people persisted in regarding her as their proper ruler, and she was allowed to retain her court-retinue, of whom her husband, Manengo, was the head; she had moreover a chancellor and a captain of the guard, both of whom were appointed viceroys in her dominions. I myself made the acquaintance of Sambe, her premier, as well as of several of her chiefs, Nubiana a Marutse, Moquele, Mokoro, and two Masupias, Monamori and Simalumba.
Sepopo had both a privy-council and a general council. Under a queen a privy-council has no existence at all, and in Sepopo’s hands it was entirely his tool, composed of men as cruel as himself. Nor in his time was the general council itself, made up mainly of state officials, much better than a farce; whatever decisions it might arrive at, and whatever sentences it might pass, were completely overruled in the other chamber. Besides the state officials the larger council always included any chiefs or subordinate governors who might be resident near the royal quarters.
Although Sepopo had several times changed his residence he had hitherto generally succeeded in getting a council fairly amenable to his authority; recently, however, his barbarities, and especially the wholesale way in which he was putting people to death upon the slightest pretext, had brought about a spirit of dissatisfaction. Conscious of the growing opposition, the king proceeded to yet greater severity in his dealings, and condemned number of the leading counsellors, both of the Marutse and Barotse kingdoms, to be executed, an arbitrary measure which only served to hasten his downfall.
By the tribes of the Marutse kingdom in general
