KKLIGIOX OF THE BA-VE>'I)A. 217 



luufoLo corn. When these <>iils go over the country to gather 

 wood and fetch water for their cooking, they handle small 

 sticks, and are ordered to thrash everybody they meet on the 

 road. And the people, when they see the girls approaching, 

 must kneel down at once and cover their faces with their 

 hands. This is meant to be an act of adoration and of self- 

 humiliation towards the powerful gods of the royal family. 

 By this prostration subjects declare that they are " dead," 

 they have no power at all. The power belongs to the gods, 

 the gods of the chief ; they alone can make the corn grow ! 



When the tilling is finished, workers take part in the 

 meal of native peas, and the mother of the chief takes her 

 ludo and prays to her deceased mother, grandmother, 

 paternal aunt— all the royal feminine gods. She says: " We 

 give you beer to drink. Give us corn, that it may grow, be 

 plentiful, and that we may eat." It seems that this ceremony 

 is entirely in the hands of women, and no wonder in tlie f act : 

 It is closely connected with the agricultural life, and women 

 play the greater part in it. 



The same religious act is performed in all the headmen's 

 zonda fields, but, amongst subjects, there are no girls armed 

 with sticks and beating the poor people. 



The secoiid agricultural rite takes place at the time of 

 reaping, and corresponds to the feast of first fruit, which is 

 one of the oldest and most widespread features of Bantu 

 religion. It is called " tungula mufoho," the consecration, 

 or olferiug of mufoho corn, and must be performed at the 

 capital and at headmen's kraals before the people are allowed 

 to reap. In the headmen's kraals beer is made from the new 

 harvest and poured on the back of the ox-grandfather, or on 

 the stone of the altar. Should the headman be at the same 

 time the head of a clan which possesses its mountain, the offer- 

 ing is carried to the sacred wood Avhere the ancestors are 

 supposed to reside. 



But, as reg-ards the Shivase royal family, the beer is 

 solemnly conveyed by two messengers to the place called 

 Gubukubu, on the Pipiti River, where on© at least of the 

 Shivase ancestors has been buried. Tiiere is a pool there, and 

 the whole place is called " Badzimon " ("at the gods "), a 

 rock which penetrates into the rivei* and is seen emerging 

 from it. The two i)riests walk over it up to its extremity, and 

 there they pour the offering of beer and pray for the country, 

 for its i)eace and prosperity. It is said that after tlieir 

 departure the gods come out from the water and drink the 

 beer. 



It is interesting to note who are these two sacrificers. The 

 one is the chief or his representative ; he has the power to 

 address the ancestors of the royal family, as he is their elder 

 son, the regular heir. The second one belongs to the clan of 

 the Ba-J^gona. These Ba-jS^gona were tlie first owners of the 

 countrv. Tliev were subdued bv the Ba-Yenda at the time 



