The hare used to live on an island with the tiger-cats. He used to look after their camp and all the fish they caught. One day the hare stole the fish and ate them. He then tied himself up with ropes of twisted grass, and began to bawl at the top of his voice “Mawe! (my mother) Shangwe (my father) come and untie me.” When the tiger-cats came back, they found him thus, and asked him who had done it, and who had stolen the fish. The hare told them it was some strange people whom he did not know. So the next day one of the tiger-cats hid instead of going with the others, and saw the hare steal the fish and tie himself up. When the others heard this they got up in the middle of the night and left the island. When the hare woke, he found them gone, and no boat left for him to cross in. At the river bank he saw a crocodile, so he said, “Old cripple, carry me over to the other side!” So the crocodile agreed. As they were going over, the hare said, “Phew! Crocodile, you stink.” The crocodile said, “What is that you say?” The hare said, “I only said you make a splendid boat and swim very well.” When they got to the bank the hare jumped on to the shore and told the crocodile to put mud on his back and lie at the edge of the water. Then the hare went off and found the hyena. He told the hyena that he knew of a splendid bit of meat which he would share with him if only he would take it to the water and wash it. The hare then took the hyena and showed him the crocodile’s head by the water, and said, “There it is.” The hyena could not see the rest of the crocodile’s body because of the mud on it. So he went and made a grab at the meat. Then the hare called out to the crocodile: “There’s the meat I promised you;” so the crocodile seized the hyena and ate him. [Illustration: A Mumbunda Witch Doctor telling Fortunes] [Illustration: A Barotse Village Photo by J. Walton, Esq.] CHAPTER IX. Barozi Laws. The ancient laws and customs of the Barozi are respected by the Administration as long as there is nothing repugnant in them to the ideas of justice as represented by the present standards of British Law. It is endeavoured in this chapter to give a brief outline of the more important of their laws with the penalties ensuing on a breach thereof, as in vogue before the arrival of the present Administration. Homicide was not punishable by any fixed penalty, and no difference was made between murder and manslaughter. The penalty lay in the hands of relatives of the deceased, who could do one of four things to the guilty party, viz., to kill the guilty, to fine him, to take him as a slave or to let the matter drop. The last mentioned was naturally only done when politic to do so, the first penalty was generally resorted to when the guilty party was very poor and possibly useless as a slave. Compensation was nearly always settled by the assembled Kotla.