"It is
a secret society into which all the males are initiated at puberty,
whose procedure may not be seen by females, nor its laws disobeyed
by any one under pain of death, a penalty which is sometimes
commuted to a fine, a heavy fine.
Its discussions are uttered as an
oracle from any secluded spot by some man appointed for the purpose.
"On trivial occasions any initiated man may personate Ukuku or issue
commands for the family. On other occasions, as in Shiku, to raise
prices, the society lays its commands on foreign traders."
Some cases of Ukuku proceedings against white traders have come
under my own observation. A friend of mine, a trader in the Batanga
district, in some way incurred the animosity of the society's local
branch. He had, as is usual in the South-West Coast trade several
sub-factories in the bush. He found himself boycotted; no native
came in to his yard to buy or sell at the store, not even to sell
food. He took no notice and awaited developments. One evening when
he was sitting on his verandah, smoking and reading, he thought he
heard some one singing softly under the house, this, like most
European buildings hereabouts, being elevated just above the earth.
He was attracted to the song and listened: it was evidently one of
the natives singing, not one of his own Kruboys, and so, knowing the
language, and having nothing else particular to do, he attended to
the affair.
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