[Sidenote: Fornication, adultery, and incest severely punished by
other African tribes.] Among the Basoga, who border on the Baganda to
the east, when a man got a virgin with child, the guilty couple used
to be dragged off to the River Ntakwe; there stones were tied to their
ankles and legs, and, along with a sacrificial sheep, they were thrown
into the water and drowned. However, this rigorous penalty was
abolished and a fine substituted before the country came under British
rule.[65.3] Among the Kavirondo, who border on the Basoga to the {66}
east, “until quite recently adultery on the part of a wife was
punished with death, and death equally was meted out to young men and
girls who were found guilty of fornication. It was thought a shameful
thing if a girl was not found to be a virgin on her wedding
day.”[66.1] Among the Nandi, who border on the Kavirondo to the
north-east, “incest, intercourse with a step-mother, step-daughter,
cousin or other near relation, is punished by what is known as
_injoket_. A crowd of people assemble outside the house of the
culprit, who is dragged out, and the punishment is inflicted by the
women, all of whom, both young and old, strip for the occasion. The
man is flogged, his houses and crops destroyed, and some of his stock
confiscated.”[66.2] Among the Barea, a tribe on the borders of
Abyssinia, when a single woman, whether maid or widow, is found with
child, she is strangled by her father or brother, and the same
punishment is inflicted on her seducer; the child of their unlawful
union is stabbed. This custom is rigorously carried out, except when
the seducer is a noble and his paramour a vassal; in that case both
are spared, but the infant is killed.[66.3] Among the Beni Amer,
another tribe of the same region, an unmarried girl found pregnant is
put to death by her own brother, whatever her rank, and the seducer is
killed by his own brother; the child also is slain. But the law is not
so severe on a widow or divorced wife who is detected in a slip; her
seducer has only to pay a fine; but the child is buried alive. The
Beni Amer will not suffer a bastard to live.[66.4] Among the Anyanja
of British Central Africa adultery was punished by drowning and
shooting. If one of the culprits was a chief’s wife, she was tied to
her paramour, and the pair were then thrown into a river to drown or
left in the open space of the village to die of hunger and exposure. A
man who had committed a rape was bound, weighted with stones, and cast
into the lake.[66.5] Among the Awemba of Northern Rhodesia, {67} when
a husband detected his wife in the act of adultery, he killed both her
and her partner in guilt. For such execution he might not be indicted
for murder or manslaughter. He would merely return the blood-stained
spear to the woman’s father, who by his words in the marriage
ceremony, “You shall spear the man who lusts after your wife,” was
estopped from taking vengeance for the death of his daughter. If the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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