_Petty theft_, as of a fowl, is punished among the Magololo by flogging with whips of elephant hide. There is no formal trial. If the criminal says he has not stolen, the chief says he is a liar, which, to do the chief justice, is often the case. Cropping a thief’s ears, and cutting off his fingers, are also practised. Few Yao take such decided measures even with their slaves. For _theft_ of anything more valuable the punishment is death. A man that steals a sheep or a goat is stabbed and thrown into the river. On other occasions he is flogged to death with whips of elephant hide. “But do they always want to kill a thief when they flog him?” “No, sometimes they stop before he is dead, and then the man’s companions remark, ‘You have been very fortunate to-day!’” At other times a thief is made a public _example_, in which case he has his hands and his feet, or one or more of these members, cut off, and is placed in the forum for “two days”. After this he is killed and thrown into the river. We asked, “But does not the man bleed to death in a short time?” “Not always,” was the reply, “but the place where he sat is covered with his blood, and the chief kills a goat, which is disembowelled on that spot”. The Yao do not often kill or mutilate in this way except in cases where they can get no compensation: but when they catch an enemy, they cut off his hand and tell him to go home and show how he has been received. _Adultery_ with their own wives the Magololo all punish with death. But when the crime is only among their people, their punishment is not uniform. Chiputula inflicts capital punishment on all adulterers, remarking that “next day they would interfere with his own wives”. Makukani, when one of his men complains against another, may order the accused to hand over his wife for a week or more to the accuser. When one of these chiefs wishes to make an example of an adulterer, the method is as barbarous as can well be conceived. The victim has his hand or some other part of his body cut off, and he is then compelled to eat it. I was unwilling to believe this, till I met men that had been eye-witnesses on several occasions, and then it appeared that the custom was notorious. We asked, “Why do the criminals consent to eat part of their bodies?” The reply was, “The chief persuades (nyenga) or cheats them to do so. They think that if they eat, he will allow them to live.” But in all such cases execution soon follows. The practices of the Magololo not only furnish an illustration of how individual slaves and captives are treated, but show how a strong government in a barbarous land may “grind” its subjects. After a chief has been successful in many wars, he begins to think that both his slaves and his own kinsmen derive all life and property from him, and hold these privileges during his pleasure. CHAPTER XV. WITCHCRAFT. 105. THE POISONED CUP (MWAI.)