THE WAGANDA 



91 



labourers whenever he requires any. The smaller chiefs hold 

 from the greater chiefs on similar terms, and this system is 

 carried down to the smallest and humblest rank of chiefs. 



The Makope are the peasant and labouring class. They 

 used to be, to all intents and purposes, the serfs or slaves attached 

 to the land. In return for being allowed to cultivate their fields, 

 they had to work without payment for their chief. 



The king, when he wanted money, would claim it from the 

 great chiefs ; these, in their turn, would demand it from the sub- 

 chiefs, and so on ; the Makope at the bottom of the ladder being 

 ultimately the one who had to bear the burden and who was, 

 not unfrequently, mercilessly squeezed. 



The Makope or Waganda peasants dress in bark-cloth in 

 Roman toga fashion. The garment is knotted over one shoulder, 

 leaving the arms bare. 

 The men generally go 

 about barefoot and bare- 

 headed, though some are 

 adopting a head-covering 

 which is either a white 

 cotton skull-cap, a red 

 fez, or a small turban. 

 The system of extorting 

 unpaid labour out of 

 the Makope was formerly 

 universal. It was carried 

 so far that chiefs would 

 even order their men 

 to work without pay for 

 strangers. A chief, for 

 instance, would figure as 

 the generous supporter of 

 building a house for him 



WAGANDA PEASANTS. 



some particular missionary by 

 as a present, and would reap 

 thanks and praise for his liberality. In plain language, this 

 donation meant that the chief had compelled some unfor- 

 tunate peasants, under threat of punishment, to provide, 

 without any payment whatever, the necessary material and 

 labour ; the work to be done was divided amongst the men, 

 and each one had to do a certain portion. It has happened, 

 therefore, that the missionary has been left for a shorter or 

 longer period with part of some building unfinished, because 



