THE BEMBA TRIBE OF NORTH-EASTERN RHODESIA 107
V. The Machinery of Government
Within each district there are a series of officials, messengers, &c., who carry out the activities of government and the different forms of ritual on which the chief's power depends. Some of these are personal followers of the chief promoted by him for their special loyalty (e.g. the bafilolo, basano), while others are hereditary officials who are more independent of their ruler's favour (e.g. bafilolo and bafingo). All these different dignitaries can be classed under various functional heads, i.e. :
(a) Administrative. These include the executive officials in charge of business in the umusumba and those responsible for carrying out the chief's orders in the icalo at large. Within the capital the most important are the heads of divisions (bafilolo), who are appointed from among the chief's personal friends. These are charged with keeping the peace of the village, organizing the tribute labour from the capital, allotting land for cultivation, which is often necessary in the bigger settlements, arranging hospitality for visitors—an important task at the capital—and acting as a panel of advisers on all occasions (cf. judicial', below). Besides these elder men, there are at the umusumba a number of courtiers and in the old days young men (bakalume ba mfumu). Young boys, often members of the royal clan, were, and still occasionally are, sent to court to be educated there, and some families remain as courtiers for several generations apparently. All these act as messengers, attendants, and in the old days took duty as executioners.
As regards the country at large, the main difficulty was keeping in touch with the scattered villages. The Bemba have no general meeting like the pitso of the Sotho peoples or the Hbandla of the Nguni. For the chief's orders to be conveyed to his villages, messengers have to go to and fro. Other officers are required to recruit the tribute labourers and to demand beer or produce for the chief, and to apprehend criminals. Since some villages are sixty miles or so from the capital, an enormous amount of time is spent in coming and going in this way and even with the introduction of the bicycle a great many messengers of one sort or another are still required. In the old days courtiers and younger relatives of the chief acted in this capacity. Nowadays they have anything from four to