MAKING BLOOD-BROTHERS. 
85 
Swahili caravans give, meaning a certain quantity to 
each man, the total of which would not have nearly 
amounted to as much as we were offering them. Upon 
this threat they modified their demands, and received a 
mixed load of Americani (cotton sheeting), coloured 
cloth, and some iron wire. The question of hongo being 
satisfactorily settled, the crowd dispersed quietly, each 
man going his own way. 
The Wa-taveta religion is anything but complex ; 
they simply worship the spirits of their ancestors, and 
reverence in a small degree the sun and the moon. In 
common with all the other tribes, the curious custom 
prevails of making blood-brothers, a ceremony per¬ 
formed in the following manner :— 
A goat or sheep having been slaughtered and cooked, 
the two men about to become brothers make a small 
incision in the fore-arm above the wrist, and just deep 
enough to bring blood ; each then smears a piece of 
the cooked meat with the blood of the other, and having 
swallowed it, licks up any blood which may afterwards 
be left on his brother’s arm, who is now his sworn friend 
for life. In the same way treaties of friendship and 
alliance are sealed between the various tribes. Martin 
is a blood-brother of the Wa-taveta, the Moci chief 
Mandara, the Iviboso chief Sina, and of many other 
notabilities. I witnessed the ceremony performed be¬ 
tween him and a representative of the Ughono people 
in a rather unusual way, for Martin enlisted Caceche, 
our head black man, as proxy to eat the meat and to 
lick the blood from his Ughono brother’s arm. 
