171 
1891 - 92 .] Dr R. W. Felkin on the Wanyoro Tribe. 
seized, bound with cords, and their throats cut as a holocaust to the 
Great Father. In Juaya ten unhappy creatures were killed. But 
the sacrifice was not to be completed till the next day, when the 
king stood erect in the hut of the mpoMgo, on the threshold of the 
large door of ingress, dressed in the traditional habit (a great mantle 
of stuff made from the bark of trees), surmounted by a leopard- 
skin hanging at his back and round his neck, his head crowned with 
talismans, his wrists, neck, and ankles ornamented with large glass 
beads, and holding his lance in his right hand. The members of the 
condo and all the nobles were arranged in a semi-circle in the great 
court sitting on their little benches. The guardian of the mpango 
stood at the right hand of the king holding high the fatal axe. 
Nuggave and a small chair belonging to the grand rite were placed 
in the front \ a large cup was on the ground a little way off. 
Terror and silence rested on the assembly. The king made a sign 
with his head, the great men rose, and bowing, as a sign of rever- 
ence, approached him. He touched one of them with the point of 
his spear on the shoulder; the chief advanced and extended his 
neck, the horrid axe descended, the blood was caught in the cup, 
the king with his fingers sprinkled some on his own forehead and 
cheeks, then on those of the great men ; grasping the vase, he 
poured the remaining blood on the drum and on the seat. The 
sacrifice was complete. Nuggare, seat, lance, and cup were raised 
and carried to the queen-mother. . . . The drums and fife sounded 
for a feast. They killed oxen, opened jars of beer, and the 
drunken people danced and enjoyed themselves upon the ground 
just bathed with the blood of the victims.” The rite is sometimes 
prolonged to the fifth day. 
In Unyoro, as among most African tribes, the appearance of a 
new moon is the signal for great rejoicing. As soon as she becomes 
visible, guns are fired, music commences to play, and a dance and 
carousal, which extend throughout most of the night, take place. 
When the new moon appears it is the custom for the magicians, 
from Kabrega downwards, to prepare their powders, their amulets 
and talismans, and during the first few days after the arrival of the 
new moon divination is practised. "With the exception of Casati, 
no one seems to have known or heard of human sacrifices on these 
occasions, but he writes as follows : — “ At every new moon human 
