Machie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. 211 



of the tribes who are not of the same stock, and adhere to a milk diet. This 

 tribe contains the purest set of pastoral people in all that part of Central 

 Africa. Numbers of the lower classes in the country districts observe a pure 

 milk diet and abstain from eating any vegetables or any butcher's meat 

 except beef, and after eating beef they abstain from drinking milk for some 

 twelve hours. Here the idea of transmigration was common, the king being 

 supposed at death to become a lion. (Figs. 1 and 2, Plate 12.) 



I found that the king's sister, though called the queen, was permitted to 

 marry, and the other princesses married chiefs of their own tribe, though they 

 are careful to find a husband from another clan. This custom differs from 

 that of the other pastoral tribes, where princesses are forbidden to marry. 

 Throughout the country there exists clan exogamy, and descent is reckoned 

 through the male line. 



Marriage is chiefly contracted during infancy, the arrangements being made 

 by the parents of the two children. It was strange to find that, though the 

 people are on the whole a monogamous tribe, there are many instances of 

 polygamous marriages, especially if the first wife is sterile. Again, there is 

 the practice of polyandry, owing chiefly to economic conditions. A man who 

 wishes to marry and finds he is unable to provide the necessary amount of 

 milk for himself and wife, will invite one or more of his brothers to 

 join him, and together they will marry a wife. The woman does not 

 object to the multiplicity of husbands. The children born are reckoned as 

 the sons of the eldest brother. Another strange marriage custom is, that 

 when the husband's father visits his son, the son will vacate the house and 

 leave his wife for his father, who takes possession of the house and his 

 daughter-in-law. 



There is a firm belief in ghosts, and numbers of cows are devoted to the 

 ghosts of men. The mUk from these animals is daily placed before the shrine 

 for the ghost's acceptance, and later the man, with his children, will take a 

 sacred meal in the ghost's presence. Thus twice daily there is a communion 

 with the dead. 



The customs of the agricultural people in this district were also found to 

 be instructive. These are the aborigines, who are called slaves by the pastoral 

 people. They do the work for their superiors, such as tiUing the land, 

 herding goats and sheep, and keep their fowls. Goats and sheep are used for 

 trading purposes to buy salt for the cows and weapons for the men, and fowls 

 are wanted for divination. The customs of the agricultural people difi'er from 

 those of the pastoral people, though the former seem to have adopted many 

 of the customs of their masters. (Figs. 3 and 4, Plate 13.) 



The ethnologist soon learns that in the district, now known as Ankole, 



