TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 627 
principle applies to domestic organisation also. Thus a man with his wife and 
children does not live to himself for his own aggrandisement or theirs, but as a 
unit of a larger family, owing allegiance to the senior, or patriarch, who is, as 
a rule, the oldest male member of a generation, granting his physical fitness for 
the post, which bears with it clearly defined and often onerous duties. There 
is, however, no ‘socialism’ or ‘collectivism,’ in that the rights of the individual 
to the fruits of his personal labour are strictly respected by other members of 
his tribe. Besides blood-relations the family consists of dependants and slaves, 
who all owe allegiance to the Family Head. In many tribes these patriarchs 
formed a Council of Elders and together directed the affairs of the community, 
under the chairmanship of one of their number, who, in this limited sense, 
became Village-Chief. Those tribes, however, who had united for purposes of 
defence and expansion, recognised one Tribal Chief who was supreme over all, 
and he would often appoint sub-chiefs with jurisdiction over certain clearly 
defined areas. ; 
Whichever form of constitution is adopted, the executive and judicial func- 
tions of Government are not separated. Sometimes the Chiefs also performed 
the duties of High Priest; sometimes, however, others were appointed to this 
office, and it occasionally occurred that they snatched the power of the Chiefs 
and reduced them to servility; but in a firmly established and prosperous tribe 
we never find the two authorities in conflict. Punishment for crimes inflicted 
by the communal authority very generally takes the form of compelling the 
criminal to compensate the injured party, though amongst certain communities 
habitual malefactors are sold out of or banished from their tribe. In cases 
where guilt or innocence is believed to exist but is hard to prove, the judicial 
executive shelter themselves behind ordeal, when, to take a common instance, 
the accused is invited to establish his innocence by drinking water poisoned with 
sasswood, the Elders having already decided the effect it is to have. Death by 
ordeal is therefore a mode of execution like any other. 
This is a good example of a perfectly reasonable custom, which, however, at 
the first glance appears senseless and barbarous to our ideas. 
The second section of the paper gave examples illustrating the customs 
outlined above, which can only be briefly epitomised here. 
Ingara tribe: history available since fifteenth century: origin and develop- 
ment : administrative organisation : succession of Chief : taxation : land system : 
mode of administering justice by family heads, travelling judges, chief justice, 
with appeal to Chief. 
Gamawa tribe : mode of administering justice. 
Batta tribe: alternative succession to Chiefdom: sub-chiefs: taxation: land 
system: settlement of disputes by family heads: punishments: ordeals. 
Verre tribe: office of Chief and High Priest combined: ordeals, by poison 
and hunting dangerous game. 
Mumye tribe: no distinct Chief: government by family heads, physical 
fitness essential. Aggrieved parties permitted to extract compensation from 
aggressor on fixed scale. 
Angass tribe: cannibalism: Chief elected by council of four elders: fune 
tions of Chief, administrative and religious. 
Jukum tribe: historical note from eleventh century : Chieftainship, absolute 
power coupled with brief tenure. 
Munshi tribe : organisation, conglomeration of families: signalling : sasswood 
ordeal, mode of discriminating by Chief. 
Bassa tribe: intermixture with other tribes: emigrations: land system: 
administration of justice: ordeal: punishments: domestic slavery. 
6. Some Notes on Hausa Magic. 
By Major A. J. N. Tremearne, M.A. 
The Hausa resorts to magic not only for success in love, in agriculture, in 
hunting, and in war, but also to part married couples, to destroy a rival’s pro- 
perty, and to promote trade. The charms are prepared by mallams (Moham- 
medan priests) or bokas (medicine men), while the more important members of 
ss 2 
