Chap. IX. COURTS OF LAW. 183 



sion a man, feeling his wrist held too tightly, said, " Hold me 

 gently, can't you? you will soon be led out in the same way 

 yourselves." Mpepe's men fled to the Barotse, and, it being 

 unadvisable for us to go thither during the commotion which 

 followed on Mpepe's death, we returned to Linyanti. 



The foregoing may be considered as a characteristic specimen 

 of their mode of dealing with grave political offences. In common 

 cases there is a greater show of deliberation. The complainant 

 asks the man, against whom he means to lodge his complaint, to 

 come with him to the chief. This is never refused. When both 

 are in the kotla, the complainant stands up and states the whole 

 case before the chief and the people usually assembled there. 

 He stands a few seconds after he has done this, to recollect if he 

 has forgotten anything. The witnesses to whom he has referred 

 then rise up and tell all they themselves have seen or heard, but 

 not anything that they have heard from others. The defendant, 

 after allowing some minutes to elapse so that he may not inter- 

 rupt any of the opposite party, slowly rises, folds his cloak around 

 him, and, in the most quiet, deliberate way he can assume — 

 yawning, blowing his nose, &c. — begins to explain the affair, 

 denying the charge or admitting it, as the case may be. Some- 

 times, when galled by his remarks, the complainant utters a sen- 

 tence of dissent ; the accused turns quietly to him, and says, 

 " Be silent : I sat still while you were speaking ; can't you do 

 the same? Do you want to have it all to yourself?" And as 

 the audience acquiesce in this bantering, and enforce silence, he 

 goes on till he has finished all he wishes to say in his defence. 

 If he has any witnesses to the truth of the facts of his defence, 

 they give their evidence. No oath is administered ; but occa- 

 sionally, when a statement is questioned, a man will say, " By 

 my father," or " By the chief, it is so." Their truthfulness among 

 each other is quite remarkable ; but their system of government 

 is such that Europeans are not in a position to realise it readily. 

 A poor man will say, in his defence against a rich one, " I am 

 astonished to hear a man so great as he make a false accusation ;" 

 as if the offence of falsehood were felt to be one against the 

 society which the individual referred to had the greatest interest 

 in upholding. 



If the case is one of no importance, the chief decides it at once ; 



