242 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. VI 



Upon hearing these words the old men rose to their 

 feet, and danced with excitement and fury ; but after 

 a short time they calmed down, and said that surely 

 the next day would see the treaty made. We ascer- 

 tained that the reason why the principal leaders among 

 the Embe appeared so bent upon prolonging the dis- 

 cussion of any question was that it was customary for 

 these old men, when considering a weighty matter to 

 subsist entirely upon a meat diet. The meat they eat 

 is the flesh of either sheep or goats, derived from the 

 fines which they inflict upon any delinquents in the 

 tribe who have been brought to them for trial. 



Meat is considered so highly as a luxury, among 

 these people, that one of these old men is willing 

 to speak for an hour or two upon any subject, in 

 order to secure a pound or two of flesh. A story, 

 illustrating the methods of these elders in such mat- 

 ters, came to my ears during my stay among the 

 Embe upon this occasion. An old man possessing 

 a small flock of ten goats was accused by a neighbour 

 of having stolen two from him. Immediately the 

 old men of the adjacent villages assembled to dis- 

 cuss the matter, and mete out justice to the contend- 

 ing parties. They spent five days in the discussion, 

 during which time two goats per diem were needed 

 for their sustenance, which was supplied by the 

 defendant to the action. When they found his stock 

 had become exhausted, they adjudged the case in his 

 favour, and forced the plaintiff to pay to the defendant 

 two goats, for having accused him falsely, 



I found that the government of the Embe was 

 in a sense patriarchal, in that the policy of the 



