GAUAEONGA, THE GREAT CHIEF 171 



with slight variations, chiefly due to the voices being 

 sometimes in unison, sometimes in parts, in 3rds and 

 5ths, This musical salute completed, each man waved 

 his dagger or spear aloft, while the Bata Kuji dropped 

 to his knees and crawled to the Sultan's feet, pros- 

 trating himself in the dust. Then, as soon as the 

 ceremony was over, he seated himself humbly on the 

 edge of the rug beside the Sultan. 



The Magira passed immediately after the Bata Kuji, 

 and then the representatives of all the Sultan's wives 

 and sons and daughters. Curiously enough, the princes 

 themselves took no part in the ceremony. The rep- 

 resentatives — Kata, as they are called — are all men, 

 whether they represent the male or female sex. It 

 is not so in Bornu, where the customs are so far 

 similar that each royal personage has his own rep- 

 resentative ; but there the Magira, impersonator of 

 the queen, is a woman high in rank, and each woman 

 Is represented by one of her own sex. Captain Lucas 

 told us who all the dignitaries were, and the number 

 was something amazing. 



In a prominent position were the great religious 

 chiefs, and the three chiefs of war, whose office, be- 

 cause it Is of such vast Importance, aptly illustrates 

 the law of Impermanence. Once the second war-chief 

 fled from battle. It was at the Togbau hills, where 

 Bretonnet was killed and Gauaronga twice wounded, 

 so If ever there Is excuse there surely was then. 

 None who had showed such lack of courage might 

 continue to hold the post, however, so the war- chief 

 was deposed ; and not only that, his nose was slit 

 and his eyes torn out, so that he might be a shame 

 and a warning to all men for all time. However, 



