Such skilfully carved and elaborately decorated bowls were used only by the chieftain and his family. It should be observed that the use of certain objects was reserved for the so-called "royal" family, as indeed it is to this day. The use of these objects by tribesmen not belonging to the tribal elite is considered a sacrilege fraught with consequences. This vessel was probably used to dispense a slightly creamy mass prepared from plant extracts, with which one lightly brushed oneself before entering the chieftain's audience chamber, probably as a symbolic act of submission.