888.] 
Stay in Garenganze. 
229 
On the day set apart for the formal reception of Chitompa and 
her party Mr. Arnot was not well, so Mr. Faulknor and I went 
down to see the proceedings. On reaching the king's we saw 
him coming out with a head-dress of parrots' tail feathers; his 
body and arms were covered with cloth of the most gaudy colours, 
and his face was whitened with clay (the sign of a white heart !). 
Then came Chitompa, borne on her litter, dressed in a similar 
manner. The warriors followed, walking very slowly and singing 
their doleful war-song, while the skulls of their victims were to be 
seen either in their hands or dangling at their waists ; one even 
had a skull hanging from his teeth. They began their dance 
amidst the firing of guns, and kept it up in a monotonous way. 
Then, retiring in an orderly manner, they returned one by one, 
brandishing their spears, and laid the skulls at the feet of the 
king. The headman (captain) next gave about an hour's oration, 
after which he danced, and the women standing round about 
carried him small presents. Chitompa made her speech, danced, 
received presents, and retired. After this Molenga came and 
did likewise, and having declared his intention of going off to 
war soon, retired. Other headmen also made speeches. The 
king then came down from his litter, replied to the speeches, and 
made a lame attempt to dance. 
This ended the proceedings. Such scenes are very strange 
and wild to a new-comer, but their wars are not such bloody 
affairs as one might suppose. 
Msidi's rule is very severe, yet we do not altogether condemn 
him in this, for in no other way could order be kept among his 
people, and it must be clearly understood that he only is king, and 
that his authority is absolute. Take the following as an example. 
A young man whom I often saw, named Kaweya, was shot the 
other day by order of the chief He had received more than one 
warning, but gave little or no heed. Sometime ago he got drunk, 
and bit off the end of the finger of one of the king's wives. 
For this offence he was buried in the ground up to the neck for 
about six hours, and when taken out all his skin came off. For 
some other offence he received a like punishment, and was told 
that had he not been a chiefs son (one of those conquered by 
Msidi) he would have been shot for the first offence. Lastly, he 
was charged with throwing down one of Molenga's wives and 
