THE CIVILIZATIONS OF MAN IO3 



was given absolute powers of life and death. Like all primi- 

 tive kings he was not a lawmaker, his edicts being merely 

 recognition of natural events and unconscious controls. By 

 custom he was compelled personally to kill his father when 

 he came to the throne. 



Overpopulation was a problem even here, in spite of ma- 

 laria and famine following long dry periods. The success of 

 the unconscious and conscious economic controls was so 

 great that periodically the growing masses threatened the 

 whole system, as has happened many times and again so 

 acutely in our day. The Kuanyama Ambo were probably 

 not at all conscious of this overpopulation problem, but 

 nevertheless various unconscious controls developed to 

 avert the danger. The king could and did from time to time 

 order the death of all children born of unmarried mothers, 

 and sometimes included the parents in the order, all on the 

 ground that unnatural children were an omen of disaster. 

 Children whose upper teeth erupted before their lower were 

 sometimes killed for the same reason. The king could and 

 did sometimes postpone the marriageable age of men and 

 limit the number that could become kraal owners with a 

 harem. Unconscious controls through punishment of the 

 innocent, or those who had incurred the disfavor of the king 

 and his nobles, also worked to hold down the population. 



In spite of all this, however, there was some degree of 

 social justice. The matrilineal system of inheritance, which 

 prevented a man from handing on his herds to his sons, 

 tended to spread the wealth to nephews and more distant 

 relatives. Accumulation of too many cattle in one man's 

 hands was very definitely frowned upon; in fact, such a man 

 was in grave danger from the royal court. There was a spirit 

 of mutual aid in the proverbs of these people; parents were 

 cared for in their old age; the sick and blind were cared for 

 and nourished; peace and tranquility, both here and here- 

 after, were regarded as blessings. The young people prac- 

 ticed another unconscious control at a spring cattle cere- 



