THE WAZARAMO. 



113 



bloody or bleached fragments of humanity collected in a 

 single spot. When disposed to be friendly the Waza- 

 ramo will act as porters to Arabs, but if a man die his 

 load is at once confiscated by his relatives, who, how- 

 ever, insist upon receiving his blood-money, as if he had 

 been slain in battle. Their behaviour to caravans in 

 their own country depends upon the strangers' strength ; 

 many trading bodies therefore unite into one before 

 beginning the transit, and even then they are never 

 without fear. 



The Wazaramo chiefs are powerful only when their 

 wealth or personal qualities win the respect of their 

 unruly republican subjects. There are no less than five 

 orders in this hereditary master-class. The P'hazi is the 

 headman of the village, and the Mwene Goha is his prin- 

 cipal councillor ; under these are three ranks of elders, 

 the Kinyongoni, the Chiima, and the Kawambwa, The 

 headman, unless exceptionally influential, must divide 

 amongst his " ministry" the blackmail extorted from tra- 

 vellers. The P'hazi usually fills a small village with 

 his wives and families ; he has also large estates, and he 

 personally superintends the labour of his slave-gangs. 

 He cannot sell his subjects except for two offences — 

 Ugoni or adultery, and Uchawe or black magic. The 

 latter crime is usually punished by the stake ; in some 

 parts of the country the roadside shows at every few 

 miles a heap or two of ashes with a few calcined and 

 blackened human bones mixed with bits of half-consumed 

 charcoal, telling the tragedy that has been enacted 

 there. The prospect cannot be contemplated without 

 horror ; here and there, close to the larger circles where 

 the father and mother have been burnt, a smaller heap 

 shows that some wretched child has shared their terrible 

 fate, lest growing up he should follow in his parents' path. 



VOL. I. I 



