LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 89 



becomes giddy, and is thus easily detected. This custom, 

 observed also in Uganda, is now disappearing, like so many 

 other peculiarities, before the partial civilisation of the country, 

 consequent on the Egyptian occupation. What I now note as 

 customary may after a few years have become half legendary. 



The whole of Unyoro is divided into large districts, over 

 each of which a makungo, temporarily appointed by the king, 

 presides, whose duty it is to collect the contributions of cattle, 

 corn, &c, due to the sovereign, and to administer justice ; but 

 he does not possess the right of pronouncing the sentence of 

 death, which belongs to the monarch alone — not as in Uganda, 

 where every makungo may put a man to death. Appeals are 

 often made to the king by those sentenced by the makungo. 

 The petitioner kneels down before Kabrega's door at a dis- 

 tance of ten paces, and sets forth his requests. Kabrega 

 then decides — not always in favour of the makungo. A 

 makungo is dependent for provisions for himself and those 

 belonging to him on the district he administers, in which 

 he cultivates large tracts by means of his own slaves, and has 

 his own herds. If he acquits himself of his duties well, he 

 remains in office ; if not, a small executive force is sent by 

 the king, his zeriba is surrounded, and everything it contains 

 — wives, children, herds, &c, with the exception of grown-up 

 sons — is confiscated on behalf of the king. Another makungo 

 is appointed, who immediately enters into his office. They 

 are bound to present themselves from time to time at the 

 king's court with presents. Each makungo appoints a number 

 of matongali, who administer sub-divisions of the district on 

 the same principles. A makungo usually retains all the 

 matongalis he finds in power on taking office, and hence this 

 dignity is far more permanent than the other, often indeed it 

 has become hereditary. Punishments consist for the most 

 part in the confiscation of girls, women, and cows ; a sentence 

 of death is but seldom decreed by the king, for, as Kabrega 

 very justly observed to me, " a dead man pays no taxes." 

 Here,, as in Uganda, the bodies of those who are put to death 

 may not be buried, but are thrown into tall grass. 



My huts were situated on a hill, which slopes away gently 

 towards the west and north, while towards the east and south 



