364 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



a dwarf three-legged stool, to wearing more brass wire 

 than beads, and to possessing clothes a little better than 

 those of their subjects. The " regulus " must make a 

 return present to strangers after receiving their offerings, 

 and in some cases must begin with gifts. He must listen 

 to the words of his councillors and elders, who, being 

 without salary, claim a portion of the presents and 

 treasure-trove, interfere on all occasions of blackmail, 

 fines, and penalties, demand from all petitioners gifts 

 and bribes to secure interest, and exert great influence 

 over the populace. 



Legitimacy is the rule throughout the land, and the 

 son, usually the eldest, succeeds to the father, except 

 amongst the Wasukuma of N. Unyamwezi, where the 

 line of descent is by the sister's son — the " surer side " 

 — for the normal reason, to secure some of the blood 

 royal for ruling. Even the widows of the deceased 

 become the property of the successor. This truly 

 African practice prevails also amongst the Bachwana, 

 and presents another of those curious points of resem- 

 blance between the Hamite and Semite races which have 

 induced modern ethnologists to derive the Arab from 

 Africa. The curious custom amongst the Wanyamwezi 

 of devising property to illegitimate children is not carried 

 out in the succession to power. Where there are many 

 sons, all, as might be expected, equally aspire to power ; 

 sometimes, however, of two brothers, one will consent to 

 hold authority under the other. In several tribes, espe- 

 cially in Usukuma, the widow of a chief succeeds to his 

 dignity in default of issue. 



Punishments are simple in East Africa. The sar, 

 vendetta or blood-feud, and its consequence, the diyat or 

 weregeld, exist in germ, unreduced, as amongst the 

 more civilised Arabs, to an artful and intricate system. 



