RETROSPECT
AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE RED SEA.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve were passed at sea, with the usual
festivities; the latter, on which the dancing was kept up with equal
enthusiasm and energy by German and English passengers, was also the eve
of our arrival at Suez.
About noon on the first day of January, 1907, I set foot on the soil of
Egypt, which I have only just left, after a stay of nearly three weeks.
I had a great desire to study the relics of ancient Egyptian culture on
the spot, and therefore left Cairo and its neighbourhood as speedily as
possible for Upper Egypt—Luxor, Karnak and Deir el Bahri. From a
climatic point of view, also, Cairo was not well adapted for an
intermediate station between the tropics and the winter of Northern
Europe. One after another of our passengers remaining behind for a tour
in Egypt became indisposed. Some, therefore, took the next boat for
Germany, arguing that their colds “would cost less at home,” while
others made off up the Nile by _train de luxe_, in order to accustom
themselves slowly and carefully in the glorious desert air of Assuan to
the sub-arctic climate of Ulaya.
The Assuan dam is historically a piece of Vandalism, technically a
meritorious piece of engineering, economically a truly great
achievement. The narrow-gauge railway winds up the Nile in sharp curves
between Luxor and Assuan. Sometimes the Nile flows in immediate
proximity to the track—sometimes there is a narrow strip of alluvial
level between the sacred stream and the new unholy iron road. All this
time one is oppressed by the narrowness of the country; it seems as if
the first high wind must blow the sand right across it and bury it
altogether. Suddenly the bare hills on the left retreat: a wide plain
opens out before us, only bounded in the far distance by the sharp
contours of the hills in the Arabian Desert. The plain itself, too, is a
desert—but how long will it remain so? Turn to the right and consider
the great block of buildings which meets your eye. It is neither
Egyptian nor Arabian, there is none of the dirt of Fellah barbarism
about it; on the contrary, it represents the purest Anglo-American
factory style. The tall chimney crowning the whole, and emitting a dense
cloud of smoke, forms an incongruous contrast with its surroundings—the
silver Nile with its border of green fields, running like a ribbon
across the boundless sands of the desert to east and west. Look before
you at the straight canal crossing the plain and lost to sight in the
distance and the ditches and channels by which it distributes the Nile
water in all directions, with perfect regularity. The building is a
pumping-station, established to restore the desert plain by irrigation
to its former fertility. Now it is still perfectly bare: in a few
months’ time, it will be a sea of waving corn with stalks bearing fruit
a hundredfold.
The economic exploitation of the Upper Nile Valley is an example which
ought to be followed by our own colonial administration. Without a
resolute purpose, without capital, and without accurate knowledge of the
country and its resources, even that English or American company could
do nothing. We need all three factors, if we want to make any progress,
whether in Eastern or in South-Western Africa, in Kamerun or in Togo.
There is only one small point of difference—the alluvial soil of the
Nile Valley, accumulated through many myriads of years needs nothing but
irrigation to once more make it into arable soil of the first quality.
The Nile, wisely regulated, is the magic wand which will, almost
instantaneously, change the desert into a fruitful field. This
transforming agency is absent in the bush and steppes of German East
Africa. It is true that that country possesses numerous streams, but at
present their volume of water is subject to no regulation, and none of
them is navigable on the same imposing scale as the Nile. In the course
of years, no doubt, the Pangani will become an artery of traffic, as
also the Rufiji, and perhaps our frontier stream, the Rovuma; but it
will not be within the lifetime of the present generation.
The soil of German East Africa, too, cannot be compared with that of
Egypt; it is no alluvial deposit, rich in humus, but in general a
tolerably poor one, produced by the weathering of the outcropping rocks
and not to be rendered fertile by moisture alone. Nevertheless, so far
as I am able to judge, the water question remains the cardinal one in
our colonial agriculture. At Saadani they have begun at once to do
things on the grand scale, breaking up large areas with steam-ploughs,
in the hope that wholesale cotton cultivation may put an end to the
American monopoly. So far this is very good; the temperature is
favourable, and the soil quite suitable for such a crop. One factor only
is uncertain: German East Africa, like India, is never able to reckon on
a normal amount of atmospheric moisture—and, if the rains fail, what
then?
The Dark Continent has often been compared to an inverted plate. The
land slopes gently upwards from the sea-shore, the angle of inclination
gradually becoming greater, till we have a bordering range of mountains
of considerable height. But it is only as seen from the coast that this
range can be said to have a mountainous character; once he has crossed
it, the traveller finds that, as on the heights of the Harz or the
Rhenish slate mountains, he is on a plain almost level with its summit.
To carry out the comparison with the plate, we may say that he has now
crossed the narrow ledge at the bottom, and is now walking over the
horizontal surface within that ledge.
This peculiar conformation has to be taken into account by those engaged
in developing our colonies, _i.e._, in the first place, it is
responsible for the fact that the rivers are navigable only to a very
slight degree, if at all. In the second place, the greater part of the
rainfall is precipitated on the seaward slope of the range, while its
other side is almost rainless, which accounts for the arid character of
Ugogo and the neighbouring districts. Yet the greater part even of this
interior has a soil on which any crops which can be cultivated at all in
Equatorial Africa are well able to thrive. The planter there is
fortunate in being able to count on the vivifying influence of the
tropical sun, which, throughout the year, conjures flourishing fields
out of the merest sand. In the south I was able, day after day, to
convince myself of the truth of this assertion.
The South has hitherto been the Cinderella of our colonial districts,
and I fear it is likely to remain so. The prejudice as to its barrenness
has deterred both official and private enterprise. It is true that
neither the Mwera Plateau nor the Makonde highlands, nor the wide plains
extending behind these two upland areas, between the Rovuma in the south
and the Mbemkuru or the Rufiji in the north, can be called fertile. Sand
and loam, loam and sand, in the one case, and quartz detritus in the
other, are the dominant note of the whole. Yet we have absolutely no
reason to despair of this country, for if the native can make a living
out of the soil, without manuring and with none of the appliances of our
highly-developed intensive farming—if this same native is in a position
to export an appreciable fraction of his produce in the shape of
sesamum, ground-nuts, rubber, wax, cereals and pulse—it would surely be
strange if the white man could not make much more out of the same
ground.
One thing, indeed, must never be forgotten: neither this district nor
Africa in general is a _pays de Cocagne_ where roast pigeons will fly of
their own accord into people’s mouths; work, unceasing, strenuous work,
is just as much an indispensable condition of progress as in less happy
climates. We have had sufficient opportunity to observe and appreciate
this persevering industry in the case of the Makonde, the Yaos, and the
Makua. And we may be sure of one thing, that the European planter,
whether in the north or the south, on the coast or in the interior, will
not have a much easier time than these people. That, however, will do
him no harm; on the contrary, the harder the struggle for existence, the
more vigorous has been the development of a colony throughout the whole
course of human history. The United States of to-day are the standing
proof of this assertion; the South African colonies, now developing in a
most satisfactory manner, speak no less clearly, and other cases in
point might easily be adduced.
The waves are running higher, the _König_ having more breadth of beam
than depth, does not roll, but cannot help shipping more seas than she
would like. Ought I, in face of this grand spectacle, to let myself be
absorbed in useless forecasts of the future? My friend Hiram Rhodes’s
taunt about “political childhood” was cruel—yet there was some truth in
it, and not as regards the Zanzibar treaty only. We Germans have begun
colonizing three hundred years later than other nations, and yet Dick,
Tom and Harry are raising an outcry because our colonies, acquired fully
twenty years ago, do not yet produce a surplus. The honest fellows think
that “South-West” alone ought to be in a position to relieve them from
the necessity of paying any taxes whatever. One could tear one’s hair at
such folly and such utter lack of the historic sense. Most books are
printed in Germany—none are bought, and but few read there. Among these
few we can scarcely include any works on colonial history, otherwise it
would be impossible that even colonial experts should know so little of
those thousand conflicts, difficulties and reverses experienced to their
cost by the English in India, in the South Seas, in Africa, and in
America, and which over and over again might well have disgusted the
Dutch, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese with their extensive colonial
possessions. Unconsciously influenced by the wealth of England and the
affluence of Holland, both in great part arising from their foreign
possessions, we are apt to forget that three centuries are a period
fifteen times as long as our own colonial era, and that at least ten
generations of English and Dutch have won by hard, unceasing work what
we expect to receive without effort on our part. I am firmly convinced
that we shall never learn to appreciate our really splendid possessions
till a more thorough system of instruction has supplied the want above
referred to—doubly inexcusable in a nation whose intellectual
pre-eminence is everywhere acknowledged.
Such historic sense is to be gained by putting two kinds of capital into
the colonies—the blood shed for their preservation and development, and
the hard cash spent on the utilization of their resources.
To illustrate the extent of the British Colonial Empire and its
distribution throughout the world, it is often pointed out that the
mother country is seldom without a colonial war of some kind. This is
true in the present, and it has also been true in the past: England has
in fact always had to fight for her dominions beyond sea. Undoubtedly,
this three hundred years’ struggle for possession, which, under her
special circumstances has often been for England a struggle for
existence, is the principal ground for the peculiarly close and intimate
relation between the mother country and the daughter states. Hardly a
family but has dear ones buried in Indian or African soil. This fact at
first attaches to the country a painful interest, which very soon gives
rise to an interest of another sort. The truth of this doctrine has been
illustrated in the saddest way for us by the sanguinary war in South
Western Africa.
The other kind of capital—the monetary—cannot be discussed in the case
of our colonies without touching on the railway question. What
complaints have been made of the invincible reluctance of German
capitalists to engage in colonial undertakings! I am not myself a
wealthy man, but, if I had a million to lose, I should nevertheless
hesitate before investing it in a country without means of
communication, being entirely devoid of natural ones, while artificial
ones are as yet only in the elementary stage. At home, every one is now
expecting great things from the new driver of our colonial chariot. Herr
Dernburg is a trained financier, and he, perhaps, can succeed where
others have failed—in the completion of the great railway system
projected long ago, and in procuring the no less necessary financial
resources.
Lastly, the native is not without an important bearing on the future of
our East African colony. As an ethnographer, I am in a better position
to form an opinion about him than with respect to other questions, in
which the outsider like myself has only common sense to guide him. The
black man is pronounced by some, “an untrained child;” by others,
“utterly depraved and incurably lazy.” There is yet a third party who
are inclined to leave him at least one or two small virtues, but these
are steadily shouted down. It is true that the native population of the
Coast towns have a horror of any serious work, and look down on it as a
lowering of themselves; but I think we may be permitted to entertain a
better opinion as to the great mass of the people in German East Africa.
The most numerous tribe in the whole colony are the Wanyamwezi, who are
estimated at about four million souls, and occupy the whole central area
east of the Great Rift Valley. No one has yet ventured to doubt their
industry or their capacity for progress; they are excellent
agriculturists, and at the same time they were, for a whole century, the
mainstay of the caravan trade between the coast and the heart of the
continent. Before long this traffic must in the nature of things cease,
but we have no right to suppose that the Wanyamwezi will therefore
become superfluous. A glance over the reports of the Uganda Railway will
show us how fortunate we are in possessing such an element in the social
structure as this vigorous tribe. Let us then be wise enough to
encourage and develop this economic force for the native’s own benefit,
and above all to get the full advantage of it ourselves. What is true of
the Wanyamwezi is also true of many other tribes. Even now, I cannot
forget the impression made on me by the high average of the farming
which I saw among my friends in the Rovuma Valley. People who, however
often they have been displaced, still cling so firmly to the soil, must
certainly have great potentialities for good, or all the teachings of
racial psychology and history are falsified. This unexpectedly high
stage of culture can only be explained by an evolution extending over a
period of incalculable length. There is nothing to disprove the great
antiquity of agriculture among the Bantu; they are conservative, as
their continent is conservative; the few alien elements still in the
economic stage of the collector and hunter—the Bushmen in the most arid
parts of the south, and the Pygmies in the most inaccessible forests of
Central and West Africa—must have been crowded out by them many
centuries ago.
The farming of our natives is done entirely with the hoe—that
implement-of-all-work, with the heavy transverse blade which serves
alike for breaking up and cleaning the ground, for sowing the crops,
and, to a certain extent, for reaping them. We are too much inclined to
think of this mode of cultivation as something primitive and inferior,
and, in fact, in so far as it dispenses with domestic animals, whether
for work or for the supply of manure, it is really very far behindhand.
But we must also take into account that some parts of our colonies are
infested with the tsetse-fly, and that the system of cultivating narrow
strips of ground entirely with the hoe really marks a very high stage of
farming. The best proof of this is the retention of the narrow bed in
our gardens, where the cultivation can scarcely be said to be of a more
elementary description than that of our fields. It is significant, too,
that for the more intensive forms of culture when carried on in the open
fields, _e.g._, flower-growing, as near Erfurt, Quedlinburg, Haarlem,
etc., and market-gardening as in the neighbourhood of Brunswick,
Hanover, Mainz, and other large towns, the long, narrow bed is most in
favour. Moreover, it is difficult to see how the native could cope with
the weeds—the principal danger to his crops—were it not that his narrow
beds are easily reached from all sides.
The native mode of agriculture, therefore, need not be interfered with:
it has been tested and found excellent.
Another question is, how shall we, on this basis, make our black
fellow-subjects useful to ourselves? In my opinion, there are two ways,
as to both of which the _pros_ and _cons_ are about equal. Both have
been in operation for some time, so that we have a standard to guide us
in forecasting the ultimate development of the whole colony. In the one,
the native is not encouraged to advance in his own home and on his own
holding, but is trained as a labourer on the plantation of a European
master—plantations being laid out wherever suitable soil and tolerable
climate promise a good return for outlay. The other method has the
progress of the native himself in view, and aims at increasing his
economic productivity by multiplying and improving the crops grown by
him on his own account, teaching him new wants and at the same time
increasing his purchasing power. In this way it is hoped that he will
exchange his exports for ours.
The future must show whether the German people will decide for one of
these ways to the exclusion of the other, or whether, as heretofore,
both will be retained. For the mother country their value is about equal
and depends on the degree of activity shown in colonial affairs as a
whole. But the second is decidedly to the advantage of the native
himself. As a plantation labourer he is and remains a _mshenzi_; as a
peasant proprietor he is able to advance. At the same time we must not
forget that our colonies were founded in the expectation of providing
homes for our surplus population, and that if the native is to claim the
most fertile parts of his own country for himself, nothing can come of
that _ver sacrum_. It also depends on the general direction of our
policy whether the numerical increase and physical improvement of the
native are to our interest or not. Some primitive peoples have almost or
entirely disappeared under the influence of civilization; the Tasmanians
belong to history; the Maoris of New Zealand and the Kanakas of Hawaii
are rapidly diminishing, and we have lately heard of the last Vedda in
Ceylon. The negro race does not belong to these candidates for
extinction; on the contrary, wherever it has come in contact with the
white, it has grown stronger in every respect; there is therefore no
fear of its dying out. But shall we go further and, by artificial
selection, deliberately raise their coefficient of multiplication?
Certainly we ought to do so, for a numerous resident population is under
all circumstances a benefit to us. It solves the labour problem for the
planter, and, on the other hand, the European manufacturer and merchant
will, of course, prefer a large number of customers to a small one. How
is this improvement to be initiated? I have nothing further to add to
the remarks which, _à propos_ of the various diseases and other scourges
of this continent, occur in the preceding pages.
In Europe some people are stupid, others of moderate capacity, and yet
others decidedly clever. The huge lip-ornaments of the Makonde and Makua
women sometimes produce the impression of a simian type of face, and
small boys occasionally suggest by their features a not remote kinship
with the missing link, but this exhausts the list of excuses I could
have alleged for looking down from a superior height on the people in
question. In all the months spent among the natives of the Rovuma
Valley, I never discovered any reason why we should, as we are so fond
of doing, associate the idea of absurdity with the African. On the
contrary, the behaviour, not only of the elders, but of the liveliest of
the young people in their intercourse with Knudsen and myself, was
characterized by a quiet dignity which might well have served as an
example to many a European of similar social position. My personal
experiences will not allow me to believe in the dogma of the negro’s
incapacity for development. It cannot be denied that he has achieved a
certain intellectual progress, even in North America, though the
obstacles there are greater than the facilities. Why, therefore, should
he not rise, as soon as the opportunity is offered to him in such a way
that he can take advantage of it? Only we must not expect this advance
to take place overnight, any more than we can expect a rapidity of
economic progress at variance with every law of historical probability.
It is now quite dark; the boat must have changed her course, for the
gale no longer meets us in front, but comes from the port side, so that
no doubt we are approaching Crete. To-morrow, or the day after, we shall
pass the coast of Greece. I must confess that I am looking forward to a
sight of this country, though I do not regard its classic age with the
same unbounded and uncritical enthusiasm as many of our countrymen, to
whom the ancient Greek is the embodiment of all historical and cultural
virtues. One thing only even the blackest envy cannot deny to the
Hellenes of old—a courage in colonial enterprise which we should do well
to imitate both now and in the future.
This future is still shrouded in mystery. Will our East African colony
become a second India? I do not doubt for a moment that it will, and my
mind’s eye sees the whole country traversed by railway lines. One of
these follows the old caravan road from the coast to Tanganyika. The
iron horse has superseded the old carrier-transport, and the clattering
train now bears the carriers themselves, as well as bulky goods which
could never have been put on the market under the old system. One line
runs to the Victoria Nyanza and another to distant Nyasa; we are able to
link up with the British network of railways in South Africa, with the
communications of the Congo State, with the Nile Valley. Thirty years
ago Stanley’s march to the Lake Region and his boat-voyage down the
Congo were epoch-making achievements. We of to-day may perhaps live to
make the trip by _train de luxe_ from the Cape to Cairo, and from Dar es
Salam to Kamerun.
INDEX
Abdallah bin Malim, Wali of Mahuta, 352 _et seq._;
his noisy devotions, 399–400
Achmed bar Shemba, song by, 31
Adams, Pater, on the Makonde, 259–60
African continent, conformation of in relation to Colonization, 415
race, original home, question of, 12
African Fund, the, 9, 10
Age-classes, 304
Akundonde, Yao chief, information from, 140, 184
settlement of, 212,
visit to, 213 _et seq._
Alum, as water-clarifier, 153–4
Ancestor-worship, 326
Antelope-hunting, 200–1
Anthropology, difficulties of, in G.E. Africa, 53
Artistic aptitudes of Natives (_see also_ Drawings), 36
Asiatic origin of African races, discussed, 12, 13
Assuan dam, the, lessons from for Germany, 413–5
Astronomical beliefs and customs, Yao, 184–5
Atlantic Ocean, historical density, 6
Axes, etc., bewitched, 210–12
Babies, _see_ Children & Infants
Bagamoyo roadstead, 2
Bakeri of Zanzibar, 140, 142–3
Bangala river, Camp at mouth of, 208
Bantu imitation of the Masai, 118
origin, tribes of, 12, 53, 139
_Baraza_, the, 65,
described, 135
Bards, 170, 175
Bark-cloth, ceremonial uses of, 276–7, 313
manufacture of, 274 _et seq._
Barnabas as artist, 367–8
Birth customs
Makonde, 281, 283
Yao (as to twins), 283
Black race, distribution of, explanation of, 13
Boots, question of, 71
Bornhardt on the geology of German East Africa, 66, 67–8
Botanical features (_see_ also Bush), Masasi region, 69
Bows and arrows, 74
methods of using, 75–6
as toys, 285
Boys’ initiation ceremonies, _see_ Lupanda, _and_ Unyago
Brass-founding, native, 267–70
British Colonial Empire, comments on, 417
Burial customs,
Makua, 132
Yao, 194 & _note_
Bush and Scrub vegetation, 51, 52, 60
Bush-burning, 58–61, 255, 257
_Bwalo_, the, 231 & _note_
Calico, as dower, 306
over graves, 194, 214
Camp life, 83–4
sleeping discomforts, 119, 163, 164
Cape Banura, 24, 25
Guardafui, 14, 15
“Cape rubies,” 209, 210
Carnon, Archdeacon of Masasi, 45
hospitality of, 74
Carriers, _see also_ Wanyamwezi,
difficulties with, 393
paying off of, and farewell to, 393–4, 400, 405–7
Cattle, Matola’s, 138,
stampede by, 164
Central Lukuledi Valley, lions in, 245
Chain-gangs, 28, 44,
native drawing of, 371
Charms (_Dawa_), 129;
used in _Majimaji_ rebellion, 51
“Cherchez la femme!” 397–9
Child-life, native, G.E. Africa, 157–8 & _note_, 284 _et seq._
Children, native, characteristics of, and aspect, 148
Chingulungulu, author’s stay at, 104 _et seq._
description of, 134 _et seq._
diseases noted at, 192
meaning of name, 104 _note_
native amusements at, 169
characteristics, 106
route to, from Mkululu, 126–7
water-supply at, 150–2
Chipini, the, _see_ Nose-pin
_Chiputu_ or girls’ initiation or Unyago ceremonies, 218, 219, 230 _et
seq._,
dances at, 220, 223,
songs at, 232–4,
maskers at, 235–7,
stilt-dancers at, 236–7
Matambwe form, 239 _et seq._
nature of, 304–5
witnessed by author, 299
Chironji, insular mountain of, 69
Chiwata, Nakaam, chief of, 108
Christianity, _versus_ Islam for Natives, 70
Chronology, native, 145, 146
Cinematograph work, 27, 34, 177, 218, 237, 356
Clan names, and Clan system, 279, 310, 312 _et seq._
Climate and appetite, 43
Cloth, _see_ Bark-cloth & Calico
Colonial Congress, the First, 10
Colonization in Eastern Equatorial Africa, 4, 45
Collecting methods and collections, 362 _et seq._, 386
Collins’ dynamometer
tests of Europeans, 8
tests of Natives, 39
Colonists, industry essential in, 416
Combs, native, 124
Corn-grinding by women, 163,
methods of, 165–6
Cotton cultivation at Saadani, 415
Couch of native chief, 129
Crocodiles, Rovuma river, 346, 347
Crops, prevalent near Masasi, 92
Currency, G.E. Africa, 101–3
Dances, native, child-performers of, 284–5 & _note_
at _Chiputu_ ceremonies, 220, 223
at Dar es Salam, 26
_Masewe_, 296
_Ngoma_, 62
Pantomimic, at Mahuta, 354
Stilt, 176
by Sulila, the bard, 172
at _Unyago_ ceremonies, 181 _et seq._, 296
Women’s (_see also_ Chiputa _supra_), 62, 64
Yao, 177
Dar es Salam, harbour and bay, 1, 2 & _note_
life at, 26 _et seq._
Mangoes at, 409
Daudi, native preacher, 155, 250
Dawa, _see_ Charms
Death, omens of, 210, 212, 273
Death and Burial customs
Makonde, 259
Yao, 396 & _note_
Dernburg, Herr, 418
Diabolo playing, native, 379–80 & _note_
Doherr, Captain, 411
Domestic animals and Birds at Matola’s, 137–8
Pigeons, 91
Doors, and fastenings, Makonde, 262
Dove-cotes, native, 91
Drawing, native powers of, 36–9, 72–3, 99–101, 168, 366 _et seq._
Dress of Matola, 147
of Nakaam, 146–7
Dress and clothing, native past and present, 274
Yao women, 49
Drinking customs, 170, 186
Drums, 62, 241
at _Chiputu_ ceremonies, 241
toy, of children, 290
tuning of, by fire-heat, 222
of _Unyago_ dances, 181
various ways of playing, 222–3
Drummers, sacred, 301
Dwellings, _see_ Huts and Dwellings
Ear-discs or Studs, 56, 219, 260
East Africa, _see also_ German East Africa
Coast harbours on, geological origin of, 25
Orography of, 66–9
Equatorial, Colonization in, history of, 4
Eclipses, Yao beliefs and customs concerning, 184
Egg, use of at _Chiputu_ ceremonies, 233
Elephants near the Rovuma, 209, 345, 350–1
Endurance, native, 40
Europeans in the tropics, characteristics of, 41, 42
Food-consumption by, 43
Ewerbeck, Herr Commissioner, 26, 44, 46, 48, 58, 73, 140, 335, 409
Exogamy in East Africa, 189, 282
Fashion, African and European, 57–8
Farming, native, 415, 419–20
Festivities, native, at Mahuta, 376
Fever, curious form of, 252–3
Feet, effect on, of Jigger, 251–2
Filter, an improvised, 152
Fish-drying stages, Rovuma river, 202
Finger-nails, brittleness of, at Newala, 251, 254
loss of, by Knudsen, 254–5
Fire, in Unyago ceremonies, 300, 302
Fire-arms, use of, by natives, 198
Fire-production, and maintenance, 195–8
Flies, torment from, 147–8, 246
Flutes, _ipivi_, 291
Floors, earthen, in native huts, 65, 135
Food, native staple, 84
Foresight of Natives, 89–91, 94–5
Gama, Vasco da, and East Africa, 4
Games and toys, 284 _et seq._
Garnet-mine at Luisenfelde, 78, 209
Geographical Exploration of the German Colonies, Committee for, 10
Geology and Anthropology in study of Race-development, 13–14
German East Africa
considerations affecting succession, 415 _et seq._
cotton cultivation in, 415
soil of, and agricultural possibilities, 415–6
musical backwardness of tribes in, 174
rivers of, 414–5
south-east corner of, 46
water-supply questions in, 414–5
German Imperial Post in East Africa, 111
Germans, the, characteristics of, 8, 24
colonial, social difficulties of, 41
Gestures indicative of
Age, 146
Time, 145, 246
Ghost stories, 327–8
Girls, attitude to, of parents, 281–2
puberty of, customs at, 315
seclusion of, 292
Go-betweens, matrimonial, 306
Grain-storage, 89–91, 136–7
Graves, native, 53, 54, 132, 183, 194 & _note_
of Makua chief, 264
trees at, 326–7
Yao, features of, 214
Guillain, Admiral, book by, on African History, etc., 3
Haber, Geheimrat, Acting Governor, 17
Hair, arrangement of, various tribes, 260 _note_
Hamitic races, original home of, 12;
tribes descended from, 11
Hanno, and the grass-burning, 58
“Hapana” and “bado,” 123
Hatia I, grave of, 194
Hatia III, Sultan, grave of, 53, 54
Hatia IV, “Sultan” of the Makua, 53,
wife carried off by lion, 54
Hearths, 129, 136
Hemedi Maranga, Corporal, 245
Henderera’s village, 334
Head-shaving, Makonde, reason for, 259, 260 & _note_
Historic sense, the, 417
Hunting, native interest in, 198
Hunting-dances, Makua tribe, 177–81
Huts over graves, 194 & _note_
used in initiation ceremonies, 215–7, 218, 219, 240, 296
Huts and Dwellings
at Mahuta, 352
Makonde, 231, 262
painted, 366
Makua, 261, 264
Masai, 86
windowless, 88–9
subdivision of interiors, 84
_Tembes_, 86
Wamwera, 55
Wangoni, 338, 349
Yao, 65, 134 _et seq._, 261–2
_Ikoma_ dance, 223
Indian Ocean, historical importance of, 6, 7
Infant life, native, 63, 157–8 & _note_, 281–4, 351
mortality, 88
Infants, still-born, Makua graves of, 132
Initiation ceremonies, _see_ Chiputu, Lupanda, _and_ Unyago
Interiors, visits to, 88 _et seq._
Ironworking, native, 26
Island camp, Rovuma, river, 207–8
“Island” mountains, East Africa, 66–9
Islam, _versus_ Christianity for Natives, 70
Italy, disafforestation in, 5, 6
Jäger, Dr., 10,
geographical tasks of, 11
Jigger, havoc wrought by, 87–8, 251–2
Justice, trials, punishments, etc., 27, 28, 121–3, 135
Juma, drawing by, 168
Jumbe Chauro, Makonde huts and fastenings at, 261–3 & _note_
Kazi Ulaya, kerosene and fatalism, 86, 87
_Kakale_ sticks, uses of, 291, 297
Keloid patterns (scars), 56–7, 223, 260, 356, 359 _et seq._
Kibwana, author’s “boy,” 20, 167
Kiheru river, 401
Kilwa, _pori_ beyond, 46
Kilwa Kisiwani, associations of, 23
Kitulo heights, 404,
view from, 44
Kitututu, insular mountain of, 69
Knots, as calendar, 328–9
as records, 330
tying of, Akundonde on, 186
Knudsen, Nils, 61
hunting of, 392
accident to, 394 _et seq._
official duties of, 77–8
services secured, 190, 191
superstitions of, 397–9
Yao wife of, 307
on the Wangoni, 333
Kofia tule, a quaint name, 110
Kondoa-Irangi expedition abandoned, 17
Labrets, 219
Lake Eyasi, peoples near, 11
Manyara, peoples near, 11
Langheld, Captain, and the Wangoni, 339
Last, J. T., on the Makua lip ornament, 56
Laughter under difficulties (pelele-wearers), 219
Lepers in German East Africa, 107, 192
Lichehe Lake, 204
Lidede Lake, the, 335–6
Likoswe, Che, “Mr. Rat,” a bard
dress of, 176
name of, 280
songs by, 176–7
_Likwata_, women’s dance, 62–3,
words and music, 64
Linder, Herr, welcome from, at Lindi, 402–4
song on, 176–7
Lindi Bay, geology, etc., of, 25
District, rebellion in, 51
Town, 25
attractions of, 28
boom at, 393
execution at, 27
social conditions at, 41
and its hinterland, journey to, 17 _et seq._
Linguistic notes on
difficulties of the student, 345
interchange of “l” and “r,” 373
Makonde language, 382 _et seq._
pitch of voice, 119
prefixes, 156–7, 175 & _note_, 259 & _note_, 313
Wasandawi, 11
Wataturu, 12
Lions, boldness of, 54
distribution of, 209, 245
a fastidious, 209
song in praise of, 159
_Lisakasa_, or _Unyago_ huts (_q. v._), 296
Litotwe (rat) in carvings, 364
Liver, the, in “medicine,” 200
Livingstone, Dr., in Africa, 116 & _note_, 204 & _note_
Locks and keys, 263 & _note_, 264
Luagala, 401
_Lugombo_, the, musical instrument, 288–90
Luisenfelde mine, 78
visit to, 209–10
Lujende river, coal measures, 142
Lukuledi river, 25, 402
leper hospital at estuary of, 192
Valley, 48, 50
_Lupanda_, or initiation of Boys, 299
emblem of, 217
Yao form of, 300
Machemba, noted Yao chief, 239, 401
Mafia island, 23
Mafiti people, 341,
raids of, 248
Magic, native, 186, 324
Mahichiro’s grave at Witi, 194
Mahuta, original home of the Makonde, 259
huts of, 352
importance of, 332
scenery of, 335–6
Majaliwa, Wangoni chief, 340
forestry of, 348
new palace of, 349
Majeje country, “insular mountains” in, 67
_Majimaji_ rebellion, the, 31, 51
Makachu, Wangoni chief, 337, 341
Mkomahindo, “insular mountain” of, 69
Makonde beds, the, 248
masks, 235
Plateau, 48, 66, 342–3
bush growth on, 60, 239, 255, 256, 257
configuration, area and surface of, 255
geological formation, 256
lack of water on, 248
natives on, characteristic features of, 265
distribution of, 248
industries of, 266–7 _et seq._
rivers and streams of, 151
timber on, 348
view from, 255
Makonde tribe
ancestral traditions of, 258–9
death and burial customs, 259
huts, 231, 261–2
occupations of, 248–50
language, 382–3
marriage customs, 307
name of, explained, 259 & _note_
stilt-dancers, 236–7
Makua tribe
clans and clan names among, 313
dances of, 177 _et seq._
death and burial customs, 132
hunters and hoe-tillers, 97
huts of, 261, 264
marriage customs, 307, 314
migrations, 118
mouth-stones of girls, 322–3 & _note_
traps of, 97–8
women’s initiation ceremonies, 218 _et seq._, 230 _et seq._
Malay fire-pump, 197
Mamba, Seliman, rebel leader, 29
Mambo, 339
Mangupa village, Matambwe _Chiputu_ at, 239, 240 _et seq._
Manhood and womanhood initiation ceremonies, 170
Maps drawn by natives, 373 _et seq._
Marching, life during, 78 _et seq._
Marriage customs, native, G. East Africa, 189, 282, 305, 30, 314, _et
seq._
Marquardt, Herr, of Luisenfelde Mine, 209;
death of his child, 210, 373
Masai race, origin of, 12
characteristics of, 70 _et seq._
huts of, 86, 88–9
_Masange_ marriage, 305 & _note_
Masasi district, area of, 66
Mountains, 248
botanical interest of, 69
geology, etc., of, 66–9
(place), missionaries at, 45 & _note_
Masasi races, tribal affinities of, 69, 70
Masasi-Rovuma plain, tribes upon, 139
Masekera Matola, chief and his family, 103
_Masewe_ dance, 181–3, 296
Masks and masked dances, 235–7, 304, 363–4
Matambwe tribe, _Chiputu_ among, 239 _et seq._
past and present condition, 205
Matola (the elder), 142 & _note_, 143, 333
Matola (the younger) Yao chief of Chingulungulu, 108
dress of, 147
hospitality of, 132–3
house, etc., described, 134 _et seq._
and sick child, 292–5
on Bakiri of Zanzibar, etc., 142–3
Matola Salim, _see_ Salim
Matriarchy in G.E. Africa, 189, 307, 314
laws of inheritance under, 309
Mavia Plateau, 343
Mavia tribe, 261
Mazitu (_see also_ Wangoni), inroads, 116 & _note_, 117
Mchauru, interests at, 224–5
Mchinga Bay, 24
Medical demands on travellers, 86 _et seq._
“Medicines,” hunting, 199–201
for illness, 323
at Unyago of women, 233
Medula, the magician, 225 _et seq._
Meyer, Prof. Hans, 10
Merker, Captain, on the origin of the Masai, 12
Meteorites, Yao belief as to, 184
_Mgoromondo_, _see_ Xylophone
Migrations of native races, 48, 118, 139 _et seq._
Mikindani, and its hinterland, journey to, 17 _et seq._
Mikindani beds, the, 248
Mimicry among natives, 116, 118
Mixed races, how accounted for, 13
Mirambo of Unyanyembe, 401
Mitete (boxes) carven, 364–5
Mkwera, “insular mountains,” 68
Mkululu, 126
Mlipa, deceased chief, grave of, 264
Modesty, evolution of, and variants in, 131
Mombasa, importance of, 3
Moon, the, Yao beliefs and customs as to, 184–5
Moritz, author’s “boy,” 20, 167–9
Mothers-in-law, native, position of, 282, 307–8
Mosquitoes on the Rufiji river, 22
Mouth and lip-ornaments, various tribes (_see also_ Labrets _and_
Pelele), 55, 56 & _note_
Mouth-stones, of Makua girls, 322
_Msolo_ tree, sacred in Makonde, 326
Mtandi Mt., an insular peak, 6, 9
ascent and aspect of, 71
Mtarika, Yao chief, death omen of, 212
Mtua, Yao natives at, 48, 49
Music, _see_ Songs
Musical Instruments
names of, 215, 288–9, 291, 391
as toys, 289
Yao, 171
Mwiti, home of Nakaam, 113
Mwiti river, 113
_Myombo_ forest, _see_ _Pori_
Nakaam of Chiwata, importance of, 108
at home, 113 _et seq._
dress of, 146–7
interest of in foreign affairs, etc., 125–6
true origin of, 115–9
on the mixed character of the Yaos, 146
Namaputa ravine, 212
Names, native, clan, enquiries on, 312,
meanings and origins of, 310
Names, personal, 279
clan names, _ib._
meanings, 279, 280 & _note_
new, assumed on initiation, 280
Namuki, insurgents, 31
Namwera women, dress of, arrangement of, 57
Native characteristics and habits, 52, 94, 120, 123, 144, 147, 152,
202, 246–7, 395,
summary of, 418–21
clothing, indigenous and imported, 274
cultivation, methods of, 257–8
eloquence, 143
estimate of time, 144–5, 246
handicrafts, 124
historical knowledge, 144
intellectual potentialities, 421
interest of, in European matters, 125
powers of resisting climate, etc., 88
teeth, premature decay of, 143–4
utilization of, 420
_Natura_, friction-drum, 290
“Nature-peoples,” the, some errors concerning, 90 _et seq._ & _note_
Naunge camp, 207
Navigation, of African natives, 21
Nchichira, 333,
author’s stay at, 336
Newala, climatic troubles at, 243 _et seq._
diseases met with at, 323
grave at, of Matola I, 143
lack of water at, 250
life at, 243 _et seq._
missionaries’ arrival at, 142 _note_
position of, view from, and climate at, 203
revisited, 230
old towns so-called, 250
_Ngoma_ dances, 26, 62
Ngurumahamba, 48
Ningachi, the teacher, 366,
methods of, 381–2
Niuchi, Makua village, women’s initiation ceremonies at, 230 _et seq._
Nkunya, famous _shauri_ of, 142, 143
Nose-pins, or studs, 49, 130–1, 219, 341
Nyangao, Benedictine Mission at, ruined, 50
Oehler, Herr Eduard, 10,
geographical tasks of, 11
Omari, author’s cook, 20, 208, 387
as artist, 371
characteristics, 167–9
escape of, from lion, 209
Omens of evil, 210, 212, 373
Ornaments and ornamentation, personal, of Natives
Bangles, 222
Ear-discs, 56
Keloids (scars), 57, 223
Labrets, 219
Nail in lower lip, 56 & _note_
_Nigutila_, or lip-pin, 56
Nose-pins, 49, 130–1
Pelele (q. v.), 55–6, 219
Owl as omen of Death, 210, 373
Pacific Ocean, historical importance of, 6
Parents, native respect for, 188, 189, 282
_Pelele_, the, 232, 240, 260
effect of, on articulation, 383
laughter by wearers, effect of, 219
at Mahuta, 306 _et seq._
of Makonde women, 56
of Wamwera women, 55–6
_Personnel_ of author’s expedition, 20
Pesa Mbili, caravan leader, 30, 31
as artist, 370
duties of, 81, 82
Phonograph experiences, 26, 30, 34, 148, 155 _et seq._, 172–?
magic ascribed to, 320–1
native enjoyment of, 34–6
results, 385
Photographic experiences, 34, 95, 284, 320, 356,
and results, 384
Pigeon-trap, 96
Pigeons, kept by natives, 91
Pigs, Matola’s, 137–8
Pile-dwellings Rovuma valley, 319
_Pombe_, native beer, 93–4
_Pori_, the, 46
definition of, 60–1
lions on, boldness of, 55
Porter, Canon, of Masasi, 46
Portuguese, the, in East Africa, 4
Pottery-making, native, 270 _et seq._
“Problem play,” native, 378
Race-development, problem of, discussed, 13
Rage, fits of, in white men in Africa, 41
Rainfall, G.E. Africa, 415
Rat trap, native, 98
Recurrent Fever Tick, the, 106–7
Red sea, the, 7
Results of author’s Expedition, 384 _et seq._
Rhythm, assistance of, to work, 389–90
Riddles, Yao, 160 & _note_, _et seq._
Rivers, G.E. Africa, drawbacks of, 414, 415
Roads in G.E. Africa, excellence of, 239, 333–4, 404
Roads, 333–4
Rondo Plateau, 50
Roofs, Makonde, 262,
and Yao, 65
Rovuma river, crocodiles in, 206, 346–7
delights of, 204 _et seq._
fertile valley of, 260;
beauties of, 342–4
game in, 260
march to, 203–4
native farming along, 419
region of, past and present condition, 116
shifting course of, 206
wild animals near, 20, 209, 344, 350
_Rovuma_, steamer, 20
Rufiji river, mouths of, 21
_Rufiji_, steamer, 18,
voyage in, 19 _et seq._
Saadani, cotton cultivation at, 415
Saidi Kapote, village, 402
Saleh, author’s erstwhile Corporal, 245
_Sarcopsylla penetrans_, _see_ Jigger
Seats, superior, at Sefu’s, 238
Secret societies, 304
Sefu bin Mwanyi, Akida, 230, 238
Serpents and snakes, native tales about, 51
Seyfried, Captain, 44,
culinary skill of, 43
Shabruma, Wangoni rebel leader, 111
Shemba, Achmed bar, _Sol_, march sung by, 31–4
Shume forest, 349
Simba Uranga estuary, Rufiji river, 21
Sketching, value of skill in, 98–100
Skin-colour, various tribes, 52–3
Slaves, freed, _see_ Wanyasa
Sling, the, 286–7
Smells, African, 82, 147, 223, 240, 246
Snake, crowing, “songo” song, etc., about, 159–60 & _note_
Soldiers, native, 386
Somali wreckers, 15
Songs, words and music, native, 264–5, 328
at _Chiputu_ ceremonies, 232 _et seq._ 240
at Dar es Salam, 26–7
March sung by Sudanese soldiers, 31–4
by Sulila, 172, 173–4
Wanyamwezi carriers’, 30, 31, 389–92
Yao, 156, 159
Souls, departed, dwellings of, 324, 326, 327
Spiegel, Lieutenant, 401
Spinning, by Medula, the magician, 225, 228–9
Stilts, dancing on, 176, 376
Stamburi as artist, 368
Strandes, Justus, book by, on history of E. Africa, 4
Strength, physical, European and native dynamometer tests, 40
Stuhlmann, Dr. Franz, culinary, skill of, 42
Sudanese soldiers, march of, music and words, 31–4
Sulila, the bard, 170 _et seq._
_Swastika_, the, at Nakaam’s house, 114
Tails of animals, in magic, 215 _note_
Tanga, port, 2
importance of, 411–12
native education at, and music, 412
Telephone, an African, 290–1 & _note_
_Tembes_, described, 86
Throwing-sticks, 286–7
Tick, the, of Recurrent Fever, 106–7
Timber of Makonde Plateau, 348
of the Rufiji delta, 21, 22
Time, native means of reckoning, 145, 246, 328–9
Tobacco, chewing and snuffing of, at Chingulungulu, 147
Toothbrush, native, 404
Tops, various kinds of, 287–8 & _note_
Totemism, defined, 312
traces of, in G.E. Africa, 313
Traps, native, for various animals, 96–8
Trees at graves, 326–7
Tree-worship, 324 _et seq._
Troops, disposal of, 28
Trunk of elephant, tip buried by hunters, 201
Tsetse-disease in cattle, Chingulungulu, 138
Tsetse-fly areas, 419
Twins, native views on, 283
_Ugali_ porridge, native staple food, 84,
how prepared, 166
Uganda Railway, and Mombasa, 3
_Ulimba_, musical instrument, 288
Umbekuru, river, 46
basin of, projected railway across, 69
Unguruwe Mountain, 53
Hatia I’s grave on, 194
_Unyago_ or initiation ceremony, 170
after customs, 304
arrangements for, and course of, 295 _et seq._
author’s presence at, 214 _et seq._
bark-cloth, used in, 277
dances during, 181 _et seq._
initiation seats, 183
instruction given during, 187–9
value of author’s notes on, 386
_Upupu_ plant, 239,
delights of, 240 & _note_
Usambara railway, 411
Usanye (millet), the weeping, omen of Death, 212
Vohsen, Herr, of Luisenfelde Mine, 209
Waburunge tribe, origin of, 11
Wafiomi tribe, origin of, 11
Wairaku tribe, origin of, 11
Wairangi tribe, origin of, 12
Wakindiga tribe, racial affinities of, 11
Walking-powers of natives, 125
Wamatambwe tribe, famous swimmers, 346
Wambugwe tribe, origin of, 12
Wamburu tribe, origin of, 11
Wamwera tribe, 48
characteristics, 62
huts of, 50
location and condition of, 50
rebellion of and consequences, 17, 53, 383
skin-colour of, 52
Wanduwandu, Knudsen’s boy, 392,
fate of and funeral, 395,
his grave, 397
Wanege tribe, racial affinities of, 11
Wangindo tribe, 139
Wangoni enclave, 332–3
natives of, observations on, 336 _et seq._
Wangoni tribe, immigration of, 116 & _note_, 117–8
huts, 338
language and history, 339 _et seq._
rebels, 111,
raids of, 118
true origin of, 341
Wanyamwezi tribe, carriers of, characteristics (_see also_ Songs), 20,
23, 29, 80, 203, 418–9
Wanyasa, the, of Masasi, 70
Wanyaturu tribe, origin of, 12
Wasandawi tribe, language of, 11
Wawasi tribe, origin of, 11
Wataturu or Tatoga tribe, origin, and language, 12
Water, neighbourhood, why avoided by Makonde, 259–61
Water-supply, author’s precautions, 153–4
G.E. Africa, difficulties with, 150, 250–1
Weddings, native, 307–8
Weule, Dr., _passim_, ethnographical and ethnological tasks of, 11
Werther, Captain, view by of the Wakindiga, 11
Whirlwinds on the _pori_, etc., 61, 62, 149, 150, 217
charms against, 129–30
Winds, evening, 119, 126–7, 209, 247, 402
Wood-carving, native, 363–5
Words of dances, _see_ Songs
Woman, primitive, debt of civilization to, 271–3
Women (_see also_ Girls, Marriage, Married Life) native, Eastern
Equatorial Africa and inland, position of and duties, 162–3 _et
seq._
cry of, 231–2 & _note_, 297–8, 317
of Mahuta, 355 _et seq._
Makua, ornaments of, 219, 222, 223
nose-pins, 130–1
Wamwera, ornaments of, 55–7
Wooden figures of, 260
Yao, dress and ornaments of, 49, 219
Wonder-tales, native, 210, 212
Wooden figures of women, 260
Xylophone, native, 288, 319
Yao tribe, clan divisions, names of, 311 _et seq._
dances of, 177
dandy of, 213
death and burial customs of, 194 _et seq._
drinking customs, 186
huts of, 65, 128–9, 261–2
_Lupanda_ among, 300
migrations of, 48, 49, 118, 139, 140 _et seq._
origin and racial affinities of, 139
mixed character of, 146
predominant at Chingulungulu, 139
treatment of lepers, 192
wooing, 305–6
Zanzibar, Sultans of, and Dar es Salam harbour, 2
Zanzibar treaty, the, 9
Zulu kingdoms, origins of, 117
Zuza, Yao chief, house of, 128 _et seq._
THE END.
_Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath._
[Illustration: LONDON: SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS L^{TD}]
-----
Footnote 1:
It must also be added that the text has been handled somewhat freely,
and many passages eliminated, not because they were in themselves
objectionable, but because they added nothing important to the
narrative, and fell intolerably flat in translation.
Footnote 2:
The first to recognise the importance of Dar es Salam harbour was
Sayyid Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar, who determined to erect a residence
there and divert the trade of the interior to it. The town was laid
out on a large scale, and buildings begun, when the Sultan’s death in
1870 put an end to the operations. His successor, Sayyid Barghash,
disliked the place, and the unfinished town was allowed to fall into
ruins.—See the description in Thomson, _To the Central African Lakes
and Back_, vol. i, pp. 71–75.—[TR.]
Footnote 3:
Published in English as _The World’s History_ (4 vols., London, 1901)
with introduction by Professor Bryce.
Footnote 4:
This song is a mixture of Nyamwezi, Swahili and corrupt Arabic; the
last three words being intended for _Bismillahi yu_ (= he is) _akbar_.
Footnote 5:
“Discussion”—but it is an elastic term, corresponding in most if not
all, of its many meanings to the Chinyanja _mlandu_, the Zulu _indaba_
and the “palaver” of the West Coast.—[TR.]
Footnote 6:
The U.M.C.A. (Universities’ Mission to Central Africa). Masasi Station
was founded in 1876 by Bishop Steere and the Rev. W. P. Johnson (now
Archdeacon of Nyasa).—[TR.]
Footnote 7:
Canon Porter went out to Africa in 1880.
Footnote 8:
This is more intelligible if we remember the shape of the native
razor, which is usually about five or six inches long, with the
cutting end like a spatula and tapering back into a stalk-like handle,
the end of which could easily be sharpened as an awl.
Footnote 9:
Mr. J. T. Last says that some of the Makua women, “in addition to the
_pelele_, wear a brass or iron nail from four to seven inches in
length ... passed through a hole in the lower lip and left hanging in
front of the chin. When a lady cannot afford a metal ornament of the
sort, she utilizes a piece of stick which she covers with beads.”
Footnote 10:
This is not pure D natural, but a sound between D sharp and D natural,
though nearer the latter.
Footnote 11:
_Zur Oberflächengestaltung und Geologie Deutsch-Ostafrikas_, Berlin,
1900.
Footnote 12:
_Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow Release._
Footnote 13:
“Off you go!”
Footnote 14:
Dr. Weule translates this as “He works for the European,” but it is
more accurately rendered “Foreign work,” or “work in” (or “of”)
“Europe”—or foreign countries generally.
Footnote 15:
This expression (_Naturvölker_) was adopted by F. Ratzel in preference
to the vague and misleading term “savages.” It rests on the definition
of civilization as a process whereby man renders himself, in an
ever-increasing degree, independent of nature. The usual English
equivalent, “primitive peoples,” is somewhat lacking in
precision.—[TR.]
Footnote 16:
100 to the rupee.
Footnote 17:
Chingulungulu is a Yao word, meaning the turquoise blue beads which
have always been a staple article of trade since the days of the
ancient Egyptians.
Footnote 18:
The “phenomenon” can scarcely be considered surprising, in view of Dr.
Weule’s previous remarks (see p. 52), and his subsequent confession of
the difficulty he experienced in keeping his carriers out of mischief
at Chingulungulu. It is not apparent from the narrative whether it
occurred to him to inquire into their behaviour at Masasi. They need
not be set down as reprobates beyond all other _wapagazi_. The carrier
expects to work hard on the march, and to rest and enjoy himself with
his family about him in his own village, also to have some sort of a
spree, in reason, when paid off on the Coast, in the interval between
two journeys. But a lengthened period of inaction, in the middle of a
_safari_, and in a strange country, is something quite outside his
scheme of life, and it is no wonder if he gets demoralized.
Footnote 19:
“Bad insects!”
Footnote 20:
A species of alcohol expressly designed for native consumption, and
more especially as a present to chiefs and headmen. Dr. Weule refers
to it again later on, but gives no particulars as to its chemical
constitution.—[TR.]
Footnote 21:
This is surely a mistake, unless the word “blush” is only to be used
of turning _red_. Natives certainly change colour under stress of
emotion.—[TR.]
Footnote 22:
This must be taken with some reservations. Even in 1862, when
Livingstone ascended the Rovuma for the first time, he repeatedly
found villages deserted for fear of the slavers, whose main route from
Kilwa to Nyasa crossed the Rovuma above Kichokomane. Matters seem to
have become worse in this respect by 1866. See Livingstone’s _Last
Journals_, Vol. I, pp. 24, 37, 39, 41 and elsewhere. The Mazitu
(Wangoni) had already become a terror by the latter date. _Ib._, p.
43, etc.—[TR.]
Footnote 23:
Joseph Thomson made the same remark with regard to the Mahenge
somewhat further north.—See _To the Central African Lakes and Back_,
Vol. I, p. 188.—[TR.]
Footnote 24:
A well-known German humorist, one of the principal contributors to
_Fliegende Blätter_.
Footnote 25:
This is the Matola who welcomed the U.M.C.A. missionaries to Newala,
in 1877, and of whom the late Bishop Maples said: “He is without
exception the most intelligent and the most pleasing African I know.
He has many excellent qualities, and withal an amount of energy that
is rare in that part of the world. He has a fund of information about
the people, the country, and the languages, of which he can speak
six.” Matola died at Newala in October, 1895.—[TR.]
Footnote 26:
The accents are reproduced from Dr. Weule’s transcript. The accent
never in Yao falls on the last syllable but sometimes, in singing, the
accent appears to be displaced, or possibly the rising intonation has
been confused with the accent.—[TR.]
Footnote 27:
A subsequent passage in which almost the same description is given
must be taken with the above as somewhat qualifying it. It must be
admitted that Dr. Weule’s statements, as they stand here, are
certainly misleading, and convey an exaggerated impression of
universal neglect and misery among African babies. It is true that
there is much to be done, by women missionaries and others, in the way
of inculcating sound hygienic principles (though not more, perhaps,
than in London!)—but the appalling state of things described is by no
means universal, and it must be remembered that the tribes of the
Makonde plateau had been harassed by slavers and hunted from place to
place even beyond the wont of Africans in general.—[TR.]
Footnote 28:
This crowing serpent is well known by hearsay throughout Nyasaland. It
is said to have a red crest and to have “killed very many people in
the Angoni country” (Scott’s _Dictionary_, s.v., _Kasongo_). The
natives who told me about it had never seen it themselves, but had
heard about it from hunters; they described its habit of darting down
from trees, and added that the said hunters circumvented it by making
the foremost man of the party carry a pot full of fire (others say
very hot gruel or scalding bran-mash) on his head, into which the
snake descends and perishes. The Anyanja say _ingolira koh_—“It cries
_koh!_” (they render the sound of a cock’s crow as _kokololiko_). Mr.
Richard Crawshay assured me that the _songo_ was a real and not a
mythical snake; he had killed one—but it had no red crest, and he had
not heard its voice. The late Bishop Maples, however, did, on one
occasion, hear a “large snake with a serrated comb” crow like a cock
while travelling between Masasi and the Rovuma in 1877.—[TR.]
Footnote 29:
Apparently the same word as the Chinyanja _chindapi_, meaning either a
proverb, a short story, or a riddle. The Rev. H. B. Barnes says that
in a “riddle contest” the propounder of the enigma says “_Chindapi!_”
and the rest of the company “_Chijija_” (let it come!) Similar
formulas appear to be in use throughout Bantu Africa.—[TR.]
Footnote 30:
Both words mean “this,” but are of different classes. “_Ichi, ichi_”
(this, this), is a similar riddle recorded at Blantyre, to which the
answer is “a shadow.” In fact, I am indebted to Dr. Weule for the
explanation, having (no doubt through failing to notice the
accompanying gestures) abandoned it as a hopeless puzzle.—[TR.]
Footnote 31:
This riddle also I obtained at Blantyre, in the Chinyanja language,
but from a Yao girl, thus: “_Ambuye naona alikwenda m’njira natenga
ufa_” (“I saw my master walking on the road and he was carrying
flour”).—[TR.]
Footnote 32:
This is given, in a slightly different form, in Bishop Steere’s
_Collections for a Handbook of the Yao language_ (p. 105): “_Apitako
tusimanako_” (“Where they pass, where we meet”).—[TR.]
Footnote 32a:
This form shows that the name is really Nsulila, though the _n_ is
often not heard, and may be really dropped, in speaking.—[TR.]
Footnote 33:
This is not necessarily implied by the use of _Che_ or _Ku_. Every Yao
uses these prefixes of himself and his neighbours; even small children
are Kuluponje or Chendilijika, etc.—[TR.]
Footnote 34:
One would expect _chilwele chachijinji_, but possibly there is some
mistake in transcription.—[TR.]
Footnote 35:
The old custom of the Yaos (at any rate in the case of a chief) is to
bury the dead man inside his hut (or where he has several, in that of
his principal wife), which is then closed, and allowed to decay.
Lengths of calico (the quantity being proportioned to the wealth of
the deceased) are draped over the roof and left there. Perhaps the
building of a house over the grave, which appears to be done sometimes
near Lake Nyasa, is a later modification of this custom.—[TR.]
Footnote 36:
_Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertrankes. Ein Beitrag zur
vergleichenden Mythologie der Indo-Germanen._ Berlin, 1859.
Footnote 37:
To prevent complications, this prohibition applies to friendly tribes
as well as to the late rebels.
Footnote 38:
See _Last Journals_, vol. i, chapters i-iii.—[TR.]
Footnote 39:
Query “a hoe”? The shovel is not a native implement.—[TR.]
Footnote 40:
More correctly in Yao, _Jua Michila_ = “(he) of the tails.” The Rev.
Duff Macdonald says that he is called “the rattler of the tails,”
_juakuchimula michila_. Tails of animals are supposed to have great
efficacy in magic, and usually belong to a witch-doctor’s outfit,
either forming part of his costume or carried in his hand.—[TR.]
Footnote 41:
The Makua word corresponding to _ngoma_.—[TR.]
Footnote 42:
This Nyanja word, here used for convenience sake, means the “village
green,” or “forum,” where the affairs of the community are discussed,
and all public transactions take place.—[TR.]
Footnote 43:
This action is called _ku luluta_ both in Yao and in Nyanja. The Rev.
H. B. Barnes explains the word, in the latter language, as “to say
_lu-lu-lu-lu_ indefinitely. The women do this as a sign of rejoicing;
the sound is produced by moving the tongue quickly from side to side
with the mouth a little open, and very often the hand is alternately
clapped to the lips and taken away rapidly.” The cry itself is called
in Nyanja _ntungululu_. It seems to be universal (under various names)
among African women.—[TR.]
Footnote 44:
Surely this name, if not the figure itself, must be of Muslim
origin?—[TR.]
Footnote 45:
Called in Chinganja _chitedzi_; it is the plant known as
“cowage.”—[TR.]
Footnote 46:
These are a small kind of turnip, the size of a large radish, grown at
and near Teltow, a Prussian town on the line between Berlin and
Potsdam.—[TR.]
Footnote 47:
The Persians who had settled at Lamu in the tenth century.—[TR.]
Footnote 48:
It has sometimes been thought that the _Ma_ in “Makua” and “Makonde”
is a prefix, as in “Matabele,” “Mashona,” etc. It appears, however, to
be an integral part of the word, and the correct plural is therefore
_Wamakua_, _Wamakonde_.—[TR.]
Footnote 49:
The author seems to have overlooked the fact that the “short, woolly
crop” is the result of regular shaving. The shock heads of, _e.g._,
the Alolo (Alomwe) or other “bush people” strike the eye at once among
the Yaos or Anyanja, and these people (who are a branch of the Makua)
frequently wear the hair twisted into long strings. The sentence about
washing, as it stands, is somewhat too sweeping. It only applies to
districts where water is scarce—as, indeed, appears from other
passages in the book.—[TR.]
Footnote 50:
“This kind of lock and key,” says the late Rev. D. C. Scott
(_Cyclopædic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language_, s.v., _mfungulo_),
“is common among the Ambo branch of the Mang’anja” (living between the
Ruo junction and the sea), “and is a wooden key about a foot long,
with three teeth; it is passed in between the wall-post and upright
door-stick (_kapambi_) inside, and the teeth fit into notches and lift
the bolts; only the Ambo can make them and they lock their door thus
behind them, carrying the key with them when they go to any short
distance from their house.” (See also svv. _Funga_ and _Mtengo_:
“_mitengo ya Ambo_, the Ambos’ stick keys.”) The ordinary method of
fastening the door (_chitseko_) is by cross-bars, slipped in between
the door and the side posts. The following passage from Mr. Charles
Doughty’s _Travels in Arabia Deserta_ seems to show that this Ambo
form of lock and key must have been borrowed, directly or indirectly,
from the Arab settlers on the coast—doubtless at a remote period, as
it seems to be no longer in use among the latter. “The fastening, as
in all Arabic places, is a wooden lock; the bolt is detained by little
pegs falling from above into apposite holes, the key is a wooden
stele, some have them of metal, with teeth to match the holes of the
lock, the key put in under, you strike up the pegs and the slot may be
withdrawn” (Vol. I, p. 143).—[TR.]
Footnote 51:
Both Yaos and Anyanja carry sheath-knives, either stuck in the
waist-cloth or hung to a cross-belt passing over the right shoulder,
or (if of small size) on a string round the neck or left arm.—[TR.]
Footnote 52:
The reference is to p. 315 where the _chimbandi_ ceremony (observed
when a young wife is expecting her first child) is described. Dr.
Weule does not mention the fact of bark-cloth being worn by the girls
at the _unyago_ mysteries he has previously described—indeed, he says
expressly that, at Nuchi (p. 231, and apparently also at Akuchikomu’s,
p. 222) they were dressed in new, bright-coloured calicoes. But he
appears to have witnessed only the closing ceremony. Usually, if not
always, bark-cloth is worn during the weeks spent in the bush. This
was certainly the case among the Yaos of the Shire Highlands, fourteen
or fifteen years ago, and probably is so still. “The _unyago_ [at one
of the Ndirande villages near Blantyre] was just over, and [two of the
missionaries] met the girls coming away from it all freshly anointed
and dripping with oil. They found the _masasa_ (booths or huts) built
round three sides of a square, divided into little compartments, where
the girls sleep. They are not allowed outside the place till the thing
is over, and they wear bark-cloth. In the middle of the square were
traces of pots having been made, and _ufa_ (flour) pounded.... The
girls go through symbolic performances of all their married
duties,—pretend to sow maize, hoe it, gather it, bring it home,
etc.—pounding, sweeping, fetching water, cooking, making pots, etc.,
are all gone through.”—(MS. note, September 26th and 27th,
1894.)—[TR.]
Footnote 53:
A native is not likely to tell a stranger, above all a European, the
names by which he is known at home. The name by which he is known to
his employer is therefore most probably a nickname, or one assumed by
himself for the occasion.—[TR.]
Footnote 54:
It is not always easy to draw the line between games and dances; but
there is certainly no lack of the former. Particulars of games played
by a number of children are given in Scott, _Cyclopædic Dictionary of
the Mang’anja Language_, s.vv. _Masewero_ and _Sewera_.—[TR.]
Footnote 55:
In Chinyanja, _Nguli_ or _Nanguli_.—[TR.]
Footnote 56:
This is evidently the one called _Nsikwa_ in Chinyanja. See Scott,
_Cyclopædic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language_, p. 465: “A small
top made of a round piece of gourd-shell with a spindle of cane
through the middle.” A game is played with the _Nsikwa_ in which the
players take sides, and spin their tops so as to knock down bits of
maize-cob set up by their adversaries.—[TR.]
Footnote 57:
The articles figured look like bull-roarers, which no doubt might be
put to the use indicated, by a native who had seen the telephone at
Lindi. But we take leave to doubt their being originally made for such
a purpose.—TR.
Footnote 58:
The Rev. Dr. Hetherwick says that _masange_ is “a game played by
children in which they build mimic houses and act as grown-up people.”
[TR.]
Footnote 59:
The author seems to be mistaken in the distinction drawn between the
_ngosyo_ and the “groups.” See note at end of chapter. [TR.]
Footnote 60:
_Miraji_, plural of _mlaji_, a form interchangeable with _mlasi_.
[TR.]
Footnote 61:
Rice in Makua is _mvuka_ or _moka_; the word in the text may be a
corrupt form intermediate between this and the Yao _mpunga_.
Footnote 62:
See, _inter alia_, Mr. R. T. Dennett’s _At the Back of the Black Man’s
Mind_, pp. 38, 68–70. [TR.]
Footnote 63:
The same thing is done by Mang’anja girls on the Shire, in order to
make them articulate clearly. The pebbles used for the purpose are
taken from the stomachs of crocodiles, which sometimes contain enough
to fill a bucket. (MS. note made at Blantyre, August 30th,
1894.)—[TR.]
Footnote 64:
See note at end of chapter.—[TR.]
Footnote 65:
The latter spelling is intended to represent the Makua version of the
English pronunciation of Anastasius.—[TR.]
Footnote 66:
Discovered by Consul O’Neill in 1882.—[TR.]
Footnote 67:
The late Dr. Elmslie computed that this crossing must have taken place
in 1825, as Ngoni tradition states that an eclipse (during which the
chief Mombera, who died in 1892, was prematurely born) occurred at the
time.—[TR.]
Footnote 68:
This may be a mistake for _chikolongwe_, which is the correct form of
the word in Yao—or it may be a Makonde word. _Chitopole_, in Yao (see
Dr. Hetherwick’s _Handbook_) means “the crescent-shaped tribal mark of
the Walomwe” (a division of the Makua). This is quite sufficiently
like the curved spring of the trap in the illustration on p. 98, if
the latter were turned round with the opening downwards. Probably the
Yaos only know the word as applied to the keloid pattern, having
learned it from the Makua, in whose language no doubt it originally
had the sense attributed to it by Dr. Weule.—[TR.]
Footnote 69:
We cannot help thinking that Dr. Weule must be mistaken in supposing
this game to be borrowed from a European source. The late Commander
Cameron, at Kasongo in 1874, saw a slave of the Arab, Juma Merikani,
“exhibiting tricks ... with a piece of heavy, hard wood shaped like an
hour-glass, and two sticks each a foot in length. Taking a stick in
each hand, he could make the wood rotate rapidly and run backwards and
forwards ... between the sticks, on a piece of string attached to
their ends; then, by a peculiar jerk, he would send the wood flying up
into the air, higher than a cricket-ball could be thrown, and catching
it on the string, would again set it rolling” (_Across Africa_, II,
91). At this time, diabolo, of course, was quite unknown in Europe,
though it had been a fashionable game in the early part of last
century. A writer in the _Bulletin de la Société Belge des Etudes
Coloniales_ (December, 1908), in a notice of Dr. Weule’s book, after
quoting the above passage from Cameron, refers to a description of the
game (under the name of _Le Diable_), from a work entitled _Les
Amusements de la Campagne_ (Paris, 1826). It was believed to have
originated in China.—[TR.]
Footnote 70:
This was probably not accidental, as the Wayao always bury their dead
with the knees drawn up. See Macdonald, _Africana_, i, 103.—[TR.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
3. Re-indexed footnotes using numbers and collected together at the end
of the last chapter.
4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
5. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript
character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in
curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.
6. The music files are the music transcriber’s interpretation of the
printed notation and are placed in the public domain.