366 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



the chief's permission, and the issue of his order is 

 regulated by his own interests. Amongst the hunting 

 tribes, slain elephants become the hunter's property, 

 but the Sultan claims as treasure-trove a tusk of any 

 animal found wounded or dead in his dominions, and 

 in all cases the spoils of dead lions are crown pro- 

 perty. The flesh of game is distributed amongst the 

 elders and the ruling family, who also assert a claim to 

 the cloth or beads purchased by means of the ivory from 

 caravans. Some have abclitaria and considerable stores 

 of the articles most valued by barbarians. Through- 

 out the slave-paths the chiefs have learned to raise 

 revenue from the slaves, who thus bribe them to forbear 

 from, robbery. But whilst the stronger require large 

 gifts without return, the weaker make trifling presents, 

 generally of cattle or provisions, and expect many times 

 the value in brass wire, cloth, and beads. The stranger 

 may refuse these offerings ; it is, however, contrary to 

 custom, and as long as he can afford it he should submit 

 to the imposition. Fiscs and fines are alarmingly fre- 

 quent. If the monsoon-rains delay, the chief summons 

 a Mganga to fix upon the obstructor ; he is at once 

 slain, and his property is duly escheated. The Sultan 

 claims the goods and chattels of all felons and executed 

 criminals, even in the case of a servant put to death by 

 his master. In the more republican tribes the chief 

 lives by the sweat of his slaves. Briefly, East Africa 

 presents an instructive study of human society in its 

 first stage after birth. 



I will conclude this uninteresting chapter — attribute 

 its dulness, gentle reader, to the effects of the climate 

 and society of Konduchi — with a subject which strikes 

 home to the heart of every Englishman, slavery. 



The origin of slavery in East Africa is veiled in the 



