588 



BAXTU NEGROES 



appalling depopulation of the country consequent on civil wars and foreign 

 invasions. The animals or plants chosen as totems are much the same 

 as in I'ganda, varying, however, with the existence or non-existence of the 

 symbols in the flora and fauna of Unyoro. There is probably a greater 

 preponderance of antelopes as totems compared with what occurs in Uganda. 

 It is unlawful bv custom for a ]\Iunyoro to kill or eat the totem of his clan. 

 Thus, if the hartebeest should be the totem of a clan or family, members 

 of this clan must not kill or eat the hartebeest. I have never been able 

 to ascertain either from Banyoro or Baganda that their forefathers at 

 any time believed the clan to be actually descended from the object 

 chosen as a totem. The matter remains very obscure. It may be remotely 

 connected with ancestor-worship, which is certainly the foundation of such 

 religious beliefs as are held by the Banyoro, as by most other Negro races. 

 Each tribe or clan has its own " muchwezi." This word is translated by 

 the missionaries as " High Priest." " Muchwezi," however, really seems to 



332. A HAM AND EWE OF THE LAKCE K AT-'J'Al LED UNYOKO BKEED OF SHEEP 



mean two things, or the same thing with two meanings. It indicated 

 originally both the ghost of an ancestor or chief and the individuals of 

 the superior, light-coloured Gala race of almost Caucasian stock, which 



