THE KEDE: A RIVERAIN STATE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA 191
and believed to procure, and at the same time to keep within limits, the annual flooding of the Niger. The second ritual is the Ketsd, a sacrifice to the spirit of the huge rock of the same name which rises abruptly from midstream near Jebba (known to Europeans as Juju-rock); this sacrifice is believed to cure illness and barrenness and to secure luck in fishing or trade. The third ritual is the sacrifice to the Chain of Tsoede, a sacred relic which secures fertility, prevents illness, and is also used as an instrument of ordeal.
Now, these three rituals also occur among the Kede; the first two have in fact been, as it were, usurped by them, and made to some extent their own concern. The Kede chief holds himself responsible for certain special, most conspicuous, performances of these river ceremonies. Once a year a special Nddduma is performed in a place called Bazumagi, north of Jebba, the Kuta himself providing the sacrificial food, a white bull and honey. Unlike the local Nddduma rituals, the Nddduma of Bazumagi is enacted on behalf, not of a particular village, but of the whole population of the river valley. The chief's Nddduma also shows another feature which is absent in the local rite: the priest climbs a rock in midstream and throws a stone towards the bank; the spot where the stone falls is believed to mark the line to which the river will rise that year. The Ketsd becomes a chief's ritual at the appointment of a new Kuta. About one month after his accession the new chief sends a bull (preferably white) to Jebba Island to be sacrificed there by the local priest, again on behalf of the whole riverain community, to inaugurate and secure a prosperous reign. A special Chain of Tsoede finally is kept in Muregi, in the house of one of the chief's councillors (see p. 176). He performs the annual sacrifice of beer and the blood of a sheep, beer and animal being again provided by the Kuta himself.
It is interesting to note that in none of these rituals may the Kuta or any member of his family be present. Thus the double nature of these rites, which, though stamped chief's rituals, are essentially rituals of the kintso^ is conspicuously symbolized. The interests which they voice—the securing of safety and livelihood to the people on the river—are adopted and made their own by the Kede rulers. A single belief and a common cult comprise both rulers and ruled, notwithstanding the religious barriers which otherwise separate the two, and add to the political dependence of the kintsoy another, spiritual, dependence.