If the mugiro ceremonies are not properly carried out, the spirit of the murdered man will go back to his village, cry out in the night like a child, and enter into one of the villagers, who will become as one possessed. The people will call out to him, “Who are you?” and he will reply, “I am So-and-so” (mentioning the deceased). “I have come because I have been abandoned.” A near blood relative of the deceased must then take a male goat or sheep, if the deceased was a man, or a young ewe, mwati, if the victim was a woman, into the bush, where it is killed by strangulation, and immediately it is dead its throat is pierced and the blood allowed to run out on the ground. They then carve a [[234]]piece of meat from each limb and part of the animal, and place them in a heap, the bones also being placed in another heap, and left there. Any meat that remains is eaten by the elders; the person who was possessed of the ngoma, or spirit, of the deceased then recovers.
The customs vary according to different cases, the compensation for the murder of a woman being only thirty sheep or goats and three rams.
If a man murders his cousin on his mother’s side of the family, the father of the murderer collects fifty sheep or goats, and pays them to the head of the family of the deceased, and the recipients usually kill an ox which is eaten by both parties; the elaborate ritual described above is not observed because of the blood relationship which exists.
If a man kills his brother or sister by the same mother there is no compensation—the case very rarely arises; the father would, however, kill a sheep and make his children eat it together.
If a pregnant woman is struck and injured by a man, and miscarries in consequence, the elders are called in to settle the matter. The culprit has to bring two male sheep; first one is killed and eaten by the villagers and the elders, but not by the woman. The second is eaten by the woman and visitors, but not by the elders.
Some of the fat and meat of this second animal is cooked in a pot with some bitter herbs, and the woman drinks the decoction, this being evidently in the nature of a purification; it is called theria nda, to purify the belly. The people present who are nearly related, either to the offender or the woman, are then invested with rukwaru, or wristlets, made of the skin of the sheep first mentioned.
This is not a matter for the athuri ya ukuu, but the ordinary councillors, athuri ya kiama.
Ukamba.—In Ukamba there is a general similarity of ideas, but a considerable difference in ceremonial.
The general compensation for the murder of a man [[235]]is thirteen cows, two bulls, and fifty goats; and for a woman six cows, two bulls, and one goat.
In each case the actual blood money is twelve cows and five cows respectively, the balance being for the ceremonies necessary to wipe out the blood stains, and which bear the name of etumo.