Courts of justice are held in every village for trying cases that occur among the villagers. These courts are identical with the village parliament (68), and the members discuss the cases, some taking one side and some the other. The supreme court is regularly held in the chief’s village, and tries graver cases. It is identical with the supreme parliament of which the village headmen are members. Although the village headmen and the chiefs of the country preside over these courts, yet in many trials their influence is less than that of the sorcerer or the pounder of poison. Since the natives neither divide their days into weeks nor number the days of their “moons,” they have no stated time for holding courts, they just call them as occasion requires. 74. TRIALS. In a trial the accuser speaks first, and the accused replies. Afterwards the various members of the council (68, 70) give their views. Throughout the speeches there are expressions of approval at the close of each sentence, which serve to mark the punctuation. One man keeps crying out, “Amao! Atati! Nangolo!” “Mother! Father! Parent!”—words extolling the wisdom and experience of the speaker. The chief or headman on settling a fine does not claim part of it. The whole is paid over to the aggrieved persons, but if they thus obtain several slaves, they will present the chief with one in consideration of his services. The idea of friends paying each other is not agreeable to the native mind. Professional men such as sorcerers and physicians are paid, but transactions between a superior and his younger brother take the form of presents. The natives show here a beautiful delicacy of feeling that we are apt to overlook, amidst their obtrusive greed. An unsophisticated chief will give a goat as a present, where he would scowl very much at the idea of selling it, although it is true that he expects the return present to be greater than the proper price. The services of a judge are not such a hard task in this country: as there are no newspapers the chief and his companions feel the need of something to talk about. 75. EVIDENCE.