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
