Although I questioned his gesture, my guide gave me two Bemba Chisungu pots, pointing out that their original owners had rejected them. They are certainly the most unusual, and rarest, items in my collection.

Full details of the initiation ceremonies, and the meanings of the pots, can be found in Chisungu A Girl's Initiation Ceremony among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia, Audrey I. Richards, Faber and Faber, London 1956. The photographs in the book show that, unlike Australian Aboriginal ceremonies, the ritual was not secret women's business. This eases my conscience over the fact that I was given the pots, which now sit on my hearth amidst artefacts from several countries, a reminder of the fascinating and sometimes violent story of Zambia.