; Hunting 85, 138, 193, 238, 271
royalty, Nyinawhira 92 Hunting customs 238 of the Bagesu ;
God Gasani 154; Gasani the giver 193 dangerous animals 85

;
ele- ;
of children 249 Ingo 246 Kib-

; ; phants 85 from love of sport 85
; ;
umbo 154; Nyasi, the supreme for food restricted to the agri-
291 of cattle, Kagoro 92 of cattle
; ; cultural clans 85 large game 84 ; ;
Kigare 92 of cattle Nyalwa 92

; ;
small game 87, 239
;; ;;
300 INDEX
Huntsman's avoidance of women 86, method of travelling 19; mode

239 of spending the night 13 morning ;
Husband fined for ill-using his wife bath 14; mother 21; mother's
25 forbidden to visit the king
; enclosure 37 mother never ;
during his wife's menses 45 treat- ; allowed to remarry 2 1 mother ;
ment of an unfaithful wife 45 perpetuated, the office of 21

Hut built over the king's grave 53 ; Mpugu of the Babito dynasty 9
destroyed on the death of a wife 61 must be a man of the blood royal
Huts built on papyrus roots 146; 110; name removed from the
for mourners 60 hidden in
; language at death 15; Ndaula 8;
papyrus 146; of herdsmen 104; Ndaula abdicates his throne for
on floating foundations 155 his son 8 kings of Ankole 1 1 1 of
; ;
Bunyoro 4 ;
offering of cows to
Infanticide 36 sacred twins 132; of Toro 4;
Infant marriage 262 presents of slaves to his mother
Inheritance 26, 113, 153, 231, 261, 38 ;
recognising the heir 56
280 residence 21, 73; right to appoint
Illegitimate children 171 a chief 19 rewarding warriors
;
from magic 135

Illness 83; seat in his house 112; the
Imprisonment 26 owner of cattle 1 1 1 the sole ;
Initiation ceremonies 283 cere- ; possessor of land 18; Wamala 8;

mony of boys 184; ceremony of wives attending him at court 112
girls 186 wives drowned for adultery 23
Insecurity of life in Busoga 243 wives' huts 73 wives in attend- ;
Intoxicating drink of the pastoral ance on the special herdsmen of

clans 109 the sacred cows 1 2 wife in ;
Iron made into weapons 75 ore 74 ; attendance on him during the

working 74 night 1 3 wives removed from
;
Ivory given to the king 86 ; tusks 193 the capital for childbirth 43
Kingly valuation of land 18
Jaw-bone of a dead chief removed Kraal deserted after a burial has
204 ; of a dead chief venerated taken place 60 built by peasants ;
226 64; building 63; watch fire 106

Jumping 141
Ladies carried, unable to walk 38
Kabarega, king of Bunyoro, exiled 4 Lake Kyoga 145; Palisa 147
Kagoro, as cattle god 92 departure ;
Land only of value for pasturage 110 ;
of, from his country 8 owners 230; tenure 277

Kaikara, the goddess of harvest 92 Large game hunting 239
Kasagama appointed king of Toro 4 Law of succession 19
Kauka, a cattle god 92 Legitimacy of a child 175, 215
Kavirondo, Nilotic 275 Levirate customs 113
Keeper of the sacred fire 53 Life of a married woman 150
Kigare, a cattle god 92 Lip stone 165
Killing a thief 170 List of Kavirondo chiefs 276; of
King Bukulu 6 ;
speared by his kings 16; of the kings of Ankole
grandson 7 in
King, body prepared for burial 51 ;
Lubanga. the god of health 93
chosen by the people 113; court Lugaba, god of the Bahima 131
112; death 50, 128; demanding
grain 72; diet 10; drinking from Magic 134 ;the cause of sickness 54,
the poison cup 50; duties 113; 127, 222, 265; the cause of death
enclosure, cows kept in the 21 54. 176
enclosure, court-houses in the 21 ;
Magistrates 233 in each district 20
; ;
estimation of wealth 110; fed by their duties 20 of the Kavirondo ;
his cook 1 3 fetishes 112;

; has 277
the monopoly of drums 87 Kagoro ;
Maize and its use 70
8 kraal 1 1 1
; Kyomya 8 leading
; ;
Making salt 76
the army 81; love of cows 113; Management of a sick chamber 57
method of securing wives 37; Manner of scarifying 165
; ;;
INDEX 301
Manslaughter 116, 171 ceremony after birth of a calf

Manual work derogatory to women of 168 ; distribution 67 ; drunk
pastoral clans 41 while it is still warm
64 from a ;
Marriage, Bagesu 172; Basoga 208; cow sacred after it has calved
by capture 120 by uncircumcised ; 133; from a newly calved cow
man 188; customs among agri- avoided 137 from the cows of a
;
cultural clans 40; customs in the ghost 133; given to a woman

Central District 211, 212; cus- after childbirth 67; measured
toms of Bateso 262 ceremony ;
when milking 65 not drunk ;
ended 151 contract between

; when sour 109 not given to ;
prince and princess not binding mourners 59 pots and weapon of

;
37; customs 39, 118, 148, 210, a dead man 59 precautions 71

; ;
280; feast 120; fee 39, 119, vessels 65, 106; vessels, cleansing
149, 173, 262 in agricultural clan
; 65; vessels fumigated 65, 106;
40 fee in Busoga 209 in pastoral
; ; vessels in the king's house 112;
clans 38 of cousins 38, 262
; of ; vessels of iron or tin feared 106;
sisters 36, 119; of the king 36; vessels of metal prohibited 66 ;
rules in clans 27 ties disregarded ; scarcity a reason for polyandry
after initiation 188; time and 121 ;taboos 67, 108 taboo to ;
place of 39 with a slave 40

; women 42
Married woman, life of a 150 Milking cows 106; the sacred cows
Materials used for building 73, 240; 11; time for 65
used in basketry 80 Minor chiefs 20
Mats placed for the king to walk on Mode of building 291 of exorcising ;
22 ghosts 55 of castrating young

;
Meals eaten together by a family 70 bulls 63 of conducting war 288

;
Meat eaten by chiefs 67 eaten by ; of cultivating land 68 of eating ;
pastoral clans 71 meals 167; of filling the grave

Medicine-man able to discover a 58; of fishing by Bakene 147 ;
thief 26 at the birth of twins
; of paddling a canoe 80 of ;
46, 219; called the "Smeller" securing a door against a thief

26, 54 called
; to treat the sick 192; of warfare 190; of working
285 as priest
; 273 as rain-maker ; magic 54
181 discovering the cause of
; Modern methods of building 74
sickness 135, 176; duty in a case Morality among married women 121
of sickness 54; exorcising a ghost among young women 119, 121
177 their duties 94; the medium
; Motherhood essential to family happi-
of the gods 179; treating sick ness 213
cattle 136; the maker of fetishes Mother-in-law, avoidance of 41
134 avoidance 210, 262; receiving
Medium of a rock spirit 180 her son's wife 120
Men and women tilling fields 68 Mother of twins 46 avoiding the ;
who are taboo 137 sun 220

Metal bartered for food 75 Mount Elgon 145; the home of the
Method of brewing 72 of building ; Bakene 161
267 of burning off grass 102
; Mourners, chastity of 59 food of ;
of discovering a thief 25 of ; 59;

living in the open 59 not ;
discovering the cause of sickness allowed milk 59; permitted to

127 of drawing blood
; from drink milk 60; purifying them-
cows 71 of fishing 77 of fighting
; ; selves 60 returning to their homes
;
242 of fumigating milk pots 107

; ; 60; visiting the king 60
of greeting the king 112; of Mourning 59, 129, 178, 224, 266; cere-
hunting 271 of hunting buffalo
; mony to end 226 for the dead
;
86 of hunting elephants 85
; of ; 58; in agricultural clans 61 ;
making pots 79; of milking 65, the dead 225, 286; in Busoga
107 of preserving the king's
; 201
body 14 of war 271 ; Moving the king from one house to
Midwife, duties of a 152, 215 another by night 13
Milk avoided after eating vegetables Mpologoma river 145
137; carried to chiefs daily 66; Mugizi, the god of Lake Albert 92
; ;;;
302 INDEX
Muhingo, the god of war 91 Ox killed the day after a death 59
Mulindwa, goddess of royalty 92 Oxen offered to the dead 59, 128,
Munume, the god of weather 93 224, 287 used for riding 291
;
Murder 115, 170, 279; punishment

for 24, 260 Paddles in canoes 80
Murderer, the escape of a 24, 115 Pages attending the king 22
Music 140 Papyrus roots the foundations for
Musical instruments 189 huts 146, 156
Mutilating a thief 25 dead foes 83 ; Parents blamed for child's illness 44
Mwanga, the snake god 179 gift of cows to their daughter at
marriage 39 of twins isolated 175
;
Naming a child 44, 152, 175, 214; Pastoral chiefs living on a vegetable
children born during twin-birth diet during war 82 clan, burial ;
ceremonies 221 twins 153, 217

; customs 58; people at a marriage
Ndaula, prince of Bunyoro 7 120; people avoiding manual
Ndhaula, the god of small-pox 91 labour 4 people forbidden to
;
Netmaking 155 eat fowls or eggs 72 people living ;
Nets used when hunting small game in communities 74 women afraid ;
87 to till land 68 women and their

;
New moon ceremonies 97;

139; duties 107
dance at twin birth 47 Peasants accustomed to pay annually
New year 140 an amount of corn 19; dislike to
Nilotic Kavirondo 275 agricultural ;
herd cattle 67 in the king's
;
pursuits 290 birth customs 282

; ;
presence 112; keeping cows 67
cowkeeping 290 death customs
; living in their fields 68 settling ;
286 district 275

; dress 282 ; upon new land 26 the rights of 18 ;
government 277 initiation cus- ; Physical features of Ankole 101

toms 283 list
; of chiefs 276 features of Busoga 199; features
marriage customs 280 mode of ; of Kavirondo 275; types of
building 291 religious
;
beliefs Bagesu 163
291 terms of relationship 292
; ;
Physique of the Bahima 103 ; of the
treatment of sick 285 warfare 288 ; Bakene 157 ; of the Kavirondo
Nine-pins, game of 141 275
Nomadic habits of Buhima 105; Pits used by huntsmen 86 used for ;
of pastoral clans 63 hiding grain 69

North-western District 197 Placenta, treatment of 43, 123, 153,
Numbers demonstrated by the hand 174, 214, 282
139 Places of burial 224
Nyalwa, a cattle god 92 Plantains as food 70
Nyinamweru, story of 6 Plot of land devoted to twins 48
Nyinawhira, goddess of royalty 92 Poison cup for the king 14; ordeal
2 3. 135
Obesity a mark of beauty 38 Polishing and glazing pots 79
Occupation of the Basoga 199 Polyandry 121
Offering first-fruits to the deity 167 Polygamous customs 282
trade by iron smelters 75 of ; Polygamy 37, 122, 173, 210, 281
bark clothes for the king's burial Porridge eaten from the pot 70; the
52; to canoes 79; to ghosts 180; food of agricultural people 70;
to fetishes 134; to the dead 224, the staple food of the Bagesu 167
287; to Wamala 90; to war god Potters 78
promised by wives 132 Pottery 78
Omens 83 Powers of Busoga chiefs 231
Oracle to discover origin of sickness Preparing a body for the grave 58,
95 to prevent evil during harvest
; 128, 224, 266, 286
feasts 95 to notify sickness 223
; Priests of Bunyoro 8 to the sacred ;
Ordeal test for murder 115 lions 132

Ornaments 78, 158, 242, 272; on Priestesses appointed in Bunyoro 8
young women restricted 119; of Princes appointed to hear and try
the Basoga 242 worn in the ; a charge against a prince 21
hair 119 at war for the throne 51 cattle ;
;
INDEX 303
of 38 encouraged to marry 38
; ;
Royal enclosure 9, 112 meal of beef ;
imprisonment of a 24 marrying ; 12; milk-pots 12; visit to the

their sisters 36, 119; slain by the dairy to drink milk 12
new king at his coronation 16; Royalty tried by the king 24
struggle for the crown 14; taught Ruhanga the creator 91
cattle rearingii3 the trainingof 18 ; Rules of chastity during mourning 226
Princess appointed to hear charges Rules of the Bagesu 169
against princesses 21; princesses
kill their babes at birth 36 punish- ;
Sacred cows 10; cow in attendance
ment for marrying a 23 with the king 22 cows killed at ;
Prison diet 26 the king's grave 55 drums 87 ; ;
Procession to bury the king 15 forest the burial place of kings

Proclamation of the new king 51 128; herd of nine cows 10; Hons
Property of the dead common to the fed on cows 132; lion the reposi-
clan 231 of rock spirits 181
; tory of the king's soul 128; meal
Propitiating a ghost 177; gods at after childbirth 124; meals with
the death of twins 48 the dead 224 mound in huts for
;
Prostration before the king 112 fetishes and milk pots 134; lake
Puberty of girls 126 of Karagwe 114; place of skulls
Punishment of princes 24 of a chief ; 228 ;
pythons 93 snake, the ;
for cowardice 84 of Ankole ; rain god 183

chiefs in; of a woman for Sacrificing to the god of the clans
adultery 216, 260; for fornication 86 ; to the war-god 82 to ;
23 ; for making magic 135 for ; Wamala 90

murder 260; for rape 114; for Salt given to cattle 7, 77, 105 ; a
seeking to marry a betrothed food 77 ;
making 76 ; sold in
woman 212 for theft 170, 234, 278
; market 77
Purificatory ceremony after birth of Sanctity of the boy belonging to the
twins 175, 220; ceremony at sacred herd 11
childbirth 124; rite after child- Sand bath 104
birth 43 rites after initiation 187 ;
; Sanitary conditions of the Bagesu 192
rites at twin birth 47 rites of ; Scarifications 78, 187; of the Bagesu
the special herdsmen of the sacred
cows 1 1 rites for mourners 60
; Seasons determined by rain 139
Pythons sacred 92 Seclusion of bride 40, 150, 211, 263;
of parents of twins 175, 220
Rain god 183; making 181, 292; Secrecy of the king's death 14, 50
making in Busoga 253 ;
marking Seed sowing 235
the season 139 Sexes of twins 48
Rape 114 Sexual dissipation after initiation 187
Receiving a child into the clan 214 Shadow of a man 97
Relationship 32 terms of 273, 292
; Shadows, fear of 136
Relatives of the dead filling the Shaving a child's head 45
grave 58 Sheep a protection against lightning
Religion 272; of Busoga 245; of 107; rearing 237
the Bagesu 179 Shrine for the jaw-bone of a chief 204
Religious beliefs 291 in Bunyoro ; Shrines to dead built during harvest
89 ; in Central Busoga 247 229
Remedy of a wife for her husband's Sick chamber 57 treatment of the
;
cruelty 25 285 man appointing his heir 56

;
Rent or fee for occupying land 26 Sickness among common people 53

Residence of a district chief 20; of cause of 127, 176; customs 222;
chiefs in the capital 20 in royal family 94; of cattle 136;
Resurrection of the dead 288 of the king 50; transferred 55,
Rhythm of drums 88 177; treatment of 266
River Mpologoma 145 Nile 80 ; Slavery among pastoral people 117
Roads and road making 19 Slaves of princes and princesses 21 ;
Rock spirits 180 aid sought in; wanted for menial work 38
sickness 181 Kumbya 251 of
; ; Sleep forbidden on the day of a
Busoga 250 funeral 59
; ; ;;
304 INDEX
Small game hunting 87, 138, 194, 239 the day of death 58 of fallen ;
Smelting iron 74 foes 83; of girls at puberty 126;

Smithies 76 for manslaughter 171; of princes
Smithing 75 at death 129; of sick cattle 136;
Snake worship 179 of sick child 44 of the afterbirth ;
Southern district of Busoga 198 of twins 221 of the dead 58, 177,
;
Sowing crops 269 223, 286 of the parents of twins

;
Special care taken of the boy belong- 46 of dead peasants 228 of the
; ;
ing to the sacred cows 11 placenta 152; of the sick 266,

Spirit animating rocks 180 of water-
; 285 of twins 265
; of umbilical :
falls 181 cord 46, 124, 152, 174, 214, 264,

State of royalty 9 282; of widows 114, 178, 287;
Status of a slave wife 40 of wife at childbirth 174; of
Stocks used to secure a prisoner 26 wives of kings at death 129; of
Stone anvil 76 hammer 76 slinging
; ;
women during menses 42, 122 of ;
in warfare 243 women in childbirth 43

Stones used for flour grinding 70 Tree spirit 249; in Central Busoga
Storing grain 69, 167 249
Succession, law of 19, 113, 231, 261, Trials by ordeal 23 for manslaughter;
280 116; for murder 115, 279; of a

Suicide common among women 25 man accused of working magic
rather than part with cattle 114; 54 ; and princesses 24
of princes ;
treatment of the relatives of a 24 of the Bagesu 169

usual mode of committing 25 Tug-of-war for a bride 120
Twin birth 46, 283; ceremonies 176
Table of birth 49 Twins blessing seed sowing 235
Taboo against washing 137 ; followed exposed at birth 48 the gift of ;
by potters 79; men who are 137; the gods 46

milk 108 ;milk from a newly-
calved cow 137; observed by Umbilical cord 43, 123, 152, 174, 213,
husband of pregnant wife 174; of 264, 282; eaten 124
food 137; of iron workers 75 Urine used to cleanse milk pots 65,
Taxation of land unknown 19 of ; 107
the Bagesu 169
Taxes levied 153 Vegetable diet for women 42 in ;
Teeth extracted 78 pastoral clans 71

Temple for the jaw-bones of chiefs 227 Victorious prince demanding the
Terms of relationship 273, 292 body of the king 51
Testing the cause of death 57 Visiting a sick man 57
Theft 233, 278 punished by death
;
Visitor given the husband's bed 121
25 ; treatment of 25 Vows to gods to protect a child
Thief branded by mutilation 25 216
Tilling land 68 time for 68
;
Time, division of 139 Wail for the dead 58, 178, 223, 266
Totem clans 27, ti6, 261; of the Wall removed from the house of the
Bakenei48; of the North-western dead 59
District of Busoga 204 Wamala, the god of plenty 90
Transferring sickness 55, 128, 177; War drums 88
expedition 81 ;
to animals 223 fetishes 82; god, offering to 82;

Transmigration 128 god, Zoba 131 for the throne 14. ;
Traps for fish 238 used in hunting

; 51 on the accession of a chief
;
86 203; to avenge murder 170

Treatment of a bride 264, 281 of a ; Warfare 190, 271, 288; in Central
general whose expedition failed Busoga 242, 243
83; of a pardoned murderer 116; Warrior accusing his wife for any
of a pregnant woman 213; of an misfortune 83 avoided after a ;
unmarried woman with child funeral S3 cleansed after killing

;
171 of a warrior who has slain

; one of the foe 190; rewarded for
a foe 289 of a wife at childbirth
; bravery 84 slain buried on the
;
124; of calves 107; of cows on field of battle 83 use of omens ;

; ;;
INDEX 305
by 83; wife of punished for man's 86; punishment for abusing

unfaithfulness 83 her husband 114; seclusion after
Washing avoided 137; by Bahima childbirth 152
103 Winnowing corn 167
Watch fires lighted when there is a Wives accompanying their husbands
death 59 ;in a kraal 64 to war 82 forbidden to shave
;
Water-drawing for cattle 105 their heads during husband's

Waterfall spirits 181 absence 82; of the king at court
Water spirits 154; ways 147 112; plurality of 151
Weapons and food vessels broken at Woman avoiding cows 236 cannot;
death 61 ;of war 82, 190, 272, inherit property 154; cast out
289; not brought into the pres- from clan for fornication 233
ence of the king 112; used by duties in pastoral clans 41 fear ;
Basoga 242 used by herdsmen

; of ghosts 175; guardian of the
104; used in hunting 239 skull of a dead chief 227; given
Wedding feast 41, 173 an opportunity to accept or reject
White ram offered to Wamala 91 a husband 211; hair not cut
Widows becoming wives of a deceased until marriage 119; harps 140;
husband's brother 114; calling to herding cows 168 hiding from a
;
the dead 58 committing suicide

;
foe 131; in Busoga treated with
130; disposal of 267; killed at respect 243 inheriting property
;
the king's grave 52 of a chief,

; 261 making baskets 80 making
; ;
disposal of 204 poisoning them-

;
salt 77; not allowed to come in
selves at the grave of the king contact with cattle 118; not
given milk during menses 109
Wife accused of being the cause of not permitted to herd or milk
her husband's war misfortunes 82 ;
cows 66; of the Bahima 103;
action of, when her husband is ill secluded after childbirth 43
53; beating 25; death of a 288; unable to possess property 57
desires to have children 151 ;
duty Worship of gods, 89, 131, 154, 245,
during war expedition 82 escape; 291 ; of the dead 245, 291
to her clan 25 first child 40
; Wrestling 193 ; matches 140
given to a visitor 121 heir
; to
her sister's husband 229; hunts- Years divided into seasons 139
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PRINCETON, N. J.

THE NORTHERN BANTU

of M. R. James, Litt.D., F.B.A., Provost of Kings

A. C. Haddon, Sc.D., F.R.S., University Reader in

Professor of Archaeology, E.J. Rapson, M.A., Professor

of Sanskrit, and W. H. R. Rivers, M.A., E.R.S.,

THE NORTHERN BANTU

#tto gork: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

All rights reserved

Bantu tribe of Central

the many years when I resided in Central Africa in the service

hand from the people in their own language. Yet I am well

short time which I could devote to the study in my vacations

to those who may have the good fortune to cultivate it here-

social, mental, and material evolution, from the aquatic and

Much of the information in this volume concerning the

University Press for their liberality in undertaking the publi-

of friends who kindly guaranteed a sum towards the expenses

members of the Church Missionary Society in Uganda. These

THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE

THE BANYANKOLE A PASTORAL TRIBE

XIII. Religious beliefs, hunting, counting and division

THE BAKENE, LAKE DWELLERS

religion, fishing, building, dress and ornaments 145

The Nilotic Kavirondo and their country, govern-

ment, MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND PUBERTY . .

(2) King of Banyoro with his chiefs . . frontispiece

I. (1) The King of

who has succeeded

his father as chief

II. Iron smelting 74

Brackish stream. Scraping up sand to extract salt

(2) Washing sand to extract salt .... 76

IV. (1) Royal drum containing human blood ... 96

V. (1) The King and Prime Minister of Ankole . . 100

(2) Banyankole warriors . . . . . .100

VII. (1) Banyankole women resting

IX. (1) Milk vessel being fumigated 108

(2) Gourd milk measures and milk pets . .

X. (1) Herdsman carrying milk . . . . .112

XIII. (1) Banyankole fetishes . . . . . .134

XVI. (1) Married women 172

XXII. (1) Nilotic Kavirondo girls . . . . .276

Map of Uganda and British East Africa to face 1

THE BANYORO A PASTORAL PEOPLE

THE COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE, THE KING

Geographical position of Bunyoro. To the north-west of

many generations, been able at once to resist the inroads of

but all alike, both pastoral and agricultural, acknowledge the

the Budu district and also parts of the district of Bulemezi,

and tributary to it, was conquered by Uganda. For many

the pastoral and the agricultural clans. Careful observation

diet together with their careful avoidance of exercise tends

Agricultural clans. The agricultural clans, on the other

agricultural clans to do their menial work for them, such as

building their houses, carrying firewood and water, and sup-

some forest-land. To the south-west there are some rocky

the burial-place of the kings.

A man appeared among them who because of his ability