114 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



The power of conviction is wholly in the hands of the 

 Mganga or medicine-man, who administers an ordeal 

 called Baga or Kyapo by boiling water. If the hand 

 after being dipped show any sign of lesion, the offence 

 is proven, and the sentence is instantly carried into exe- 

 cution. 



Instinctively conscious of their moral wants, the 

 Washenzi throughout this portion of East Africa have 

 organised certain customs w r hich have grown to laws. 

 The first is the Sare or brother oath. Like the 

 " manred " of Scotland, the " munh bola bhai " of India, 

 and similar fraternal institutions amongst most of the an- 

 cient tribes of barbarians in whom sociability is a passion, 

 it tends to reconcile separate interests between man and 

 man, to modify the feuds and discords of savage society, 

 and, principally, to strengthen those that need an alliance. 

 In fact, it is a contrivance for choosing relations instead of 

 allowing Nature to force them upon man, and the flimsi- 

 ness of the tie between brothers born in polygamy has 

 doubtless tended to perpetuate it. The ceremony, which 

 is confined to adults of the male sex, is differently per- 

 formed in the different tribes. Amongst the Wazaramo, 

 the Wazegura, and the Wasagara, the two " brothers " 

 sit on a hide face to face, with legs outstretched to the 

 front and overlapping one another ; their bows and 

 arrows are placed across their thighs, whilst a third per- 

 son, waving a sword over their heads, vociferates curses 

 against any one that may " break the brotherhood." A 

 sheep is then slaughtered, and its flesh, or more often its 

 heart, is brought roasted to the pair, who, having made 

 with a dagger incisions in each other's breasts close to 

 the pit of the stomach, eat a piece of meat smeared with 

 the blood. Among the Wanyamwezi and theWajiji the 

 cut is made below the left ribs or above the knee ; each 



