Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Centred Africa. 215 



There was a royal guild to which chiefs were admitted by a customary rite of 

 drinking sacred milk ; after which they were given a crown to wear. So 

 solemn was this rite, and so much dreaded, that chiefs who were admitted 

 often fainted during the ceremony under the strain. When admitted, they, 

 became a trusted body united to the throne by special ties. 



When a chief died his death was announced to the king in the following 

 manner; the relatives chose two or three of their number to go with a cow, 

 in the early morning, to the entrance gate of the royal enclosure. The men 

 drove the cow to the gate at a run and shouted the name of the dead person 

 saying " Death has robbed you " ; they then turned and fled for their lives, 

 because, near the gate were guards, belonging to the chief who had' charge of 

 the king's tombs. The guards charged after the fleeing men and, should they 

 catch one of them, they killed him on the spot. The guard then returned, 

 caught the cow in the roadway, and killed, cooked and ate as much of the 

 animal as they could before the sun rose. Any meat, bones or offal remaining 

 at dawn was buried before the sun shone upon it, and the place was cleaned. 

 The custom when a son is acknowledged to be heir to property is also of 

 interest ; the king was apprised and gave his consent to the choice. The 

 man must then appear in the king's presence and go through a form of 

 allegiance, before he enters on his inheritance. 



The annual custom when a man, chosen from a particular clan, is sent to 

 personify the late king and to reign in his tomb, is worth noting. The man 

 sits in the tomb as king and has full use of the widows ; he distributes royal 

 favours during the week he reigns, and is then taken to the back of the 

 tomb and strangled. 



From Bunyoro the expedition went to Soroti, on an arm of Lake Kioga 

 nearest to Karamojo. It was my desire to pass through Karamojo to 

 Turkana, and on to the Galla tribe near Lake Kudolf. In this I was 

 disappointed owing to tribal disturbances. It was considered unsafe to go 

 without an armed escort; and as that would have thwarted ethnological 

 research, I decided to go to Mount Elgon, passing through the Teso country, 

 and keeping south of Lake Salisbury. A few customs were studied among 

 the Bateso and Bagesu, who are naked people, and whom I found to be 

 ceremonial cannibals. 



Hearing there were initiation ceremonies being performed by the Bagesu 

 on Mount Elgon, I pushed forward to be in time to see them. In this I 

 was successful, though it required some tact and persuasion to be permitted 

 to see the actual circumcision rites. The details of these customs are 

 harrowing ; they call for great fortitude on the part of the candidate. The 

 youths are worked up for days to a high state of nervous resistance. On the 



