ABSTRACT
Two activities which are closely linked with sacrifice at the groves of chiefs, but which are distinguished from them because they consist in the manipulation of medicines, rather than prayers and oblations, are 'rain-making' and 'sprinkling the homesteads' to ensure fertility of the soil. Rain-makers are men who use perforated instruments called 'rain' to produce rain or sunshine. The technique of 'making' rain was to seal the holes in the perforated instruments with ointment and immerse them in water. The rain instrument that helped Kyungu was called Mulima. In theory the rain-maker always works under the direction of the political authority—the Kyungu or a chief—but he is also thought to wreak vengeance on those who anger him. A showery and varied day was turned to account by Kasitile. In the wet Nyakyusa valley rain-makers are not concerned only with drought, but also with flood, and with the rise in the level of the Lake which inundated many gardens.
