THE NGWATO OF BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE 69
committed against ordinary tribesmen. Disloyalty and revolt against his authority are major crimes, punished as a rule, in the olden days, by death and the confiscation of the culprit's property, and nowadays by banishment or some other penalty inflicted directly by the Administration.
Despite the curtailment of his traditional rights and powers, the chief still plays a very prominent part in the government of the tribe. He decides upon questions of tribal policy, and can make regulations binding upon his subjects.1 He determines upon and arranges for the execution of all important public works. He supervises the conduct of his subordinate authorities, and in case of extreme incompetence or abuse of office can replace his district governor by some other man, or depose the hereditary head of a ward or community, whose duties then fall to the man next in line of succession. Much of his time is spent daily in his kgotte (council-place), where he listens to news, petitions, and complaints from all over the tribe, and gives orders for whatever action may be necessary. He must protect the rights of his subjects, provide justice for the injured and oppressed, and punish wrongdoers. Before the establishment of the Protectorate, he was the supreme judge of the tribe. This function has been taken over by the Administration, but his court is still the highest Native tribunal, to which a right of appeal lies from the verdicts of the others. In the olden days, such serious offences as treason, homicide, assault, rape, and sorcery could be punished only by him and his court. They have now been removed to the jurisdiction of the European authorities, but he still adjudicates over all other breaches of tribal law and has greater punitive powers
1 Legislation of this sort does not seem to have played a conspicuous part in the old tribal life, the chiefs being more concerned to maintain the existing law than to alter it. In more recent times, owing to the new conditions created by contact with Europeans, legislation by the chief has become a frequent occurrence. Kgama introduced so many changes that the people themselves sometimes distinguish between 'traditional Native law' and 'Kgama's law', although both are equally binding upon them. Among other things, he accepted Christianity as the official religion of the tribe; abolished bogadi (bride-wealth), and discouraged polygamy among the Ngwato proper, although not among his subject communities; abolished most of the old tribal ceremonies; prohibited the .sale, manufacture, and drinking of Kafir beer and other intoxicating liquors throughout his Reserve; regulated the sale of corn and breeding-cattle to European traders; modified the customary rules of inheritanceT so that daughters should also inherit cattle; prohibited the movement of wagons through the villages on Sunday; and officially protected certain big game animals.