XXV.] 



BURIAL OF A WARUA CHIEF. 



333 



which are probably iineqiialed in 



eons I brought in were a 

 welcome addition to my 

 larder ; and an occasional 

 visit from Fume a Kenna 

 also somewhat varied the 

 monotony. 



I also busied myself in 

 collecting a vocabulary of 

 Kirua, and in inquiring 

 into the manners and cus- 

 toms of the people, and 

 by this means became ac- 

 quainted with the cere- 

 monies observed at the 

 burial of a chief of Urua 

 their savagery. 



The iirst proceeding is to divert the course of a stream, and 

 in its bed to dig an enormous pit, the bottom of which is then 

 covered with living women. At one end a woman is placed on 

 her hands and knees, and upon her back the dead chief, covered 

 with his beads and other treasures, is seated, being supported 

 on either side by one of his wives, while his second wife sits at 

 his feet. The earth is then shoveled in on them, and all the 

 women are buried alive with the exception of the second wife. 

 To her, custom is more merciful than to her companions, and 

 grants her the privilege of being killed before the huge grave 

 is tilled in. This being completed, a number of male slaves 

 — sometimes forty or fifty — are slaughtered and their blood 

 poured over the grave ; after which the river is allowed to re- 

 sume its course. 



Stories were rife that no fewer than a hundred women were 

 buried alive with Bambarre, Kasongo's father ; but let us hope 

 that this may be an exaggeration. 



Smaller chiefs are buried with two or three wives, and a few 

 slaves only are killed that their blood may be shed on the grave ; 

 while one of the common herd has to be content with solitary 

 burial, l)eing placed in a sitting posture, with the right forefin- 

 ger pointing heavenward, just level with the top of the mound 

 over his grave. 



April, 

 1875. 



