Sunday 2 January 2011


Full text of "The Banyankole"

Bahuma women and child 123 

XXX. Medicine-men preparing to exorcise a ghost from a sick 

man 138 

XXXI. Medicine-men exorcising a ghost from a sick man . . 139 

MAP 

Map of Uganda at end 



CHAPTER I 

ANKOLE, THE COUNTRY AND THE PEOPLE 

The Banyankole early invaders of the Lake Region — nomadic life — 
present constitution of Ankole — the land — the cattle — appearance of 
the country — the salt district — wild animals — the clans — totemic 
system — the three great clans and their totems — sub-divisions of the 
main clans 

ONE of the most healthy and interesting portions of the 
Uganda Protectorate is the district of Ankole. In area 
it is small, containing, according to the Government returns 
of 1919, 6131 square miles, while, according to the same 
returns, the population, including traders and settlers, num- 
bers 149,469. Until recently the people of this region were 
comparatively unknown, though they were one of the earliest 
of those tribes who invaded the Lake Region and subdued the 
small and isolated village communities of negroes who were 
the original inhabitants of the land. They were of the same 
stock as the Baganda and the Bakitara or Banyoro, but these 
tribes and even the pastoral people of Ruanda admit that the 
Banyankole had settled in the country long before they came 
there. Evidently their nomadic habits, combined with their 
complete disregard of everything unconnected with cattle, 
prevented their making much impression either on the sur- 
rounding countries as warriors or on their own country as 
reformers. 

The country in which they settled was well suited for 
cattle-rearing, and the good climate, excellent pasturage, and 
plentiful water made it possible for them to continue the 
nomadic life led by pastoral people, few of whom had any 
settled dwelling places. Even the Mugabe, by which title the 
native ruler is now known, had originally only a roughly built 
bee-hive hut, with a stockade round it forming an enclosure 
in which cows were kept by night; the ground was always 
slimy with the animals' droppings, but this and the smell of 



2 THE LAND chap. 

the cows were considered wholesome and pleasant. There was 
no court-house, for the Mugabe's councils were held under the 
shade of some large tree ; his main interest in life was guarding 
and improving the condition of his large herds ; and his food 
was milk, which he drank in great quantities, and beer, which 
he drank, often to excess, at night. 

Ankole, as at present constituted, is much bigger than when 
it was an independent state, for the British Government has 
added to it Mpororo, Egara, Bweszu and Busongora, small 
states which were originally separate kingdoms, entirely 
distinct and even antagonistic. The Mugabe of Ankole is now, 
under the British Government, ruler of all five states. 

In their early times, before outside influence had altered 
their outlook, the pastoral people set no value on the land 
except for grazing purposes, and the agricultural people, who 
cultivated small portions of it, were despised and regarded as 
serfs. They could cultivate any land wherever they wished, 
but they were expected to do any menial work required by 
the pastoral people of the district in which they settled and 
to supply them with grain and vegetable food, should they 
require it. The pastoral people divided the land up into dis- 
tricts, but these divisions were merely for the purpose of 
settling questions which might arise either between agri- 
cultural people concerning the boundaries of their plots, or 
between herdsmen concerning the use and possession of 
watering-places, or between herdsmen and agricultural people, 
should the herdsmen allow their cattle to wander over the 
fields and destroy the crops. Beyond these cultivated plots, 
the country was free to herdsmen, who might pasture their 
cattle in any district they pleased. 

A man was considered poor or wealthy according to the 
number of his cattle, and the places of the chiefs when 
assembled before the Mugabe were arranged according to the 
size of their herds. All the cattle were regarded as belonging 
to the Mugabe, and, though the people to whom he granted 
them were at liberty to do as they liked with them within the 
country, they might not sell or give them to anyone outside 



I SCENERY 3 

the tribe without the special permission of the ruler. Few 
men would think of killing a cow, so that the only rules 
necessary were for the protection of bull-calves, which the 
herdsmen, if they felt a desire for meat, would find some 
pretext to kill. The chiefs had to keep careful watch lest this 
liberty should be carried too far, and the Mugabe issued 
regulations that only a certain number should be killed. 

The country is hilly, but there are large tracts of rolling 
plain covered with fine grass, well suited for cattle-breeding, 
and there are fewer swamps than in Buganda. This fact makes 
the country more healthy for Europeans than many parts of 
Uganda, but the distance from means of communication 
either by water or by railways still keeps the settler away. 
The land, too, does not seem to be very suitable for the 
cultivation of cotton and coffee, and even plantains, which 
have during recent years been planted in large groves, are not 
so productive as in other parts. The general height above 
sea-level is much the same as in Buganda, some four thousand 
five hundred feet, while the hills rise to eight or nine thou- 
sand feet. Some of the valleys are wooded and even the 
lower hills are clothed with useful trees. The scenery of the 
valleys is often enriched by the presence of beautiful lakes, 
while a few of the hills are extinct volcanoes whose craters are 
often of striking beauty, for in their depths, several hundred 
feet down, there lie lakes of clear water, and the steep sides 
sloping to them are clothed with plants and flowers of tropical 
luxuriance and colour. The mountainous part of the country 
near Lake Edward has a grandeur hardly surpassed by any 
of the scenery through which the expedition passed. 

Towards the lake there is a sharp fall in height of fully a 
thousand feet, and the plain on the lake shore is extremely 
hot, for the valley in which lie Lakes Edward and George is 
almost entirely enclosed by mountains. It is in this valley, 
though on the Toro side of it, that the salt used in Ankole 
is found, and the presence of hot springs makes the atmo- 
sphere damp and the heat very trying. People entering these 
plains from higher and more open parts almost invariably 



4 WILD ANIMALS chap. 

suffer from severe attacks of a kind of low fever, which they 
often attribute entirely to the unwholesome atmosphere, over- 
looking the fact that the place is infested with mosquitoes and 
that anopheles abound. The water to be found in the pools 
in this district is brackish and one large sheet, some two or 
more miles long and nearly a mile wide, was found to be quite 
unfit for drinking or cooking purposes. 

There is abundance of game of all kinds, but, as in most 
parts of the Lake Region, the animals move about the country 
according to the season. During the rains, when grass is 
tender and water fairly plentiful, game is found in large 
numbers inland at remote distances from the lakes, while in 
the dry season the animals make their way back to these 
certain watering-places. This causes a certain amount of 
migration among the carnivorous animals also, but, as there 
are always wild pigs and antelope to be found, only a limited 
number of carnivora wander away. In the districts round 
the lakes lions are sometimes troublesome even to the extent 
of carrying off people by day, but, as a rule, the cow- 
people do not fear them and seldom use any weapon other 
than a stick to drive them from their cows. If, however, a 
lion becomes dangerous and persists in carrying off human 
beings or animals, the men gather together and organise a hunt 
to kill it. Leopards are more feared by the cow-people because 
they are more stealthy and cunning in their methods of attack, 
springing out from hiding-places upon the cattle and even 
entering huts by night and dragging people out of them. 
Lions, on the other hand, usually attack more openly. 

Clans and Totems 

The tribe of the Banyankole was totemic and one of the 
chief uses made of the totems was in defining relationships 
for the purpose of regulating marriage. 

Clan exogamy was practised, but within the great clans 
intermarriage between the sub-divisions bearing the same 
primary totem was permitted if they had second or even 



i THE MAIN CLANS 5 

third totems which differed from each other. Within the clans 
the totemic system was of social value, for a man might always 
claim the help and support of others who had the same totem 
as himself; they might be called upon to help in sickness, to 
bury the dead, to give aid to any member of the clan who had 
fallen into debt, and, in the case of murder, it was the duty 
of every member of the dead man's clan to do his part in 
hunting down the murderer and avenging the death. 

The tribe was divided into three main clans, each of which 
had many sub-divisions. These had, as a rule, the same primary 
and at times the same second totem as the principal clan, 
but intermarriage was only permitted if they had one dis- 
tinctive totem. In some cases the totems differed entirely 
from those of the clan with which the division claimed relation- 
ship. The second totem was not generally regarded as of the 
same importance as the primary totem, but, when questions 
of relationship arose between clans with the same primary 
totem, the second or even the third totem would be named. 

The three main clans were : 

i. Abahinda. This was the royal clan and the totems were 
nkima, a small black-faced monkey, and bulo, the small millet, 
unhusked and uncooked. It was to this clan that the princes 
belonged and from it the rulers came. In Karagwe, as in 
Ankole, princes were Bahinda, in Mpororo and Ruanda they 
were Basambo, while in Bunyoro, Toro, Koki and Kiziba, they 
were Babito. The members of the Abahinda clan were not 
allowed to work magic or to make medicines. The second 
totem was the unhusked raw grain only; when husked and 
cooked it might be eaten. It was said that one chief when 
hungry had, as was then the habit of the agricultural people, 
taken raw grain in the ear and eaten some of it, which was 
breaking a custom, for he should not have eaten vegetable food 
but have waited until he could obtain milk. Later, his wife 
drew his attention to a husk which had clung to his beard 
and this annoyed him so much that he made a vow never to 
eat unprepared millet again. From that time this was the 
second totem of the clan. 



6 CLANS AND TOTEMS chap. 

2. Abasambo. These have as their primary totem epu. No 
one seems to know exactly what this word signifies. It seems 
to be used as a form of emphatic assertion, either in affirmation 
or denial, but it is claimed that in this case it represents an 
unknown animal, like a small gazelle or a large hare, which 
was captured in Mpororo by certain members of the clan, 
who quarrelled and fought as to who should take it to the 
Mugabe. The side which conquered called the animal epu and 
took it as their totem. 

The second totem of this clan was a house burnt down; 
no member of the clan might eat food or salt taken from a 
burning house, no vessels taken from such a house might be 
used, and they might not tread upon its site or touch the dust 
of it. It was said that a man from the original stock of the 
Basambo who had epu as their totem was sent one day to 
bring out salt and butter from a burning house. Before he 
got out the roof fell on him and he was burned to death. From 
this event the clan took their secondary totem. 

3. Abagahe. Totem, a striped cow, lubombo. The milk and 
the flesh of such a cow were taboo to all members of the clan, 
with the exception of the owner of the cow. 

Sub-divisions of the clan A bahinda with their Totems 

Clan Totems 

1. Ebyanga Nkima (black-faced monkey) and Bulo 

(small millet) 
Members of this clan were looked upon as the Mugabe's special 
friends, and from it he chose his private guards. 

2. Enyana Nkima and Bulo 

This clan had charge of the Mugabe's cows, and from it he chose 
his chief herdsmen. 

3. Abanga Nkima and Bulo 

4. Engangula do. 
A clan of warriors. 

5. Abataunga do. 
A clan of warriors. 

6. Ebirekeze do. 
A clan of warriors. 

7. Ebyangula do. 



CLANS AND TOTEMS 
Clan Totems 



8. Abazozo 


Nkima and Bulo 


9. Nkalanga 


do. 


A clan of princes. 




10. Abalwanyi 


do. 


11. Abamwango 


do. 


12. Emanga 


do. 


13. Obwoma 


do. 


14. Abazugu 


do. 


15. Abatagweramu 


do. 


16. Abatukula maisho 


do. 


(red-eyed) 




17. Abayangwe 


do. 



The members of this clan had the task of purifying the Mugabe 
and painting him with white clay. 

18. Abaitira Nkima, Bulo and the breasts of women 

nursing female children 
Any woman of the clan who had a female child took a piece of cow- 
dung, squeezed a little milk from her breast on it, and handed it 
to a member of the clan to throw away in the kraal. The members 
of this clan had much freedom in the royal presence, and might 
even make jokes there. 

19. Abakimbira Bulo and a cow which bore a calf hind feet 

foremost 
The milk of such a cow might not be drunk by the clan until the 
cow had borne another calf in the usual way. The flesh of the cow 
was also taboo, should it die or be killed without having borne 
another calf. Though members of the Bahinda clan, these had not 
the totem of the black-faced monkey. 

20. Abasonga Nsenene (green grasshopper) and Bulo 
Had not the black-faced monkey. Some members of this clan 
claimed that they also had as totem a black cow and that only the 
owner of such a cow might drink its milk or eat its flesh. They 
claimed that having this third totem they might intermarry with 
other clans of the Abahinda, but others disputed this. 

21. Abaikizi Nsenene, Bulo and food added to a pot in 

which some was already being cooked 
No food might be added to any which was being cooked ; if more 
was required, it must be cooked separately. 

22. Abafuma embogo Nkima and Bulo 

23. Abatalaka Nsenene, Bulo and the breasts of women 

nursing female children 

24. Abungela Nkima and Bulo 

25. Abafwana do. 



8 CLANS AND TOTEMS chap. 

Clan Totems 

26. Abaigara ? 

This was a clan presented to the Mugabe by his mother, and they 
became the royal shoemakers. 

27. Abaswaswi ? 

The carriers of the royal spear, Nyamiringa. When the Mugabe 
Ntare kita Banyoro was driven from Ins country by the Banyoro 
and lost all his cattle, he was in exile for years. Having no cattle, 
he and his companions were forced to live on honey, roots, seeds 
and wild fruit until at last a man of the Abaswaswi clan went off 
to hunt and to spy out the state of the land. He made friends with 
some of the Banyoro, and dwelt with them until he managed to 
steal a cow and calf with which he returned to the Mugabe. The 
latter, much pleased at getting what he considered real food for 
the first time for months, declared that this man and some 
member of his clan after him should have the honour of carrying 
the royal spear. A short time later the medicine-man asked the 
Mugabe to give him the calf that he might use it to take an augury 
concerning the Banyoro. The Mugabe went through the usual 
process of spitting into the calf's mouth and making it swallow 
the spittle, and next morning the calf was killed and the intestines 
and lungs examined by the medicine-man who read therefrom a 
good augury, assuring them that they would return to their own 
country and recover their lost cattle within a short time. Before 
long all happened as he had foretold. 

28. Abaitweno ? 

From this clan came the men who milked the cows for the use of 
the Mugabe. 

29. Abakungu ? 
These guarded the royal kraal 
spreading and setting fire to it. 

30. Abamijwa ? 
These guarded the royal kraal 



against the danger of grass-fires 
against the danger of grass-fires 



spreading and setting fire to it. 

31. Abahangwe 

These guarded the royal kraal against the danger of grass-fires 
spreading and setting fire to it. They also took the clothing from 
the dead Mugabe, prepared the body for burial, took it to Esanza, 
and on their return informed the new Mugabe and the people 
that the Mugabe had been re-born a lion and was alive in the 
forest. 

32. Abayirunto ? 

A man from this clan bathed the king during his coronation cere- 
monies. 



i CLANS AND TOTEMS 9 

Divisions 1-15 were those from which the Mugabe chose his 
principal chiefs. Men from the pure Abahinda stock might 
not marry any women of the Abayangwe or the Abafuma 
embogo sub-divisions, but were at liberty to intermarry with 
other sub-divisions. 



Sub-divisions of the clan Abasambo with their Totems 



Clan 



Totems 



Abenemurari Epu and house burnt down 

Two chiefs of the Abasambo, Murari and Kukari, who were said 
to have come from Egypt, wandered as far as Tanganyika and, 
coming back through Ruanda to Mpororo, they met a woman, 
Kitami, who governed the country, and one of them married her. 
They took as their totem Epu and a house burnt down, also a 
house in which the doorway had been changed from one place 
to another, and a woman who had had a child by her own father. 
They claimed descent from Bene, son of Bene Karigira, son of 
Bene Mafundo, son of Bene Mugambo, son of Abakoroboza, son 
of Abachuregenyi 



2. Abenekiwondwa 


Epi, 


1 and house burnt down 


3. Abenebihiri 




do. 


4. Abenekukari 




do. 


5. Abenemukonji 




do. 


6. Abenerugambaje 




do. 


7. Abenekirenzi 




do. 


8. Abenemuganga 




do. 


9. Abawezu 




do. 


10. Abanyabusana 




do. 


11. Abanyasi 




do. 


12. Abasali 




do. 


13. Abanyika 




do. 


14. Abatema 




do. 


15. Abaririra 




do. 


16. Abanerukima 




do. 


17. Abanyonzi 




do. 


18. Abanyaruranyi 




do. 


19. Abaturagara 




do. 


20. Abanyamugamba 




do. 


21. Abenekahaya 




do. 


22. Abanzira 




do. 


23. Abasitiaba 


Epu 


: and house burnt down and Siti (a 




red seed used for beads) 


They may not handle 


: siti 


(seeds of the kirikiti?) 



io CLANS AND TOTEMS chap. 

Clan Totems 

24. Abatwe Epu and house burnt down 

A division of the Abasitiaba. A father who was old and sick called 
to his sons in the early morning to go and milk. As it was cold 
and raining they did not go at once. The old man cursed them for 
not obeying him and died saying they must not milk cows again. 
They kept cows but never milked them, though they herded them. 
They had to call men from other sub-divisions to do the milking, 
and, should a man refuse without good reason, he was accused to 
the Mugabe, who deprived him of his cattle. 

25. Abaitenya Epu, house burnt down and cow of a 

yellowish colour 
They neither drink the milk nor eat the flesh of a yellow cow. 

26. Abasenzia Epu and Siti 

27. Abami Epu and Ruhuzumu (black and white cow) 
These separated from the clan because of a fight over milk when 
a man was killed . 

28. Abakungu Epu and house burnt down 

29. Abanemucwa do. 

30. Abenebutundu do. 

31. Abasasira do. 

32. Abenenyakizi do. 

33. Abeneguru do. 

34. Abacecezi do. 

35. Abenitanzi do. 

36. Ababyasi Epu and Karundavego (a wild creeper) 

37. Abatyabe Epu and Siti 

Belonged to the Basambo but separated owing to a quarrel 
between two children over some red seeds used as beads, siti. 

38. Abahambi ? 

Claim to belong to Abasambo, who do not acknowledge them. The 
Basambo will not allow them to sleep in their houses nor to bring 
their bulls into their kraals. Should one sleep with a Musambo in 
the open, the Muhambi must wake the other should he wish to 
turn over. If he did not do so, some disaster would happen to them. 

Sub-divisions of the clan A bagahe with their Totems 





Clan 


Totems 


I. 

2. 
3. 

4- 
5- 


Abalisa 

Abasinga 

Abagina 

Abazigaba 

Abangwi 


Lubombo (a striped cow) 

Cow with a black stripe 

Ngobe (cow, black with white stripes) 

Ngabo (black and white cow) 

Lubombo 



CLANS AND TOTEMS 



ii 



Clan 


Totems 


6. Abator ogo 


Lubombo and Siti 


7. Abasita 


Black cows 


8. Abakibiza 


Ngobe 


9. Abalega 


do. 


10. Abasegi 


Lulimi (tongues of cows) 


11. Abamoli 


Ngabo 


12. Ababito 


do. 


13. Abenebiraro 


Ngobe 


14. Abanyigana 


do. 


15. Abenekiimba 


do. 


16. Abakurungo 


do. 


17. Abanyara 


do. 


18. Abenemakuma 


do. 


19. Abayanzi 


do. 


20. Abaziro 


do. 


21. Abataya 


do. 


22. Abanuma 


do. 


23. Abanyakafunzo 


do. 


24. Abamigwa 


Ngobe and a tail-less cow 


25. Abarura 


Ngabo 


26. Abanyimbi 


Ngobe 


27. Abenyitaka 


do. 


28. Ababuga 


do. 


29. Abayanja 


do. 


30. Abaisanza 


do. 



CHAPTER II 
GOVERNMENT 

Autocratic rule of the Mugabe — powers and duties of the Nganzi or 
chief minister — pastoral chiefs and the land — the Mugabe's court — 
guarding the Mugabe — districts and the district chiefs or Bakungu — 
possessions and powers of the Bakungu — inferior chiefs — the Baga- 
lagwa, chiefs by grants from the Mugabe — employment of herdsmen 
— agricultural labourers — law and order — right of appeal — causes of 
strife — fines and confiscations — punishment by detention — taxation 
of cattle and grain — murder, homicide, and suicide 

THE government of the country of Ankole was autocratic 
and the power was in the hands of the Mugabe or ruler, 
whose rule was absolute and his decision on any matter final. 
In order, however, to ease his shoulders of some of the burden 
of government, he delegated a good deal of his authority to 
different chiefs, thus creating what might be called the nucleus 
of a more democratic government while retaining in his own 
hands the supreme power. 

After the Mugabe, the most powerful man in the country 
was a chief who held the title of Nganzi, or " favourite." His 
office corresponded to that of Kalikiro, a title which has now 
been introduced by the Europeans from Buganda, to which 
country it properly belongs. His power in the land and his 
influence with the Mugabe were great, and he often acted as 
the Mugabe's representative and judged cases of appeal from 
the jurisdiction of the chiefs. One of his duties was to inform 
the Mugabe when cases of appeal were waiting to be heard. 
Wherever the Mugabe went, whether on a journey or to war, 
the Nganzi accompanied him ; he was the royal confidant and 
was the only man, with the exception of the Mugabe's personal 
pages, who had the right to enter the royal presence at any 
time of the day or night. 

The Nganzi was always a wealthy man, for he was con- 
tinually receiving presents of cattle and land from the Mugabe. 



PLATE II 





PLATE III 




Ml Lf 

The Nganzi (principal chief), his wife, daughter and son 




Euphorbia tree under which court used to sit 



chap, ii THE PRIME MINISTER 13 

The pastoral chiefs never regarded their land as part of their 
wealth, for that was always calculated by the number of cows 
they possessed. Land, however, was indirectly of value, for 
the agricultural people who resided upon a chief's estates 
might be called upon to work for him, and they kept him 
supplied with beer, grain, and vegetable food. Though all the 
land was open to herdsmen for pasturing their cows, if any 
dispute arose between herdsmen regarding pasturage, the 
chief to whom the land belonged could claim the prior right. 
Such disputes seldom arose except with regard to watering- 
places. The Nganzi had estates in various parts of the country 
where large numbers of peasants lived and worked for him, 
and he had great herds of cattle which were pastured all over 
the land under his herdsmen. He himself always lived in a 
kraal built in front of the gate of the Mugabe's kraal, for he 
had to be available whenever the Mugabe wanted him. 

When a subject appealed from the decision of any chief 
to the Mugabe, the latter might order the Nganzi or one of 
his favourite pages to try the case, but disputes concerning 
cattle in which more than fifty cows were involved, cases 
where women were accused of deserting their husbands, and 
other matters of a serious nature had to be brought before 
him in person. He took no fee for judging a case though, 
when a fine was imposed, he had the right to take two cows 
and the Nganzi also took two. 

The Mugabe's court was not held daily, but the Nganzi 
informed his master whenever a case awaited judgment. The 
court was held in the open where the Mugabe sat under the 
shade of a tree. With the exception of those in the forests, the 
trees of the country were as a rule not large, and the only kind 
not cut down for building purposes or fire-wood was the tall 
Candelabra euphorbia. Under the shade of one of these, there- 
fore, the royal leopard-skin rug of the Mugabe was generally 
spread when his court met. He used no seat or stool, but 
squatted on his haunches in the typical attitude of the cow- 
people. He usually carried the ordinary walking-stick, a 
forked stick six to seven feet long, called Esando, and his 



14 THE MUGABE'S COURT chap. 

spears and shield were placed near him. The Nganzi was in 
attendance, and behind and at both sides of the Mugabe 
squatted his pages and his private guard. The important chiefs 
took their seats near the Mugabe, while the ordinary people 
squatted a little further off, leaving a path by which those 
who arrived after the Mugabe had taken his seat might go 
to greet him. 

Only well known and loyal men were allowed to enter the 
Mugabe's presence armed; such a man simply moved his 
spear from his right to his left hand, while he shook hands 
with the Mugabe and greeted him. Men who came from a 
distance and were not well known or those about whose 
loyalty there was any doubt had to lay down their weapons 
some little distance away and approach unarmed. As a 
further precaution one of the guards would stretch a rod over 
the path and the stranger had to shake hands with the king 
across this. Care had always to be taken to guard against an 
attack on the Mugabe's life, for any man who for one reason 
or another had been deprived of any of his cows, or a chief 
who had been deposed, would almost certainly seek to avenge 
himself on the Mugabe. For this reason any man who had 
been punished for an offence in either of these ways was 
generally put to death. 

The Mugabe usually sat in court till about noon. During 
this time he might drink beer, but he did so only on rare 
occasions and as a rule contented himself with smoking. When 
he left the meeting he might invite one or two men to ac- 
company him and they would eat and drink beer or milk in 
the royal kraal while the others dispersed to their homes. 

The country was divided into some sixteen districts over 
each of which there was a chief appointed by the Mugabe. 
These chiefs were called Bakungu (sing. Mukungu) or Aba- 
mangi, and were chosen by each Mugabe on his accession. 
When one of these chiefs died, the king appointed his successor 
who was generally, though not necessarily, his heir. The titles 
belonging to these important chieftaincies were: (i) Ebyanga. 
The holder of this office was usually a prince and nearly 



ii THE DISTRICT-CHIEFS 15 

always succeeded his father on the throne. He generally 
gathered round him a large number of friends and adherents 
who assisted him to secure the throne on his father's death 
and whom he rewarded by making them important chiefs; 
(2) Enyana. The holder of this office had special responsibility 
with regard to the Mugabe's cows; (3) Abanga; (4) Engangula, 
the holders of which office were warriors; (5) Abataunga, the 
holders of which office were warriors ; (6) Ebirekeze ; (7) A ba- 
tenga; (8) Nkalanga, the holder of which office was always a 
prince; (9) Abalwanyi; (10) Abacwamango; (n) Emanga; 
(12) Abazozo; (13) Obwoma; (14) Abazugu; (15) Abatagwerana; 
(16) Abataremwa. 

The Bakungu chiefs were always pastoral people and had 
under them as serfs many agricultural people who dwelt on 
their land, took charge of their goats, sheep and dogs, and 
supplied them with grain and beer for their food and drink 
at such times as they might not, for one reason or another, 
drink milk. The Mugabe always gave a Mukungu chief a 
present of from one to three hundred cows which became his 
personal property and were used for the food of the chief and 
his household. Though these cows were a gift to the man and 
he regarded them, as well as any others he might possess, 
as his own property, the Mugabe might deprive him of them 
all if he saw reason to do so, and no man could sell or exchange 
cows outside the tribe without the king's permission. It is 
said that there was once a time when men could do as they 
liked with all the cows they possessed, but in later times the 
Mugabe considered himself the owner of all cows in the country. 
The herds of a Mukungu might graze in any part of his 
district, or, like all cattle-owners, he might send them to any 
other part of the country. 

The authority of a Mukungu in his own district was limited, 
for he had no control over the movements of the subordinate 
chiefs and other people who might take up their residence or 
pasture their cows there. All the land was free to cattle- 
owners who might settle where they liked and move when 
they liked, and the duties of the district-chief were to settle 



16 INFERIOR CHIEFS chap. 

cases of strife between different owners or their herdsmen, to 
keep watch over any herds of the Mugabe's cows which were 
in his district, and to see that the men in charge of them 
treated the cows properly and did not get into trouble with 
other herdsmen. There was no animosity between the Mu- 
kungu and the subordinate chiefs in his district, but the latter 
were quite independent and only acknowledged him as their 
superior when some dispute arose among them and required 
authoritative settlement. 

In very recent times, that is, under British authority, one 
or two of the agricultural people have risen to importance 
and have been made district-chiefs, but before the influence 
of western civilisation began to make itself felt such a thing 
was unknown. 

The manner of life of one of these important Bakungu 
chiefs differed in no way from that of the ordinary cow-owner, 
for he lived in his kraal with a number of his cows about him 
while the rest of his herds wandered about the country under 
the care of his herdsmen. 

In every district there were a number of inferior chiefs 
who were subordinate to the Mukungu of that district but 
were, as already explained, quite independent of him, except 
as regarded their relations with each other. The Mukungu 
himself often conferred chieftainships on friends and relatives 
who would then settle in his district under the same con- 
ditions as the other Bahuma or pastoral people who might 
choose to take up their abode there. These men either brought 
with them a number of serfs who cultivated the land and 
provided other labour or they found agricultural people 
settled there who willingly became their serfs. In addition 
there were a number of chiefs who were known as Bagalagwa. 
These were men who had been pages in the service of the 
Mugabe and who had grown too old for such posts. To such 
men the Mugabe would give estates, cows and serfs. The 
Bagalagwa in each district were under one of themselves and 
he, in difficult cases, appealed to the Mukungu of that district, 
who in his turn might refer the matter to the Mugabe. In 



ii HIRED HERDSMEN AND SERFS 17 

matters which concerned a number of cows greater than 
fifty the case had to go direct to the Mugabe and any 
person who concealed a case was fined, the fine going 
either to the Mukungu or, if the case was important, to the 
Mugabe. 

The pastoral chiefs seldom lived in one place for more than 
two or at most three years, for it was considered necessary 
to move frequently to keep the cattle free from disease. They 
would also move if anyone died in the kraal, but in such a 
case, though they might move even into another district, it 
was more usual to settle only a short distance away from the 
original kraal. 

Those pastoral people who owned large herds of cows 
employed as herdsmen men of the pastoral stock who either 
possessed no cows or had not enough to support a wife and 
family. Such a man would become the servant of some rich 
cow-owner, who supplied him with a number of cows for his 
own use and for the support of his wife. These cows the herds- 
man regarded as his own and the real owner had no right to the 
milk from them, though he might, if he needed it, ask his 
herdsman to supply him with some, a request which the 
herdsman was quite at liberty to refuse. The herdsman thus 
got the milk from these cows, and his own cows, if he had any, 
got the use of the bull of his master's herd and of the salt 
provided for his master's cows, while the only return he had 
to make was to herd his master's cows. 

These herdsmen were quite free to leave their masters 
without any warning. If some request, perhaps of a young bull 
for meat or a cow-hide for clothing, was refused, a herdsman 
would show his displeasure by absenting himself from the 
kraal. If his master showed no signs of willingness to come 
to an agreement, he would return to fetch his wife and they 
would depart to place themselves under some other master, 
leaving their former one to manage as best he could. 

Each cow-owner had also attached to him a large number 
of agricultural workers, a Mukungu having from one to three 
hundred of these serfs. The land was all in the Mugabe's hands 



18 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE chap. 

and he granted portions to the chiefs for their serfs to cultivate. 
The herdsmen were forbidden to trespass with their cows on 
such cultivated land. The chief might bring his serfs with him 
when he moved to a new part of the country, or he might 
find agricultural workers already settled there. These serfs 
were free to leave their masters at any time but they never 
attempted to set up establishments for themselves and live 
independently unless they had the direct permission and 
sanction of the Mugabe, who might for some special reason 
grant a portion of land to one of them as his own estate. In 
addition to supplying their pastoral masters with grain and 
beer, they looked after their dogs, goats and sheep, and did 
their building and other labour for them. 

The chief of a kraal settled all matters within the kraal 
unless there was any serious disturbance resulting in a fight, 
in which case he had to appeal to the district-chief. Should 
the fact that he had tried to keep such a case secret come to 
light he had to pay the fine of a bull, which went to the 
Mukungu or the Mugabe according to the seriousness of the 
case. 

The Mukungu chiefs were thus responsible for keeping the 
peace in their own districts, but a large amount of bribery 
and corruption went on. A dissatisfied client, however, was 
at liberty to appeal from these smaller courts, if indeed they 
could be called courts, to the Mugabe, and any case involving 
a number of cows greater than fifty had to go to the higher 
court. 

The most frequent causes of strife were connected with the 
cows. One set of herdsmen would attempt to drive another 
herd away from the watering-place where they were drinking 
or to deprive them of their salt water, and a free fight would 
ensue. Fights also arose when one man considered himself 
defrauded. If a man killed a cow and distributed the meat, 
he might use force to get the payment promised by those 
who had bought it, instead of taking the correct course of 
suing them for debt in the courts. There were also sometimes 
cases when a man had promised a woman relative in marriage 



ii TRIAL AND PUNISHMENT 19 

and, having received part of the marriage fee, refused to fulfil 
his side of the bargain. 

When a case was brought before the district-chief, both 
accused and accuser had to bring a cow as the fee, and the 
chief as a rule kept both cows, though in some cases one might 
be given to the owner of the kraal from which the injured man 
came. If anyone had been hurt in a quarrel, the Mukungu 
usually brought the case to the notice of the Mugabe. Should 
the injury have been caused by stone-throwing, the Mugabe 
took one cow from the offender, or, if both parties had 
suffered injuries, he took one cow from each. If the fight had 
been more serious and spears had been used, all the cattle of 
both parties were confiscated and held until the case had been 
tried. An injured man seldom received any compensation, 
though, in very rare cases, the Mugabe might order a fine of 
one cow to be paid to a man who had been seriously hurt. 
If a man died from his injuries, his relatives received a number 
of cows according to the Mugabe's decision, and two cows out 
of every ten of such a fine were paid to the Mugabe, the 
Nganzi, or the Mukungu, as the case might be. This pro- 
portion of the fine was the only payment taken by the Mugabe 
when cases came to his court. 

Sr There was no place of detention for people who had com- 
mitted a crime nor was this used as a form of punishment, 
though sometimes in a serious case a man might be put in 
stocks, consisting of logs of wood into which one or both feet 
were thrust through holes cut in the logs. Such detention, 
however, was only practised in the case of doomed men and 
was very rare, for such men were generally put to death at 
once and there was no necessity for detention. 

A criminal who had escaped to some distant place and was 
caught there, might be tied with a rope when being brought 
back, but even that was considered to be too degrading to the 
accused. 

The chief method of punishment was by fine, and, should 
an accused man not appear to answer the charge against him, 
he lost his case and was deprived of all his possessions. 



20 TAXATION chap. 

Taxation 

The chiefs had no right to levy a tax upon the people in 
their districts. Every year the Mugabe sent his men into each 
district to collect a number of cows. The messengers had power 
to take as many cows as they thought fit, but the usual pro- 
portion was two cows from a herd of one hundred and one 
from a herd of fifty. Herds under fifty paid no tax, so that 
two or three herdsmen who had joined together to set up an 
independent kraal were free of tax until their herd amounted 
to over fifty cows. 

Twice each month a district-chief had to send beer and 
millet to the royal kraal for the use of the Mugabe's household, 
and the Mugabe's own peasants took beer and grain to him 
daily. Though a peasant always supplied his master with 
grain and beer, there was no stipulated amount and he was 
free to refuse if his store was running short. 

Murder 

A murderer had to go about his work very cleverly if he 
was to escape the penalty of his deed, for it was the business 
of the whole clan of a murdered man to discover and kill the 
murderer. Murders were thus not very common and few 
murderers escaped detection. It was not necessary, however, 
to discover in all cases the actual criminal, for, if it was found 
that he had escaped into safety, the members of the injured 
clan attempted to capture and kill any member of the 
murderer's clan, irrespective of age or sex, for any life would 
pay for a life and satisfy the ghost. 

It was, however, preferable to find the actual murderer, 
and, as soon as the deed was discovered, the chief of the 
district was informed and a search instituted among the 
dwellers in that district for the culprit. A suspected man 
against whom there was no real proof might be watched for 
some time until he betrayed himself by a chance word or act. 
If, however, the search was unavailing, a diviner would be 
set to work to discover by an augury the name of the guilty 



ii MURDER 21 

man. When such a step was taken, the fear of magic, added 
to the dread of the vengeance of the ghost, usually led the 
murderer to reveal himself. 

The clan of a murdered man rarely made any appeal to the 
Mugabe; if they did, it was generally for a spear with which 
to kill the murderer. Sometimes, however, if the clan of the 
murderer was very powerful and revenge was impossible or 
might have serious consequences, the weaker clan would 
appeal to the Mugabe in order to get a peaceful settlement and 
compensation. The Mugabe might give a powerful clan three 
months in which to produce the person of the murderer, and 
the case would then be tried. 

It was not necessary for the Mugabe himself to be present 
at such a trial, but some member of the Bayangwe clan had 
to be there. When the trial took place, the relatives of the 
murderer brought a cow and a sheep to the place. These were 
killed and the Mugabe or his representative called for six 
men from each side and stood between them while they 
dipped their fingers in a vessel containing the blood of the 
animals and swore to be friendly. Then the fine was paid and 
the matter ended. From the fine paid by the murderer's clan, 
two or three cows went to the king and, in addition to the 
fine, the murderer or his clan gave a cow in milk and its calf 
to the father of the murdered man. This method of settling 
the matter was called Kirabo. 

Sometimes, however, a more formal procedure was gone 
through at the trial. The murderer's clan brought a sheep 
and a bull, and both clans mustered in force and stood on 
opposite sides of some open space while the Mugabe stood 
between them. A branch of the sacred tree kirikiti was planted 
beside him and one of the drums which, as described in 
chapter iv, were attendants on the sacred drums, was 
placed there. Each party then rubbed a little butter on the 
tree as a sign that they wanted peace, and declared to the 
Mugabe their desire to settle the case amicably. The Mugabe 
next summoned a man from the offender's clan and bade 
him pluck a little wool from the sheep and hand it to a member 



22 HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE chap, ii 

of the injured clan, who put it on the tree and proceeded to 
go through the same process, handing the wool to the former 
man, who put it also on the tree. A pot of beer was now handed 
to the man from the offender's clan who drank and passed it 
to the other to drink. A pipe was next handed to the former 
who smoked and passed it to the other and both puffed the 
smoke over the tree. The bull was killed and the blood caught 
and brought to the two men, who smeared each other's 
hands with it and swore friendship. The meat of the bull 
was cooked in the open and all the people partook of it as a 
sign of the renewal of friendship. The Mugabe then beat the 
drum, announced that they were reconciled, and swore to 
stand by the injured party should the covenant be broken by 
either. When things were not thus settled, the king generally 
took the whole of the murderer's property; but if the clans 
were reconciled, he imposed a fine, sometimes amounting to 
one hundred cows, of which some twenty went to him and the 
rest to the injured party. Should the fine be forty cows, the 
Mugabe took six of them. After this the murderer might 
return to his home and fear no further trouble from the other 
clan. No murderer might sleep on a bed, but had to lie on 
the floor until the case was tried and settled. 

If a man killed another accidentally, he escaped to some 
place of safety until he could explain his conduct and arrange 
matters. The dead man's clan asked for compensation, and 
the Mugabe heard the case in open court and fixed the amount 
of the fine. 

A suicide for whose deed no reason could be found was 
buried in waste land, but if a man or woman committed 
suicide for grief at the death of a relative they were buried 
with much honour, for it was looked upon as a laudable act. 
In almost all cases suicides were buried like other people and 
the usual mourning ceremonies were gone through. 



CHAPTER III 

RELIGION AND BELIEF 

Ruhanga, the creator — divine dynasty of kings — fetishes and shrines 
of different gods — story of Kyomya and the drums — the earthquake 
god — importance of the ghosts — family ghosts and offerings — foreign 
ghosts — re-birth of the dead — spirits of rulers enter lions — offerings to 
the Mugabe's ancestors — medicine-men and methods of taking 
auguries — fetishes and amulets — rain-making — blood-brotherhood — 
dreams 

THERE was little in the way of formulated religion, for, 
though there were gods who were acknowledged as 
superior beings, there were no priests, the duties usually 
performed by such men being left to mediums and medicine- 
men, and there were no temples and only a few sacrifices, 
which were performed by the medicine-men. 

The creator was Ruhanga, who was thought to have lived 
in the sky. He was known as Creator and Powerful One, but 
no prayers were offered to him though his name was used in 
ejaculations such as "Tata Ruhanga," an exclamation used 
in joy at the birth of a child and accompanied by clapping 
the hands. Another ejaculation in which the name was used 
was "Ruhanga akutambire!" "May god heal you!" 

Ruhanga created a man Rugabe and his wife Nyamate 
and set them to people the earth. They were not ordinary 
mortals, for they had no mother but were both created by 
Ruhanga. They had a son, Isimbwa, who was the first of a 
dynasty of kings who ruled the country and who did not die, 
but became the gods of the people. These deified kings had 
no temples, but there were certain men and women who 
claimed to be their mediums and agents and to be able to 
cure sickness and help the people. The list of these early 
kings was given as follows: 

Isimbwa, son of Rugabe — Ndahaura — Wamara — Ruhinda — Nku- 
bayazurama — Owanyira — Rugamba naMazu — Nyabugaro — Kasasira 
— Rumongi — Mirindi — Ntare kita Banyoro — Macwa. 



24 THE GODS chap. 

Another list which was also given differed from the first : 

Kazoba — Wamara — Kagoro — Ndahaura — Mugenyi — Kyomya 
— Twona — Ryangombe — Nyakiriro — Kiro — Mugasa — Timbwe 
— Karu zi — Kalinzi . 

Each of the principal gods had his special fetish and the 
guardians of these lived in the Mugabe's kraal. The most 
popular deity was Kagoro, and his medium carried his emblem 
about to kraals where help was needed. Wherever it went, 
a cow was given and a shrine built to the god. 

Kazoba had a special shrine in the country of the clan 
Baisanza, whose members went there to ask for favours, taking 
to him cattle and beer. 

Mugasa was a royal deity and was also specially concerned 
with this clan Baisanza. If anyone else wished to consult 
this god, he had to approach him through an appointed 
member of the clan who might intercede for him. 

When any person applied to Nyakiriro, he had to present 
him with one or two copper bracelets and a cow. 

Wamara was said to be the god of plenty and fertility, and 
when a woman had twins, the elder was dedicated to him and 
the other to Kagoro. After the birth the mother presented a 
cow to each of these gods. These were kept alive and only 
women might drink the milk from them. This was done to 
preserve the husband, the children, and the herds from death. 

The mother of Kyomya was said to have been a princess 
and the sister of Wamara. Wamara married her and they had 
one son, Kyomya. Later Wamara sent the woman away but kept 
the son, who became a trader and wandered to Bukoba with 
salt, coffee-berries, cats, and other goods. When he returned to 
Ankole, he became herdsman to a cow-man named Kyana 
who, in addition to herding, made him fetch fire-wood. Soon 
the wife of Kyana began to suspect that Kyomya was not an 
ordinary mortal and she and her husband laid all kinds of 
traps for him, but he evaded them all. At last one day while 
he was getting fire-wood, Kyomya discovered the sacred drums 
which his father Wamara had received from the moon and 
which Kyana had stolen. He flicked his fingers and the drums 



in FAMILY GHOSTS 25 

came to him, and a few days later he left Kyana to take the 
drums back to his father at Ruwanda in Ankole near Kabula. 
After that he left the world and became a god. 

The earthquake god was originally called Omusisi, but of 
recent years some people have claimed to be the mediums of 
an earthquake god called Nabinge. This is probably the name 
used for Omusisi by another branch of the pastoral people, 
from whom it has now been introduced into Ankole. These 
priests built a hut and hung about in it objects which rattled 
and made a noise when shaken. When anyone came to consult 
them, the priests made a noise like the rumbling of an earth- 
quake and shook the hut until it seemed as if it were falling 
down. This so terrified the applicants that they willingly 
made offerings to the sham mediums in order to ward off 
the danger which threatened. 

At the time when Ruhanga created the first man and 
woman, he also created a peasant man and woman to be 
their servants and these were the ancestors of the serfs. 

The really important supernatural beings were the ghosts. 
These had their abode in another world which was, how- 
ever, of little importance, for they spent most of their time 
hovering round the living, helping them or visiting their dis- 
pleasure upon them according to the treatment they received 
from their surviving relatives and friends, and punishing any 
infringements of clan law and custom. They were never 
seen but their presence was felt, for the wind which blew 
amongst the trees and grass of the grazing-grounds showed 
the presence of ghosts of the cow-people, while those of 
peasants were heard rustling amongst the grain or in the 
plantain trees. It was to these ghosts rather than to the 
great gods that the people turned for help and to them they 
made offerings and prayers. 

All classes of the people from the Mugabe downwards had 
shrines for the family ghosts, and cows were dedicated to 
them. These were kept alive and the milk from them was 
daily placed on a special stand devoted to the ghost, where 
it remained for some time until the ghost had taken its meal 



26 FAMILY GHOSTS chap. 

of the essence, after which the remainder was drunk by the 
owner of the house and those of his children who lived with 
him. On the side of the bed furthest from the door in the 
hut was the sacred place where milk for the ghost of the 
owner's father was placed. The special pot for it was called 
kyenzimu. If the owner's mother was dead, a pot for her 
ghost, called ekyenshugi, might also be placed there. 

It was only the ghosts of men who were universally feared, 
but women feared the ghosts of women, for they were some- 
times dangerous to women of their own clan and to children. 
If a woman's ghost was the cause of sickness among children, 
the mother would persuade her husband to give milk to 
pacify the ghost. Another method of laying such a ghost was 
for the woman to go to cross-roads, build a shrine, and offer 
a little beer and grain. If this did not have the desired effect, 
the woman persuaded her husband to accompany her to her 
own clan where they offered a goat, or, in extreme cases, even 
a cow to the ghost. 

Even the poorer herdsmen had their little shrines for ghosts 
and dedicated the milk from certain cows to their departed 
relatives, the owner of the shrine drinking the milk afterwards. 
When the departed intimated in some way that he desired 
to have a meal, the owner of the shrine brought either a fat 
cow or a bull, which was secured near the shrine during the 
night. In the early morning it was killed and the owner of 
the shrine and his clan-brothers ate the meat near the shrine. 

When the ghost of a man, who had come from another 
country and died, was causing trouble to any member of a 
clan, a bull was taken either to the hills overlooking the 
country from which the man came or to the path by which 
he came. The animal was dedicated to the ghost and they 
called upon it to accept the offering, after which they killed 
the bull and ate or gave away all the flesh. The bones were 
burned to dust, for nothing might be left or taken back. 

It was not easy to discover the actual belief of the people 
with regard to the final state of the ghosts, but it seemed that 
they were supposed to be re-born in their grandchildren. This 



in SPIRITS OF DEAD KINGS 27 

was not precisely stated, but people said that certain graves 
might safely be left imtended, with only a tree to mark the 
spot, though as long as the ghost was disembodied, the grave 
had to be distinguished and a shrine kept near it for offerings. 
Children were called by the names of former members of the 
clan because it was thought that the ghosts would then take 
an interest in them and help them. 

There were no ghosts of trees or animals, for only human 
beings were thought to have spirits which became ghosts. 

The ghosts of kings, however, did not remain spirits but 
entered into lions. When a lion became dangerous, a medicine- 
man had to be consulted before any steps could be taken to 
get rid of it. This man had to discover by augury whether the 
attacks were merely the act of a ravenous animal seeking 
prey or whether they were a sign that the Mugabe had 
neglected to make such offerings as would satisfy the spirits 
of his ancestors. In the Mugabe's kraal there was a place 
called Kagondo which was devoted to the shrines of past 
rulers, and there frequent offerings were made and milk from 
dedicated cows was placed daily for a time before being drunk 
by the special cow-men who herded these cows and by the 
men who guarded the shrines. 

When an offering was required, a cow past bearing or a bull 
was brought in the evening to a place near the shrine, where 
a rope was tied to its leg. The other end of the rope was buried 
in a hole about a foot deep and the earth was beaten down 
hard so that the animal was secured. It was left there during 
the night for the ghost to examine and accept it, and a guard 
from the royal clan, Bayangwe, kept watch over it. In the 
early morning the Mugabe came and offered the animal to 
the ghost, saying, "This cow I give to you; in return pray 
cause me no more trouble." An offering of this kind was made 
when the Mugabe felt ill and an augury proved that the illness 
was caused by the ghost of one of his ancestors. Animals for 
food were killed by being poleaxed just behind the horns, the 
axe being driven well into the skull, but a cow for a sacrifice 
was killed by cutting its throat. The blood was allowed to 



28 MEDICINE-MEN chap. 

run on the ground near the shrine and the meat was eaten 
by the Mugabe and the members of the royal clan on the spot. 
Sometimes it happened that the meat lasted several days 
and a fresh set of relatives of the Mugabe were called to eat 
it each day, for none of it might be taken away, and all must 
be cooked and eaten near the spot where the animal was 
killed. The head of the animal was eaten by the special men 
who looked after the fire- wood. 

When one of the cows which had been dedicated to the 
ghosts was killed, the herdsmen of the herd from which that 
animal was taken received some of the meat, their share being 
cut from the back without any bones. No bones might be 
broken in killing the animal or afterwards in cutting up the 
meat, and all that was not eaten had to be consumed by fire 
so that nothing was left. 

Medicine-men 

Ghosts and magic were the causes commonly assigned to 
illness and the first duty of a medicine-man who had been 
called in to a case was to discover by augury the cause, for 
upon this the treatment depended. The methods employed 
in dealing with cases of illness will be more fully dealt with 
in the chapter on Illness, p. 134. 

Medicine-men, however, were consulted in other matters 
and auguries were taken in all kinds of difficulties. The 
Mugabe, or any of the people who could afford to pay large 
fees, summoned a diviner, who examined the entrails of 
cattle, sheep, or fowls, or used some other of what were con- 
sidered the superior methods of taking the augury. 

One diviner, who was specially called in to discover the 
cause of any illness of the Mugabe, used two sticks and an 
insect called ntondo. He fixed one stick upright in the ground 
and placed the other in a slanting position against it. On the 
sloping stick he put an insect and made a noise as if spitting 
upon it until it began to move; then he repeated to it the 
names of royal ancestors who might be the cause of the illness. 
If the insect turned towards him, he knew that the name was 



in TAKING AUGURIES 29 

not that of the ghost responsible for the Mugabe's state of 
health, and he tried name after name until the insect walked 
up the stick, thus declaring that the ancestor last named was 
the cause of the illness. Offerings were then made, as already 
described, to the ghost of that ancestor at his shrine in the 
Mugabe's kraal. 

In another case a number of holes, shaped like troughs for 
watering cattle but not so big, were made. The Mugabe or 
the chief concerned was given a little of certain herbs finely 
powdered on which he spat to bless them and whispered to 
them his wishes. The diviner enclosed this powder in balls 
of clay and dropped one in each water hole. He took butter 
and oiled his hands well and then broke up the balls of clay 
in the water and sprinkled more of the powder on it. From 
the forms taken by this powder he gave his augury. If it 
was good, some of the water was put on the breast, shoulders, 
and forehead of the enquirer, to whom the blessing was thus 
conveyed. 

Another test was known as the butter test ; when a diviner 
was going to use this, he filled six to ten cooking-pots 
with water and put them on the fire. When the water boiled, 
the medicine-man took a bunch of herbs, ezubwi, dipped it in 
the boiling water and squeezed it into each pot until the 
water was discoloured. A piece of butter was handed to the 
enquirer who whispered his wishes over it and the medicine- 
man then dropped a bit of it into each pot. According to the 
way in which the butter melted and spread in the water, he 
gave his verdict. Should a fly or other insect fall into the 
pots during the process the test was invalid and they had 
to begin afresh. If the augury was good, the enquirer was 
anointed with the water from the pots. 

These superior medicine-men also worked auguries with 
animals. A fowl, goat, sheep, or bull, according to the import- 
ance of the case, was killed and the medicine-man examined 
the markings on the intestines and on the lungs, which he 
stretched, in order to discern the markings better, by in- 
serting his finger into them. When the Mugabe wished to go 



30 FETISHES AND AMULETS chap. 

to war he appealed to some of these medicine-men to tell him 
whether the expedition would be successful, and the chief 
medicine-man always accompanied the army and took auguries 
at intervals during the course of the campaign. 

The poorer people could not afford to consult these higher 
medicine-men, who were known as Bafumu, but they applied 
to those of a lower class, Omulaguzi, who took auguries by 
scattering seeds or by throwing sticks into water, or other 
such methods. One man used a number of bits of stick, 
which had to be six, twelve, or fourteen. He made a pretence 
of spitting on them and declared to them the cause which 
required the augury. He then threw them into a pot of water 
and gave the augury from their position. 

Another medicine-man took a cup of millet and six, twelve, 
or fourteen stones or lumps of mud over which he made a 
pretence of spitting while telling them the problem which 
required solution. He threw the millet and the stones or 
mud on to a skin and, watching the position in which they 
fell, read therefrom the augury. 

Fetishes and Amulets 

There were few fetishes used, the chief of them being 
the royal fetishes known as Mirimbo, which were horns filled 
by certain medicine-men with herbs and other ingredients. 
The maker pronounced incantations over these before he 
filled in the ends. Claws and teeth of animals, and even hollow 
roots and pieces of bamboo, were used as receptacles for 
medicine said to be blessed by some particular god. The 
object thus filled was sold by the medicine-man and was said 
to contain the essence of the god and to be of value in battle 
or against wild beasts or in other dangers. 

Amulets were made by different medicine-men and medicine- 
women as charms against a variety of evils. There was a 
special kind, called ngisa or mpeka, which was made by women- 
doctors (Omusuzi) to be worn by women who desired to have 
children. These women-doctors made amulets for women only, 
while the medicine-men (Bafumu) dealt both with men and 



in RAIN-MAKING 31 

women. The remnant of any herb which had proved efficacious 
in illness was often made into an amulet to guard against a 
recurrence of the same disease. Amulets were also used as 
charms against fever, snake-bite, attack from wild beasts, 
eye diseases, swellings on the body and other troubles. 

In time of war, women wearing fetishes went round a 
kirikiti tree rubbing it upwards with butter with their hands 
and praying to it to guard some individual in the battle. 

Rain-making 

The rain-makers of Ankole belonged entirely to the serf 
class and were called Abaizi be nzura. Their fetishes were 
horns of antelope and male sheep and were filled with herbs 
and such ingredients as they considered suitable for their 
purpose. 

When the people wanted rain they took a black sheep to 
the rain-maker, who killed it, allowing the blood to flow 
on his fetish. He then built a shrine in which he put the 
fetish and he and his clients ate a sacred meal of the flesh 
of the sheep there. Beside this shrine he also pronounced his 
incantations and prayers for rain. From this time until the 
rain fell the rain-maker had to practise sexual abstinence, 
for indulgence would render his charms ineffective. 

All kinds of gifts might be brought to the rain-maker by 
the people who came to ask for rain. The Mugabe always sent 
a cow and others brought hoes, millet, or sheep. If the rain- 
maker considered that the pay offered was inadequate, the 
chief of the district might take from the people by force what 
was necessary to pay him. 

If the rain did not come and the people showed their 
annoyance by troubling the rain-maker, he might become 
angry and, by redoubling his efforts, bring not only rain but 
hail and thunder. 

These rain-makers had the power to stop rain by their 
fetishes, and they also blew through whistles to raise a wind 
which might carry off the clouds and cause the rain to 
cease. 



32 BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD chap. 

There was also another man, Kuamula, who could stop 
rain, but he was looked upon as an evil person and not re- 
garded in the same light as a legitimate rain-maker. He made 
a bundle of dried and rotten kirikiti twigs, pieces of the trees 
luwawo, bubohaboha and namanya-ku-nenakasi, and earth, 
and tied this to a reed which he fastened to a post planted in 
the ground in some secluded spot. Another stick to which 
he tied meat was put in a sloping position against this post 
and under it he lit a fire, saying, " I want sun so that my fire 
may burn and cook my meat. Let there be no rain to ex- 
tinguish it." This brought drought and famine, unless the 
people paid him large sums to remove his spells. 

Blood-Brotherhood 

When two men formed a friendship more than ordinarily 
close and wished to cement it publicly, they went through a 
ceremony before witnesses. 

One man went to stay the night with the other and in the 
early morning, before the cows were milked, they came into 
the kraal and sat on the ground facing each other, while the 
witnesses, chief among whom was the sister of the man who 
was host, stood around. 

Between the two men were laid a coffee-berry, some leaves 
from the kirikiti tree, and a sharp knife or an arrow such as 
was used for bleeding the cows. The arrow was preferred for 
the purpose, and a razor might never be used. 

Each man in turn took the arrow, pinched up the flesh 
near his navel and made a few scratches until he drew a little 
blood which he caught in the palm of his hand. Each took 
half the coffee bean, rubbed it in the blood, and placed one or 
two leaves of the kirikiti tree between the fingers of that hand. 
He then with his other hand took hold of his companion's 
hand and took the half bean from it with his lips. The host 
took the arrow and rubbed it against the thumb-nail of the 
right hand of the other man as though he was cutting it, 
put it on his head as though shaving the hair, and passed it 
round his body and down to his right foot as though to cut 



in DREAMS 33 

the nail of his great toe. The other man then took the arrow 
and went through the same performance. During the process 
the man performing the action swore to be true and loyal to 
the other and his family, saying, "Let me die if I fail to be 
a true brother." The sister took hold of the right wrist of 
each and said that they must not part from each other. Each 
presented her with a bark-cloth or two bracelets before they 
separated. 

Dreams 

When a man dreamt that he was dead, it meant that some 
relative or friend, possibly at a distance, was dead. 

When a man dreamt that he had received a present, he 
expected either to receive one himself or to hear of some 
relative having done so. 

When the Mugabe dreamt an unpleasant dream, he sent 
for medicine-men, who might drive off the evil by making 
him smell a drug which made him sneeze, or by giving him 
a certain root to chew. When he had dreamt of evil attacking 
him or the land, the medicine-man brought a pot of water 
from which the Mugabe took a sip and spat it out five times. 
A bunch of herbs, mwetengo and mbuza, was given to him and 
he passed them over his head, saying, "Let the evil pass 
away," spat on them and sent them from his presence. 

When he dreamt about war, he called the leading chiefs 
to him and explained the situation and together they decided 
whether they should take action. 



CHAPTER IV 
RULERS OF ANKOLE. PART I 

Difficulty in obtaining names of rulers — importance of the Mugabe's 
sister — possible matrilineal succession — list of rulers — relations with 
neighbouring kings — royal intermarriage — the Mugabe's kraal — the 
milk — the cows — the entrance — the houses — cooks and brewers — 
moving the royal kraal — life of the Mugabe — hunting — the court — 
pages— drinking milk — washing — meals — evening meetings — the Mu- 
gabe's bed — the royal drums — the hut — contents of the hut — the 
chief drums — attendants of the drums — offerings to the drums — spear 
and staff of the drums — repairing drums — sacrifices to the drums — 
the drums and war — the Mugabe's cows — herdsmen 

WHEN I first visited Ankole more than twelve years ago, 
it was impossible to obtain from the people any infor- 
mation as to the names of their previous rulers, and the names 
of the mothers of the rulers were totally unknown. On 
making enquiries on this, my second visit, I found them pre- 
pared with a list of kings, but on neither occasion was I able 
to obtain the names of any of the kings' wives, brothers or 
sisters. It seems that contact with other tribes, especially 
with the Baganda and the Bakitara, aroused a desire to have 
a genealogy of the royal family, and a list of kings was 
prepared for the purpose. 

It was quite evident that there never was a queen, and that 
the wives of the Mugabe, or king, never had any official position 
or took any prominent place in the kingdom. The Mugabe's 
sister, however, was an important person, though she was not 
called queen nor was she a wife of the Mugabe. She married 
whom she pleased and, though the Mugabe would try to 
induce her to marry some man of his choice, she was not 
compelled to follow his wishes. The sister of the present 
Mugabe refused to marry the man he chose for her, even 
though he attempted to enforce his wishes and was so angry 
at her refusal that for a long time he would not see her. This, 
as well as many other customs, especially those connected 



chap, iv RULERS OF ANKOLE 35 

with inheritance and the purification ceremonies, points to 
the probable existence in former times of a custom of matri- 
lineal succession, which, however, the present generation 
refuses to acknowledge, as they consider such a regime in- 
ferior to the patrilineal system which obtains in the surrounding 
countries, and thus dread the scorn of their neighbours. 

Another reason for the difficulty experienced in obtaining 
any of the names of past kings was that the name of a king 
was never again mentioned after his death and, moreover, if 
it corresponded with some word in ordinary use, that word 
was dropped out of the language. Thus, when the last Mugabe, 
Ntare, died, the name for a lion, which was ntare, was altered 
to ekichunchu. 

The list of rulers which I received on my recent visit was 
as follows: 

1. Nyamhanga 2. Rugabe 3. Isimbwa 

4. Ndahaura 5.Wamara 6. Ruhinda 

7. Nkubayarurama 8. Nyeika or Owanyira 9. Rugamba na Mazu 
10. Nyabugaro 11. Kasasira 12. Rumongi 

13. Mirindi 14. Ntare kita Bunyoro 15. Macwa 

16. Kahaya I, in whose reign cattle increased so greatly in the country 
that a poor man had at least fifty and a rich man's herds ran into 
thousands. Though rinderpest has now killed thousands of the 
cattle, yet there are still more in the country than there were at 
the time when plague last visited them, nearly thirty years ago 

17. Lwebishengaze 18. Gasiyonga (mother, Bukandu) 

19. Mutambukwa (mother, Bawomura) 

20. Ntare, whose mother, Kiloga, was a Munyoro princess 

21. Kahaya II (mother, Nkasi of the Basambo) 

The old title of the ruler, which is still used as a title of 
respect, was Mukama, but as this was also the title of the 
ruler of Kitara (or Bunyoro), the British, for the purpose of 
differentiation, introduced the official title of Mugabe. 

In the old days, the kingdom was only a small one, but the 
present district of Ankole includes four other kingdoms, 
Mpororo, Egara, Bweszu and Busongora. In the past the 
kings of these countries were always at enmity and none of 
them ever visited the countries of the others except in war. 
One of the early British Government officials ordered a king 

3—2 



36 THE MUGABE'S KRAAL chap. 

of Egara to come to Ankole. The king at first refused, but, 
when pressure was brought to bear, he came, as it seemed, 
willingly. When, however, he reached a hill from which he 
could see the houses of the Ankole king, he quickly drew a 
a knife, ripped his stomach across, and fell dead. 

Though the kings of the different countries might not 
meet, it seems to have been quite common for their sons and 
daughters to intermarry, and when the countries were not 
actually at war, the people generally went freely from one 
to another to trade. The traders of Ankole, however, might 
go into Mpororo only in secret, though they might go openly 
into any of the other kingdoms. At one time princes of Ankole 
only married in their own clan, but under king Kahaya I it 
became usual for them to marry girls from the royal families 
of other countries. 

The kings were thought by the people to have come from 
heaven and to be the ancestors of all their people, whom they 
ruled by divine authority. The Mugabe had the power of life 
and death over all his subjects, and it was believed that his 
people held their property solely through his clemency, for 
he was the owner of all the land and all the cattle. 

The Mugabe's Kraal 

The Mugabe's kraal stood in the midst of the dwellings of 
his chiefs and retainers which formed the capital, Orurembo, 
the royal kraal itself being known as Kikari kyo Mukama. 

The Mugabe's kraal differed from that of his chiefs only in 
size, for, as it enclosed many houses for wives and attendants, 
it covered a very large expanse of ground. The site was 
changed at least every second year and often every year, for 
it was thought that fresh ground was necessary to keep the 
cows clean and free from pests. 

The kraal, which was in shape more oval than round, 
measured about a quarter of a mile across at its broadest part, 
and was built on a hill or rising ground. In the surrounding 
fence there was one main entrance, leading into a large open 
space which was used for cows, though the special cows of 



iv ENTRANCE TO THE KRAAL 37 

the Mugabe, which numbered one hundred, were not kept 
there but in two kraals outside the enclosure, fifty in each 
kraal, and only the cows of wives and resident attendants 
were kept in the royal kraal. 

The cows of the Mugabe were looked after by the royal 
herdsmen, who carried two large pots of milk to the Mugabe 
every morning and evening. There was no royal milk-house 
for his milk, but it was carried from house to house wherever 
he happened to be, and the pots were strung up on a stick 
some eight feet long, such as was used by the cow-men for 
carrying milk-pots from kraals in the country to their masters ; 
this was fastened at each end to the rafters so that it hung 
horizontally, and the milk-pots were slung upon it. 

The cows inside the royal kraal all belonged to the Mugabe's 
wives and those attendants who were permanent residents. 
Each house of any importance in the royal kraal had its own 
courtyard where the cows came by night and where there 
were houses for the herdsmen and for the calves. The houses 
of the Mugabe's wives were built at various places within the 
enclosure and the king had the right to sleep in any house 
he might choose. Each wife had a number of cows given to 
her and she had her own herdsmen who looked after them and 
brought them for the night into the court of her house, where 
they slept in the open. 

The main gate was the only entrance by which visitors were 
permitted to enter the Mugabe's kraal, but the special 
servants could enter by two smaller gates, which were placed 
at the sides of the kraal so that water running down the hill 
might not flow in by them. Only special guests might enter 
directly into the Mugabe's presence, others had to wait out- 
side the main entrance while the gate-keeper announced their 
arrival to the Mugabe. The gate was kept fastened and the 
visitor had to wait outside, where there were waiting-rooms, 
while the gate-keeper asked for an interview and returned 
with the Mugabe's answer. The visitor might be told to wait 
longer or might even be denied admission altogether. When 
the main entrance was closed for the night, admission could 



38 HOUSES IN THE MUGABE'S KRAAL chap. 

only be obtained through a hut at one side in which there 
were always watchmen. 

Inside the main entrance was a large open space for cows 
in which there was the fire, nkomi, the main fire of the kraal. 
To the left was a large hut for the special herdsmen, a number 
of small huts, and the usual dung-heap on which the daily 
sweepings of the kraal were piled. On the right of the open 
space was a second fence dividing it from the private houses 
of the Mugabe. 

Inside this fence was first the house, Rwemihunda, and 
with it five other huts were connected by covered passages. 
The second was called Kiniga, and in it the pages of the 
Mugabe lived in order to be always within hearing of the 
summons of the Mugabe wherever he might be. In the third 
house, Kageri kamu, lived two specially favoured wives who 
took the names of Enkunwakazi and Musongon. The fourth 
house, Watumwoha, was for women from among whom the 
Mugabe chose one when he went on any journey or to war. 
When he went to war a special kraal was built for him and to 
it he took a young girl, called Ekinyasunzu, who made his 
bed, managed his private matters, and acted as his wife for 
the time. If on his return she was found to be with child, 
she was taken to a special house and cared for until the child 
was born. She was not necessarily a pastoral woman and was 
not given the rank of one of the Mugabe's wives, for she never 
covered her head like a married woman, but in other respects 
she was treated as one of his wives and any child she might 
give birth to was counted as a prince. In this house also were 
two wives with the titles Ntagasya Mukama and Karabaraba, 
the latter being the wife who sat near the Mugabe at evening 
meetings and upon whom he leant when he felt tired. She 
also at such times carried any messages he might wish to send. 

The next house, Buganzi, was a general house for wives, 
and Kabagiriri was a house for wives who had given birth 
to children. There were also in the kraal about a hundred 
houses for wives and their attendants and women of inferior 
station. 



iv SITE OF THE MUGABE'S KRAAL 39 

The Mugabe went to any of the houses as it might please 
him and his pages carried the royal milk-pots and slung them 
over the pots of the wife with whom he meant to spend the 
night. Each house was provided with a rod suspended from 
the roof over the platform where the wife kept her milk-pots, 
and the pages slung the royal pots on this rod. Two pots were 
brought to the Mugabe after each milking and he drank milk 
as a rule four times during the day and four times during the 
night, drinking twice from each pot. 

The quarters of the cooks were also in this part of the kraal, 
but were divided from the wives' huts by a fence which 
prevented the Mugabe from seeing what was going on beyond 
it as he moved about among his wives. When the Mugabe 
ordered food to be cooked for guests it was carried by a path 
round the outer part of the enclosure so as not to offend the 
royal eyes or nose. The chief cooks were named Obwoma and 
Orwekubo and, like the fire-wood bearers and water-drawers, 
they were of the agricultural class. 

The brewers lived outside at the back of the royal kraal 
and daily sent some of the best beer they had into the kraal 
for the Mugabe's use. There was a hut in the inner part of 
the kraal where the beer for the daily consumption of the 
Mugabe was kept and to which the Bakungu chiefs also sent 
beer and grain twice monthly. 

The royal kraal was completely surrounded by dwellings, 
for the brewers, wood-cutters and water-drawers had their 
huts at the back, the kraals of the leading chiefs lay round the 
sides, and the Nganzi or chief minister had his kraal in front 
of the gateway. These people acted as general guardians of 
the Mugabe to prevent any foe from approaching and finding 
him unprepared. 

Whenever the Mugabe wished to move the site of his kraal 
he consulted the royal medicine-man as to the advisability 
of the change and as to the choice of a new site. A bull, 
which had to be entirely black, was brought to the Mugabe, 
who whispered into its ear, "Stop evil from coming to me, 
to my children or to my country," and spat into its mouth. 



40 DUTIES OF THE MUGABE chap. 

The assistants then threw the animal down and held it while 
the Mugabe stepped over it and stuck his spear into the 
ground on the other side. The medicine-man killed the bull 
and examined its lungs and intestines and he and his com- 
panions ate the meat on the spot where it was killed, for none 
of it might be carried away. 

If all was well the new kraal was built, and at the end of 
six months the medicine-man came again with a fowl and 
held its beak open until the Mugabe spat into its throat. 
This fowl was buried alive in the gateway of the new kraal 
where both people and cattle passed over it, and thus evil 
was kept from entering and injuring the Mugabe. 

As each new house was built either for the Mugabe or anyone 
else, it was dedicated by having a fowl buried alive in the 
doorway, while a second fowl was buried at the side of the 
mound used as the bed so that the owner might step on the 
place as he went to or left the bed. A special fetish was hung 
over the door. This consisted of a swallow, which was cut 
open from the underside of its beak to its tail and dried. The 
body when ready was stuffed with the herbs omubuza, 
mwetengo and musingo, bound together at the breast and tail, 
and suspended over the door to keep evil out and render 
harmless any magic which might be directed against the 
inmates. 

The fire from which all the fires in a new kraal were started 
was brought from the Abaitira clan. 

The Life and Duties of the Mugabe 

There were no restrictions laid upon the movements of the 
Mugabe, though he had to be careful not to hurt himself or 
cause loss of blood. He might move about the country as 
he liked and often accompanied the royal herdsmen to the 
pasturage and stayed with the cattle until he felt tired, when 
he returned to the kraal for a meal and rest. He was generally 
fond of hunting and might arrange a day's sport. If the place 
of the hunt was at some distance from the royal kraal he 
would be carried there, in order to arrive fresh for the sport. 



iv THE MUGABE'S PAGES 41 

The Mugabe was usually fond of dogs and kept a few in the 
royal kraal with him, but his pack for hunting was kept for 
him by peasants outside. When he was taking exercise of 
this kind he drank only beer and did not eat anything until 
he got back to his kraal, when he had a meal of beef and after 
a time drank milk. 

At other times the early part of the day was occupied with 
the business of the kingdom, when the Mugabe tried cases 
and transacted other business in the outer part of his kraal. 
During a meeting of the court the Mugabe often smoked but 
he neither ate nor drank until he had retired to his own houses. 
When he had done so only the Nganzi and his personal pages 
might approach him uninvited, for the general public might 
not go beyond the outer part of the royal kraal without 
special invitation. 

The pages of the Mugabe were taken from the sons of chiefs 
of any clan. They might approach the Mugabe at any time 
and might even wake him at night to drink milk or to deal 
with urgent business. While in the service of the Mugabe their 
bodies were sacred and they held office until they were old 
enough to marry, when the Mugabe sent them away, giving 
them chieftainships, cattle and land. These boys were given 
willingly to the Mugabe in the hope that such service would 
lead to higher office, and the daughters of chiefs were also 
sent to the court to be maids to the Mugabe's wives. 

One of the duties of these pages was to bring the Mugabe 
milk at the set times for drinking, for he drank milk four 
times from the morning milking and four times from the 
evening. In accordance with the usual custom no milk from 
the morning milking might be drunk after 4 p.m. that day 
and none from the evening milking after 4 a.m. All milk left 
over after that time was used for butter, for to drink milk 
more than twelve hours old was strictly forbidden. 

In the evening, when the Mugabe retired to rest, one or two 
pages accompanied him to the house in which he chose to 
sleep and arranged for a supply of milk to be brought there. 
The Mugabe would drink some before he lay down to sleep 



42 THE MUGABE'S DAY chap. 

and through the night at set times the guards roused the 
pages, who had to wake the Mugabe by stroking his face and 
raising him in order that he might drink again. This became 
so much of a habit that sometimes he would not wake but 
would drink the milk in his sleep. The milk might be brought 
from any of his cows, and the only taboo connected with it 
was that any left after the Mugabe had partaken had to be 
finished by the pages. 

The milk regulations did not permit the Mugabe to wash 
his body daily, but he slept at night between buttered bark- 
cloths and was well rubbed by one of his wives in the morning. 
Twice a week he had a bath and the pages rubbed him to 
get off all the old butter, after which he was smeared again 
with fresh butter. He washed his hands night and morning 
with warm water brought to his pages by the official water- 
carriers, who were known as Bahuko Bakinabiro, and came 
from peasant clans. In the morning the cleansing ceremony 
was more elaborate than at night. The water was brought 
in a wooden bowl and the royal medicine-man and some five 
other medicine-men were in attendance with fetishes. The 
Mugabe sat on a stool and fetishes were placed in the bowl, 
on either side of him, and beneath his stool. The Mugabe 
washed his hands and the chief medicine-man handed him 
a pot containing a potent snuff which made him sneeze, to 
drive out all the evils which might have entered him during 
the night. Until this ceremony was over no one dared ask 
the Mugabe a question or greet him, even the medicine-men 
were silent and most of the pages left the hut. The Nganzi 
might remain if he wished, but he also kept silence. After 
this washing, the Mugabe would hear matters of private 
interest until the time came to drink the morning milk, which 
was brought to him about 8 o'clock. 

At noon when the Mugabe returned from his various engage- 
ments to his own part of the kraal he had a meal of beef with 
which he drank beer. His beef was usually roasted on spits 
over a wood fire, though he sometimes had it boiled, in which 
case a kind of millet-porridge was served with it, the meat 



iv THE MUGABE'S DAY 43 

and the porridge being brought in separate wooden dishes. 
He ate the meat with a wooden two-pronged fork and the 
porridge with a wooden spoon. A bull or fatted cow was daily 
killed for food for the inmates of the royal kraal, and the 
Mugabe's meat was taken from this animal, for he was not 
restricted to special cows but might eat beef from any. He 
might, however, only eat the meat from the shoulder, which 
was cut up into small pieces and cooked for him, while the 
rest was used for the household and guests. The food was 
brought to him by pages, and, with the exception of a 
favourite wife who was in attendance to do anything he 
might require, no one else might approach while he was 
eating. 

The Mugabe might invite some of his chiefs to a meal after 
sitting in court but they were served in the courtyard apart 
from him, though he might send to any specially favoured 
guest some of the meat from his own table. None of his wives 
might touch his meat or his milk vessels and any meat that was 
left over when he had finished had to be eaten by some of 
his pages. He sometimes sent milk to his private advisers 
(Batabazi) and it was carried to them by a boy and a girl 
who held office only during their minority. As soon as they 
were adolescent they were sent off to marry and the office 
was given to others. 

After his midday meal the Mugabe generally went to rest 
until evening when a large number of chiefs assembled at 
the royal kraal to talk over general matters and drink beer. 
During these gatherings the Mugabe sat in a special house 
where three short posts were arranged so that he might sit 
between two of them, resting his arms on them, while he 
leaned against the third. A special wife sat by his side to 
make another prop for him to lean on if he so desired. In 
later times, when the idea of chairs with backs instead of 
stools began to penetrate the country, a low curved wall of 
reeds was built between the two side posts so that the Mugabe 
might sit between the posts and lean back against it. He 
sometimes used a wooden stool to sit upon and in the house 



44 THE MUGABE'S DAY chap. 

he sometimes sat upon the bed, but as a rule he squatted 
like an ordinary cow-man. 

After this evening meeting the Mugabe might have another 
meal of beef and beer and before going to bed he might drink 
some of the evening milk. It often happened, however, that 
he, as well as some of the chiefs, drank so much beer at the 
meeting that they had to be carried away. The servants who 
accompanied their masters were responsible for them and had 
to see them safely deposited in bed. The Mugabe was never 
said to be drunk; the servants said Kusinda (he sighed). 

The Mugabe never moved about in his own kraal or else- 
where without some weapon and rarely without a guard, but 
he seldom lost his temper during the daily gatherings, though 
he was known sometimes to strike a chief or servant in wrath, 
whereupon the pages at once put the offender to death. In 
the evening, however, when he had partaken too freely of 
beer he often gave way to violent fits of rage, especially when 
among his wives, and in these he would strike people and break 
things until he could be got to bed to sleep it off. 

It was never known outside the Mugabe's part of the kraal 
in what house he intended to sleep. If he felt inclined to do 
so he made a round of the kraal to see the cattle, and then 
entered the house of the wife with whom he meant to spend 
the night. One or two pages followed him and the milk-pots 
were brought and hung up over the platform on which the 
wife kept her pots. The wife prepared the bed, in which the 
Mugabe slept between well-buttered bark-cloths. This secrecy 
was observed lest the Mugabe might be attacked during the 
night by anyone who wished to kill him. It was said that 
there had been cases when a prince killed the Mugabe by 
night in order to secure the throne. 

The Royal Drums 

At a little distance from the royal kraal was a small en- 
closure in which stood the hut of the royal drums. These were 
the only drums in the country, for, unlike most African 
peoples, the Banyankole did not make constant use of drums 



PLATE IV 







Dressing a cow-skin 




i m '* - * -.-.-. ___ - - - ... ■ .. . , ■< 

Sacred drums in their house with offering of milk before them 



iv THE ROYAL DRUMS 45 

but got their music from a primitive harp, shaped like a 
tortoise shell, which was played by women, while the serfs 
used water-pots containing varying quantities of water, so that 
they sounded different notes when struck on the mouths with 
pads attached to sticks two feet long. 

At one time these royal drums had their hut on another 
hill to the north of the River Ruiri, for a stream of water 
had to flow between them and the Mugabe's residence. When, 
however, the Mugabe became a Christian, he had the drums 
brought to his own hill, where a special hut was built for 
them. Their hut was always domed and might have no point 
or pinnacle; inside there was a stand or bed (Emitagara) on 
which lay two drums, known as Bagendenswa and Nakasaizha. 
These were the chief drums, and they were never beaten 
except by the Mugabe at his coronation. On the left side of 
the stand lay Kabembula, and beside it a small drum, Mpulo, 
which was beaten by the guardian at each new moon and 
when the other drums were taken out. The other drums, 
which lay on the floor, were called Luseshi, Gazo, Enzeru, 
Eigulu, Mpondi, Kikaro and Nabahangwi. At the back of 
the hut behind the bed lay a quantity of material for repairing 
these drums, and this had to be carefully guarded for it might 
not be used for any other purpose. To the left of the hut was 
a bag, Ensegu, in which were the instruments necessary for 
taking an augury should it be needed, and beside it lay some 
whistles and an iron rod (Nalusalu) upon which the tools for 
making the drums were sharpened, for this might not be done 
upon a stone. In front of the bed or stand was a row of milk- 
pots belonging to the drums, in which the daily offerings of 
milk were put. 

The chief drums were the two which lay upon the bed. 
These were covered with white skins with a black strip across 
them, making them look like a pair of great eyes in the gloom 
of the hut, for they lay on their sides facing the low doorway 
through which the only light came. A sacred herd of cows 
yielded a supply of milk which was daily offered to these 
drums in the pots which stood in front of them. It was placed 



46 OFFERINGS TO THE DRUMS chap. 

there in the morning and remained until nine or ten o'clock, 
by which time the drum-spirits had taken the essence and 
the remainder might be drunk by the guardians. The same 
ceremony was transacted after the evening milking. The 
guardians of the drums were called Barurura and might be 
chosen from any tribe or clan of the cow-people. There was 
also a woman, Mulanga of the Abarura clan, who was known 
as the "wife of the drums," and whose duty it was to look 
after the milk, the churning, and the covering of the drums. 
Another woman from the Abasinga clan looked after the fire 
in the drum-house, which had always to be kept burning 
because the drum-spirits required warmth. 

Offerings of cattle or beer were made to the drums by chiefs 
when a son had been born to them or when they had received 
promotion to some office or had been successful in some 
expedition and earned the commendation of the Mugabe. The 
Mugabe also made an annual offering of cows to the drums, 
so that they possessed a large herd; those offered to Bagen- 
denswa had to be red or white and those for Nakasaizha black. 
These cows were sacred and the Mugabe alone might order 
one to be killed; no one but the guardians might eat the meat 
of an animal thus killed and the skin was kept for repairing 
the drums. It was from these cows that the milk was taken 
which was daily offered to the drums, and from the surplus 
milk butter was made for smearing on them and for other 
uses connected with them, such as preparing the cow-skins 
for covering them. 

The drums had also their sacred spear, Nyamiringa, and a 
staff, Karembe, which were kept in the hut. When a princess 
was married, the chief guardian of the drums took the spear 
and stuck it in the ground at the head of the bed upon which 
the bride was lying. In the morning when he went to fetch 
the spear, the husband had to give him a cow, for the princess 
was a daughter of the drums who must therefore receive a 
marriage gift for her. The staff was also taken to a royal 
wedding and the bridegroom had to make it a suitable present 
in cattle. 



iv COVERING THE DRUMS 47 

The man who repaired the drums bore the title Ebigirema ; 
he might not make any other drums nor allow any of his 
materials to be used for other purposes. The cow from which 
the skin for re-covering a drum was taken was always black, 
white, or red, according to the drum for which it was required. 
It was first offered to the drum in the shrine and afterwards 
killed near the door. The skin was dressed with butter and 
the worker trod and stamped upon it until it was soft and 
supple, when it was taken with the drum to the forest 
Muzairi. While still supple with butter, it was moistened with 
water and stretched on the drum where it shrank while 
drying. Four sheep were then killed and given as remunera- 
tion to the men who assisted in the repairing of the drum. 

There was a pad on which each of the drums was carried 
to the forest, and this was also made from the skin of a black, 
white, or red cow which had a calf alive and well. The two 
special drums when on the stand rested on pads made of calf- 
skin. The calf was first presented to the drums and was then 
killed near them, and the skin was softened by being stamped 
upon and treated with butter. The meat of the calf was given 
to the guardians. 

When the drums were being covered with new skins, which 
was always done at the accession of a new Mugabe, a boy, old 
enough to herd cows and very fat, was killed, and his blood 
was caught and mixed with that of a cow. Papyrus specially 
brought from the river was burned to ashes and these were 
made into balls with the blood and rubbed upon the drums. 
Some say that the boy's throat was cut and the blood allowed 
to flow into the drums. This, however, has not been done for 
three reigns and it was impossible to discover what actually 
did happen and what fetishes were concealed in the drums. 
One or two people expressed the idea that the smearing of 
the drums with blood, which was done at other times as well 
as at the coronation, was to remind the people that the Mugabe 
had power to kill, but this statement was not generally made. 

Whenever the drums were moved for any purpose, the 
chief guardian beat a greeting to them on one of the small 



48 POWER OF THE DRUMS chap. 

drums and his assistants clapped their hands before them and 
talked to them to prevent their being annoyed at being moved 
and thus put to inconvenience. They were never taken into 
the royal kraal, though the Mugabe might go to them. 

Sometimes the guardian of the drums stated to the Mugabe 
that they required meat, whereupon the Mugabe ordered a 
cow to be brought from the herd of the drums. It was kept 
for one night near the house of the drums with other cows, and 
in the morning it was taken before the drums where the 
guardian presented it to them, saying, "This is the cow which 
the Mugabe consents to your having. Now let him live in 
peace with his neighbours, drive illness away from him and 
make him powerful!" The cow was then killed, the blood 
being caught and kept for smearing on the drums. 

When the Mugabe intended to go to war, a special ceremony 
with the drums was enacted. He sent to his chief cow-man 
for a rope or thong (mboha) which had been used for tying 
the legs of restive cows when being milked, a little hair from 
the penis-sheath of a bull, and a little clay from the place 
where a cow had trodden and left the impression of its foot. 
The Mugabe in person took these offerings to the drums, and 
was preceded by the royal spear-bearer with the two royal 
spears, which he stuck in the ground before the drums. The 
guardian then raised the two drums and the Mugabe placed 
the things which he had brought underneath them. This was 
supposed to ensure the safety of the Mugabe and the success 
of the expedition. On his return the Mugabe made a special 
offering to the drums of fifteen cows, three of which had to 
be of the special colours of the drums, black, white and 
red. 

The drums also formed a kind of sanctuary, for, if a man 
feared that for some reason he was going to be deprived of 
his property by the Mugabe, he would try to make his way 
to the drums and, if he reached them, he could not be de- 
spoiled. So, too, if a man who was to be put to death succeeded 
in escaping to the drums, he was safe and became their per- 
petual servant. 



iv THE MUGABE'S CATTLE 49 

The Mugabe's Cows 

The cattle of the Mugabe were distributed over all the 
country under special herdsmen. They were divided into herds 
according to their colour, each herd being kept strictly 
separate from the others so that the bulls of one herd were 
never able to come to the cows of another. 

The Mugabe appointed men to be the herdsmen of his cows, 

giving each man as a rule a hundred cows and leaving him 

to choose his own assistants. The chief herdsmen were known 

by different names according to the colour of their herds, in 

most cases by a name denoting that colour : 

Emamba, black Engazo, red 

Ebisa, white Ebitare, very pure white 

Enchere, yellowish white Misina, brown 

Empogo, black with red Mayenzi, red with black 

Embubi, black and white Bugondo, red and white 

Emiroko, red and white head with Emiremba, red legs with white 

patches of white on red body or black body 

Enkungu, hornless of any colour 

Thesemen were responsible to the Mugabe only, but the chiefs 
of the different districts had to keep a general watch over the 
Mugabe's herds and settle any disputes among herdsmen. The 
herd from which the special milk for the Mugabe and his house- 
hold was brought was kept in two kraals just outside the 
royal kraal, fifty cows being in each. The two herdsmen in 
charge of this herd were special favourites of the Mugabe, and 
new men were appointed to these posts at the accession of a 
new Mugabe, though he might retain the herdsmen appointed 
to the ordinary herds by his predecessor. 

Though private individuals looked upon their herds as their 
own property, the Mugabe had the right to take cattle from 
any herd whenever he so desired, even in addition to the 
regular taxation of the herds. 



CHAPTER V 

RULERS OF ANKOLE. PART II 

Illness of the Mugabe — treatment for grey hair — finding the cause of 
illness by augury — interview with sons and chiefs — the royal poison — 
announcing the death — mourning — preparing the body — the royal 
tombs at Esanza — re-birth of the Mugabe as a lion — return of the 
messengers — mourning — accession — purificatory ceremony — contest- 
ing the accession — lighting the fires — accession ceremonies at Ibanda 
— the new capital — wives of the Mugabe 

Illness and Death 

NO Mugabe ever allowed himself to grow old: he had to 
put an end to his life before his powers, either mental 
or physical, began to deteriorate. It was even thought un- 
desirable that the Mugabe should look old, and treatment 
was applied to prevent his hair from growing grey. A bird, 
kinyankwanzi, was caught and killed, the body being dried 
and burnt to ashes, which were mixed with butter. This 
mixture was prepared by the medicine-man, who pronounced 
some magic incantations over it, and, when the night was 
darkest before the new moon appeared, the Mugabe smeared 
his head with it. The bird, kinyankwanzi, was sacred and, 
if any unauthorised person killed one, he was deprived of all 
his possessions. 

When the Mugabe felt unwell, but the illness was not 
considered serious, he sent a message to the Nganzi who then 
asked the diviner to discover what ghost was the cause of 
the trouble. This he did by a test with the insect ntondo and two 
sticks, in the manner already described (v. Religion, Chap. in). 
When the insect, by climbing towards the second stick, had 
announced the name of the ancestor whose ghost was the 
cause, the Nganzi returned to inform the Mugabe, who made 
an offering at the shrine which was sacred to that ghost. 

If the Mugabe felt slightly unwell in the morning, he had 
all his fetishes brought to him and spat upon each of them 



chap, v DEATH OF THE MUGABE 51 

before proceeding to his ordinary duties. If, however, he felt 
seriously ill, he did not appear in public and was said to be 
kwesima, taking rest, for no one dared to say that the 
Mugabe was ill. 

No Mugabe ever went on living when he felt that his powers 
were failing him through either serious illness or old age. As 
soon as he felt his strength diminishing he knew it was time to 
end his life, and he called together his chiefs and also his sons, 
who never came to see him except on this occasion. At this 
interview he made no reference to his intentions but talked 
of affairs of the state. Either then or at some earlier time 
he nominated the son whom he wished to succeed him as 
Mugabe. 

When all was ready, he summoned the royal medicine-man 
and asked for the king's poison. This was always kept in 
readiness in the shell of a crocodile's egg. The white of the 
egg was dried and powdered and mixed with the dried nerve 
from the pointed end of an elephant's tusk and some other 
ingredients, the exact mixture being kept strictly secret. This 
had only to be mixed with a little water or beer to be ready 
for use, and when the Mugabe drank it he fell dead in a few 
moments. 

There was no formal announcement of the death, but the 
inmates of the royal kraal made a noise like the crying of 
jackals. The news was carried through the country by word 
of mouth, and the expression used to announce the death was 
kutasya, to return, the word used for the coming back of the 
cattle to the kraal at night. 

All the fires in the royal kraal and in all the kraals of the 
Mugabe's herds were extinguished as soon as the news of the 
death reached them, and all goats and dogs in or near any 
royal kraal were killed, for they were supposed to retain the 
evil of death. For this reason people, on hearing of the death, 
at once hurried their animals to some distant place. Every fully- 
grown bull in the royal herds had its scrotum tied to prevent 
its mating with the cows. The royal drums were covered and 
were not seen until the new Mugabe was appointed. 

4—2 



52 MOURNING FOR THE MUGABE chap. 

All work ceased in the land and the blades of all weapons 
had to be wrapped up in grass or fibre; even an axe might 
not be used for cutting fire-wood, which had to be broken by- 
hand. Every man, woman, and child in the country had the 
head shaved as a sign of national mourning, and were rubbed 
with a bunch of the herb they called mwetengo, which was 
considered to possess special powers of removing impurities 
which, if left, would cause illness and even death. This herb 
was used for many purificatory purposes. When people ate 
meat from an animal which had died of some disease, they 
rubbed some of the leaves of this in water and rinsed their 
mouths two or three times to remove all danger. Also a man 
who had been imprisoned, or rather detained in the stocks, 
rubbed his body over with it after his release to remove any 
evil influence before he rejoined his family. 

Any man who was engaged had to go and marry his bride 
on the day of the death, or, if she was too far away or too 
young to be married, he had to send her a belt of the strap 
he used for binding the legs of restive cows when they were 
being milked; this she had to wear round her waist as though 
she had been confined. Should he neglect this precaution he 
lost his bride ; the engagement was at an end, and he had to 
look for another wife. 

Princes and princesses put on bark-cloth garments and did 
not wear their cow-hide robes or ornaments of any kind. 

The chief wife, assisted by the Mugabe's sister, was in 
charge of the preparations inside the royal kraal, and special 
men of the Abahangwe clan were called in to arrange the 
body for removal to its resting-place and to guard it until 
all was ready. All ornaments were removed from the body 
and it was washed with water. The legs were bent up into 
the squatting posture favoured by cow-men. The right arm 
was placed under the head and the left arm laid on the breast. 

A cow, which had to be perfectly white and in good con- 
dition and must have one healthy calf, and a white sheep 
were brought in the evening when the cattle returned from 
pasture. The cow was milked and a little of the milk was 



v FUNERAL OF THE MUGABE 53 

poured into the dead man's mouth while the rest was kept 
for use later. Both animals were killed by having their 
throats cut and the skins were prepared for use by the men 
of the royal kraal, who first dried them in the sun, then 
stamped upon them and treated them with butter until they 
were soft and supple 1 . The blood of the animals was supposed 
to be allowed to run on the ground but the men of the kraal 
often caught it and drank it. The preparation of the skins took 
two days, during which a special hut was built at the edge 
of the Esanza forest and the body remained in the royal kraal. 

The body was laid on the cow-skin, and the sheep-skin, 
formed into a kind of bag, was placed on the lower part of 
the stomach. Some small millet (bulo) and the remainder of 
the milk from the cow was put in the sheep-skin and the cow- 
skin was folded over all and tightly stitched. Another account 
stated that the millet was put on the dead man's stomach, 
the milk poured over it, and the sheep-skin laid on the top, 
after which the body, thus prepared, was wrapped in the 
cow-skin. The meat of the cow was eaten by the men of the 
Abahangwe clan who were in charge of the body, while the 
sheep was given to the servants who helped in the preparations. 

The place for royal tombs was on the edge of a forest at 
Esanza on the Koki side of Ankole, a journey generally of 
about thirty miles from the royal kraal. Some thirty or forty 
men of the royal clan set out on the morning of the third day 
after the death and bore the body to Ibara where they slept 
one night, killing a bull for food. On the following day they 
went on to Esanza where the body was handed over to the 
priests. The messengers waited at the edge of the forest where 
they built huts. While they were waiting they had the right 
to help themselves to cattle from any herd, and they lived 
on milk, beef and beer. 

1 A former account given in The Northern Bantu states: " In the evening 
of the second day a large cow is killed and the raw hide is wrapped around 
the body and stitched together, and the corpse is taken to a sacred forest 
called Esanza. 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." 



54 RE-INCARNATION OF THE MUGABE chap. 

The priests carried the body from the border of the forest 
to the hut which had been prepared for it. Inside this there 
was a stand like a bedstead with posts fixed in the ground 
and side-pieces and cross-pieces resting on them. The body 
was placed on this bed and the cow-skin was cut open so as 
to expose it. Under the bedstead was a large wooden vessel 
to catch any fluids which might come from the body, and the 
priests and one at least of the men who had come from the 
royal court remained in the hut day and night. The body was 
turned daily from one side to the other for a month, or longer 
if necessary. 

As decomposition set in, the body swelled, which was called 
being pregnant. Later it burst and the juices which dropped 
into the vessel beneath were kept for further use. A red cow 
which had her first calf, both cow and calf being in good 
health, was brought and milked and the milk was mixed with 
the fluids from the body. The vessel with this mixture was 
placed on the bed, and again the guards kept watch until 
the mixture became a mass of grubs. 

The priest then selected a large grub which he declared to 
be the Mugabe re-born. He took it into the forest and shortly 
returned with a lion cub into which he affirmed the grub had 
turned and which was, therefore, the Mugabe in a new con- 
dition. A white bull was killed and the blood given to the 
cub to drink, and the men who had brought the body waited 
to see that it was healthy and thriving. When the next new 
moon appeared the messengers set out to return to the capital 
and announce the re-birth of the Mugabe. 

The disposal of the body of the late Mugabe was a point 
of little importance. Some said that it was buried in the 
forest and no further notice taken of it, while others asserted 
that it was simply left on the bed in the hut which, being 
uncared for, soon fell down. The lion cub, however, was 
tended until it was old enough to run wild, when it was turned 
into the forest. 

Each year the Mugabe sent two cows for milk and two for 
meat to the spirit of his father. The two for meat were taken 



v COMING OF THE HEIR 55 

and killed in the forest for food for the lion and the milk from 
the others was used by the priests. The messengers who took 
the animals to the forest were rewarded on their return with 
a cow. 

Until the messengers who had taken the body to the forest 
returned to the capital there was no mourning, though no 
work was done and no weapons were used. All the people in 
the royal kraal, having shaved their heads and rubbed the 
purificatory herb mwetengo over their bodies to remove the 
evil of death, then quietly awaited the news of the re-birth. 
The Mugabe's widows took off all their ornaments and gave 
them away. Some of them strangled themselves when they 
heard of the death, others who had children left the royal 
kraal and went to live with their sons or daughters, while 
young widows generally remained to become the wives of 
the new Mugabe. 

When the messengers arrived with the news of the re-birth 
of the Mugabe, mourning began and the people raised cries 
as of jackals and hyaenas which continued all that night. The 
people in the royal kraal had their heads shaved again and 
rubbed over with the herb mwetengo. The water they had used 
was then thrown away on some waste land where no one was 
likely to pass over it. 

Accession 

Next morning a boy was chosen whose parents were both 
living and well and who was himself in good health. He went 
to the royal well where he drew water and filled either a wooden 
vessel like a beer-trough or a clay trough such as was used for 
watering cows. The Mugabe's cattle were brought before the 
royal kraal and the princes and princesses and crowds of 
people assembled there. 

At cock-crow the prince who had been nominated by the 
Mugabe as his successor was brought forward and given the 
dead Mugabe's shoes. The Mugabe's stool, which was a solid 
block of wood carved roughly into the shape of a stool, was 
placed on the royal mat, and the prince sat upon it while the 



56 CEREMONY OF PURIFICATION chap. 

late Mugabe's brother, or, according to some accounts, the 
Nganzi, proclaimed him as the chosen ruler. According to 
one account, the Nganzi then lectured the new Mugabe on 
his duties, after which each of the principal chiefs admonished 
him and praised the dead ruler. The Mugabe, meanwhile, said 
nothing but stared steadily on the ground, and all the other 
princes kept silence. 

The Mugabe's stool was placed near the vessel of water 
which had been brought from the royal well and in which 
white clay had been mixed. A chosen sister of the new Mugabe 
then approached and was given two bunches of the sacred 
herbs, nyawera, ehoza, muliera, omugorora and mulokola. 
Dipping these in the water, she sprinkled first the new 
Mugabe, touching him on the knees, shoulders and forehead, 
then the royal family and the people and cattle; lastly, she 
sprinkled the liquid towards the four quarters of the earth 
to purify the land. Herds which were at a distance were 
purified by a special messenger who was sent round the 
country with the herbs and some of the water. All vessels 
belonging to the late Mugabe were also brought out and 
purified after any that had flaws in them or were decorated 
with wire had been destroyed. When the work of purification 
had been done, the princess claimed a certain portion of the 
royal herds as her own. 

According to some accounts the Mugabe then rose and 
sprinkled the people and land, and, if any prince desired to 
contest the accession, he also rose and did the same before 
departing to raise an army and fight for the throne. 

The guardians of the royal spears, stool, shoes, drums, 
drum-sticks, fetishes, and tobacco pipes then brought these 
things to the new Mugabe for him to touch, and the Mugabe 
rose and, uncovering the royal drums, tapped a few beats 
on them, and declared himself to be the eldest son and the 
legal heir. He then dismissed the people, promising to rule 
wisely and agreeing to all that the chiefs had said to him. 
He again declared himself Mugabe and told the other princes 
to submit to his rule. 



v ACCESSION CEREMONIES 57 

If the princes did not intend to contest the accession, they 
departed to their homes and returned in a few days to do 
homage, bringing with them presents of cows. Should any 
of them, however, wish to fight, they departed and raised 
an army and civil war was proclaimed. When one prince 
decided to fight, the others either joined one of the contending 
parties or took advantage of the state of affairs to raise an 
army themselves and try to gain the throne. The prince who 
had been proclaimed Mugabe did not go to war in person 
but sent his representative, and the war went on until only 
one of the claimants was left alive. Should a rebellious prince 
succeed in killing his opponents, including the prince who 
was on the throne, he appointed his favourite sister to the 
office of Mugabe's sister in place of the sister formerly ap- 
pointed, but it was not necessary to repeat the purification 
ceremony and he went on to the further ceremonies of 
accession. 

When the fighting was over and the Mugabe established 
on his throne, his first task was to order the fires in all the 
royal kraals to be re-lit. This was done with fire brought by 
men of the Abaitira clan and not with fire-sticks. 

Up to this time the residence of the new Mugabe had been 
in his father's kraal in the old capital, but he now left it and 
took a journey to Ibanda to a place Kizongo on the river 
Kigabiro. In this river there was a pool in which the Mugabe 
was bathed by a man of the clan Abayirunto. On coming out 
of the water he was smeared over with white clay and a 
woman, Nabuzana, handed him a fetish, Omnwambo, which 
was decorated with beads, cowry-shells and wild plantain 
seeds, and covered with a strip of bark-cloth which was twisted 
round it. A band of cow-hide on which were stitched beads, 
cowry-shells and plantain seeds, was placed on his head and 
a spear and staff such as herdsmen carried were handed to 
him. The staff was made from the sacred tree kirikiti, or, as 
they called it, Murinzi. On his shoulders was put the dress 
of a herdsman, a skin taken from a young bull, and he was 
then taken to a small kraal named Bwakahaya, where a white 



58 THE MUGABE'S WIVES chap, v 

barren cow, two white cows in milk, and a white sheep awaited 
him. He milked the two cows, which afterwards returned 
with him to the capital, while the other cow and the sheep 
were killed and the meat eaten by the guardians of this kraal. 

The Mugabe was then taken to a large stone, Kitura, on 
an adjoining hill where the diviner killed a cow and took the 
augury to discover where the new capital should be built. 
They went to the indicated site where a temporary dwelling 
was prepared for the Mugabe until his permanent kraal could 
be made ready. On their arrival the servants brought a staff 
and a pot of white clay with which the forehead of the Mugabe 
was smeared. The royal drums were brought and smeared 
with the clay and the Mugabe beat them and was again 
proclaimed ruler. A chief was chosen and sent throughout 
the country bearing a drum to proclaim the new Mugabe. 

The Mugabe then appointed his mother and sister to their 
offices and chose his new chiefs and the headmen over his 
cows. He generally appointed new chiefs to all the principal 
chieftainships, but retained the former chiefs as his advisers. 
All the chiefs came to do him homage and bring presents. 

It was usual for the cow-people to begin married life at 
an early age so that a prince when he came to the throne was 
probably already in possession of two or three wives, for he 
might take any girl he desired, simply sending his messengers 
to bring her to him. As they brought her they took cows 
from anyone to feed her and the prince later sent her parents 
a number of cows to compensate them for the loss of the usual 
marriage-fee, and, if the girl was already betrothed, he also 
sent a gift to the man. 

When a prince came to the throne he selected one or more 
of his wives to be favourites, but this did not give their 
children the prior right to the throne, for any prince might 
fight for it. The Mugabe might marry women from either 
Basambo or Bagahe clans and he might take his own sisters 
to wife, though such alliances were not recognised and he 
never married the sister whom he appointed to the office of 
Mugabe's sister. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE MUGABE'S MOTHER AND SISTER 

The Mugabe's mother — her power — illness — drinking the royal poison 
— preparing the body — tomb at Kabigirira — re-birth as a leopard — 
coming of the heir — the Mugabe's sister — her marriage — rights of her 
children — illness and death — tomb at Kabangiginya — re-birth as a 
python — sister of Ntare — death of princes and princesses 

The Mugabe's Mother 

WHEN a new Mugabe was established on his throne, he 
at once raised his mother to the rank of Mugabe's 
mother. She had her kraal at a little distance from the royal 
kraal and over her own estates and among her own people she 
had supreme power and appointed her own friends and 
relatives to be her chiefs. The Mugabe visited her when he 
would, and she might visit him at any time. 

When the Mugabe's mother fell ill, she was tended by some 
of her maids, but, should the illness prove serious, the Mugabe 
was sent for and came to see her, bringing with him the royal 
medicine-man. The Mugabe alone went in to see the patient, 
and, should he consider the illness serious, he communicated 
with the medicine-man, who mixed the royal poison and gave 
it to him. He handed this to his mother, who drank it and 
died at once. 

The maids in attendance washed the body and prepared 
it for burial like that of the king, except that the left arm and 
not the right was placed under her head and the body was 
wrapped in bark-cloths before being stitched in the cow-skin. 
A white cow in perfect condition, with its first calf, was 
brought from her herds and killed by having its throat cut. 
The servants prepared the skin, making it quite soft, and the 
body, wrapped in bark-cloths, was laid on it and stitched up 
tightly. 



60 THE MUGABE'S SISTER chap. 

During the night the inmates of the kraal kept up a con- 
stant howling as of hyaenas, and early next morning the body 
was conveyed to the forest Kabigirira, near Esanza, where 
a hut with a bed was prepared as for the Mugabe. The mes- 
sengers waited while the special priests turned the body from 
side to side, as in the case of the Mugabe, until the stomach 
burst, when the fluids were caught and mixed with milk. 
The pot with the mixture was kept until it became full of 
grubs when one of them was taken into the forest and was 
said to become a leopard. The messengers who had taken the 
body returned home with the information that the Mugabe's 
mother had become a leopard, after which the women wailed 
for another night. 

In the morning her successor was selected by the Mugabe 
from the same clan and she inherited the title with all her 
predecessor's cattle, goods, and estates. The Mugabe and his 
sister went to purify her, after which she purified the Mugabe 
and churned in her house to ensure a plentiful supply of 
butter. 

As in the case of the Mugabe, all the full grown bulls of the 
herds had their scrotums tied during the mourning and were 
then killed, new bulls being introduced into the herds. 

The Mugabe's Sister 

The sister who was chosen by the Mugabe to purify him 
on his accession became an important person, for she was 
regarded as responsible for his welfare. She took the title 
of Munyanya Mukama and was given estates in which her 
power was absolute. She was not queen but was the most 
important woman in the country. Her kraal was built near 
that of the Mugabe and she kept always in close touch with 
him. 

The regulations for the marriage of the Mugabe's sister 
differed from those followed in the other pastoral tribes where 
princesses were not allowed to marry any but their half- 
brothers. The Mugabe's sister married anyone she wished, 




Sister of the king (Mugabe) with her husband and child 



PLATE VII 




f'V.VV 

if'' 




Decorations on the walls of a princess's house 



vi DEATH OF THE MUGABE'S SISTER 61 

and, though the Mugabe might exert his influence to get her 
to marry a man of his choice, she was quite at liberty to 
refuse. For some generations it has been the custom for this 
lady to marry a prince from one of the neighbouring countries, 
who thereupon came to live with her in Ankole. Before this 
became usual, she, like other princesses, married some im- 
portant chief of her own country. The custom of marrying 
a prince from another country was extraordinary considering 
the deadly enmity that prevailed between the rulers of neigh- 
bouring lands, and there seems to be some confusion as to the 
law of inheritance with regard to the children of such a 
marriage. 

If the wife died before her husband, he evidently returned 
to his own country, but he might only take with him the 
cattle which he possessed in his own right and none that had 
belonged to his wife. If there were children, they took a 
portion of the property of their mother, but most of it went 
to the princess who was appointed by the Mugabe to succeed 
her and who was regarded as her heir. The sons of such a 
marriage, however, were said to belong to the father, and, 
if they inherited property from him, they went to his country, 
whereas, if they inherited property from their mother, they 
could not take it out of her country. 

When the Mugabe's sister fell ill, she was treated in the 
ordinary manner and was never given the royal poison. If 
she died her body was wrapped in bark-cloths and carried 
to Kabangiginya, part of the royal burial-ground at Esanza, 
where the same rites were enacted as in the case of the king, 
and she was said to be re-born in the form of a python which 
lived in the royal forest. The messengers returned and in- 
formed her people and they mourned until the Mugabe sent 
her heir, when the mourning ceased. If the dead princess had 
a child, this child purified the sister who was chosen to be the 
heir; if not another sister performed the office. 

When the Mugabe died, the principal sister might strangle 
herself, or she might retire into private life. The sister of the 
Mugabe Ntare married a prince of Mpororo. When Ntare 



62 DEATH OF PRINCES chap, vi 

died this sister gathered some twenty of his wives and told 
them to go into a hut. She then broke the drum and spear 
of her brother, and, joining the women in the hut, told 
them to hang themselves, after which she did the same. 
No one objected as it was looked upon as the right thing 
to do. 

Princes and princesses were also treated at death with a 
certain amount of ceremonial observance, and purificatory 
rites were performed. They were buried in the royal forest 
and were supposed to be re-born in the form of pythons. 



CHAPTER VII 

PASTORAL LIFE 

Nomadic life of herdsmen — the kraals — houses — fires — the day's work 
■ — the fetish Amaleka — milking — herding and watering cows — the 
calves — cleaning the kraal — drawing water — cleaning milk-pots — 
churning — butter and butter-milk — -uses of urine — milk regula- 
tions — cows of the ghosts — eating beef — women and milk — taboos on 
milk — domestic animals — sheep and goats — fowls — dogs — clothing — 
hair — slaves — currency — counting — seasons and time — the stars — 
music and dancing — salutations 

THE cow-men paid little attention to districts or their 
boundaries when grazing cattle, for they regarded all the 
land as free to the herds though it was forbidden to trespass 
on land which had been granted to any member of the 
agricultural class for cultivation. Anyone, too, might burn 
off grass in any place, and this was regularly done twice a 
year, in January, when the millet was ripe, and again in June. 
Herdsmen were nomadic, wandering over the country with 
the cows as they thought best for themselves and for the 
health of the animals. When they found a favourable place, 
they made a rough zareba, known as a kiraro, which had three 
or four grass huts built in the fence at some distance from each 
other. To this centre the cattle returned each night, and here 
the herdsmen remained until the pasturage for several miles 
round was exhausted. A new centre was then chosen and the 
men built the fence and their shelters anew. In the dry season 
they would probably remain only a few weeks in one place, 
but during the rains, when grass was more abundant, they 
built better huts and remained in one place somewhat longer. 
The number of cows to be found in one of these kraals 
was generally one hundred, so that the common name for 
a herd was egana or hundred. One bull, that is, one full-grown 
animal in good condition, was allowed to each herd of one 
hundred. 



64 HUTS OF THE HERDSMEN chap. 

Chiefs and wealthy men seldom if ever wandered about the 
country with the cows. They built themselves permanent 
dwellings in kraals near the capital or in their districts and 
divided their cattle into herds of one hundred, putting a 
herdsman over each with men under him. These herdsmen were 
pastoral men, for no member of the agricultural classes was 
ever employed where the cows were concerned. Sometimes a 
kraal would be formed by several poorer cow-men who would 
unite their cows into one herd and share the work of the kraal, 
for it was impossible for one man, even if he had only a few 
cows, to herd them, keep his kraal clean, look after the calves, 
and do the many other things necessary. Two or three men 
would therefore combine and arrange the work of the kraal 
as did the herdsmen of the larger herds, taking it in turns to 
go out to pasture the cows or to stay at home to look after 
the kraal and the calves. It was also necessary for some to 
be on the alert at night in case of an attack by wild animals, 
so that at least four or five herdsmen were required for a herd 
of one hundred cows. 

As a kraal was generally only a temporary habitation, 
little attention was paid to comfort, the most important part 
of the erection being the fence, which had to be fairly strong 
as a protection against wild beasts. The kraal was nearly 
round in shape, huts being built at intervals and the spaces 
between them filled with branches or thorny bushes. The kraal 
might face in any direction, but if it was on the side of a hill, 
the gate would be made on the higher side, facing up the hill. 

The huts were built with their doorways facing inwards 
to the centre of the kraal, and that of the chief herdsman was 
always on the far side directly opposite the gate and facing 
towards it. The huts were bee-hive in shape and were built 
with no regard for comfort, the sole aim being to get pro- 
tection from the weather with as little trouble in building as 
possible. Slender trees or strong branches were fixed in the 
ground to form a circle of the required diameter, leaving a 
space for the doorway, and the tops of these were bent in- 
wards and tied together to form the apex. Over this frame- 



vii THE KRAAL 65 

work of stout ribs and at right angles to them were secured 
reeds or coarse grass stems, and on the top of these was laid 
a grass thatch. Inside the hut of the ordinary hired herdsman 
there was seldom any attempt at furniture, for a man simply 
laid his cow-skin rug, if he had one, on the ground and slept 
there without covering. There were no doors, for the men 
had to be able to see the cows and to rush out to their help 
in case of danger. 

The chief man in the kraal generally had a better hut but 
the principle of building was the same and the poorest 
materials were used, timber being always difficult to obtain. 
His hut was bigger than the others and inside, especially if 
the kraal was to be in use for some time, platforms of earth 
were built for beds to raise the person above the floor-level. 
The owner's bed was about a foot high and four feet wide by 
eight long; grass was spread upon it and the man slept upon 
a cow-skin laid over the grass, covering himself with bark- 
cloths. Near his bed was a light reed screen behind which his 
daughters slept. Next this, a little further round in the hut, 
was the sacred spot, a platform about a foot high and four 
feet wide by six long; this was covered with grass and on it 
the milk-pots and fetishes were kept. Beyond this again was 
the sleeping place for the sons, who might either sleep on the 
floor or have a platform like the parents, and at the foot of 
their place was the fire. The head of such a house generally 
sat on the floor about the middle of his bed, while his wife 
sat on his right near the opening to the daughters' quarters. 
The children sat on the other side of the hut and visitors near 
the doorway. 

Near the principal hut was the dung-heap, Lubungo, on 
which the refuse of the kraal was daily swept. In the centre 
of the kraal was the great fire, nkomi, which might never die 
out unless the owner of the kraal died. The fuel used for it 
was dried cow-dung, and, when a blaze was wanted, grass from 
the calves' huts was thrown on it. Grass fires were lit at 
different places in the kraal when the cows were to be milked, 
both to give light to the milkmen and to keep flies from 



66 DAILY ROUTINE OF A KRAAL chap. 

tormenting the cows. When the men went to a new kraal, 
fire from this central fire was carried to the new place to light 
the central fire there. 

By the doorways of certain of the huts were small huts for 
the calves, in which they were secured by night both for their 
protection and to prevent their taking all the milk from their 
dams. These calf-huts had to be swept out daily and fresh 
grass put in, the old grass being used for burning on the fires. 
The cows had no shelter but spent the night in the open in 
the kraal. 

There did not seem to be much ritual connected with the 
building of one of these kraals, but, when they entered a 
new one, the headman milked a cow that had had two calves, 
both of which were alive and well. He drank milk from this 
cow before anyone else might drink any milk in the kraal. 
This was Ya kuza omusozi, "to give luck," like that of the 
cow from which the milk was taken. On the night when he 
entered his new house, the owner had to have sexual inter- 
course with his wife. 

A day's routine in a kraal began with the first signs of dawn. 
It was customary to keep fowls in a kraal, for the men trusted 
to the cock to wake them at daybreak. At cock-crow the 
fire in the centre was stirred up and grass thrown on it, while 
other fires were lit at different points in the kraal. The cows 
were brought up to these fires and were taught to stand near 
them ready for the milkmen. 

While the men were thus preparing for the milking, some 
of the women set to work to churn, while others cleaned any 
milk-pots that had not been cleaned the night before. The 
wife of each man who had cows then placed her pots in rows 
inside the door of the hut and with them a fetish, Amaleka, 
which usually lay with them on the milk platform. This fetish 
was made by an elderly medicine-woman and was composed 
of a little hair from each cow in the herd, mixed with certain 
herbs and cow-dung and made into a ball. It was often en- 
closed in a bark-cloth or cow-skin cover to preserve it from 
damage, for it was in daily use. 



vii HERDING THE COWS 67 

The owner of the cows or the man in charge of the herd 
usually squatted near the door of his hut to watch the milking. 
Each cow was brought in turn up to the fire and a boy or 
assistant allowed its calf to suck a little until the milk flowed 
freely. The calf was then pulled away and held in front of 
the cow while the milkman milked as much as he thought 
desirable. The cow was turned out of the kraal to graze by 
the gate with its calf, while another was brought and milked. 
Each pot as it was filled was handed to the wife who held 
it over the fetish for a moment and then put it amongst the 
others ready for distribution when the milking was done. As 
a rule each cow had a separate pot, but if there were two 
cows both giving little milk, one pot might be used for the 
two. As long as these milk-pots were standing in the doorway 
of the hut, it was a sacred place. 

When the milking was done, the milk was distributed to 
the family and the members of the kraal. Those men who 
were going out with the cattle drank as much as they could 
at once, for it was their only meal until night. Those who 
were to be working in the kraal might reserve some to be 
drunk later, when they had finished the heavy work of 
cleaning up the place, and the children's milk might be kept 
for them during the day, but no one ever drank milk from 
the morning milking after four in the afternoon. Any that 
was left then was either put into the churn or given to the 
dogs. In the evening as a rule the milk was drunk immedi- 
ately after the milking. 

The men of the kraal took turns in taking the cows to 
pasture and those left at home had many tasks to perform 
in the kraal. Three men, or two men and one boy, were 
generally needed to go out with a herd of one hundred cows 
and by seven o'clock they would be ready to start. The calves 
were then separated from their dams and the cows were 
driven away, grazing as they went. The men in charge 
followed the cattle about, directing them by word of mouth 
and keeping guard over them lest any wild beast should 
attack them. The cows wandered sometimes as far as twenty 

5—2 



68 CARE OF THE CALVES chap. 

miles in a day and during the dry season they had to be 
watered twice a day, usually between nine and ten in the 
morning and again between three and five in the afternoon. 
In the rainy season, however, it was only necessary to water 
them in the afternoon, as the moisture in the grass was 
sufficient for their needs. The cows were trained to obey an 
order and the watering of a large herd showed the wonderful 
control the men had over them. Sometimes it was possible 
for the cows to go down to the water and drink, but at other 
times the water had to be drawn from deep wells and poured 
into troughs which were dug some twelve feet long and 
eighteen inches wide and deep and lined with clay. This work 
was done by the men who were left in the kraal and the 
troughs were ready for the cows when they arrived. A certain 
number were allowed to go at a time to drink while the rest 
had to wait until their turn came. They were so accustomed 
to being called by name and to obeying orders that they 
waited patiently until they were told to come and drink. 

If a bull fell into a well while drinking, it might not mate 
with cows again, but had to be killed. 

About half-past six, as the sun set, the cows were brought 
back into the kraal for the night and were milked again. 
After the evening milking they remained in the kraal and got 
neither food nor water during the night. At no time did they 
get artificial food and no attempt was made to improve the 
milk supply. If the pasturage happened to be poor, the cows 
had to suffer. There were, however, certain seasons of the 
year when cattle-flies were especially troublesome and so 
irritated the animals that they could not feed during the day; 
at such times the herdsmen would take them out to pasture 
for two or three hours during the night. 

When the cows went off in the morning to the pasture, the 
calves were either driven back into the kraal or remained 
outside in charge of special men or of women or children. The 
calves, while still young, were only allowed to go out for an 
hour or two in the morning and again in the late afternoon 
when the sun was not hot, but the older calves went out for 



vii WORK IN THE KRAAL 69 

longer periods. As a rule these were looked after by children, 
but, if there were no children in the kraal, the work might 
be done by women or by some of the men. 

The first task of the men who were left in the kraal was to 
sweep up the droppings made by the cows during the night 
and tidy the place. The sweeping was done with the soles of 
the feet and with the hands, and when they had finished they 
washed their hands and feet with water. Herdsmen did not 
usually bathe with water, as it was supposed to have an 
injurious effect on the milk. It was therefore more usual to 
smear the body over with moist white clay, which was allowed 
to dry and was then rubbed off and butter rubbed on. Before 
milking for the Mugabe, however, the men washed their 
hands with water, or preferably with cows' urine. 

The dung which was swept up was put on the heap at one 
side of the kraal while some was dried and heaped upon the 
central fire. The huts of the calves had also to be swept out 
and the old grass collected for future use as fuel while new 
grass was brought and spread. Fire-wood had also to be 
brought in for the fires in the huts, which were kept burning 
constantly and were not allowed to go out during the night. 
Some of the men had to carry milk and butter to the owner 
of the herd if he was at a distance from the kraal. Then, if 
the water had to be drawn from wells or pits for the cows, 
some of the men had to go and dig the troughs and fill them 
and also to bring water for washing the milk- vessels. 

A pastoral woman might never go to draw water, for, if 
she fell into the water, her husband might never treat her 
as his wife again. If he did so he would die, unless he belonged 
to the Abasambo clan, when he might send for a doctor to 
give her medicine to cause sickness, after which she might 
go to him again. 

If the wife of a cow-man fell from her husband's bed, she 
might not return to him until she had been given medicine 
to make her sick. 

The work of the women in a kraal was to look after the 
milk, the milk-pots, and the churning, but, if there were no 



70 USE OF BUTTER chap. 

women, this had to be done by some of the men or boys. After 
the milk had been drunk in the morning, the pots were handed 
back to the woman in charge who, with her maids, washed 
them, using generally water and a little earth. If any pot 
was thought to be sour, urine from a cow was boiled and the 
pot was washed out with this and afterwards with water. 
Grass was sometimes burned in the pots to sweeten them. 
The clean pots were put in the sun to dry and were then 
fumigated over a little pottery furnace in which a special 
kind of scented grass was burned. The milk-pot was inverted 
over the chimney of this furnace and the smoke fanned into 
it, which gave the milk a flavour much appreciated by the 
cow-people. The pots when dried and ready were all returned 
to their place in the hut until the time of the evening milking, 
after which they were merely washed out with water and 
replaced on their stand, ready for the morning. 

Churning was done in the early morning before the heat 
of the day. A large bottle-necked gourd which was used as 
a churn (kisabo) stood beside the milk-pots and each day the 
wife poured what milk she could spare into this. When it was 
ready for churning, the neck of the gourd was plugged with 
a tuft of grass, and the person churning, generally a daughter 
or a servant, rocked it to and fro on her lap until the butter 
separated. The liquid was filtered through spear-grass (mutete) 
to secure all the butter, which was put on a large wooden 
plate, kiteraterero, big enough for the worker to wash it and 
work it up with the hand to cleanse it from the remains of 
the milk. It was then put into the vessel (ensimbo) in which 
it was kept. 

Butter was used for smearing upon the body and for 
rubbing into skins and bark-cloths used for clothing, to keep 
them soft. When used for food, the butter was mixed with 
salt, and the meat, plantain, or millet-porridge was dipped 
into it. Butter was also largely used for barter, and weapons 
and other commodities were purchased with it. 

The butter-milk was generally drunk by women and 
children, for few men, and those only of the lower class, would 



PLATE VIII 




Milk-pots and gourd churn, a set for one family 



PLATE IX 




Milkman carrying milk 



vii DISTRIBUTION OF MILK 71 

drink it. Any that could be spared was given to the dogs. 
Men, however, were fond of clotted milk, which was prepared 
by pouring milk into a vessel called kirera in which a little 
sour milk had been left. This caused the milk which had 
been poured in to turn sour very quickly and it became 
clotted. Before being drunk it was stirred up and the clots 
broken. 

Cows' urine was used for many different purposes. Women 
drank it mixed with certain herbs as a medicine during 
pregnancy and also used it for cleaning any milk vessels that 
were thought to be sour. Cow-skin garments were washed 
in it to keep them free from vermin, and butter was rubbed 
on them afterwards to soften them. The people also used it 
to wash their heads, rinsing them afterwards in fresh water 
to get rid of the smell and to prevent the urine from getting 
into the eyes and making them smart. 

The staple food of a cow-man was milk, but there were 
occasions when to drink milk would be harmful to the cows 
and he had therefore to refrain. If a cow died either from 
illness or accident, the men of the kraal would eat the meat 
and drink beer that night, leaving the milk for the women 
and children and for churning. A man had to allow time for 
the meat to digest and pass from the upper part of the 
stomach before he drank milk again, lest this should come 
in contact with the meat ; if, therefore, he ate meat at night 
he would not drink milk until after the morning milking. 
Sometimes, too, when milk was scarce, some members of 
the family would take millet or plantain porridge in the 
evening and drink no milk until morning. Even the Mugabe, 
who was allowed many liberties not permitted to ordinary 
men, was not allowed to drink milk and eat meat at the 
same meal. 

It was a wife's duty to see that the milk was properly 
distributed after each milking. Certain of the cows were 
dedicated to ghosts and the milk from these had always to 
be kept separate from the ordinary milk. The ghost of the 
former owner of the herd had always his special cow or cows 



72 FOOD OF PASTORAL PEOPLE chap. 

in milk and the vessels containing the milk from them were 
placed on a particular spot behind the present owner's bed 
ior a time, after which the owner and his children alone might 
drink it. Even the wife might not partake, for she was of a 
different clan from her husband and the ghost. There were 
many other occasions on which the milk from certain cows 
was taboo to certain people and the wife had to see that such 
milk was kept separate and given to the right persons. She 
kept separate pots for these special purposes and after the 
milking was done, distributed the milk to members of the 
family and to the herdsmen. Some of the milk was drunk 
at once by the men, while other members of the family and 
the owner would often set some aside to be drunk later. 

A sick man was permitted to drink milk, but as a rule one 
cow would be set aside to supply him and he would not be 
allowed to drink milk from any other until he was well again. 
Though milk might not be boiled, hot water might be added 
to it when it was to be used for a sick man. If a man ate 
potatoes or beans, he had not only to fast twelve hours but 
had also to take a purgative to ensure that all contaminating 
matter had left his system before he drank milk again. 

Though children were allowed to eat hares, the only meat 
a herdsman might eat was that of cows or buffaloes, but these 
he might eat even from an animal which had died of some 
disease. If there was any doubt about the meat being fit 
for human consumption, the man drank or rinsed out his 
mouth with water and certain herbs (mwetengo or muhukyi) , 
a precaution which was considered sufficient to remove all 
danger and to render even loathsome meat wholesome. 

Milk was never sold and was as a rule given only to pastoral 
people to drink. It might never be put into any iron vessel, nor 
boiled, nor put into hot water, for this would have a deleterious 
effect on the cows and might cause the milk to cease, thus 
depriving the people and the calves of their food. 

Women lived as much as possible on milk, but there were 
many taboos which they had to observe. A wife might never 
drink milk from cows which were sacred to her husband's 



vii RULES FOR THE USE OF MILK 73 

ancestors, for of this only the husband and his children might 
partake; the wife, being of a different clan, was forbidden to 
do so. A woman while menstruating might not drink milk 
for four days, for, if she did so, the cow's udder would swell 
and its milk cease, and the animal might become barren. If, 
however, her husband or father could supply her with milk 
from a cow which was past bearing, she might safely drink 
that. A wife continued to sleep with her husband and to 
look after the milk-pots and churn while menstruating, and 
there was no idea of danger to anything but the cows. The 
wife of a herdsman might not touch butter or butter-pots 
from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, for, if 
she did so, the cows would bear bull-calves only. 

When a cow had been with the bull, the milk was taboo to 
all grown men and women for four days and was drunk by 
boys and girls. When a cow had a calf, the calf was allowed 
to drink all the milk from its dam at two or three milkings 
after its birth; after that, the milk had to be drunk by a small 
boy or girl, preferably the son or daughter of the owner, until 
the navel cord fell from the calf, when the milk became 
common. When a cow bore twins, only the owner and any 
unmarried children who might be living at home might drink 
the milk, and, if the cow bore twins a second time, the milk 
was given away to strangers, which was supposed to prevent 
the cow from bearing a third set of twins. 

A cow which was sacred to the ghost of the owner's father 
might never be milked by a son of the owner. The man who 
milked it brought the milk-pot to the owner, who placed it 
by the bed on the side furthest from the fire. When it had 
been there some three hours, the owner and any unmarried 
children who lived at home drank it. The only other person 
who might partake was a friend or relative of the owner who 
had spent the night with him and slept on the same bed. 
When such a cow died, only the owner and members of his 
household might eat the meat. 

Milk was never used as a sign of any pledge or of the ending 
of any quarrel : this was always done over beer. 



74 SHEEP, GOATS, FOWLS AND DOGS chap. 

Domestic Animals 

In addition to the large herds of cattle which were the most 
important factor in their lives, the pastoral people possessed 
goats and sheep, which they gave to the agricultural people 
to look after for them. A few sheep were sometimes kept in 
the kraal and herded with the cows, for a ghost might, 
through a medicine-man, demand that a sheep be kept in 
the herd to ensure to both man and beast immunity from 
illness. This animal was not sacred and when it died anyone 
might eat the flesh and another was brought to take its place. 
Most of the sheep, however, were cared for by the peasants, 
and goats were never kept in the kraals. 

Sheep were widely used among the pastoral people on 
ceremonial occasions such as marriages and funerals, and both 
sheep and goats were used for sacrificial purposes and for the 
taking of auguries in cases of illness and trouble. When a 
ghost had to be exorcised, a goat or a sheep was usually 
again required either to sacrifice, alive or dead, to the ghost, 
or to pay the medicine-man, and they were also used for 
barter and for making small presents to friends or visitors 
when the owner did not wish to part with a cow or a calf. 

Fowls were kept in the kraal because a cock was needed 
to warn the inmates in the morning when it was time to arise 
and prepare to milk the cows; they were also often demanded 
by medicine-men for the purpose of auguries. Pastoral people, 
however, never ate either fowls or eggs and they never sold 
fowls, though they might give them away. 

A fowl over which some incantations had been pronounced 
was often killed and hung over the door of a hut to ward off 
some evil, or it might be buried alive in the doorway or near 
the bed for the same purpose. If a woman was heard to 
imitate the crowing of a cock, her husband divorced her and 
no man would marry her. 

Some dogs were kept in the kraal, for they were useful as 
scavengers and cleared up any food, bones, and so forth left 
about the kraal by the children. Even the Mugabe kept a 
few favourite dogs always near him, but the majority were 




Peasant girl with hair cut in ridges 



PLATE XI 




Fat women who sit to dance 
The performance is with the arms and upper part of the body 



vii CLOTHING 75 

looked after by the peasants and were used for hunting. They 
were kindly treated and never driven away, but their food 
was scanty, though any milk that was left over and was not 
required for churning was given to them. 

When a dog had puppies, a cow was bled and the dog was 
given blood to drink in addition to milk, and offal was given 
to it for food. Puppies, if not wanted, might not be destroyed 
before their eyes were open. Dogs were never sold but might 
be given away to friends. Should a woman kill a dog, her 
husband divorced her at once and no man would marry her, 
for she might never again cook for any man. 

When the Mugabe died, the dogs and goats found in the 
vicinity of any royal kraal were killed ; when the news of the 
death was heard, people who wished to save their animals 
had to send them away to a distance before the search parties 
could find them. 

Clothing 

Children of both sexes went entirely naked until they 
reached the age of puberty. At this age a boy was presented 
by his father with a bow and a quiver of arrows and he began 
to wear the full dress of a man, which consisted only of a 
small cow- or calf-skin (engyisho) over the shoulders, and 
sometimes a skin-apron (entuiga). These skins were shaped 
and fringed according to the owner's fancy, and princes and 
chiefs often had their shoulder capes made up of strips of 
cow-, leopard- and antelope-skins, or of cow-skins of different 
colours. The hair was left on the skins, which were stitched 
together with sinews of animals, usually of cows. It was more 
usual, however, to use the leopard- and antelope-skins for rugs 
than for clothing. 

Girls at the age of eight or nine began to wear on the head 
a kind of grass veil like a mat {enyagamo) some two feet 
square, made of lengths of straw stitched side by side. When 
a girl reached marriageable age, she wore the full dress of 
a woman, which consisted of a large robe of skins wrapped 
round the body under the arms and secured with a belt, and 
another large cow-skin or sometimes a bark-cloth covering 



76 TREATMENT OF HAIR chap. 

her head and falling to her feet, often trailing a yard or more 
on the ground. The whole person was thus covered, only the 
eyes being visible through a small opening left so that the 
woman could see. 

The wives of the Mugabe and princesses usually had their 
robes made of different coloured skins dressed with the hair 
on and then cut into strips some four inches wide and stitched 
together, the effect of black, white, and red strips being much 
admired. 

It was only in the presence of her husband, her father, and 
her brothers that a woman might go without the head-covering. 
She might sleep with a friend of her husband, but must cover 
her head and might never allow her face to be seen by him 
in the open. 

The cow-men often dressed the skins for clothes themselves, 
but the agricultural people were the recognised skin-dressers. 

Ornaments were worn and admired by both sexes. Boys 
and men wore bracelets and sometimes necklets, made 
generally from the stiff hairs of elephants' tails, though 
the necklets were regarded as more particularly a woman's 
ornament. A girl wore no ornaments until she was to be 
married, when her father presented her with some. The 
ornaments of women were necklets (ekidungu), anklets (en- 
verere) , and bracelets (olugaga) and were usually made of fine 
twisted wire, though some were of solid iron or brass. 

Hair 

The hair of the pastoral people was not in tightly curled 
tufts like that of the negroes, but it was always wavy and never 
straight. It was usual to shave the head once a month, but 
all the hair was not shaved off. A man whose father was 
alive left one tuft like a bit of pencil as a sign that he was 
living, and one for the Mugabe, and sometimes one for his 
own children. If the Mugabe, or the man's father, or one of 
his children died, one tuft was shaved off. These were not 
always the same tufts, for each time the head was shaved, 
the old tufts were taken off and new tufts left. 



vii SLAVES 77 

A girl's or woman's head was shaved in patterns, sometimes 
in broad lines from ear to ear, sometimes in a spiral with a 
circular patch on the top. New patches, which were called 
kikara, were left each time and the old taken off. A patch 
was always left on the top for her husband or, if she was 
unmarried, for her father, and one on the side for the Mugabe. 
If the husband or father, or the Mugabe died, the corre- 
sponding patch was shaved off. When a woman grew old and 
white hairs appeared, she wore a wig, made from her own hair 
which she had saved for this purpose, to hide them. 

There was no rule about hair being shaved by any special 
person, but, when a girl was about to be married, her mother 
shaved the hair from all parts of her body and cut her nails 
and threw the clippings on the floor of the hut. From the 
time of marriage both men and women shaved all the hair 
from their bodies, leaving none but the head patches. 

There was not so much fear of hair falling into the hands 
of evilly disposed persons as in some parts of the country, 
but it was generally put into some part of a field or on some 
waste ground, or a man might have it concealed in the roof 
of his hut, but, if he left the place, he did not trouble to 
remove it. The hair and nail-parings of the Mugabe were 
preserved until he died, when they were put in his grave. 

A woman who grew a beard was looked upon with the 
greatest horror and was called Ekunguzi, a term of scorn. 
Should she marry and her husband discover that she had hair 
on her face, he was horrified and made her pluck it all out, and 
stow the hairs away in a gourd for safety. Should one hair 
be lost, it was believed that either her husband or her child 
would die. If such a woman belonged to the Abaririra clan, she 
was taken by members of her clan and bound hand and foot, 
purifying herbs were tied to her neck and she was drowned. 

Slaves 

Many of the people owned slaves who were bought and sold 
like goods. If a man gave a slave a wife and a child was born 
to them, this child was the property of the owner of the slaves, 



78 CURRENCY AND COUNTING chap. 

who, however, could not sell it but had to keep it in the 
family. 

There were many degrees of service from the bought slaves 
up to the messengers of the Mugabe : 

Muhuku = a bought slave who might be used for menial tasks. 

Mwambale = servants in personal attendance on their masters. 

Mwiru = peasants, who cultivated and were to a certain extent inde- 
pendent, though under pastoral masters. 

Musumba = herdsmen who milked and were of the pastoral class. 

Bagalagwa = personal servants of the Mugabe who, after they finished 
their term of service, were given cows and land. 

Banyiginya = the highest class. These were princes, but the Mugabe 
might use them as special messengers for confidential work. 

Currency 

The cow was the standard by which all prices were regu- 
lated. A male slave could be bought for a cow and a bull, 
while a female slave cost two cows or a cow and a cow- 
calf. 

A bull might be sold for six or eight goats or for a sheep 
and a ram, or a hoe might be given with the sheep in the place 
of the ram. 

Household utensils were made by the serfs of the agri- 
cultural class, to which the smiths also belonged. The pastoral 
people paid butter and skins for these and for salt, while 
meat was given for spears, arrows and canoes. 

Counting 

The pastoral people were accustomed to count and to deal 
with very large numbers, for the herds amounted to thousands 
and even tens of thousands. They also used a system of sign- 
counting, using the fingers of one or both hands. They had, 
however, no means of indicating dates, unless some out- 
standing event marked the time. 

i . Emwe, indicated by extending the index-finger 

2. Ebiri, two first fingers extended and the others bent inwards into 
the palm of the hand 

3. Isatu, index-finger bent inwards and held by the thumb and the 
other fingers extended 



vii SEASONS 79 

4. Ina, four ringers extended while the index-finger is flicked from 
the thumb against the inside of the second finger 

5. Itano, fist closed over the thumb, first finger on the joint of the 
thumb 

6. Mukaga, three first fingers extended and the little finger bent 
inwards and held by the thumb 

7. Musanzu, second finger bent inwards and held by the thumb and 
others extended 

8. Munana, index-finger bent in under the third and flicked against 
the second 

9. Mwenda, second finger on each hand bent in and held by the 
thumbs and the hands shaken. This number is sometimes called 
Isaga 

10. Ikumi, both fists closed with the thumbs folded under the fingers 

11. Ikumi, limwe, or tiemwe 12. Ikumi ne biri 
13. Ikumi ne isatu 14. Ikumi ne ina 
20. Makumi abiri 30. Makumi asatu 
40. Makumi ana 50. Makumi atano 
60. Makumi mukaga 70. Makumi musanzu 
80. Makumi munana 90. Makumi isaga 

100. Igana 200. Magana abiri 

10,000. Magana ikumi 

Seasons and Time 

The year was divided into four seasons, beginning with 
Akaanda. This lasted about two months when the sun was 
hot and the weather good for the cattle. Then came Kaswa, 
three or four months of rainy weather; after which there were 
some four months of sun and heat, called Kyanda, followed 
by Empangukano, two months of rain. 

The month was reckoned from the appearance of one 
new moon to the appearance of the next. This period was 
divided into two: Okwezi, fifteen days when the moon was 
of use for seeing, and Omwirima, fifteen days with little or no 
light from the moon. One of the royal drums was always 
sounded when the new moon appeared, to warn the people. 

They now divide the year into twelve months according 
to the western custom : 

January = Biruru. The month of the millet harvest when the weather 

was dry but with occasional showers of rain. 
February = Kata. A dry month with hot sun. The small millet already 

reaped was stored and the large millet sown. 



80 STARS chap. 

March = Katumba. A month of heavy rains when beans were sown and 
potatoes planted. 

April = Nyaikoma. A rainy month. Guards had to be set upon the 
growing millet. 

May = Kyabehezi. The harvest of the large millet. A little rain. 

June = Nyairurwe. A little rain, often drought and winds. 

July = Kichulansi. Very hot sun. Some rain. The runners of the 
sweet potatoes planted. 

August = Kamena. The rains began to fall and the heat of the sun 
was less. Small millet sown. 

September = Nyakanga. A little rain. 

October = Kaswa. A rainy month. Flying ants and edible grass- 
hoppers appear. The small millet needed weeding. 

November = Musenene. Heavy rains. 

December = Muzimbezi. A little rain. 

The divisions of the day were : 

5- 6 a.m. = Kasese 6-9 a.m. = Amasyo gasetuka 

9-12 a.m. = Gasugera 1-2 p.m. = Ehangwe 

2- 3 p.m. = Amasyo neganyuwa 3-5 p.m. = Amanyo gakuka 
5- 6 p.m. = Amasyo omhwebazyo 7-9 p.m. = Ente zataha 

10-12 p.m. = Ente zahaga 12 p.m.~3 a.m. = Etumbi 

3- 5 a.m. = Enkoko zazaga 

Some of the hours through the day have also definite 
names : 

11 a.m. = bagya omu birago 3 p.m. = ente zairira amaka 

12 a.m. = bagya ha kwesera 4 p.m. = enyana zataha 

1 p.m. = ente zakuka 5 p.m. = batweka omu makome 

2 p.m. — abesezi baruga ha maziba 6 p.m. = ente zataha 

Dawn is omuseke muguguguta and cock-crow is enkoko 
yasubi'ra. If a cock crows in the night they call it enkoko 
yatera ekiro, and, if it crows in the afternoon, it is enkoko 
yaba'ra izoba. Sunset is marengi or nahuni. 



Stars, etc. 

Kakaga = the Pleiades Nyamnziga = first star of evening 

Kalinga = Orion's foot Okwezi omu kyera = full moon 

Abasatu = Orion's belt Okwezi kwalinga = old moon 

Enganzi = evening star Okwezi kutahira = new moon 

Nyakinyunyuzi = morning star Omuletza ovuhemba = comet 

Rumalanku = Venus? Ekibunda = eclipse 



vii DANCING AND SALUTATIONS 81 

Music and Dancing 

There was little attempt at music among the pastoral people. 
The women, who were too fat to dance, sat together inside the 
kraal and one of them played a harp and sang while the others 
moved their bodies and arms, making a buzzing noise between 
their lips; the men outside joined in and danced, swaying 
their bodies to the rhythm and jumping into the air. An 
account of the dancing among the agricultural people, where 
both men and women danced standing in the ordinary way, 
will be found in the description given later of agricultural life. 

Greetings and Salutations 

In the morning they said "Orairegye?" which might be 
translated, "How have you spent the night?" and the answer 
was the same — "Orairegye." Later in the day they said 
"Osibiregye?" " How have you spent the day?" and the reply 
was " Nsibiregye" or " Nsibire kirunge," " I have spent it well." 
This greeting and answer were used in order to keep the 
omens good even if a person were known to be ill, in which 
case the further question was asked, " Orairota endwara?" 
"How is your illness or pain?" 

When equals met after an absence, one asked, " Kaizhe 
buhorogye?" and the other answered, "Kaizhe buhoro," and 
both repeated this many times. It was customary to shake 
hands and often the question, " Mugumire?" was asked, to 
which the answer was "Tugumire." These might be trans- 
lated, "are you without fear at home?" and the answer was 
"we are quite free." 

Anyone meeting an elder had to wait for the elder to say 
to him "Mphoro," to which he replied, "Eh." Even the 
Mugabe would wait for his senior relatives to say this to him. 
A child might greet its elders with "Erirege," an expression 
of uncertain meaning, to which the reply was "Eh." 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE COWS 

Long-horned cows — colours — birth of calves — navel cord of a calf — 
rearing calves — precautions against in-breeding — treatment of cows 
to make them accept calves and give milk — dewlap — the horns — sick- 
ness in the herd — medicine-men — lightning — bleeding cows — cow 
diseases — death of cows — charity — killing cows — cooking meat — salt 
for the cows 

THE cattle peculiar to Ankole were long-horned, well- 
built animals something of the Hereford type. They were 
noted throughout the Lake region, for the length of their 
horns was often so great that the tips were four or five feet 
apart. Few of them, however, gave much milk, and the milk- 
man would take from each about a quart, leaving the rest 
for the calf. Little, if any, attempt was ever made to improve 
either the milk supply or the quality of the meat, for their 
aims were to increase their numbers and to have as large 
a proportion as possible of cow-calves. 

Cows were known by different names according to their 
colours and the following is a list of the names used. As these, 
however, had in many cases to be accepted from the natives 
without seeing the actual type of animal indicated, and as 
natives always find a difficulty in naming or describing colours, 
the accuracy of the list cannot be vouched for. It will serve, 
however, to show how the cows were clearly differentiated 
and how a name constituted a description which enabled a 
herdsman to pick out from his herd any animal required: 

Kahogo, dark red Kagazo, light red 

Kozi, black Kasa, white with some red or black 

Katare, pure white Kagobi, black and yellow 

Kagondo, red and white Kagabo, black or red with white 

Kasecha, yellow with black stripes on the sides 

Kahuru, black and white Kashaiga, yellowish-white 

Katango, black with some white Kayenzi, red with some black 

markings markings 

Kakara, mixed colours, not red or Kavemba, red legs with white or 

black black body 

Kasina, brown Omurara, black with white stripe 



chap, vin BIRTH OF CALVES 83 

Twelve months was said to be the time required by a cow 
between the birth of one calf and the birth of the next, and 
the cow was not milked after the sixth or seventh month of 
gestation. 

It was quite common for cows to calve when out grazing, 
though herdsmen generally kept watch, keeping count of the 
period by the moons, and, if they thought the time was near, 
they would leave the cow to pasture near the kraal and not 
allow her to wander far. If, however, one had her calf while 
grazing, a herdsman remained to watch her lest she should 
be left behind as the herd moved on, and be lost. When the 
calf was born, this man carried it back to the kraal and the 
cow followed him. 

If a cow calved in the pasture, the after-birth was left for 
the wild beasts to eat, but, if the birth took place in the kraal, 
dogs were called to eat it, unless there was some taboo on the 
cow or she bore twins, in which cases the after-birth was 
buried in the dung-heap in the kraal lest the calves should 
die. If there was a case of cross-birth, a medicine-man was 
called in and invariably succeeded in turning the calf and 
bringing about true presentation. The fee given to him for 
such a service was one sheep. 

The cow-men did not like a cow to bear twins, chiefly 
because the calves were not so strong as when there was only 
one. If an animal had twins the milk was drunk only by the 
owner and his unmarried children. Should the same cow bear 
twins a second time, the milk was given away to prevent 
the thing happening again. 

When a young cow bore her first calf the herdsman went 
to the old cow, the mother of this young one, and milked a 
little milk from her on to a tuft of grass (ezubwe). He gave 
this grass to the young cow to eat and, taking another tuft, 
milked a little milk from her on to this and gave it to the 
old cow, her dam, to eat. This was supposed to make the calf 
grow and prevent its dam and the old cow from falling ill. 

The navel cord of a calf was carefully watched, and, if it 
split before falling off, the strands were counted. An even 

6—2 



84 CARE OF CALVES chap. 

number of strands was a good omen, indicating that many 
calves would be born, but an odd number was bad. The 
umbilical cord was tied together with a strip of bark-cloth 
so that, when it was dry, all the strands fell away together. 
It was then wrapped in a ball of cow-dung and preserved. A 
cord which fell off without splitting was thrown away. 

When milking time came, the calf was first allowed to suck 
for a few moments and was then held before its dam while 
she was being milked, for they said she could withhold her 
milk should the calf not be there. If the calf died, its skin was 
dried and held before the cow; sometimes a cow became quite 
attached to the dried skin and refused to be milked if it was 
not there. At other times a cow whose calf had died would 
be taught to allow the calf of another cow to suck from her, 
in which case the calf was used at milking time for both cows. 

For the first month of its life, a calf was kept in its hut and 
only allowed out at milking times. Fresh grass was put in 
the hut every day and at the end of about a month the calf 
would begin to eat the grass, after which it was allowed 
to browse for a short time in the cool of the morning and 
in the evening near the kraal, where it could be watched 
from the gate. Later it went out with the other calves 
for longer periods. Until it was seven months old, it was 
called Nyana (calf), but then it was said to kyukire (change) 
and was considered old enough to accompany the herds as 
they went to pasture. It still sucked from its dam, but this 
was prevented during the day by smearing the teats with 
dung. By the time it was a year old, it no longer sucked from 
the dam, for she, being again with calf, would not permit it 
to do so. Shortly after this the heifer would probably become 
pregnant and, when it did so, it was regarded as a full-grown 
cow. When it was old enough to go with the bull, it was called 
erusi (marriageable), and when it had been with the bull it 
was kibanga. When it had borne its first calf it was called 
ezigazire, after the second calf, esubire, after the third, ezigiza, 
and then no more attention was paid to its age and a good cow 
went on bearing until she had had as many as twenty calves. 



PLATE XII 




Chief medicine-man of the cows singing his incantations 
to heal a herd of sick cows 



PLATE XIII 




Chief medicine-man of the cows 



vni TREATMENT OF COWS 85 

When too old to bear, a cow was called kichula or ngumba, 
while a young barren cow was mberera. A young bull was 
called ekimasa, and, when old enough to serve cows, it was 
called engundu. 

Herdsmen were careful to exchange young bulls to guard 
against in-breeding and they particularly guarded against 
a young animal gendering with its own dam. Should this 
happen, the calf born was called matembani, which denoted 
a calf born within forbidden degrees of consanguinity, and 
it was never allowed to bear calves. A calf which was born 
malformed, especially if it was sexless, was called mbangulane, 
which meant that it was worthless. 

Cows of the long-horn breed had usually a mark on the 
small hump and a cow which was born without this mark 
was regarded as sacred ; only the owner and his family might 
drink milk from it. 

Should a cow bear a calf and refuse to allow it to suck, a 
medicine-man was sent for to treat it. He took the herbs ekin- 
yangazi ne kibyakurata and musogasoga, powdered them, and 
mixed them with salt and hot water ; this mixture was poured 
up the cow's nose and some was put upon the calf, which 
was brought before the dam. The effect usually was that the 
cow licked the calf and then, accepting it, allowed it to suck 
from her. If this was unsuccessful the medicine-man went 
to a shrine and prayed: "The ghost of my father, help me," 
and tried again. He also made a new fetish which he tied on 
the cow's horn to induce her to accept her calf. For this 
service the medicine-man demanded a pot of beer, and, should 
the owner of the cow refuse to pay this, the man cursed the 
cow and the calf died. A calf was seldom reared by artificial 
feeding, though the method was known and on rare occasions 
used. If the dam finally refused the calf, a foster-mother was 
sought, but, if one could not be found, the calf was killed and 
eaten. 

If a cow was not giving as much milk as the herdsman 
considered she should give, he gathered the herbs omuwhoko 
and ekikamisa wa gali. These he dried over a fire and rubbed 



86 TREATMENT OF COWS chap. 

them to powder, then, with the addition of water, he made 
them into a ball, full of water and the juice of the herbs. He 
thrust his hand with the herb ball into the uterus of the cow 
and squeezed the juice from it. This irritated the passage 
and caused the milk to flow. The effect on the milk lasted 
three or four days and the process might have to be repeated. 
The men said that it did not usually injure the cow, though 
some affirmed that, if repeated often, it made her barren. 
This method was at times resorted to to make a cow accept 
a foster-calf or when she refused her own calf, and the man, 
after passing his hand into the uterus, wiped it on the calf's 
back, which caused the cow to lick it and allow it to suck. 
This process was called to kuwatika a cow. 

When a cow had not enough milk to nourish her calf, the 
herdsman often took away the calf and gave it to a cow which 
had a bull-calf, killing the bull-calf and leaving the first cow 
to cease giving milk and to bear again. 

When a cow, after having a calf, did not again become 
pregnant as soon as they expected, the owner milked her only 
once a day. If this had not the desired effect, he took some 
of the herb mpara, chewed it, and squirted the juice from his 
mouth into and round the uterus; this set up irritation and 
caused the cow to seek the bull at once. The process was called 
to okuhagirana the cow. 

A cow which developed the loose folds of skin below its 
throat, known as dewlap, was regarded as a blessing to the 
owner. As this developed and the flesh reached the ground, 
it was tied up to prevent it from dragging in the dust. Such 
an animal might not be put to death in the ordinary way by 
spearing it in the head but had to have its neck broken by 
strong men who twisted its head round sharply. Only the 
owner of the kraal and his family might eat the flesh. 

When a cow with one horn turned up and one down had 
a calf, a knife or a spear was heated and a mark burned on 
one of the horns. This was regarded as a decoration and other 
burns were sometimes made on cows for the same purpose. 

When a cow's horns turned down and grew so long as to 



PL VIE XIV 




PLATE XV 




Chief medicine-man of the cows 



VIII 



ILLNESS IN A KRAAL 87 



get in its way and hinder its walking and grazing, the owner 
took a bit of stick to the Mugabe and told him what had 
happened. The Mugabe, taking the stick, spat on it and handed 
it back to the owner, who took it to the cow and tapped the 
horns with it. The horns were then cut off close to the head 
with a hot knife or axe. To stop the bleeding and heal the 
wounds they were seared with a heated spear, and a medicine 
of the herbs miseka and mugasa, powdered and mixed with 
flour of millet, was sprinkled on the wounds The cow soon 
recovered from the operation and was none the worse. 

When a cow with straight horns was given to goring its 
companions, the herdsman burned a notch on each horn and 
bent the tips back so that the horns were blunt. 

In each district there were cow-doctors or medicine-men 
who were called to assist the herdsmen when anything went 
wrong with the cows. They knew the different herbs to use 
for ilLsses, and they were also said to know drugs which 
would make cows bear cow-calves. They were paid for their 
work with sheep or goats. 

If sickness broke out among the cattle m a kraal, the 
owner called in a cow-doctor and asked him to discover 
by augury the cause of the illness and the remedy. In the 
evening a bull or an old cow that was past bearing was 
given to the medicine-man, who tied a bunch of herbs 
found its neck, took it outside, and drove it round the 
kraal If the illness was affecting more than one kraal in 
the vicinitv, he took the same animal to each and drove it 
round outside them, keeping it on the move the whole night 
At daybreak he brought the cow to the entrance of the kraal 
and killed it there, cutting its throat and catching the blood 
in a vessel He took a bunch of the herbs nyawera and mugo- 
sola and either sprinkled all the members of the kraal with 
the blood or touched them with it on their foreheads, arms 
and legs The cattle were then sprinkled and first the people 
and then the cows went out of the kraal, jumping over the 
body of the dead cow as it lay in the gateway. The medicine- 
man took the bunch of herbs from the cow s neck and tied 



88 COWS KILLED BY LIGHTNING chap. 

them over the gateway so that the cows passed under them 
when they entered in the evening, and the disease was thus 
prevented from returning to the kraal. He removed the 
carcase, for the meat was his, and no member of the kraal 
might eat of it, for to do so would be to cause the disease to 
return. Often, in addition to this magic, the cows would be 
treated with herbal medicine given in water. 

There was a special medicine-man who was called in when 
lightning had struck men or cows. He had a whistle which 
he blew during a storm to make the lightning pass over 
without doing damage. Should a man or a cow be struck and 
killed, people brought either hoes or sticks and beat them 
over the body to cause the lightning to come out and the 
spirit to return. When lightning killed some of a herd of cows, 
the rest of the herd was kept in the place and the owner was 
sent for. He spent the night there fasting; no one might spit, 
no fire might be lighted, and no stranger passing the spot 
could go on but had to stay the night. On the next morning 
the special medicine-man arrived. His first duty was to 
discover by divination the cause which had led to this disaster 
and none of the cows could be milked until this was known 
and an appropriate gift had been made to the god of thunder 
to pacify him. When this had been done, the herd was driven 
home to the kraal, the cows were milked and the calves fed 
and then they went out to pasture as usual. The medicine- 
man was given two cows as his fee and the owner might there- 
after again drink milk and kill or sell his cows. The ceremony 
was called kangkula or purifying the herd. Should one of the 
cows bear a malformed calf during this time it was taken to 
the Lake Karagwe and thrown in as an offering to the 
offended spirit who resided there. A pot of water was drawn 
from the lake and brought to the owner who sprinkled some 
on his family and washed himself with it. The owner was not 
allowed to drink milk from the cow which bore a malformed 
calf under these circumstances, though, when one was born 
under ordinary circumstances, he alone might drink the milk 
of the dam or eat the flesh of the calf. 



VIII 



DISEASES OF CATTLE 89 



Cows were often bled, usually for medicinal purposes. This 
was done by tying a string round the cow's neck to make the 
veins swell; an arrow, with a guard to prevent it from going 
too far, was then shot into the vein and the amount of blood 
required was taken. 

Cow Diseases 

Ezwa. Foot and mouth disease. The medicine-man, or one 
of the principal men in the kraal, bled the cows in the morning 
and, when they had gone to pasture, he poured the blood on 
the central fire. When it had congealed and dried, he scraped 
it up and put it into small bundles of dried elephant-grass 
to be used as torches. In the evening when the cows returned, 
the torches were lighted and men went out of the kraal and 
carried them amongst the cattle, calling on the disease to 
release the cows and go. The cows were then driven into the 
kraal, their feet were washed with hot water from a special 
pot, oluhega, and those whose mouths were too sore to allow 
them to feed were fed with grass plucked for them by the 
men. Cows seldom died of this complaint but were isolated 
and treated as described above and eventually recovered. 

The medicine-man pronounced a charm to prevent the 
illness from spreading, and amulets were hung round the cows' 
necks. The inmates of the kraal were forbidden to eat salt, 
men might not go to their wives, no stranger might enter the 
kraal, and no girl from it might visit friends in another kraal. 

Amasyihu. A disease which attacked calves. The head and 
face broke out into sores and the calf died, as they said, " of a 
rotten liver." No treatment was used, but the animal was 
left to get well or die. 

Obuzimba. The cow's body swelled as though it was be- 
coming very fat, its glands and throat also swelled and it usually 
died in three or four days. The herdsmen sometimes treated 
this by blistering, but as a rule the disease was left to run its 
course. 

Obusaghi. If a jackal fell into a water-hole and was drowned, 
any cows which drank the water died. 



90 DEATH OF COWS chap. 

Muzuzu. The cow was taken with a shivering fit and died 
at once. No cure was known. 

Omidaso. This disease lasted a month, after which the 
animal died; the meat might not be eaten. 

Kyiha. A lung and heart trouble, contagious and fatal. 

Kabube. An illness which affected the joints so that the 
animal wanted to lie down. If it was forced to walk about it 
recovered. 

Kukonagire. A calf's sickness. It affected the legs and at 
times the body swelled. No treatment was known : the sick- 
ness ran its course and was frequently fatal. 

Omuhindu. The ears cracked and bled, and the hair of the 
animal stood on end, but the animal usually recovered if a 
little care was taken of it. 

Mulyamu. Rinderpest. A disease only known in recent 
years. No cure. 

Kipumpula. Swellings on the thighs, shoulders and back- 
bone. 

The flies which tormented cows were called Engoha, but 
those which brought disease were Mbalabala and Nkubikisi. 

When a cow was suffering from constipation or from re- 
tention of the urine, the herdsman made a fetish of hippo- 
potamus skin and a tuft of hippopotamus hair and walked 
among the cows waving this over them. He then took it to 
the suffering cow and pushed it into her uterus, which caused 
the urine to flow. 

When a cow died, the owner mourned five days for it and 
refrained from sexual intercourse with his wife. On the sixth 
day he squeezed the juice from the herb mwonyo into a pot 
and he and his wife, sitting together, stirred the juice with 
their left hands, put some in their mouths, and spat it out 
three times to purify themselves and the kraal. The man then 
had sexual intercourse with his wife. This was to prevent 
other cows from dying in the same way. 

If the only cow of a poor herdsman died, he visited the 
members of his clan and begged from them, often getting 
two or three cows in the place of his lost one. The poor were 



PLATE XVI 




Peasant girl in goat-skin dress 



PLATE XVII 





Elderly peasant 



vni MEAT FOR THE MUGABE 91 

always looked after by their relatives, and, should a man who 
was able to help refuse his aid to a poor brother, he was 
marked and no one came to mourn at his funeral. The effect 
of this was believed to be that he suffered loss of friends in 
the other world, to which he was sent without the usual 
lamentations. 

It was considered wrong to kill cows which were still able 
to bear, and the ordinary herdsmen, though they ate the 
meat of any cow that died, never killed cows except on very 
special occasions such as marriages or funerals. When it was 
necessary to kill an animal, they chose a cow too old to bear 
or a bull that was not required. The animal was killed by 
spearing or striking it with an axe on the head just behind 
the horns, a method which did not waste much of the blood, 
for it remained in the meat. The killing was always done out- 
side the kraal where the men assembled to eat the meat, 
cutting it up into small squares and roasting it over a fire 
round which they sat. Some meat would be handed in to the 
kraal to the women, who either ate it themselves or cooked 
it for their husbands. Among the wealthy cow-people the 
cooking was always done by slaves, but in the poorer classes 
wives cooked for their husbands, though water and fire-wood 
were brought to them by the men. 

Meat was cut into small pieces and either roasted on spits 
or boiled and served in wooden bowls or closely woven wicker 
vessels. If it was boiled, millet was sometimes served with it, 
though the grain was never cooked with the meat but boiled 
in water separately. 

When an animal was killed for the Mugabe's use, any blood 
that flowed was caught and drunk by the servants of the 
Mugabe. The skin of the cow, unless the Mugabe gave special 
orders, went to the royal skin-dresser and was prepared for 
the use of the Mugabe's wives, and the head was given to the 
fire-wood carriers. The cook, who was always of an agricultural 
clan, divided the animal. The Mugabe might only eat meat 
from the shoulder, one leg went to his wives, any given to the 
herdsmen had to be taken from the back without bones, and 



92 SALT FOR THE COWS chap. 

the rest was cooked for the Mugabe's guests and other mem- 
bers of his household. 

When a chief killed a cow, he followed the royal custom 
in dividing it, though he was not restricted to any special part 
for himself. When the Mugabe or a chief gave his men a cow 
to kill for their own food, they had always to return the heart 
and tongue to the owner, for they were forbidden to eat these 
parts. 

Salt for the Cows 

It was considered essential to the health of the cattle that 
they should have salt once each month, and the carrying of 
salt was one of the tasks which a cow-man might undertake. 
Like building a kraal or a house, it was work done for the 
sake of the cattle and therefore not derogatory to his dignity. 
All sorts of things from goats and sheep to household utensils 
were taken to barter for the salt. When a man had left his 
home to go to one of the salt-markets, his wife might not 
have sexual relations with any man nor even cross the door- 
step when a man was on it or shake hands with a man. 
When the man returned with the salt he took it to his house, 
and that night he had to sleep on the floor near the fire and 
keep apart from his wife and other women until the salt had 
been given to the cows, which was done the next day. 

In the morning, after the cows had gone out to pasture and 
the kraal had been swept, the owner had the loads placed in 
a line before him in the kraal. A pot of milk was brought 
and he drank and puffed a little over each bundle. He then 
took a pot of butter and rubbed a little on each bundle. One 
of the logs used for filling up the gateway, a thong for tying 
the legs of restive cows during milking, and a bunch of 
purificatory herbs were brought and laid to smoulder on the 
central fire. 

When it was time for the cows to come home in the evening, 
the salt was taken to the watering-place where large troughs 
were made and lined with clay and filled with water. The salt 
was added to the water, and when the animals had finished 



viii SALT FOR THE COWS 93 

drinking they were driven home. As they entered the kraal, 
a boy stood at one side of the entrance and a girl at the other, 
each holding a pot of water and a bunch of the herb nyawera, 
with which they sprinkled the cows as they entered, saying, 
"Grow fat, give much milk, and have many calves." This 
ensured the best results and no evil effects from the drinking 
of the salt water. 



CHAPTER IX 
AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRIES 

The agricultural people — clothing — ornaments — music and dancing — 
ownership of land — care of land — cultivation of millet — care of the 
crops — harvest — storing grain — grinding corn — other crops— tobacco 
— brewing millet and plantain beer — building huts — furniture — pot- 
ters — carpenters — smiths — smelting — the smith's anvil and hammer 

THE agricultural people of the lake region were probably 
early inhabitants of the land, who were subdued by 
immigrating hordes of pastoral people. These did not exter- 
minate the conquered races but made them their serfs to do 
the work which their cow customs forbade them to do for 
themselves. The agricultural people were not slaves, for they 
were free to move about the country as they would and to 
leave one master and join another at their own will. They 
were, however, generally attached to certain districts and, 
when once settled, they seldom cared to move. 

For clothing boys and men of the agricultural people wore 
one goat- or calf-skin, passing under the left arm and tied 
on the right shoulder. This hung down to the thigh or even 
to the knees but was open down the right side, no attempt 
being made to hide the person. The skins were usually roughly 
dressed and the more wealthy members of the agricultural 
class had them carefully prepared. 

Girls, when children, often ran about naked or wore a skin 
like that of the boys, but it was tied on the left shoulder and 
passed under the right arm. As they grew up the size of the 
skin was increased and it was more carefully dressed and 
softened. The hair was either shaved off or worn inside next 
the body. When married, a woman wore three or four skins 
stitched together and fastened with a belt round her waist, 
which was the sign of a married woman. 

After marriage a woman wore ornaments of which the most 
important were the anklets, without which no married 



chap, ix POSSESSION OF LAND 95 

woman's dress was complete. She also wore bracelets and 
neck ornaments of wire or elephant-tail hairs and beads. The 
wire anklets and bracelets were made and fixed on by the 
smith, who was given fourteen or more goats by the husband 
for his work. In addition to this he invariably took for him- 
self one of the ornaments he had made, and incantations were 
pronounced over it to remove from all of them any evil that 
might be attached to them. 

The serfs were fond of dancing, in which both men and 
women indulged, though they danced apart and generally 
at different times. The drums used to accompany the dancing 
were ordinary water-pots which were filled to different levels 
with water. The drummers were armed with sticks to which 
pads of reeds, rather larger than the mouths of the pots, were 
attached with fibre. With these the men beat on the mouths 
of the pots, producing a sound not unlike that of drums, while 
others sang, danced, and gesticulated in time to the music. 

Girls and young women wearing skin-aprons stood round 
the drums, some of them with flat rattles. These were made 
of hollow reeds which formed cases some ten inches long by 
half an inch wide and were filled with seeds. Ten or more of 
these cases were secured side by side in a frame, and this 
was shaken up and down in time to the music. Others 
accompanied the rhythm by singing and beating their hands 
on their skin-aprons in front, which made a dull sound. 

Certain tracts of land were given by the Mugabe to chiefs 
and they could permit peasants to cultivate plots on that 
land, but as a rule a peasant could cultivate any piece of land 
he liked and there were no restrictions on his breaking up new 
land except previous occupation. A man had merely to dig 
a little or even to pluck some grass from the plot he meant 
to dig, take it home, and tie it to the roof of his house as a 
sign of possession. After that, should any man seek to cultivate 
that land, the first comer informed him of his ownership. If 
the intruder went away all was well, but, if he objected, there 
was a fight and the original claimant, if worsted, might appeal 
to the district-chief. Even if the first owner had left the land 



96 SOWING MILLET chap. 

for some years, he had the right, if he had dug it, to return 
and occupy it. An intruder, even if he had made improve- 
ments and enlarged the plot, could not claim the land if the 
first owner came back and lit a fire as a sign that he had 
returned. If there was trouble, the matter was brought before 
the district-chief and settled by ordeal. The disputants were 
given each a plantain root to eat, and this made the fraudulent 
claimant ill, while the true owner felt no bad effects. The man 
thus proved to be in the wrong might be fined anything from 
two goats or a sheep to as many as twenty goats. 

When a man started to dig his field, the first sod cut had 
to be carried home and kept there until harvest, to ensure 
a good crop and success. 

No attempt was ever made to fertilise land, for such an 
idea was entirely foreign to the minds of the people. Land 
was plentiful and if one field ceased to yield to the satisfaction 
of the owner, all he had to do was to break up fresh ground, 
leaving the old field for a time, or perhaps entirely. After 
a few years, when nature had to some extent restored the 
necessary properties to the soil, or when, as the native said, 
the ground was rested, he might try the old site again. If 
it then repaid his efforts, he might continue to cultivate it 
for a time, but, if not, he would probably forsake it entirely. 

Artificial irrigation was unknown and crops were only 
grown in the wet season, though there were rare instances 
when a man would choose a plot of low-lying land near a 
river and raise a crop during the dry season. Such rare cases 
prove that it was not ignorance of the possibilities of the land 
but rather indolence which prevented the people from having 
fresh vegetable food all the year round. After harvest they 
dried and stored sufficient grain to keep them in food until 
the rains came and made it possible to grow a fresh crop. 

The main crop was the small millet commonly called bulo, 
which was sown in August and September in ground that had 
been carefully hoed and prepared. When a man was going 
to sow his first seed for the season he made his preparations 
at 3 a.m. and wakened his family with the first streaks of dawn, 



PLATE XVIII 





J3 

ex 

U (J 

b/3 a; 

 

1/5 C 

a, •-. 

.c £ 

*• o 

c -5 



PLATE XIX 



!L..: " 



I l\ I 




Water-pots used as drums 







Dancing to the rhythm of the water-pot drums 



ix THE MILLET CROP 97 

for they had to be awake while he went to sow. If on the 
way to the field he met a person he disliked, he turned back 
and refrained from sowing seed that day; during the time of 
the sowing husband and wife had to be careful to have 
sexual relations only with each other, lest the seed should fail 
to germinate and the weeds grow. 

When the plants were a few inches high they were thinned 
out and those pulled up were carried home, where they were 
eaten either uncooked and seasoned with salt or boiled. The 
rains made the crops grow rapidly, and in January, after 
six months' growth, the millet ripened. As the grain filled 
out flocks of birds visited the fields and it was necessary to 
employ scare-crows to drive these off. Children were em- 
ployed in most villages for this purpose, and they had to be 
specially on the alert in the early morning and again in the 
evening, for at these times the birds were particularly active. 
These young people often showed much ingenuity in their 
devices to save labour. Figures were made of grass and armed 
with sticks so that in the distance they resembled living 
persons waving sticks. At other places poles eight to ten feet 
long were firmly fixed at intervals in the ground ; from the 
tops of these were hung large snail-shells, thin blades of iron, 
and other articles and the poles were connected by a cord 
which led to some tree or hillock, where an observer sat and 
jerked the string from time to time so that all the things tied 
to the poles rattled. At the same time the watchers shouted 
and used clappers of flat boards which made a noise loud 
enough to be distinctly heard over the field. In some places 
men and women built huts in their fields and lived there from 
the time the fresh shoots appeared until harvest, to protect 
the crops from wild pigs and other nocturnal visitors that 
might destroy them. 

Only the family might eat of the first-fruits of the crop and 
the grindstones might not be used by anyone else after the 
corn was ground until the first-fruits had been eaten. Should 
either the man or his wife give any of the food away before 
this, the other would die. For this family meal the grain need 



98 THE MILLET CROP chap. 

not be ground and cooked, for even to eat a little of it un- 
cooked would remove this taboo. 

When the harvest was ready, the wife went one day alone 
to the field and picked two kinds of grass, the seeds of which 
had burrs and stuck to the clothing. These she made into a 
kind of pad and laid it in the field, putting a stone upon it. 
She then gathered two small sheaves of the grain and placed 
them so that they stood over the pad. This was supposed to 
bring a plentiful harvest. 

Next morning the man and his wife came together to reap 
the grain as soon as the dew had dried off it. They were careful 
to leave a patch for the husband's mother, who came herself 
and cut it and carried it home. Should they neglect this 
observance, the seed from that particular field would be 
useless the following year. 

The reaping was a long and tedious business, for the grain 
was cut head by head with some six inches of stem and tied 
into small bundles. These were put in baskets and carried to 
a spot in the field where they were heaped together in a pile. 
A hole was made in the centre of the heap to allow the 
moisture to escape as the grain dried, and the heap was left 
four or five days to ripen by the heat generated. The heap 
was covered by night with plantain or other leaves to protect 
it against the heavy dews or rain, and it became very hot 
so that the grain matured quickly. If it was desired to hasten 
the ripening process, a pit some two feet deep was dug and 
the grain put in and covered over so that the heat generated 
ripened it in two or three days. 

When the artificial ripening process was completed, the 
ears were spread out in the sun on the threshing-floor to dry 
and the grain either fell out or was beaten out with a short 
stick as the head of corn was held in the hand, the grain 
falling on the threshing-floor, which was merely a flat place 
swept clean of dust and often smeared over with cow-dung. 
This work was done by the women, who also winnowed the 
grain by pouring it from a flat basket held up as high as the 
head, so that the wind carried away the chaff. 



I'L.VIE XX 




Large grain basket 



PLATE XXI 




Potters 



ix PAYING TRIBUTE 99 

The granaries were large baskets four or five feet high, 
smeared with cow-dung outside and inside and raised about 
two feet above the ground on stones or stakes. They were 
covered with detachable thatched roofs which could be raised 
to take out the grain. The first grain had to be put in by 
the man, who got into the store to do it. If he was away, 
his wife had to await his return, because, if she stored the 
grain before he put in the first basketful, he would die when 
he ate it. When required for use the grain was ground between 
stones to a coarse flour and made into stiff porridge. 

Each hut had a slab of stone either under the eaves or near 
the door, which was used as the grindstone. It was generally 
two feet long by one foot wide, and a second stone four or five 
inches long and four wide, with a flat surface, was used to rub 
the grain to flour. The lower stone was raised a few inches 
from the ground with one side a little higher than the other, 
to allow the flour, as it was ground, to fall down into a basket 
placed to catch it. The woman who ground knelt at the higher 
end of the big stone with a basket of grain by her side and, 
taking a handful at a time from this, she rubbed it to flour 
between the stones. Naturally such flour contained a certain 
amount of grit so that porridge made from it was liable to 
make anyone ill whose system was not accustomed to such 
rough diet. 

The time of harvest was a season for rejoicing, not only 
because there was an abundance of food but also because at 
this time they had freedom from the strain of necessary work 
and good supplies of grain for brewing beer. This season was 
thus the natural time for marriages, dances, and other festi- 
vities, and the people looked forward to it as an opportunity 
for relaxation and indulgence in beer-drinking. They cast all 
cares aside and gave themselves up to a time of merriment. 

As long as his store lasted the peasant took grain from time 
to time to his pastoral master. There was no stated amount, 
but he took small supplies until he found his store getting 
low, when he took a large basketful, and this was understood 
by the master to indicate the last supply for the season. 

7—2 



ioo BREWING chap. 

This small millet was the only kind of food which was 
stored for supplying future needs, but they grew three other 
kinds of millet which were used more especially for brewing. 
Plantains and sweet potatoes were used to eke out the supply 
of millet. Peas, beans, ground-nuts and marrows were grown 
as additions to this food and were used as a relish in place 
of meat, which was seldom to be got, while maize was also 
cultivated, though it was looked upon as a luxury to be eaten 
between meals and they never considered it a part of their 
diet. 

Tobacco was largely grown, for it was used both by pastoral 
and agricultural people. Men and old women smoked it and 
many young women chewed it. A few plants were grown near 
the hut on the dust-heap where the sweepings from the hut, 
which included the dung from goats and sheep and the dust 
from the wood-fire, were thrown. The dust-heap was thus a 
fertile spot and tobacco plants always thrived there and 
produced very good leaves. Peasants rarely attempted to 
prepare the leaves, which were merely dried in the sun and 
rubbed to small pieces and dust before being smoked. 

The story of the introduction of tobacco into the country 
is as follows. During the reign of Ruhinda of Ankole, the 
king of Karagwe, also called Ruhinda, sent a medicine-man 
with six bags of tobacco, saying that it was medicine which 
would make Ruhinda of Ankole well and strong. The two 
kings were friends, so Ruhinda tried the tobacco, and, finding 
it soothing, went on and became a smoker. Later the chiefs 
learned about this and some of them took to smoking. When 
the medicine-man found his stock running out, he sowed two 
plots and grew more, showing the people how to prepare it 
before he returned to his own country. 

Brewing 

The people of Ankole were very fond of drink and brewed 
beer whenever it was possible. To make millet-beer, the 
millet was first put into water for four days so that it began 
to sprout. It was then spread on mats in the sun to dry and 



ix BUILDING A HOUSE 101 

mixed with an equal amount of dry grain. The whole of this 
was ground to flour between stones, mixed with boiling water 
and boiled. After standing four days, it was again boiled, 
by which time the amount was reduced to one-fourth of the 
original. To this more grain, which had been wetted and 
allowed to sprout, was added and the whole stood in pots 
for two days and was then boiled again with the addition 
of water and more unprepared millet. This was poured into 
pots, and from a large pot, in which some of the first boiling 
had been left, a little was added to each pot, making in 
the end about ten times the original amount. This was left 
for a night and was then filtered through papyrus fibre. The 
result was a thick liquid which was ready for use. 

While the beer was being prepared, the man engaged in 
the brewing might not touch butter or have relations with 
any women except his own wife. 

To make plantain-beer, the plantains, of the kind known 
as the male or beer-making plantain, were cut when fully 
grown but not ripe and put over a slow fire of millet-chaff 
or cow-dung in a shallow pit for three days to make them fully 
ripe. They were then pulped in a large wooden trough like 
a bath. A quantity of millet which had been prepared as malt 
in the way described above was mixed with the juice and the 
whole covered for two days until it fermented, after which 
it was filtered and was ready for use. 

If the beer was made from the first plantains cut from a new 
garden, the owner had to drink it himself to ensure the success 
of the plantation. 

Building 

Every youth was expected to assist in building huts either for 
his own family or for friends, so that by the time he reached 
the age when he required a hut for himself he was quite com- 
petent to make it. 

From the time a man started to collect materials for a new 
house he had to avoid all women other than his wife, who on 
her part had to observe the same taboo and admit only her 



102 FURNITURE chap. 

husband to her bed. Should one or the other offend in this 
matter, the materials which had been collected were useless 
and might only be used as fire- wood. If the guilt was con- 
cealed and the building proceeded with, the man would die. 

The huts built by these peasants were of the bee-hive shape, 
and in size were seldom more than eighteen feet in diameter 
and ten feet high at the apex, many of the huts being much 
smaller than this. Six or seven poles of light timber supported 
the structure and over these was woven a framework of 
basketry like an inverted round hamper, millet stems bound 
together with strips of cord from papyrus stems being largely 
used for this. Papyrus stems were often interlaced with the 
millet stems to strengthen the structure, and the whole was 
overlaid with a thick covering of grass. The floor was simply 
the ground, which was smoothed by hoeing it over and 
beating it hard with sticks. The fire-place was composed of 
three large stones placed in a triangle so that a pot might rest 
upon them ; should a second pot be required two more stones 
were placed to form, with one of the first three, a second 
triangle, the space beneath the pot being sufficient to allow 
fire-wood to be thrust under it. 

Little furniture was used, but among the more progressive 
there might be a bedstead composed of four stakes, eighteen 
inches long, with forked tops. These stakes were imbedded in 
the floor and in the forks were side, head and foot pieces, to 
which laths of papyrus stems were secured. On these was 
spread a layer of grass or a cow-skin on which the owner 
and his wife lay, covered with any clothing they might have 
or with a bark-cloth or cow-skin if they were of the more 
prosperous members of the community. A few water-pots, 
several cooking-pots of various sizes, and two or three baskets 
were all the utensils required, and a hoe or perhaps two, one 
or two knives, the man's spears and shield, and a few fetishes 
completed the whole of their possessions. In all cases the 
furniture, bed-clothes and utensils depended upon the 
abilities and exertions of the couple themselves, for the more 
progressive would take the trouble to have better and more 



PLATE XXII 




Carpenters making milk-pots 



PLATE XXIII 




Milk-vessels and washing-bowls of wood 



ix MAKING POTS 103 

comfortable surroundings, which would be lacking in the case 
of the indolent or incompetent. The live stock of a prosperous 
peasant would be a few goats and sheep which by night were 
tethered to pegs in the floor near the walls of the hut. 

When the house was finished, should a sparrow enter it 
before the man took possession, or if any man slept in it with 
the owner's wife before the owner himself did so, he would 
never live in it. If one of his children was the first person to 
fall down near it, or if some person carrying millet spilt some 
near the house, it was a bad omen. To avoid these dangers, 
they brought a child belonging to some other family and made 
it fall down near the house, and someone brought a grind- 
stone and turned it up against the house, letting a little flour 
fall from it. 

Pottery 

The potter went out to the nearest swamp to get his own 
clay when he wanted it. He brought the lump of clay home 
and put it in a small pit, covering it to keep it from drying 
hard, and left it for seven days. When about to make pots, 
he ground up some broken pots and mixed the dust with the 
new clay, adding some juice of the herb mwetengo to keep the 
pots from breaking. He worked up the clay to a stiff putty 
on a cow-skin, and started to mould the pot by making the 
bottom in a shallow hole or in the bottom of a broken pot. 
He then made the clay into long rolls and built up the sides 
of the pot with these, smoothing the clay as he built them up 
with the curved shell of a gourd which he moistened frequently 
in a pot of water by his side. The pot while in course of being 
made was called ntango, and when it was drying before being 
fired, a process which took some six to nine days, it was called 
musingo. 

The potters of Ankole never attained to the skill of those 
of Kitara, for there were few men or women who devoted 
much time to the art. Each family had its man or woman 
who made pots, and it was a rare thing for pots to be carried 
to any recognised market-place for sale. The Mugabe alone 



104 CARPENTERS chap. 

had a few more skilled potters who supplied his needs, so that 
there was no competition and no incentive to improve the 
pottery. There were some milk-pots of a graceful shape, with 
long slender necks, but the sides were thick and the clay was 
brittle and not so well worked as in those made by the Baki- 
tara. The water- and cooking-pots were thick unpretentious 
vessels and no attempt was made to beautify them. 

Carpenters 

The Ankole carpenters were superior to the other artisans, 
though they rarely advanced from the well-known shapes of 
vessels used by their forefathers. They were a body of men 
belonging to the serf class, whose fathers had somehow learned 
the art of wood- working and passed on the knowledge to their 
children, who took up the work they laid down in old age 
or at death. The Mugabe had a number of carpenters who 
were his special workmen and lived in places allotted to them 
by him. All the needs of the royal household were supplied 
by them. 

The wooden vessels in common use were milk-pots, butter- 
pots, meat-dishes, water- and washing-pots and troughs for 
making beer, and the carpenters also made stools. Milk-pots 
were made from a tree called musa, large pails for drawing 
water from kirikiti, and meat-dishes and washing-pots from 
emituba and mzika, while for stools they used emituba. 

The tools used by the carpenters were long gouges, adzes, 
and scrapers, and they might never sell their tools even to 
pay fines, for to do so would cause them certain ruin. 

The carpenter, when he required timber for his work, went 
out himself to cut his tree ; if on his way he met a man whom 
he disliked or who had a grudge against him, he returned 
home, for he knew he would not find a suitable tree that day. 
When he found the right tree in the forest he felled it, using 
a small hatchet formed of an iron blade tapered like a wedge 
and fixed in a strong haft two feet long. This was his only 
instrument for cutting the tree into short logs, for he possessed 
no saws and did not know the use of them. It took him three 



ix SMELTING IRON 105 

days to cut the chunk of wood he required for a pot, and he 
carried it home and buried it under chips in his house to 
season before he began to shape it. The period allowed for 
seasoning the timber varied according to the man's require- 
ments, but most timber was used before it was fully seasoned. 
Three days were then required for the making, one day to 
shape the pot and two to hollow it out and finish it. 

When a man wanted to make a new beer-bath, he brewed 
a quantity of beer and asked six carpenters and thirty or 
more friends to come and help him. They went with him to 
find and fell the tree and cut off the length required for the 
bath, and when this had been done they drank the beer and 
feasted on a goat. Until the carpenters had made the bath, 
the owner might not sleep with his wife, and this taboo con- 
tinued until beer had been made in it. His wife also had to 
observe strict continency. The first beer made in a new bath 
might not be sold but had to be drunk by the owner and his 
family or friends. 

Smiths 

The smiths, like the carpenters, belonged to the serf com- 
munity, but they did not attain to the skill of the carpenters 
in their work. They formed a single class, for the men who did 
the smelting were also the men who worked the metal up into 
the required articles. The smiths went to the hills to fetch 
their own iron-stone and, as they used that which lay near the 
surface in abundance, they seldom had to dig more than one 
or at most two feet to get the kind they wanted. This was 
broken up into bits about the size of walnuts, tied up in 
bundles of grass and carried to the place where the smelting 
was to be done. Their charcoal was prepared from the small 
trees and scrub which grew in the neighbourhood. 

During the time spent in smelting, the men had to be 
careful not to have sexual relations with anyone but their 
own wives. No man might step over the wood of which he 
was making his charcoal, and, should he be seated on the 
door-step of his hut, no one might enter or leave until he rose. 



106 THE SMITH'S TOOLS chap. 

No woman who was menstruating might come near him. 
These taboos were in force until the iron had been smelted 
and the smith had made a hoe from it. 

When the wood and iron were ready, a hole was dug some 
two or three feet deep and two feet in diameter, and lined with 
clay, the clay walls being continued to some three feet above 
the ground. When dry this furnace was filled with layers of 
dry reeds and grass, charcoal and iron-stone. An arched top 
or dome, with a hole four or five inches across in the centre, 
was built over the top of the furnace. Round this were 
arranged the bellows, probably three pairs of them, con- 
sisting of round earthen pots, open at the top, with a nozzle 
on one side. Over the top of the pot a goat-skin was fastened 
loosely enough to be moved up and down by a stick fixed 
to its middle. The nozzles of each pair of bellows entered an 
earthenware pipe which opened into the furnace, and each 
pair was worked by one man who sat between them and used 
one hand to each. 

The smelting was begun at six o'clock in the morning and 
the fire was kept burning until two o'clock in the afternoon, the 
charcoal being added when necessary through the hole in the top 
of the furnace. After the fire had been allowed to die down, the 
iron was left to cool for some six days before being dug out. 
Any that was not thought to be properly smelted and clean 
was smelted again, but the clean metal was cut up into blocks 
of the sizes required for spears, hoes, knives and other im- 
plements, and the smith carried these off to his own home. 

The tools of a smith were not many. His anvil was a large 
stone and the hammer a bit of iron, six or eight inches long 
rounded and tapered slightly for the hand-grip. He might 
possess a pair of tongs, but more usually he pointed the iron 
on which he was working and forced it into a piece of wood, 
or, splitting the wood, he slipped the iron in and bound the 
wood together. His furnace was a shallow hole into which 
he put charcoal and inserted the nozzles of bellows like those 
he used for smelting, though here one pair sufficed. 

Should the smith require a new anvil he went about among 
the hills to find a suitable stone. On the night before he went 



PLATE XXIV 


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