20 
Central Africa. 
the death of a chief, in order that the great man may not 
go into the spirit-world unattended. A small chieftain is 
content with the burying alive of only two or three wives, 
but a more powerful one must have a corresponding number 
sacrificed. The king himself sets the example of cruelty 
and oppression ; for should he walk about his house, his 
wives lie down to make a carpet for him to walk on; when 
he sleeps, half-a-dozen of them lie flat to form a mattress ; 
when he sits down, one of them must make a back as a 
kind of stool for the ruler. Kasongo punishes the smallest 
offences by cutting off ears, noses, lips, and hands, so that 
Lieutenant Cameron, when travelling in that part, on being 
introduced to the monarch, noticed with disgust, the whole- 
sale mutilation and maiming which had been carried on. 
Scarcely a courtier stood in the royal presence who had not 
suffered loss of a limb or limbs. 
The following ceremonies are said to be observed on 
the death of the king of the Urua- Kasongo country. The 
recital proves how low and brutal human nature becomes 
when destitute of the Gospel. The first proceeding is to 
divert the course of a stream, and in its bed to dig an 
enormous pit, the bottom of which is covered with living 
women. At one end a woman is placed upon her hands 
and knees, and upon her back the dead chief, covered with 
his beads and other treasures, is seated, being supported on 
either side by one of his wives, while his second wife sits 
at his feet. The earth is then shovelled in on them, and 
all the women are buried alive, except the second wife, to 
whom custom grants the privilege of being killed before the 
huge grave is filled in. This being completed, a number of 
male slaves, sometimes forty or fifty, are slaughtered, and 
their blood poured upon the grave, after which the river is 
allowed to resume its course." 
