102 evolution: the ages and tomorrow 



within the kraal walls. In the kraal are a husband and his 10 

 to 20 wives, the children, and relatives. Each wife is respon- 

 sible for the storage and issue of some food staple. The first 

 wife occupies the most important position and is the keeper 

 of milk and butter and the sacred fire, which must never be 

 allowed to go out during the life of the king or her husband, 

 else an omen of disaster is cast over the kraal. Before the 

 recent control of these people by Europeans they had a 

 feudalistic system of government. At the head was a king 

 who lived in a royal kraal surrounded by vast gardens. Here 

 the king kept his harem, at the head of which was the queen 

 mother and her sisters. The king's kraal was constantly 

 being rebuilt into new patterns of stockaded mazes and 

 labyrinths to protect his majesty from overenthusiastic 

 brothers and nephews, potential heirs to the throne. Regi- 

 cide was the common thing, particularly as the king grew 

 older. The Ambo king was a rainmaker in whose person the 

 entire welfare of the land was supposedly bound up. It was 

 considered fatal to allow him to die a natural death. Age or 

 sickness condemned him at once. 



The king was the earthly body of the god Kalunga, and 

 was often called Kalunga. He was entrusted by the divinity 

 with the sacred fire, the sacred water, and the sacred sheep; 

 and these the king gave out to his people. He was the theo- 

 retical owner of everything, including all the women. He ap- 

 pointed noblemen to rule over districts, to whom each kraal 

 owner looked for the right to the land. The king gained his 

 god-like qualities on ascending the throne when he was an- 

 nointed with the fat of a lion and ate at a cannibalistic feast 

 a mixture of the flesh of animals and man. It was fatal to 

 speak disrespectfully of the king, or to touch his person or 

 his utensils. His court swarmed with courtiers and retainers, 

 and he was every inch the iVsiatic or European monarch, a 

 living "fossil" of the institution of kingship with divine 

 sanction. Around him were nobility, the army, page boys, 

 secret police and hangmen, these last a very busy group. He 



