Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-07

| potatoes and tobacco. Coffee grows WHO.
and II is said to he good
| The Sesse Islanders are much like the
| Baganda. Both sexes dress in bark cio1h
| and the women wrap bark blankets
| around their bodies under the arms, leaV-
ing the shoulders and upper breast bare.
Only the babies are allowed TO go naked
| These people are good fishermen. ana
| they have we'll made canoes They man
| ufacture them from trees of soft wood.
cutting the logs into boards and then
tyins the boards together with leather
thongs and calking them Some sucn
1 boats will hold one hundred men. In
olden times it is said that certain kings
of the Sesse group had as many as four
hundred canoes
Speaking of the missionaries. the Ses<e
Islanders are to large extent now Chris
| tians. In the past their country was d
| seat of heathenism and the home OF
| the famed goddess Muhasa who ruled
| all Victoria Nyanza. This goddess had q
| temple on the island OF Bubembe. Her
| priests were supposed to own the island:
| and the descendant of enc Of them named
Gugu is now it's proprietor. Gugu mas
$500 acres Of land. and is rich In ba-
nanas.
rifices to Mukasa. They contributed Hooks
OF sheep and goats. and that In such
numbers that when the royal sacrifices
were made the blood ran in streams from
the gates OF the temple down into the
present king OF Uganda. once sent l'n
slaves. 100 women. 100 COWS and 1m goats
at one time TO this goddess.
They Eat Dead Men
It 1. on the Sesse Islands that the
Secret Society OF the Bachichi, who have
the custom of eating dead human beings.
is believed to have its head, and at pres
xnt all who die there are watched by
their relatives for eight days to prevent
their being so consumed. 4 similar Gus
tom exists In Uganda. and also along the
upper shores o. Lake Tanganyika l met
German trader during my stay at
Mwanza who had just returned after
long march from Tanganyika. During this
trip lie went from Cjiji. at the center or
the lake. along the eastern shore 10 the
top and spent some time with the natives
He tells me that thes people of the diner.
ent villages there are closely related. and
that when a man dies his family at once
sends word to their relatives OF the neigh
boring villages TO come and take posses.
sion of the body. They do so and then
prepare a feast OF which the dear de-
parted is the piece de resistance The
body is cut up and roasted over the hre
or boiled with bananas In an earthen pot.
No one of the village to which the man
belonged is allowed TO join In the horrible
feast, and the family of the dead are
not allowed to be present. Such bodies
are taken away in the daytime. soon a ter
| death, and the process sion carrying them
is OF four men who use a sack for the
purpose.
These people are called the Manyema
and until recently they have accompanied
The burial of their chiefs with human sac
rifices, ten living women being buried i'll
each grave. The legs of the women were
broken at the knees and their arms at
the elbows and they were then laid nat
in the grave with the dead body OF the
chief on top of them After this ten
live men-whose arms and legs were brok-
en- in the same way were placed over the
top of the chief. and the grave was then
filled up. My authority for this last state
ment is j. F. Cunningham. a fellow of
the Royal Geographic Society of London,
who for some years was one of the chef
British employees in this part of Africa.
My German friend told me that the off,
Gals about Lake Tanganyka have bean
trying to stop the practice of eating the
dead. but that the natives are supersti-
tious in regard to it, and that II still go s
Islands that our ship coasted the shores
OF the Island of the Dead. which lies
almost opposite the German military sta
ton of Bukoba. 1t is a little rocky mass.
covering but a few acres. which rises
out of the lake almost straight upward
for several hundred feet. There is
bluff at one end, and in this there are
caves which the natives from the main
land use as their burial vaults. They
bring the bodies over in canoes and lay
them away in the caves TO rest.
Farther back in the country the Bazi
bas. as these people are called. have
public cemeteries in which they bury
their chiefs In an odd way AS 10 the
ordinary people. when they pass away.
they are wrapped in bark cloth ard are
placed in deep graves after which
tree is planted over each TO mark his
resting place. The chiefs are buried.
sitting or standing. in holes in the ground
The body is so placed that when the
earth has been thrown back the head
still remains above the surface. the man
being buried UP to the neck as II were.
Sometimes earthenware pot is placed
over the head to protect 1t. but usually
there is no covering o. any kind. Sem
tries are Set to watch the grave night
and day for period of two months. A
brother of the dead man comes to the
grave once every day to see that the
watch is properly kept and that the
head does not suffer from the attacks OF
birds. wild beasts or even of the do
mestic animals belonging to the village.
At the end of the watching the head is
buried and a new chief is elected
/ saw graves everywhere during my
travels in Uganda. The people bury the
dead in their gardens. and common
place of burial is al the corner or in front
Of the hut. Sometimes a house is built
for the mourners. outside the family of
the deceased. The mourning usually lasts
a month and at the end of that time al
dispense and go to their homes
Graves of this kind are usually in the
banana bushes and they are often covered
with dried grass or banana fibers The
corpse is washed with banana pulp
squeezed from the stem of the plant and
is wrapped up in bark cloth.
The Buvuma Islanders bury their dead
in much the same way, and they also
erect shelters over them. These are baby
huts in which the spirits are supposed
to live; they are renewed from time to
time when i'm need Of repairs. The graves
are often marked by planting trees over
them.
The Basukumas, among whom Travelled
about the lower part of Lake Victoria.
bury their dead in cattle hides The body
is wrapped up In the skin Of an animal.
Just killed. and the grave ID dug right In
the center of the cowyard The poor
men, who have no cattle. and women
and boys are often buried IN leaves I'm tho
same locality. At the same time the
meat Of the slaughtered beast is roasted
and eaten at the wake: and the funeral,
If that of big man. ends in all growing
drunk over banana beer, which they suck
through straws from their gourd stems.