218 



THE CULT OF NYAKANG AND THE DIVINE KINGS OF THE SHILLUK 



Genealogy of 

 Ihe Shilluk 

 kings 



and nothing is said so long as it is not publiclj- known that she has become pregnant ; 

 but if this were discovered she would be killed, as would also the man responsible for her 

 condition. This rule, which until recently appeared to have been sternly carried out, led 

 to the frequent production of abortion. 



When one of the king's wives is pregnant she remains at Fashoda until the fourth or 

 fifth month, she is then sent to a village, not necessarily her own, where she remains under 

 the charge of the village chief (bsengY until the child is weaned, when she probably returns 

 to Fashoda. She usually takes a certain number of servants and cattle with her to the 

 village in which she will be confined, and these are generally left there after her departure 

 and become the property of the child, who is invariably brought up in the village where 

 it is born and in which it should also be buried. This rule applies equally to all royal 

 children of either sex in whatever part of the Shilluk territory they may happen to die.- 

 Sons are,- of course, more likely to leave the village in which they have been brought up 

 than their sisters, who, as they grow up, exercise considerable influence in the village, 

 where little of importance is done without their being consulted. 



It is noteworthy that no woman is sent twice to the same village to bear children, 

 though I believe that another royal wife may be sent, after an interval, to a village in which 

 there is already a royal child. 



Nyakang (1) 



Dag (2) 



I 

 Oshalo (3) 



I 

 Duwad (4) 



I 

 Bwotch (5) 



1 

 Dokor (6) 



1 

 Tugo (7) 



Okon (8) 



Kudit (11) 

 Nyakwatch (15) 



Nyadwai (9) 



Muka (10) Nur wad Nyadwai (12) 



I 

 Delgud (14) 



Wag wad Nyadwai (13) 



Nyababa (16) Akwot (18) Awin (17) Nyadok (20) 



Akoj (19) Kwadke (21) Ajang (22) Kur wad Nyadok (26) 



Yur Adodit (24) 



Fadiet wad Kwadke 

 (Eeigning King) 



Akol (25) Kwoe Kun (23) 



' A Tillage chief is often a kii-aniarct. I do not recall any instance of a ni'dret being a village chief, but do 

 not doubt that such exist. 



- Mrs. Seligmann learnt that the after-birth and umljilical cord of royal childi'eu are treated in the same 

 way as those of commoners, i.e., they are buried in the house enclosure. Considering the close relation that in 

 some parts of Africa {e.g. among the Baganda) exists between a man and the stump of his umbilical cord, it is not 

 unlikely that this j^ractice may have something to do with the king's grave shrine being built in the village 

 where he was born. 



