THE SACRIFICE OF RECONCILIATION. ibl 



ancestors ; perhaps to a special spirit, and they order him to call 

 his elder brother' Mboza to conduct the religious act. Mboza is 

 the regular priest of the family, being the first born. Komatane 

 suggests another name. But the diviner insists. Komatane starts 

 for the village of the offended brother and asks him humbly lo 

 come and implore the ancestors for him. Mboza consults ihe 

 bones also. He is not disposed to go at once. Sometimes an 

 offering, instead of appeasing the spirits, irritates them even more, 

 and the man who has officiated comes back home trembling A^ith 

 fever ! Let us see if the sacrifice is likely to succeed. The bones 

 are consulted again; they answer: "There is something in ihe 

 way. You two have tied a knot. Untie it first, then go, you." 

 Mboza understands what it means. He sends this word to Koma- 

 tane : " The fortune-teller does not allow me to go. He says v^e 

 must first untie the knot." Then the younger brother who is the 

 offender comes a second time. They discuss their case inside 

 the hut, not on the square, as it is a personal and secret matter. 

 Komatane confesses his fault : " It was not right of me to sav : 

 * I will never come again to your village. I have sinned in this 

 and this and this.' Then Mboza answers: 'You are a bad 

 fellow indeed ! How could you refuse to help me? Are you not 

 the younger and am I not your elder? " He scolds him vigorou^'y 

 and everybody in the village does the same, even the women r<nd 

 the children. This being done, the quarrel comes to an end and 

 Mboza goes with his brother to his village and offers the victim 

 which shall appease the gods and deliver Komatane from his 

 trouble. This special meeting of confession and reconciliation is 

 the hahla madjieta. There has been no sacrifice, pro- 

 perly speaking, performed in this case. But in order to accom- 

 plish a religious act, it has been necessary first to reconcile a 

 divided family. In this way the ancestor worship — in which the 

 right of the elder brother as being the regular priest of the family 

 is so universally admitted — has had a true moral effect. 



II. But a second instance will lead us a step further. When 

 two brothers quarrel, when one has sworn that he will never see 

 the other again, when there is disunion between their kraals, they 

 may be brought to the hahla madjieta, not only by the fact 

 that one of them must sacrific for the other, but simply by the 

 advice of the old men of the family. These old men will say to 

 the divided brothers : " Our gods will punish you if you do not 

 stop quarrelling ! They do not line you to curse each other, being 

 brothers. You must be reconciled to each other. Hahletelanan 

 madjieta,* viz. : Perform together the sacrifice for imprecation." 

 The two brothers decide to follow the advice. The one who pro- 

 nounced the imprecation prepares a decoction of a special herb 

 called mudahomu, a word which means the grass which the 

 ox_ eats, because cattle are fond of it. He pours it into a 

 shikamha shansala. that is to say into the broken shell of a 



* The form hahletelanan is very instructive from the grammatical point of view 

 and ean be analysed as follovys : Hahla — to perform the sacramental act. 

 Hahleta (frequentative) — bringing to the light everything on which you disagree. 

 Hahletela (applicative) — in relation witn your imprecation. Hahletelanan 

 (mutual), — one in regard to the other. 



