Chapter 952 Eye-opening (1/2)

In ancient times, all African countries had a complete chieftain system, and the whole of

Africa was a tribal society.

These large and small chieftain kingdoms have long existed in South Africa, Cameroon,

Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and C么te d'Ivoire.

The grand chieftain was the supreme ruler of various tribal associations and had

absolute power in all things, such as making laws, presiding over the administration,

directing wars, performing sacrificial rites, adjudicating arguable cases, collecting taxes

and so on.

In some countries, chieftain societies were classified by government decree as grades

one, two, and three, according to the size of their territory, their population, and their

economic importance.

Zulu people still had many traditional customs. To the present day, the chiefs were still

the speakers of the tribe. In addition, the main tribe was divided into many small tribes,

each of those having its own chief.

When the British ruled over South Africa, they had attempted to reduce the influence of

the Zulu people by forcibly abolishing system of chieftain hierarchy. However, that did

not help. The position of chief was determined by one's birth, and the Zulu stubbornly

and firmly followed their leaders.

The lion hunter explained these customs to Li Du. When he heard about the chief, Li Du

asked, ”Are you the chief of your tribe?”

At this, the lion hunter laughed. ”No, I am the rebel of my tribe. How can I be a chief?

The chief and I are enemies.”

Li Du was surprised. ”Why?”

The lion hunter smiled, but instead of answering the question, he changed the subject.

”We Zulus are polygamous. Li, are you interested in joining our Zulu tribe?”

Seeing that he avoided the question, Li Du didn't press further. Smiling as well, he said,

”Forget it, I think one wife is enough. Having several would be too tiresome.”

The lion hunter nodded in agreement and said, ”Yes, it's not good to have many

women. When I was young, I could hunt lions with just a spear. I spent too much time

on women and now I could not even fight a hyena.”

Hyena was an animal with excellent fighting skills. Otherwise, it would not have gained

the name of the second brother in Africa. It was great to be able to fight hyenas...

however, this was not the point. Li Du did not mean physical weariness, but mental

exhaustion. It was not worth pressing the point, though, since he realized that he and

the lion hunter would never agree in this respect.

Big Ivan and Lu Guan, however, were interested in the topic and started to ask

questions. The lion hunter liked to talk about it as well, and shared from his store of

knowledge.

Polygamy was common among African chieftains, many of whom had more than a

dozen wives. In the lion hunter's tribe, their chief had twelve wives. The oldest was

seventy years old, while the youngest was the same age as his granddaughter. He had

65 children, not counting the dead, and a large family, which helped him to assert his

authority.

”The one who had set the highest record in this respect was a chief of the kingdom of

Benin in ancient times, who had more than 4,000 concubines during his life, man, more

than 4,000!” the lion hunter said with emphasis.

Big Ivan's eyes almost popped out. ”Man, I don't know if I have even seen four

thousand women in my life till now!”

”It was the same in the ancient Chinese imperial court,” Lu Guan showed off his rich

knowledge of history.

Satisfied with their attitude, the lion hunter went on, ”And after the chief's death, he

chose 400 of the youngest, most beautiful women and ordered them to drink poisoned

wine and die with him!”