ABSTRACT
Usambara in the local customary era was a politically centralised kingdom, whereas Udzungwa was a series of separately ruled chiefdoms. The Usambara Kilindi king was Ng’wenye Shi (owner of the land) in Usambara (Feierman 1974). Ownership in this sense implied control over the land in its political aspect, in the same way the owner of a village (Ng’wente Mzi), its patriarch, held rights over his progeny. To be owner of the land implied the right to take tribute from any of his subjects. Feierman (1974) demonstrates that for the Sambaa, there was a general structural relationship between ownership and the benevolent use of ritual power. In the local customary era, the Kilindi king held the ritual rain charms. It was believed that only if the wealth of the land - through tribute - was put into the hands of the Kilindi king, as though his own, would he ‘heal the land’ (kuzifya shi) by bringing rain. Without tribute, he would withhold the rain and would ‘harm the land’ (kubana shi). Hence, the Kilindi king was made owner of the land - in the political sense - for the collective good of his people - the public.
