Such being the simplicity of the house and furniture, it is evident

that loss by fire--an event by no means uncommon--is not nearly so

severe as is the case with us. The Japanese have, however, a very

sincere dread of fire, and at the end of every principal street there

is an elevated station, furnished with a bell, by means of which

information can be given as to the part of the city in which the fire

rages, so that all can go to assist in extinguishing it. Fires are of

almost daily occurrence, and whole streets are levelled at a time.

The Japanese take these fires as a matter of course, and look on the

destruction of an entire quarter with characteristic equanimity.

Indeed, they calculate that, taking one part with another, Yeddo is

burned down once in every seven years; and so they build their houses

with the least possible expense, considering them to be sooner or later

food for fire.

Of the amusements of the Japanese only a very short account can be

given. First among them must be placed the calm and contemplative

amusement of the pipe, in which the Japanese indulge largely. The pipe

which they use is very small, the bowl being scarcely large enough to

contain a moderately sized pea. The tobacco is very mild, something

like Turkish tobacco, and it is smoked by drawing the vapor into the

lungs, so that the whole of the tobacco is consumed at one inhalation.

The ashes are then turned out of the pipe, which is replaced in its

case, and the smoke is leisurely exhaled. A Japanese will smoke thirty

or forty such pipes in a morning.

Games for children are almost identical with those used in England; the

ball, the shuttlecock, the stilt, the kite, and the hoop, being all

common toys. As for adults, they have dice, the theatre, the wrestling

matches. The dice are prohibited by law, and therefore they are made so

minute as to be easily concealed. A pair of dice and their box are so

small that they can be concealed between the tips of two fingers, the

dice being barely the tenth of an inch in diameter, and the box just

large enough to hold them.

The wrestling matches are very singular performances. The wrestlers

are the strangest imaginable beings, being fattened to the last

possible degree, so that they seem incapable of any feats of activity.

Yet one of these elephantine men took in his arms a sack of rice

weighing a hundred and twenty-five pounds, and turned repeated

somersaults with as much ease as any light and unencumbered gymnast

could do. The wrestlers are kept by the Daimios, who are very proud of

them, and fond of exhibiting their powers. Each wrestler is supplied

with several attendants, and clad in magnificent garments, the

privilege of wearing two swords being also accorded to them. When they

perform, all their robes are removed, leaving them in the wrestler’s

garb, a fringed apron, embroidered with the cognizance of their patron.

In wrestling, they try, not only to throw their antagonist, but to push

him out of the arena, a man who is forced beyond the boundary being

held as vanquished. One of these encounters is vividly described by an

American traveller.

“They were, in fact, like a pair of fierce bulls, whose nature they had

not only acquired, but even their look and movements. As they continued

to eye each other, they stamped the ground heavily, pawing as it were

with impatience, and then, stooping their huge bodies, they grasped

handfuls of the earth, and flung it with an angry toss over their

backs, or rubbed it impatiently between their massive palms, or under

their stalwart shoulders. They now crouched down low, still keeping

their eyes fixed upon one another, and watching each movement, when, in

a moment, they had both simultaneously heaved their massive frames in

opposing force, body to body, with a shock that might have stunned an

ox.

“The equilibrium of their monstrous persons was hardly disturbed by

the encounter, the effect of which was barely visible in the quiver

of the hanging flesh of their bodies. As they came together, they had

flung their brawny arms about each other, and were now entwined in a

desperate struggle, with all their strength, to throw their antagonist.

Their great muscles rose with the distinct outline of the sculptured

form of a colossal Hercules, their bloated faces swelled up with gushes

of red blood, which seemed almost to burst through the skin, and their

bodies palpitated with savage emotion as the struggle continued. At

last one of the antagonists fell with his immense weight upon the

ground, and, being declared vanquished, he was assisted to his feet and

conducted out of the ring.”

The theatres much resemble those of the Chinese, the building being a

mere temporary shed, and the parts of the women taken by young lads.

The plays last for some two hours, and the Japanese have a very odd

plan of arranging them. Suppose that five plays are to be acted in a

day: the performers go through the first act of the first play, then

the first act of the second play, and so on, until they have taken

in succession the first act of every play. They then take the second

act of each play, and so on until the whole are concluded. The object

of this custom is, to enable spectators to see one act, go away, and

come again in time for the next act. Often, however, the spectators

remain throughout the entire day, and in that case refreshments are

openly consumed. It is also thought correct for ladies to change their

dress as often as possible during the day, so that there is as much

change of costume in front of the stage as upon it. In these plays

there is generally a considerable amount of love-making, and a still

greater amount of fighting, the “terrific combat” being an acknowledged

essential of the Japanese stage.

Perhaps the most characteristic and most perplexing institution of

Japan is that of the Tea-house. In many points the whole tone of

thought differs so much in Japan from anything that we Westerns have

learned, that it is scarcely possible for two so diverse people to

judge each other fairly. We have already seen that nudity conveys no

ideas of indecency to a Japanese, the people having been accustomed to

it from infancy, and thinking no more of it than do infants. In the

tea-houses we find a state of things which in Europe would be, and

rightly, stigmatized as national immorality: in Japan it is taken as a

matter of course. These tea-houses are situated in the most picturesque

spots, and are furnished with every luxury. The extraordinary part of

them is, that the attendants are young women, who are sold for a term

of years to a life of vice. They are purchased by the proprietors of

the tea-houses, and instructed in various accomplishments, so as to

make them agreeable companions. No sort of infamy attaches to them, men

of high rank taking their wives and families to the tea-houses, so that

they may benefit by the many accomplishments of the attendants.

When the term of servitude is over, the girls retire from their

business, and may re-enter their families without losing the regard

of their relatives. Many enter a Buddhist order of mendicant nuns,

but the greater number find husbands. It is one of the most startling

characteristics of this strange people that institutions such as this

should exist, and yet that female virtue should be so highly valued.

No sooner does one of these girls marry, than she is supposed to begin

her life afresh, and, no matter what may have been their previous

lives, no wives are more faithful than those of the Japanese. The only

resting-point in this mass of contradiction is, that, though the girls

incur no shame for the course of life into which they have been sold,

the keepers of the tea-houses are looked upon as utterly infamous, and

no one of respectability will associate with them.

That the men should resort to such places is no matter of surprise, but

that they should be accompanied by their wives is rather remarkable.

Sometimes the husbands prefer to go without their wives, and in that

case the ladies are apt to resent the neglect. The accompanying

illustration is copied from a Japanese book in my collection, and is a

good example of the humorous power which a Japanese artist can put into

his work. The engraving tells its own story. Two husbands are going

off together, and are caught by their wives. The different expressions

thrown into the faces and action of the truants are admirably

given,--the surprise and horror of the one, who has evidently allowed

his wife to be ruler in the house, and the dogged determination of the

other to get away, are rendered with such force that no European artist

could surpass the effect.

[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE TRUANTS.]

We cannot take leave of this remarkable people without a few remarks

upon the state of art among them. The Japanese are evidently an

art-loving people. Fond as they are of the grotesque in art, they are

capable of appreciating its highest qualities; and, indeed, a Japanese

workman can scarcely make any article of ordinary use without producing

some agreeable combination of lines in color.

Even the pen, or rather the brush, with which they write is enclosed in

an ingenious and decidedly artistic case. The case is made of bronze,

and consists of a hollow stem and a square bowl closed by a lid. The

bowl contains India ink, and into the hollow stem the pen is passed.

When not in use the pen is slipped into the stem, and the lid is closed

and kept down by twisting over it the string which hangs from the end

of the case, and which is decorated with a ball of agate.

One reason for the excellence of Japanese art is, that the artists,

instead of copying from each other, invariably go to nature for their

models. They have teachers just as we do, but the great object of these

professors is to teach their pupils how to produce the greatest effect

with the fewest lines. Book after book may be seen entirely filled with

studies for the guidance of the young artists, in which the master has

depicted various scenes with as few lines as possible. One of these

books is entirely filled with studies of falling rain, and, monotonous

as the subject may seem, no two drawings are in the least alike, and a

separate and forcible character is given to each sketch. Another book

has nothing but outlines of landscape scenery, while some are entirely

filled with grass-blades, some bending in the wind, others beaten

down by rain, and others flourishing boldly upright. The bamboo is

another favorite subject; and so highly do the Japanese prize the skill

displayed by a master, that they will often purchase at a high price a

piece of paper with nothing on it but a few strokes of the brush, the

harmony of the composition and the balance of the different lines of

beauty being thoroughly appreciated by an artistic eye.

Studying as the Japanese do in the school of nature, they are

marvellously apt at expressing attitude, whether of man, beast, or

bird. They never have any difficulty in disposing of the arms of their

figures, and, no matter what may be the action, there is always an ease

about it which betrays the artist’s hand even in the rudest figures.

Among living objects the crane appears to be the special favorite of

the Japanese, its popularity being shared, though not equalled, by the

stork and the heron.

These birds are protected both by law and popular opinion, and

in consequence are so tame that the native artists have abundant

opportunities of studying their attitudes, which they do with a patient

love for the subject that is almost beyond praise. No figure is so

frequently introduced in Japanese art as the crane, and so thoroughly

is the bird understood, that it is scarcely possible to find in all

the figures of cranes, whether cast in bronze, drawn on paper, or

embossed and painted on articles of furniture, two specimens in which

the attitude is exactly the same. With us, even the professional

animal painters are apt to take a sketch or two, and copy them over

and over again, often repeating errors as well as excellences, while

the Japanese artist has too genuine a love for his subject to descend

to any such course. Day by day he studies his living models, fills

his book with sketches taken rapidly, but truly, and so has always

at hand a supply of genuine and original attitudes. In order to show

how admirably the Japanese artist can represent the crane, I have

introduced below drawings of some beautiful specimens in Sir Hope

Grant’s collection.

[Illustration: CANDLESTICK AND CENSERS. (From Sir Hope Grant’s

Collection.)]

The reader cannot fail to perceive the consummate knowledge of the bird

which is displayed in these figures, while the perfection of the work

and the delicate finish of the detail are almost beyond praise. Nothing

can be more true to nature than the three attitudes there shown. In one

case, the bird stands upright and contemplative on one leg, after the

manner of its kind. In the second instance, the bird is standing on a

tortoise, and, as the neck is thrown into action, both legs are used

for support. Then, in the flying bird, whose body serves as a censer,

the attitude of the outspread wings and outstretched legs is just as

true to nature as the others, all the attitudes having been undoubtedly

taken from nature.

The porcelain of the Japanese is singularly beautiful, and sometimes

is adorned with ornaments which may be reckoned under the head of

“conceits.” For instance, a cup will be adorned with a representation

of pleasure boats on the river. With a needle the tiny windows of the

boats can be raised, when a party of ladies and gentlemen drinking tea

are discovered inside the boat. Sometimes a little tortoise may be seen

reposing quietly at the bottom of the cup, until the hot tea is poured

into it, when the creature rises to the surface, shaking its head and

kicking with its legs as if in pain from the hot liquid.

In Japanese pictures certain curious figures may be seen, looking as

if human beings had been wrapped in a bundle of rushes. This strange

costume is the snow-cloak of the ordinary Japanese. For mere rain the

Japanese generally wear a sort of overcoat made of oiled paper, very

thin, nearly transparent, and very efficient, though it is easily

torn. But when a snow-storm comes on, the Japanese endues another

garment, which is made in a way equally simple and effective.

A sort of skeleton is made of network, the meshes being about two

inches in diameter. Upon each point of the mesh is tied a bunch of

vegetable fibre, like very fine grass, the bundles being about as

thick as an ordinary pencil where they are tied, and spreading toward

the ends. The garment thus made is exceedingly light, and answers its

purpose in the most admirable manner. The bunches of fibres overlapping

each other like the tiles of a house, keep the snow far from the body,

while any snow that may melt simply runs along the fibres and drops to

the ground. To wet this snow cloak through is almost impossible, even

the jet of a garden engine having little effect upon it except when

quite close, while no amount of snow would be able to force a drop of

water through the loose texture of the material.

The Japanese silks have long been celebrated, but there is one kind

of which scarcely anything is known in England. During Lord Elgin’s

mission to Japan, a number of rolls of silk were presented to the

members of the embassy. They were all in strips about three yards

long and one wide, so that they seemed to be useless. They happened,

however, to be exceedingly valuable; in fact, absolutely priceless,

as no money could buy them. They were made by exiled nobles, who were

punished by being sent to the island of Fatsizio, where they spend

their time in making these peculiar silks. No one below a certain rank

is allowed to wear the silk which has been woven by noble fingers, or

even to have the fabric in the house, and in consequence not a piece

ever even found its way to the shops.

The subject of Japanese art is most interesting, but we must now close

our notice, and proceed to the next people on our list.

CHAPTER CLVIII.

SIAM.

GOVERNMENT--DRESS--RELIGION.

DUPLEX GOVERNMENT -- PERSONAL CHARACTER OF THE KING -- THE LATE FIRST

KING AND HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- APPEARANCE OF THE SIAMESE -- THE MODE

OF ARRANGING THE HAIR -- DRESS OF BOTH SEXES -- CEREMONIES IN SIAM

-- AUDIENCE OF A NOBLE -- ACTORS AND THEIR COSTUMES -- AN ACTRESS IN

ROYAL ROBES -- THE ARISTOCRATIC ELBOW -- PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CRIME

-- SYSTEM OF PUNISHMENT -- RELIGION OF SIAM -- THE WHITE ELEPHANT,

AND REASON OF THE HONORS THAT ARE PAID TO IT -- HAIRS OF THE TAIL --

ARCHITECTURE OF SIAM -- THE FUNERAL PILE.

In the empire of SIAM, and its dependent kingdoms, Laos and Cambodia,

we find the principle of the duplex rule which we have already seen

existing in Japan, though in these cases the distinction between the

two kings is merely one of dignity, and has nothing to do with the

secular and spiritual element, as in Japan. In Siam, the two kings are

mostly near relations, and often brothers; and sometimes, though by no

means as a rule, the Second King becomes First King on the death of his

superior. Practically, the whole of the royal power is vested in the

first King, the secondary ruler being, although enjoying royal rank,

nothing more than the first subject in the land.

In China and Japan, the personal character of the king seems to

exercise but little influence over the people. This is not the case

with Siam, in which country the influence of the king pervades the

whole of the realm, and is of infinite importance for good or evil.

The Siamese have been very fortunate in the king who lately held the

First Throne. As is the custom with the Siamese kings, he spent a

series of years in a Buddhist monastery, secluding himself from all

society, even from that of his own children. During twenty-seven years

he devoted himself to the studies which he thought would fit him for

his future office; and when he mounted the throne in 1851, being

then about forty-seven years of age, he astonished every one by his

learning. He had made himself master of the history and geography of

his own country; he was good enough astronomer to calculate eclipses,

and determine the latitude and longitude of a place. He could speak

and write English so well, that he was a valued contributor to the

scientific journals of Hong Kong, and, on account of his writings, was

elected a member of the Asiatic Society. He was a fair Latin and French

scholar, was thoroughly acquainted with all the various dialects of

Siam and Indo-China, and was also learned in Sanscrit, a language of

which he was very fond.

He was always desirous of attracting to him any English people who

could give him instruction, and showed his preference for Great Britain

by invariably wearing a Glengary cap, except on occasions of ceremony,

when he had to wear the heavy national crown; and, strange to say,

to judge from several photographic portraits of the King in various

costumes, the Glengary cap suits his countenance better than any other

headdress. The full Siamese name of the King was Phra Chomklau chau yu

hua; but the Sanscrit form, which he always used, was Somdetch Phra

Paramendra Maha Mongkut. He generally signed his name as S. P. P. M.

Mongkut. His name before he came to the throne was Chau Fa Yai. The

death of this wise ruler and accomplished gentleman was a very severe

loss to Siam, and was felt even among the scientific societies of

Europe.

A portrait of this remarkable man is given on the 1469th page, dressed

in the costume which he usually wore. The Glengary cap gives a

curiously Europeanized look to his face; but as, contrary to the habit

of the bare-headed Siamese, he constantly wore it, he is drawn with it

upon his head. I possess portraits of him in several dresses, but that

which he generally wore is selected as being the most characteristic of

the man.

His brother, Chau Fa Noi, was by universal consent made the Second

King, or Wanqua. When he received the crown, he took the name of

Somdetch Piu Klau Chau yu hua. The choice was in both cases an

excellent one, the brothers resembling each other in their love of

literature, and their anxiety to promote the welfare of their people by

the arts of peace, and not of war.

We will now turn to the general appearance of the Siamese.

They are rather small, but well proportioned, and their color is a

warm olive. The hair of the men is shaved, except a tuft upon the top

of the head, which is kept rather short; and the hair being black and

coarse, the tuft looks as if a short brush had been stuck on the head.

According to Siamese ideas, the tuft resembles the closed lotus flower.

This tuft is held in the highest esteem; and for any one even to give

indications of approaching the head-tuft of a great man, is considered

either as a deadly insult or a mark of utter ignorance of manners.

When a young Siamese comes of age, the head-tuft is shaved with great

ceremonies, the relations being called together, priests being invited

to recite prayers and wash the head of the young man, and all the

family resources being drawn upon for the feast. The exact moment of

the shaving is announced by a musket shot. After the tuft is removed,

the lad is sent to the pagodas to be taught by the priests, and many

of them never leave these quiet retreats, but enter the ranks of the

regular priesthood.

Even the women wear the hair-tuft, but in their case the hair is

allowed to grow to a greater length, and is carefully oiled and tended.

The woman’s head-tuft is said to represent the lotus flower opened.

The head is seldom covered, the cap worn by King S. Phra Mongkut being

quite an exceptional instance. As for clothing, the Siamese care but

little for it, though the great people wear the most costly robes on

state occasions. But even the highest mandarins content themselves

during the warmer months of the year with the single garment called the

Pa-nung. This is a wide strip of strong Indian chintz, generally having

a pattern of stars upon a ground of dark blue, green, red or chocolate.

When worn, “the Siamese place the middle of this, when opened, to the

small of the back, bringing the two ends round the body before, and the

upper edges, being twisted together, are tucked in between the body and

the cloth. The part hanging is folded in large plaits, passed between

the legs, and tucked in behind as before.” (See Bowring’s “Kingdom and

People of Siam.”)

Sometimes the men have a white cloth hanging loosely over their

shoulders, and occasionally throw it over their heads. When walking in

the open air, a broad palm-leaf hat is used to keep off the sunbeams,

and is worn by both sexes alike.

There is very little difference in the dress of the sexes. When very

young, girls wear a light and airy costume of turmeric powder, which

gives them a rich yellow hue, and imparts its color to everything

with which they come in contact. Up to the age of ten or eleven, they

generally wear a slight gold or silver string round the waist, from the

centre of which depends a heart-shaped piece of the same metal, and,

when they reach adult years, they assume the regular woman’s dress.

This consists of the chintz or figured silk wrapper, which, however,

falls little below the knees, and a piece of lighter stuff thrown over

one shoulder and under the other. This latter article of dress is,

however, of little importance, and, even when used, it often falls off

the shoulder, and is not replaced. Even the Queen of Siam, when in

state dress, wears nothing but these two garments. As a rule, the feet

are bare, embroidered slippers being only occasionally used by great

people.

The appearance of the king in his royal robes may be seen from the

portrait of a celebrated actress on the next page. In Siam, as in

China, the actors are dressed in the most magnificent style, and

wear costumes made on the pattern of those worn by royalty. To all

appearance, they are quite as splendid as the real dresses, for

gilding can be made to look quite as well as solid gold, and sham

jewels can be made larger and more gorgeous than real gems. The reader

will notice that upon the fingers the actress wears inordinately long

nail-preservers, which are considered as indicating that the nails

beneath are of a proportionate length.

The actors in the king’s theatre are all his own women, of whom he has

some six or seven hundred, together with an average of five attendants

to each woman. No male is allowed to enter this department of the

palace, which is presided over by ladies chosen from the noblest

families in the land. These plays are all in dumb show, accompanied by

music, which in Siam is of a much sweeter character than is usual in

that part of the world. Besides the chief actors, at least a hundred

attendants assist in the play, all being magnificently attired. The

play is continued _ad infinitum_. When any of the spectators become

wearied, they retire for a while, and then return, and it is thought a

compliment to the principal guest to ask him the hour at which he would

like the play to be stopped.

[Illustration: KING OF SIAM. (See page 1467.)]

[Illustration: ARMOR. (See page 1460.)]

[Illustration: ACTRESS. (See page 1468.)]

The veritable crown is shaped much like the mock ornaments of the

actress. The King brought for the inspection of Sir J. Bowring the

crown used at his coronation. It is very heavy, weighing about four

pounds, and is of enormous value, being covered with valuable diamonds,

that which terminates the peak being of very great size and splendor.

The King also exhibited the sword of state, with its golden scabbard

covered with jewels. When the sword is drawn, it is seen to be double,

one blade being inserted into the other, as into a second sheath. The

inner blade is of steel, and the outer of a softer metal. The handle is

of wood, and, like the sheath, is profusely adorned with jewels.

The Siamese are among the most ceremonious people, and in this respect

equal, even if they do not surpass, the Chinese and Japanese. Their

very language is a series of forms, by which persons of different rank

address each other; and, although there may be no distinction of dress

between a nobleman and a peasant, the difference of rank is marked far

more strongly than could be done by mere dress. It is an essential

point of etiquette, for example, that the person of inferior rank

should always keep his head below that of his superior.

Should a man of low degree meet a nobleman, the former will stoop

at the distance of thirty or forty yards, sink on his knees as his

superior approaches, and finally prostrate himself on his face. Should

he wish to present anything to his superior, he must do so by pushing

it along the ground, and, indeed, must carry out in appearance the

formal mode of address in which he likens himself to a worm. Just as

the peasants grovel before the nobles, so do the nobles before the

king; and if either of them has a petition to offer, he must put it in

a jar, and so crawl and push it along the ground as humbly as if he

were a mere peasant. Siamese artists are fond of depicting the various

modes of approaching a superior, and never forget to indicate the great

man by two points. In the first place, he sits erect, while the others

crouch; and, in the second, he leans on his left arm, and bends the

left elbow inward. This most strange and ungraceful attitude is a mark

of high birth and breeding, the children of both sexes being trained to

reverse the elbow-joint at a very early age.

As may be expected from the progress of civilization, the Siamese have

a tolerably complete code of laws, which are administered by regularly

appointed officers. The laws are rather severe, though not much more

so than were our own a century ago. Murder, for example, is punished

with death; and in every case of murder or suicide, the houses within a

circle of eighty yards from the spot on which the crime was committed

are considered responsible, and fined heavily. This curious law forces

the people to be very cautious with regard to quarrels, and to check

them before the two antagonists become sufficiently irritated to seek

each other’s life. This respect for human life contrasts strongly with

the utter indifference with which it is regarded in China and Japan.

Nobles of very high rank are exempt from capital punishment in one

way, _i. e._ their blood may not be shed; but, if guilty of a capital

offence, they are put into sacks, and beaten to death with clubs made

of sandal wood. Some punishments are meant to inflict ignominy. Such,

for example, is that of a bonze, or priest, who is detected in breaking

his vow of chastity. He is taken to a public place, stripped of his

sacred yellow robe, flogged until the blood streams down his back, and

then kept in the king’s stables for the rest of his life, employed in

cutting grass for the elephants.

Another similar punishment is inflicted on laymen. A cangue is fastened

round his neck, his hands and wrists are chained, and he is taken

round the city, preceded by drums and cymbals. The worst part of the

punishment is, that he is compelled to proclaim his crime aloud as he

passes through the streets; and if he ceases to do so, or drops his

voice, he is beaten severely with the flat of a sword. Prisoners are

mostly employed on public works, and at night they are all fastened

together with one long chain.

Of the religion of the Siamese it is impossible to treat, because

Buddhism is far too wide and intricate a subject to be discussed in a

few pages. There is, however, one modification of this religion which

must be mentioned; namely, the divine honors paid to the White Elephant.

By the Siamese, these animals are thought to be the incarnations

of some future Buddha, and are accordingly viewed with the deepest

respect. The fortunate man who captures a white elephant sends the news

to the capital, and in return for the auspicious news is thenceforth

freed, with his posterity, from all taxation and liability to military

service. A road is cut through the forest, and a magnificent raft is

built on the Meinam River, for the reception of the sacred animal. When

the elephant reaches the raft, he is taken on board under a splendid

canopy, and kept in good temper by gifts of cakes and sweetmeats.

Meanwhile, a noble of the highest rank, sometimes even the First King

himself, goes in a state barge to meet the elephant, accompanied by

a host of boats with flags and music, and escorts the sacred animal

to the capital, each boat trying to attach a rope to the raft. When

arrived, the animal is taken to the palace, when he receives some

lofty title, and is then led to the magnificent house prepared for

him, where, to the end of his life, he is petted and pampered and has

everything his own way, the king himself deeming it an honor if the

sacred beast will condescend to feed out of his hand. On the head of

the elephant is placed a royal crown, his tusks are encircled with

precious rings, and a royal umbrella is carried over him when he goes

to bathe.

When the animal dies, the hairs of the tail are reserved as relics of

a divine incarnation, and the body is buried with royal honors. The

hairs of the tail are set in golden handles, profusely adorned with

precious stones; and the reader may possibly remember that the First

King, Somdetch Phra Mongkut, sent one of these tufts to Queen Victoria,

as a priceless proof of the estimation in which he held her. The King

also gave the ambassador, Sir J. Bowring, a few hairs from the tail, as

a gift about equal to that of the Garter in England, and when, to the

great grief of the nation, the elephant died in 1855, the King sent Sir

J. Bowring, as a further mark of his favor, a small piece of the skin

preserved in spirits of wine.

The color of the elephant is not really white, but a sort of pale,

brick-dust red. Albino animals of all kinds are venerated by the

Siamese, the white monkey being in rank next to the white elephant.

This veneration is so marked that a talapoin--a sort of preaching

fakir--who will not condescend to salute the King himself, bows humbly

if he should see even a white cock, much more a white monkey.

The architecture of Siam deserves a brief notice. It possesses some

of the characteristics of Chinese, Japanese, and Burmese, but has

an aspect that belongs peculiarly to itself. Ordinary houses are of

comparatively small dimensions, but the temples are often of enormous

size, and in their way are exceedingly beautiful. They are full of

lofty and gabled roofs, five or six of which often rise above each

other, in fantastic beauty, so as to lead the eye upward to the central

tower. This is always a sort of spire or pinnacle, which is made of

a succession of stories, and is terminated by the slender emblem of

sovereignty, namely, an ornament that looks like a series of spread

umbrellas placed over each other, and become less and less as they

approach the summit. The whole of the tower is profusely adorned with

grotesque statues in strange attitudes, and there is scarcely a square

foot which is undecorated in some way or other.

The palaces are built on much the same model, and their gates are often

guarded by gigantic figures carved in stone. At the door of the Hall

of Audience at Bangkok are two figures made of granite. They are sixty

feet in height, and represent men with the tails of fish projecting

from the spine. In fact, they are almost exact reproductions of the

Assyrian Dagon, as it is represented on the Nineveh sculptures.

The funeral pile on (or rather in) which is burned the body of a king

or any of the royal family, is built on the same principle as the

temples, and is in fact a temple, though made of combustible materials.

There is before me a photograph of the funeral pile which was made for

the body of the First King’s son, and another of a pile erected for the

purpose of consuming the body of his wife. They are very similar in

appearance, being temples made of wood and canvas, covered with gilt

paper. They are about a hundred and twenty feet in height, and on the

photograph, where the nature of the material is not shown, look like

magnificent specimens of Siamese architecture.

The central spire, terminated with its royal emblem, rises in the

centre, and round it are clustered gables, roofs, pinnacles, and

pillars, in bewildering profusion.

The door is guarded by two gigantic statues, and the body lies in

the centre of the building, hidden by curtains. On account of the

flimsiness of the materials, to all the pinnacles are attached slight

ropes, which are fastened firmly to the ground, so that they act like

the “stays” of a ship’s mast. Inflammable as are the wood, paper, and

canvas of which the edifice is made, they are rendered still more so by

being saturated with oil, tar, and similarly combustible substances.

Vast, therefore, as is the building, a very short time suffices to

consume it, and the intense heat reduces the corpse to a mere heap of

ashes, which are gathered together, and solemnly placed in the temple

dedicated to that purpose.

CHAPTER CLIX.

ANCIENT EUROPE.

THE SWISS LAKE-DWELLERS.

DISCOVERY OF THE DWELLINGS AND RELICS -- MODE OF BUILDING THE HOUSES

-- POPULATION OF THE LAKES -- GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE RELICS.

Many of my readers may be aware of the remarkable discovery that was

made in 1853-4, showing that even in Europe there lived, at one time,

a race of men having exactly the same habits as the swamp-dwellers of

New Guinea, or the lake-dwellers of Maracaibo on the Amazon. During

the winter months of those two years, the weather in Switzerland was

very dry and very cold, so that the rivers did not receive their usual

supplies of water. Consequently, the water in the lakes fell far below

its usual level, and this disclosed the remarkable fact that in those

lakes had once been assemblages of human habitations, built upon piles

driven into the bed of the lake.

These houses, appropriately called “Pfahlbauten,” or Pile-buildings,

were, as their name implies, built upon piles; and it is a most

interesting fact, that not only have the piles been discovered, on

which the houses were built, but also fragments of the walls of

those houses; many specimens of the weapons and implements of the

inhabitants, their ornaments, and even their food, have been brought to

light, after having been buried for centuries beneath the water.

The resemblance, not to say the identity, between many articles found

under the waters of the Swiss lakes and those which are still used by

savage tribes of the Western hemisphere is absolutely startling; and

not the least remarkable point about the relics which have just been

discovered is, that several of them are identical with inventions which

we fondly deem to be modern.

The chief part of these lake-dwellings was constructed during the Stone

period, _i. e._ a period when axes, spear-heads, etc., were made of

stone, the use of fire being unknown. This is proved by the quantity of

stone weapons and implements which have been found in the lakes. That

various improvements have been made in the architecture is also shown

by the difference in details of construction.

From the relics that have been discovered, it is easy to see what these

lake-dwellings must have been. They were built on a scaffolding made of

piles driven into the bed of the lake, and connected with cross-beams,

so as to make the foundation for a platform. Upon this platform the

huts themselves were built. They were mostly circular, and the walls

were made of wattle, rendered weather-tight by the clay which could be

obtained in any quantity from the bed of the lake.

The reason for building these edifices is analogous to the feeling

which induces military engineers to surround their forts with moats

filled with water. In those primitive times, man waged an unequal war

against the wild animals, such as the bear, the wolf, and the boar, and

in consequence, these lacustrine habitations proved to be strongholds

which such enemies could not assault. It is natural, also, that persons

thus threatened should congregate together, and in consequence we find

that in one lake alone, that of Neufchâtel, a population of some five

thousand had congregated.

A vast number of relics of this bygone age have been recovered from

the lakes, and are of absorbing interest to the anthropologist. In the

first place, the original piles have been discovered, still standing,

and several have been drawn, in order to ascertain the depth to which

they were driven. Portions of the wattled walls of the huts have also

been found, together with great numbers of stone implements, denoting

a very early age. Great quantities of pottery have also been found,

the crescent being a favorite ornament, and several utensils of a

crescentic shape having been discovered.

Then, as time went on, men improved upon their earlier works, and

took to metal instead of stone, as examples of which may be mentioned

the wonderful series of metallic objects that have been found in the

lakes. There are axes, spears and arrow-heads, necklaces, bracelets,

and hair-pins, and--most remarkable--there is the very article that was

patented some years since as the “Safety Pin” for nurseries.

As to the food which these people ate, we have abundant evidence in

the way of bones belonging to various animals, and--strangest of

all--specimens of bread have been discovered. As may be supposed, the

bread in question was of the coarsest possible character, the grains

of corn being roasted, slightly ground, and then pressed into lumps,

which may by courtesy be termed cakes. Even fruits have been found

ready cut and prepared for consumption, the apple being the most

plentiful of these fruits. Seeds of different fruits, such as the plum,

the raspberry, and the blackberry, have been found, together with the

shells of hazel and beech-nuts, showing that all these different fruits

were used for food in the olden times now so long passed away.

CHAPTER CLX.

AFRICA--_Continued_.

THE MAKONDÉ.

DR. LIVINGSTONE’S LAST EXPEDITION -- MAKONDÉ -- JUNGLE -- NATIVES

WILLING TO WORK -- THEIR FOOD -- NUMBER REDUCED BY SLAVE TRADE --

MODE OF SALUTATION -- PERSONAL APPEARANCE -- MAKONDÉ WITHOUT A

PARAMOUNT CHIEF -- METAMBWÉ -- MATUMORA THEIR CHIEF -- THEIR IDEA

OF GOD -- TATTOOING -- RAIN SCARCELY KNOWN ON THE EAST COAST --

THE MAKOA, KNOWN BY HALF-MOON FIGURE -- A RAIN-MAKER -- VILLAGES

REMARKABLE FOR CLEANLINESS -- POTTERY, HOW MADE -- SINGULAR CUSTOM.

When this work was published, the celebrated explorer, Dr. David

Livingstone, who had done so much in opening to the civilized world

the great continent of Africa, had disappeared in its interior. In the

beginning of 1866 he started from Zanzibar, on the East Coast, on that

journey which at length terminated with his life in the village of

Ilala, in April, 1873. By the providential preservation of his journal

we are favored with the results of his explorations, and learn of the

tribes and peoples whom he visited, and has described with so truthful

and fascinating a pen.

No inconsiderable portion of this work is derived from the travels of

Dr. Livingstone. It seems important, therefore, that his contribution

to a knowledge of the uncivilized races, made since this work was

issued, should, so far as our space will permit, be appended to it.

* * * * *

In March, 1866, Dr. Livingstone, having left Zanzibar, arrived in

Mikindany Bay, which is about twenty-five miles north of the Rovuma

River. Starting from Pemba, on the north side of the bay, April 4th, he

entered the country of the Makondé.

The path lay in a valley with well-wooded heights on each side; and

with the tall grass towering over the head, and now and then a jungle

to be cleared, and no air stirring, the entrance upon his seven years’

journeying was difficult and oppressive.

In passing through the jungles, though they offered no obstruction to

foot-passengers, it was necessary to heighten and widen the paths for

the tall camels. The Makondé of the village were very willing to aid

Livingstone in this work, as wood-cutters or carriers. He organized a

party of about ten jolly young men, paying each a yard of calico per

day. Being accustomed to make clearing-places for their gardens, they

worked with a will. They were perfectly satisfied with their small

compensation. Using tomahawks, climbing and young trees disappeared

before their steady and vigorous blows like clouds before the sun.

This work, however, told upon them in two or three days. The tallest

men became exhausted soonest. Not being a meat-eating people, except

one is fortunate enough to kill a wild hog or antelope, their physical

strength was not equal to any prolonged demand for hard work. They will

not eat the flesh of beasts like that of the leopard and lion, which is

readily eaten by other tribes, and the reason they give is, that these

animals devour men. Such a fact refutes the allegation that this tribe

are guilty of cannibalism.

In the open spaces were cleared gardens for maize, cassava, and

sorghum. The soil being very fertile and with no rocks, very heavy

crops of these products are obtained. The cassava bushes grow to the

height of six or seven feet. Food is very plenty and cheap. Just before

Livingstone’s visit, they had been ravaged by the Mazitu, who had

carried away many of their people as slaves. The Mehambwé, a branch

of the Makondé tribe, had also three months before been invaded, and

robbed of all their food, so that they were obliged to send in every

direction for provisions.

The Makondé have been very greatly diminished in numbers since the

slave trade was introduced, one village making war upon another,

kidnapping as many as possible to sell them to the Arab slave-dealers.

They ascribe diseases and death to witches, and when one of a village

dies, the whole population move off, saying “That is a bad spot.”

They pray to their mothers when dying or overtaken by any disaster.

Livingstone’s Somalie guide, Ben Ali, represented that they had no idea

of a deity or a future state, and believe in nothing but medicine.

All the head men of the villages pretend to be or are really doctors.

Livingstone, however, discovered some consciousness of the existence

of a God. They get large quantities of the gum-copal, which attracts

the coast Arabs as an article of commerce. The people have the belief

that in the vicinity of the kumbé, or gum-copal trees, the more ancient

trees stood and must have dropped their gum upon the ground. They

therefore dig for it, and will give as a reason for want of success at

any time, “In digging, none may be found one day, but Mulungu (God) may

give it to us on the next.”

Bhang, which is a species of hemp, is not smoked, but only tobacco.

They raise no sheep or goats, but only fowls, pigeons, and ducks.

Honey is so abundant that a gallon-pot and four fowls were given for

two yards of calico. One of their modes of salutation is to catch each

others’ hands and say, “Ai! ai!” but the more common custom is to take

hold of the right hand and say, “Marhaba” (welcome).

The Makondé are all independent of each other, and have no paramount

chief. Their physical characteristics are well-formed limbs and body,

small hands and feet, medium height, and manly bearing. Their lips are

full but not excessively thick; their foreheads are compact, narrow,

and low; the _alæ nasi_ are expanded laterally.

THE MATAMBWÉ TRIBE.

The Matambwé, whose country extends up to Ngomano, seem to be a branch

of the Makondé, and are very numerous. Their country stretches far to

the south, and abounds with copal trees and elephants.

Matumora, the chief at Ngomano, was a tall, well-proportioned man, with

a countenance severe in expression, on account of the wrinkles on his

forehead. In character he is much superior to other chiefs. He is often

resorted to for defence against oppression. He had been assailed on all

sides by slave-hunters, but had never taken captives nor engaged in any

way in the slave trade. His customary politeness was quite remarkable

toward Livingstone and his party. He took them over the Loendi River.

Sitting on the bank of the river till all their goods were carried

over, and then going over with Livingstone in the same canoe, he

opened a fish-basket in a weir and gave Livingstone the contents, and

afterward some sorghum. And yet a short time previously he had been

robbed of all his corn in an attack of the Mazitu, and was obliged to

take refuge in Marumba, a rocky island in Rovuma. He had never seen a

European before he met Livingstone.

When Matumora was asked whether the Matambwé believed in God, he

replied that “he did not know him, and the people must not be asked

if they pray to him, because they would imagine I desired them to be

killed. When they pray they first offer a little meal.” They have great

reverence for the Deity, and they say, “We don’t know him,” in order to

avoid speaking irreverently, as that may injure the country. The name

with them is “Mulungu.” Machochera, a head man, said afterward, that

“God is not good because he kills so many people.”

The marks on their foreheads and bodies are intended as ornaments

and to give beauty in the dance; they also have a sort of heraldic

significance, for by them one can tell to what tribe or portion of

a tribe a man belongs. The tattoo or tembo of the Matambwé of Upper

Makondé is very similar to the drawings of the old Egyptians, wavy

lines, such as the ancients used to indicate water, trees, and gardens,

enclosed in squares. The tattoo has been transmitted from father to

son, but the meaning seems now to be lost. It shows very clearly in

persons of light complexion, who are quite common among these tribes.

The Matambwé file their front teeth to points, but the Machinga, a

Waiyau tribe, leave two points on the front teeth, and knock out one of

the middle incisors above and below.

It is quite remarkable that the trade in rum is almost unknown on

the East Coast of Africa, though it is so common on the West Coast.

It cannot be that the religious convictions of the Arabs have had

any influence in producing this result. The Portuguese south of Cape

Delgado are the personification of what is mercenary and mean. They

would even “sell their grandfathers as well as rum,” Livingstone

sharply says, “if they could make money by the transaction.” They have

built distilleries for making a vile liquor from the fruit of the

cashew and other fruits and grains; but the business is a failure. They

will furnish their slaves with “mata bicho,” which signifies “kill

the creature” or “craving within,” and the natives will drink it if

given to them; but there is no such passion for intoxicating drinks as

to render the manufacture profitable. The use of rum, so common in all

political transactions on the West Coast, has no counterpart with the

chiefs of the East Coast.

THE MAKOA TRIBE.

One part of the Makondé, known as Makoa or Makoané, are distinguished

by a half-moon figure tattooed on the forehead or elsewhere. Many of

the men have their faces tattooed in double raised lines about half an

inch in length. Charcoal is rubbed into the incisions and the flesh is

pressed out so that the cuts are raised above the surface. This gives

them an ugly and ferocious look. The people, however, are kindly in

their feelings, and conferred favors with no apparent object of being

remunerated by calico and beads. They were in constant dread of the

invasion of the Mahiba from across the Rovuma, who steal their women

for the Ibo slave-market. It is impossible to realize the terror in

young and old inspired by these Mazitu: if they shake their shields,

the people are beside themselves and fly like frightened sheep.

A doctress or rain-maker in the village of Nyamba presented a large

basket of soroko, or “mung” as it is called in India, and a fowl. Her

tall and finely-proportioned form was profusely tattooed all over, her

hips and buttocks being elaborately marked. There was no apparent shame

in the exposure of these parts. The women as well as the men delight in

the ornamentation of the tattoo.

The villages are remarkable for their cleanliness, and the people

are intelligent, kindly, and courteous. One began to talk during a

religious service, but when Livingstone said “Kusoma Mlungu,” “We

wish to pray to God,” he immediately desisted, and all were silent

and respectful. They seem to be free from the debasing and brutal

wickedness, the selfishness and treachery, which characterize so many

of the barbarous tribes in Africa and elsewhere.

Stone-boiling is not known to these tribes, but ovens are made in

ant-hills. For baking the heads of large game, as the zebra, feet

of the elephant, and hump of the rhinoceros, they excavate holes in

the ground. Fire is produced by drilling between the hands, a custom

universal among the natives. They wet the blunt end of the upright

stick with the tongue, so that when dipped in the sand some particles

of saliva will adhere, and this is then inserted into the horizontal

stick. The wood of a wild fig-tree is generally used because igniting

so readily.

Their pottery for cooking and other uses is made by the women, the form

being fashioned by the eye, no machine ever being used. The foundation

or bottom is first made, the clay being scraped by a piece of bone or

bamboo. Leaving the vessel to dry during the night, a piece is added

to the rim the next day, and according as the air is dry and favorable

several rounds may be added. The whole is then carefully smoothed off

and is ready to be thoroughly sun-dried. They usually embellish their

pots for two or three inches near the rim before they are hardened. The

ornamentation is in imitation of basket work.

The art of pottery seems to have been known to the Africans from the

earliest times, for fragments are discovered everywhere among the

oldest fossil bones of the country.

Near many of the villages may be seen a wand bent, with both ends

inserted in the ground. A quantity of medicine is buried beneath it. If

sickness occur in a village, the men go to the place, wash themselves

with the medicine and water, creep through under the wand, and then

bury the medicine, and, as they think, the evil influence too. The wand

is thought to be a protection against evil spirits, enemies, and wild

beasts.

CHAPTER CLXI.

AFRICA--_Continued_.

THE WAIYAU.

THEIR CURIOSITY -- APPEARANCE OF THE WOMEN -- MATAKA’S RECEPTION OF

LIVINGSTONE -- REMARKABLE DECISION OF THIS CHIEF -- HIS VIEWS OF

SLAVE TRADE -- THE WAIYAU WILLING AGENTS OF THE ARAB SLAVE DEALERS --

INCIDENT SHOWING THE DREADFUL WRONG OF THIS BUSINESS -- LIVINGSTONE’S

RESCUE OF AKOSAKONÉ -- IRON-SMELTING POPULATION -- AGRICULTURAL

PRODUCTS OF THE COUNTRY -- WORK HONORABLE AMONG THE WAIYAU -- THEIR

PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

The country occupied by this tribe is somewhat mountainous, and the

land, sloping for a mile down to the south bank of the Rovuma, teems

with an immense population. When Livingstone passed through this

district (July 1, 1866) some were cutting down trees and burning them

in order to make gardens; others were moving their grain, of which they

had stored large quantities, to new places.

The Waiyau, as a tribe, have a great deal of curiosity, staring at

strangers, and sometimes showing great rudeness. Large crowds of people

came to gaze upon Livingstone and his party, bursting into laughter at

the remarks which were made in regard to the appearance and conduct

of their visitors. They would gather round his tent to peer into it.

This rude curiosity was very annoying and could be abated by only one

method: sudden rising to the feet would produce a stampede of the women

and children.

In person, the women are strong and well-built, having large limbs. The

fashion in ornament is blue and black beads, with arm-coils of brass

wire. These people strive to copy the Arabs as nearly as possible in

dress and chewing tobacco with “nora” lime instead of betel-nuts. The

gaudy prints were, however, sought by some, though the tribes in the

interior are desirous of strength rather than show in the fabrics they

buy.

The town of Mataka, one of the petty Waiyau chiefs, is situated in an

elevated valley about twenty-seven hundred feet above the sea, and is

surrounded with mountains. It consisted of about a thousand houses when

Livingstone was there. There were many other villages near.

Mataka kept Livingstone waiting in the veranda of his house, and at

length made his appearance, smiling good-naturedly. About sixty years

of age, he was dressed as an Arab. He seemed to possess considerable

humor, for his people would often greet his remarks with laughter. His

courtesy was shown by giving Livingstone a large square house to live

in and sending him generous donations of food, as porridge, meat, and

milk.

A number of his men had gone without his knowledge to Nyassa, and in

a foray stolen both cattle and people; but when they returned with

their spoil, Mataka peremptorily ordered all to be sent back. When he

went up to see Livingstone soon after, he told of what he had done.

Livingstone replied that it was “the best piece of news he had heard in

the country.” Delighted with this testimony, he turned to his people,

and asked if they heard what was said by the white stranger among them.

He then repeated Livingstone’s remark, and added, “You silly fellows

think me wrong to restore the captives, but all wise men approve of

it.” He then reproached them most severely for their disgraceful

conduct. Livingstone gave Mataka a trinket as a remembrancer of his

honorable conduct toward the Nyassa. He replied that he would always

act in a similar manner. His conduct is surely deserving the highest

commendation because it was spontaneous and contrary to the custom of

other chiefs and the prevailing spirit of the people. One day he asked

Livingstone what he ought to take to secure some gold if he should go

to Bombay. The reply was, “Ivory.” He rejoined, “Would not slaves be a

good speculation?” The answer was, “If you take slaves there for sale,

they will put you in prison.” The idea of his being “in durance vile”

was not quite compatible with his consciousness of personal dignity

and superiority; and as his countenance fell, the laugh of his people,

who heard what was said, was turned against him. It was a new thing

for these almost defenceless people, familiar, as they were, with

the scenes of pillage and barbarity, to hear these protests against

stealing and selling others into slavery. Ready as they were to regard

Mataka’s sayings as witty and to reward them with their approval, it

was no small satisfaction to them to have him impaled on Livingstone’s

sharp rejoinder. They probably had but a vague idea of the guilt of the

traffic, but the suffering and loss of life they had witnessed, and

all of which might perhaps become their own bitter experience any day,

made the matter one of personal safety, and this was an idea they could

fully comprehend.

Mataka, though now in his later years desiring quiet, had been actively

engaged in slave wars. The Waiyau generally are the most ready

coadjutors of the slave traders in their nefarious business. The Arab

merchants arriving at a Waiyau village show the goods they have brought

to the elders, who tell them to tarry there and enjoy themselves.

This means that slaves enough will soon be procured to pay for the

merchandise. A raid against the Manganja, a peaceable, unwarlike tribe,

who have few guns, is undertaken. The Waiyau, being provided with guns

by the Arabs, easily accomplish their purpose, and the caravan is

re-enforced with captive men and women for the slave market.

Nor are Mataka’s people always the assailants. Makanjela, another

Waiyau chief, about a third of the way from Mtendé’s to Mataka, unable

to reach the Manganja, will kidnap from Mataka if any of his tribe are

found outside of their own district. He has forfeited the friendship of

all his neighbors by his plundering from them and selling their people.

All who for any reason cross their borders are seized and sold, and so

bitter feuds are engendered and perpetuated by frequent forays.

The following incident gives a glimpse of the wide-spread and dreadful

curse of the African tribes, viz., the slave trade; it also illustrates

the conduct of Livingstone and his uniform protest against the traffic

wherever he went. Though we shall treat this subject more fully in

another chapter, yet the circumstance referred to may properly find a

place here.

One morning, as Livingstone relates the story, when he and his

party were proceeding on their way, they were loudly accosted by a

well-dressed woman, upon whose neck a heavy, slave-taming stick had

just been fastened. Her manner was so dignified and earnest in telling

of the cruel wrong inflicted upon her that all stopped to listen to

her case. She was a near relative of Chirikaloma, and was on her way

up the river to meet her husband, when the old man, in whose house she

was a prisoner, had seized her, taken her servant away, and reduced

her to the helpless and degraded condition in which she was first seen

by Livingstone. Her captor said in defence of his conduct that she was

running away from Chirikaloma, and he would be displeased if she was

not secured for him.

The presence of several slave-traders near by led Livingstone to

the conviction that she was seized that she might be sold to them.

He accordingly gave the old man a piece of cloth, to propitiate

Chirikaloma if he should be offended, and told him to say that

Livingstone was ashamed to see one of his relatives in a slave-stick,

and would take her to her husband. He also explained to the head men in

the village what he had done and sent messengers to Chirikaloma so that

he might not misunderstand the proceeding.

The appearance of the woman and her numerous beads gave evidence of

her being a lady among her tribe. Her high spirit was also seen when,

after she was liberated, she went into the house of her captor to get

her basket and calabash, in spite of the resistance of the virago wife

of the old man. But the sympathy of all was with her, and she came off

victorious. During the whole journey Akosakoné (this was her name)

acted like a lady, being modest in all her conduct, and sleeping at a

fire apart from the men. In every village she enlisted the sympathy of

the people by relating the gross insult that had been put upon her.

She was also of great service to Livingstone, and abundantly repaid

him for the interposition in her behalf. Being of fine address, she

could buy twice as much food as any of the men with the same quantity

of cloth. If any injustice was attempted against Livingstone or his

men, she would plead in their behalf, and when carriers were needed

she volunteered to carry a bag of beads on her head. Her husband was

brother of Chimseia, a chief to whom she introduced Livingstone, and

induced him to be generous toward the travellers on account of the

great service rendered to her. When she and Livingstone parted, her

expressions of gratitude were profuse, and it was evident that the

kindness done in rescuing her from the doom of slavery was neither

undervalued nor undeserved.

To the northeast of Moembe, Livingstone found an extensive tract

of valuable land, which retained numerous evidences of having once

supported a very large iron-smelting and agricultural population. The

clay pipes that are put in the nozzles of their bellows are found

everywhere. So, too, the ridges on which were planted beans, cassava,

maize, and sorghum are visible still, and evince the industrious habits

of the people. Pieces of broken pottery, with their rims embellished

by rude designs in imitation of basket-work, show the handiwork of the

women.

The cattle of this region are a small breed, with various colors, and

their milk is greatly valued by the Waiyau. The sheep are generally

black in color but large in size. This tribe have no other useful

domestic animals, except fowls and pigeons, unless the miserable

village curs to be found everywhere be included in this category. The

fertility of the soil is manifested by the great size of its products.

The sweet potatoes become very large, and so abundant were they that

Livingstone bought two loads of them for three cubits and two needles.

The maize grows to a remarkable size, one cob bearing sixteen hundred

seeds. The character of the soil, the coolness of the climate, the

abundance of water, and the means of building square houses, combine to

render this region one of the most delightful for residence. It is an

elevated and attractive country, about thirty-four hundred feet above

the level of the sea.

South of Lake Nyassa Livingstone visited another chief, Mukaté. He and

Mponda and Kabinga were the only chiefs of the Waiyau then engaged

in the slave trade, making periodical raids upon the Manganja and

the Maravi. Mukaté’s village is about eight hundred feet above the

lake. The heights, so far as the eye could see, were covered with

villages, and the population, though very large, seemed to revel in

plenty. Mukaté’s house and those of the other Waiyau chiefs were square

buildings, both substantial and convenient. He and all his people wear

the beard trained upon the chin, after the Arab style.

Livingstone had long discussions with this chief about the slave

trade. The barbarities and horrors of the business, so visible to all

in the skulls scattered along the way, the desolate villages, the

sufferings of those who perish in the journey to the coast, the murders

committed,--all these frightful evils Mukaté tried to dismiss with a

laugh, as if they were of little consequence; but his conscience was

not altogether dead, and his people, many of them, were anxious that he

should abandon his raids in the interest of the Kilwa slave dealers.

The religious notions of this people are very crude. The traditions

they have are that they came from the west originally, and that

their forefathers taught them to make nets and kill fish. No moral

instruction seems to have been transmitted, and they have no idea of

a teacher above them. With no book, and never having heard of such a

thing till Livingstone’s visit, with no carvings or writing on the

rocks, they are sunk in mental darkness, though surrounded by such

abundance of the earth’s riches. Their ancestors had never taught them

anything of their condition after death, though they had heard it said

of those who died that “God took them.”

The differences between the Waiyau and the Manganja, of whom there

is an account in a preceding part of this work, are very marked. The

exactions and superciliousness of the Waiyau indicate that they regard

themselves the dominant race. Though they are continually making raids

upon their neighbors, for the sake of the slave trade, yet they are

inferior to them in many respects.

The Waiyau have round, apple-shaped heads, understand the use of

fire-arms, and with dash and courage easily overpower the Manganja, who

use only bows and arrows, and are a more peaceable, as they are a more

intelligent and ingenious race. Fond of roving, scattered and broken by

their slave wars and internal feuds, they make little if any progress

in the matters of husbandry, but by their greater bravery and restless

spirit, they are successful in their plundering forays among their

neighbors, who are made tributary to their selfish schemes in stocking

the slave markets on the coast.

Among the tribes of the Waiyau, especially Mpondas and Kabingas,

agricultural labor is esteemed; all cultivate the ground, from the

chief down. Mponda was in his garden at work when Livingstone reached

his village. With this example before the people there is no disgrace

attached to such work. Vast stores of grain are raised by these tribes,

though they are given to roving and marauding. Notwithstanding they

plundered the Manganja of their large breed of humped cattle, yet

they do not milk them, and accordingly the number dwindled from the

thousands of former times to a few hundreds. The idea of drinking

milk, with these tribes, is one to excite disgust. A boy will undergo

chastisement rather than milk a goat.

Their method of making salt is to lixiviate the soil that is

impregnated with it and boil the water that filters through a tuft of

grass placed in a hole in the bottom of a pot till all is evaporated.

A residuum of salt is left. Hundreds of people may be seen at times

engaged in the manufacture of this needful article.

The Waiyau, though not a handsome race, have not the prognathous

appearance of those on the West Coast. Their foreheads are compact, but

not receding; their lips are full, and with the women an additional

thickness is given by a small lip-ring. This would not alone so much

disfigure their faces, but they file their teeth to points, which gives

a hideous look. They are strong and equal to the work which belongs to

them. The men are large, sturdy fellows, capable of great endurance. A

rite obtains among them similar to that which distinguished the Jews.

This is performed at the age of puberty, and the young man then takes a

new name. This custom dates back to a period previous to the coming of

the Arabs, and its origin is accordingly unknown.

CHAPTER CLXII.

AFRICA--_Continued_.

THE BABISA AND BABEMBA.

APPEARANCE OF THE BABISA -- MODE OF SALUTATION -- COWARDICE AND

FALSEHOOD -- THE RAIN DANCE -- THEIR IMPLEMENTS -- THEIR FOOD --

THEIR SUSPICION -- SLAVE TRADE -- DEGRADED CONDITION -- LOCALITY

OF THE BABEMBA -- ROMANTIC SCENERY -- LAWSUIT BEFORE THE CHIEF --

NSAMA’S TERRITORY -- A BRAVE AND SUCCESSFUL WARRIOR -- HIS BREACH OF

PUBLIC LAW -- HIS PUNISHMENT BY THE ARABS -- PEACE-MAKING -- MARRIAGE

OF HIS DAUGHTER -- BRIEF HONEYMOON -- CASEMBÉ’S TOWN -- LIVINGSTONE’S

RECEPTION -- APPEARANCE OF CASEMBÉ -- HIS BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS --

UNDERGROUND HOUSES IN RUA -- SINGULAR SUPERSTITIONS -- CASEMBÉ’S JUST

DECISION -- THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE SOLD AS A SLAVE -- HATRED OF THE

SLAVE TRADER -- BELIEF IN A LIFE AFTER DEATH -- APPEARANCE OF THE

BABEMBA -- THE TYPICAL NEGRO.

The territory occupied by The Babisa is the district northwest of Lake

Nyassa, lying between the parallels 10° and 12° south latitude.

Moanzabamba was the founder of this tribe. The singular plaits of hair

which are worn as a head-dress, and look like large ears, was the

curious style originating with this chief.

This tribe resembles in many respects the Bushmen or Hottentots. Their

roving habits indicate Bushman blood. They have round, bullet-shaped

heads, short, pug noses, and an upward slant of the eyes. The mode

of salutation among the men is to lie down upon the back, and while

clapping the hands make a disagreeable, half-kissing sound with the

lips.

They are destitute of courage, yet possess considerable craft and

prefer to tell falsehoods rather than the truth. They seem to be more

inclined to answer questions by misstatements than to give correct

replies.

Their want of valor subjects them to frequent invasions of the Mazitu.

In order to escape starvation in consequence of the plundering raids

of their enemies, they cultivate small patches, some ten yards in

diameter, at wide intervals in the forest. They plant millet and

pumpkins, as it is difficult for the Mazitu to carry off these. The

Babisa dismantle their huts and take the thatch to their gardens, where

they live till the harvest is over. This exposure of the framework to

the rains and sun helps to destroy the vermin that may always be found

in the dwellings of this tribe. When the party is a strong one they

build their sheds so as to form a circle and have but one opening.

The ridgepole, or rather a series of ridgepoles, constitutes one long

shed with no partitions in the roof-shaped hut. The women have a dance

called the rain-dance in which their faces are smeared with meal, and

they carry axes and endeavor to imitate the male voice in their singing.

Their implements of husbandry are exceedingly rude. The hoe they use

is made of wood in a kind of V shape, or it is a branch with another

springing out of it, about an inch in diameter at the sharp point. With

this they claw the soil after the seed has been scattered. Their food

consists principally of wild fruits, leaves, roots, and mushrooms. Of

the latter they choose some five or six kinds and reject the others.

One species grows to some six inches in diameter, is pure white with

a blush of brown in the centre, and is very palatable when roasted.

The natives readily distinguish the good from the poisonous. One trait

very prominent in the character of the Babisa is their distrust. Full

of suspicion they demand payment in advance for what they sell. Their

distrust of all others develops into dishonesty in themselves; to use

Livingstone’s words, “They give nothing to each other for nothing.” If

this enlargement of mind be produced by commerce, commend me to the

untrading African. Like the Makoa, this tribe possess a very dull sense

of delicacy and politeness. Some tribes, like the Babemba, will retire

when food is presented to any one.

They are engaged in the slave trade, and its effects are seen in the

depopulation of their country, their neglect of husbandry, on account

of the raids they fear, and their consequent poverty and almost

starvation. Famine and famine prices everywhere obtain, and the people

do not see that their own roving and slaving habits are the cause of

their being so degraded and reduced to the condition of dependents of

the Babemba. They are, as Livingstone briefly says, “a miserable, lying

lot of serfs.”

THE BABEMBA TRIBE.

LOBISA, Lobemba, Ulungu, and Itawa-Lunda are the names by which the

portions of an elevated region between the parallels 11° and 8° S.

and meridian 28° 53° Lon. E. are known. The altitude of this section

of country is from four thousand to six thousand feet above the level

of the sea. It is the water-shed between the Loangwa, a tributary of

the river Zambesi, and several rivers which flow toward the north. It

abounds in forest lands and is watered by numerous rivulets. The soil

is remarkably fertile, yielding abundantly wherever cultivated. Lake

Liemba, which lies in this basin, is, however, twenty-five hundred feet

above the level of the sea. The land around this lake is very steep,

the rocks in many instances running from a height of two thousand feet

down to the surface of the lake. The tops, sides, and bottom of these

cliffs are covered with wood and grass.

The scenery of this region is romantic and very beautiful. The Acasy, a

stream about fifty feet wide, comes down the cliffs, forming cascades

by leaping three hundred feet at a time, exciting the admiration and

wonder of the traveller. Buffalos, elephants, and antelopes are found

in great abundance on these slopes, and in the waters of the lake

crocodiles, hippopotami, and fish of various kinds.

The lake is from fifteen to twenty miles broad and from forty to fifty

long, sending out an arm some two miles wide toward Tanganyika, of

which it may be only a branch. Groves of palm-oil and other trees may

be found on the banks of the lake. These palm-trees are large and

fruitful. Livingstone saw a cluster from one carried past the door of

his hut that required two men to bear it. Though there are villages

around this lake yet most of the natives live on two islands, where

they raise goats, cultivate the soil, and catch fish.

Livingstone had an opportunity to hear a case tried in Lobemba, before

the chief. An old man talked an hour, the chief all the while listening

and maintaining a grave and dignified deportment. When the trial was

finished he gave his decision in about five minutes. Thereupon the

successful party went away lullilooing. The custom with the attorneys

in such cases is to turn the back upon the chief or judge, then lie

down upon the ground, clapping the hands. Saluting him in this way they

then are prepared to make their appeal or argument.

The chief Nsama, a very old man when Livingstone saw him, had a good

head and face and an enormous abdomen. He was so large and helpless his

people had to carry him. Women were constantly in attendance pouring

pombé into him.

This tribe is very much more warlike than any of those south of them.

They dig deep ditches around their villages and stockade them also.

Their politeness is manifested in their retiring when food is presented

to any one.

Nsama’s territory is called Itawa, and is generally cleared of trees

for cultivation, lying about three thousand feet above the sea. The

river Chiséra, a mile and a half broad, gives off its water to the

Kalongosi, a feeder of Lake Moero. This is about twelve miles broad,

having on the east and west sides lofty, tree-covered mountains.

The western range is part of the country Rua Moero. What is of most

interest about this lake is that it forms one of a chain of lakes

linked by a river some five hundred miles in length. First, the

Chambeze rises in the country of Mambwé, northeast of Molembé. Flowing

southwest and west, till it reaches latitude 11° S. and longitude 29°

E., it forms Lake Bemba or Bangueolo; emerging thence it takes the name

Luapala and flows down to fall into Moero. Going out of this lake,

it is known by the name of Lualaba, as it flows northwest to form

another lake named Urengué or Ulengé. No positive information could be

ascertained as to whether it enters Tanganyika or a lake beyond that.

Nsama had been a brave and successful warrior, and was regarded as

invincible, but his power had waned and he was defeated by a party

of twenty Arabs with guns. Some of them got within the stockade, and

though Nsama’s men were very numerous they were overcome and soon fled

carrying the bloated carcass of their chief.

The defeat of Nsama caused a great panic among the various tribes of

the region. He had been the ablest and most successful warrior at

the head of a brave and warlike people. That this “Napoleon,” before

whom none could stand, should be conquered, created a surprise and a

revolution in the minds of the people, and the superiority of guns

over bows and arrows had to be acknowledged by those little inclined to

admit the fact. But as the people have considerable intelligence they

cannot resist the logic of events. It seems that Nsama had given great

offence by some outrage upon the Arab traders, and was charged with

“having broken public law by attacking people who brought merchandise

into the country.” But though it was difficult to ascertain whether the

Arabs were the aggressors or Nsama, the feud raged till the former had

punished him by an ignominious defeat, routing a large number, besides

killing some fifty, with the loss of about the same number by the Arab

assailants. The consequences of the quarrel were most disastrous. His

son was captured, and his country, which was but lately so densely

peopled, seemed as if deserted, the inhabitants having scattered

in various directions to escape the plunder of their goods and the

stealing of their wives and children for the slave-market.

The peacemaking between these hostile parties absorbed three and a half

months, thus delaying Livingstone, as it was not thought safe for him

to enter Nsama’s territory till a reconciliation was effected. A custom

of drinking each other’s blood is one of the formalities of making

peace. But this did not altogether avail.

At length, as a final method of settling the difficulty, Nsama promised

his daughter as wife to Hamees. So one afternoon, she who was to be a

reconciler of the hostile parties came riding pick-a-back on a man’s

shoulders. Livingstone describes her as “a nice, modest, good-looking

young woman, her hair rubbed all over with _nkola_, a red pigment made

from the cam-wood and much used as an ornament. She was accompanied by

about a dozen young and old female attendants, each carrying a small

basket with some provisions, as cassava, ground-nuts, etc. The Arabs

were all dressed in their finery, and the slaves, in fantastic dresses,

flourished swords, fired guns, and yelled. When she was brought to

Hamees’ hut she descended and with her maids went into the hut. She and

her attendants had all small, neat features. I had been sitting with

Hamees, and now rose up and went away. As I passed him he spoke thus to

himself, ‘Hamees Wadim Tagh! see to what you have brought yourself.’”

But the condition he so much deprecated was not of long duration.

The next day he set off with his new wife to make a visit upon his

father-in-law, and was soon met by two messengers informing him that

he must delay his visit. Yet when he went, Nsama would not admit him

into the stockade unless he would lay aside gun and sword. But these

conditions Hamees would not submit to. Soliciting guides from Nsama,

yet he was annoyed by the chief’s delay and vacillation, although

he had promised them. At length having secured them and making

preparations for their journey, Hamees’ wife, supposing an attack

upon her father was contemplated, decamped with the guides by night,

forsaking her new Arab husband after a honeymoon of only a week, and

without ceremony, relieving him of the humiliating attitude of marrying

a negro wife for the sake of peace.

Not far from the lower part of Moero, and near the north end of the

lakelet Mofwé is Casembé’s town. This covers about a mile square

of cassava plantations. Some of the huts have square enclosures of

reeds, but the whole resembles a rural village more than a town. The

population, judged from the huts scattered irregularly over the space,

was about a thousand. The court or palace of Casembé was an enclosure

about two hundred yards by three hundred long; within this hedge of

high reeds was the large hut of the chief and smaller huts for his

domestics. The queen’s hut, with other small huts, was behind that of

Casembé. In the reception that he gave Livingstone he sat before his

hut on a square seat placed on lion and leopard skins. “He was dressed

in a coarse blue and white Manchester print edged with red baize, and

arranged in large folds so as to look like crinoline put on wrong side

foremost. His arms, legs, and head were covered with sleeves, leggings,

and cap made of various colored beads in neat patterns; a crown of

yellow feathers surmounted his cap. Each of his head men came forward

shaded by a huge, ill-made umbrella and followed by his dependents,

made obeisance to Casembé and sat down on his right and left. Various

bands of musicians did the same. When called upon, I rose and bowed,

and an old councillor with his ears cropped, gave the chief as full an

account as he had been able to gather of the English in general and my

antecedents in particular. My having passed through Lunda and visited

chiefs of whom he scarcely knew anything excited most attention. He

assured me I was welcome to his country to go where I liked and do

what I chose. We then went (two boys carrying his train behind him) to

an inner apartment, where the articles of my present were exhibited

in detail. They consisted of eight yards of orange-colored serge, a

large striped table-cloth, another large cloth made at Manchester in

imitation of west-coast manufacture, which never fails to excite the

admiration of Arabs and natives, and a large, richly gilded comb for

the back hair, such as ladies wore fifty years ago. As Casembé’s and

Nsama’s people cultivate the hair into large knots behind, I was sure

that this article would tickle the fancy. Casembé expressed himself

pleased and again bade me welcome. Casembé has an ungainly look and

an outward squint in each eye. A number of human skulls adorned the

entrance to his court-yard, and great numbers of his principal men

having their ears cropped and some with their hands lopped off showed

his barbarous way of making his ministers attentive and honest.”

The Portuguese visited Casembé many years before Livingstone’s visit.

Each Casembé builds a new town. The last seven Casembés had their

towns within seven miles of the present. These Casembés have differed

very widely in character. Pereira, an early traveller, states that

the Casembé of his time had twenty thousand trained soldiers, watered

his streets daily, and sacrificed twenty human victims every day.

Livingstone, however, saw no evidence of human sacrifices. The present

Casembé had but a small following, and was very poor. When he usurped

power some five years before, the region was thickly populated. But

his barbarity in punishment of offences--cropping the ears, cutting

off the hands, and other mutilations, selling children for small

misdemeanors--gradually drove many of his people into neighboring

countries to escape his brutal tyranny. As there is no rendition of

fugitives, this is the method of the oppressed who can no longer endure

the tyrant. Casembé is so selfish that he has reduced himself to

poverty. If any of his people killed elephants he would not share with

them the profits from the sale of the ivory. Accordingly the successful

hunters, aggrieved by this selfish robbery, have gone elsewhere or

abandoned the chase, and the chief now has no tusks to sell to the Arab

traders from Tanganyika. The predecessor of the present Casembé treated

Major Monteiro, the traveller, so badly that the Portuguese have not

ventured so far into Central Africa since.

West of Casembé’s country is Katanga. The people smelt copper ore into

large bars, shaped like the letter I. These bars are found in great

abundance, weighing from fifty to a hundred pounds. The natives draw

the copper into wire for armlets and leglets. There are also traces of

gold in this region.

One of the most remarkable of the vegetable products of this region

is a potato that belongs to the pea family. Its flowers emit a very

grateful fragrance. The tuber is oblong, like our common potato, and

it is easily propagated from cuttings of the root or stalk. It tastes,

when cooked, like our potato, but has some bitterness when unripe. It

is a good remedy for nausea when raw. It is found only on the uplands

and cannot endure a hot climate.

A very remarkable feature of the country is the stone under-ground

houses in Rua. They are very extensive, running along mountain-sides

for twenty miles. The door-ways, in some cases, are level with the

ground, in others, a ladder is needed to climb up to them. Inside,

these houses are very large, and in one part a rivulet flows. They are

probably natural formations, though there are many indications of their

being artificial.

It is a widely-spread superstition that if a child cuts its upper front

teeth before the lower it is unlucky, and it is therefore killed. If

a child be seen to turn from one side to the other in sleep, it is

killed. A child having any of these defects is called an Arab’s child,

because the Arabs have none of these superstitions. Such children are

readily given to the Arabs, fearing ill-luck, “milando” or guilt to the

family if they be kept. They never sell their children to slavers, but

part with them to avoid the misfortunes they apprehend, their fears

being caused by these superstitious notions.

If Casembé dream of any man twice or three times the man is supposed

to be practising secret arts against his chief, and is accordingly put

to death. If one be pounding or cooking food for him, silence must be

invariably preserved. At Katanga the people are afraid to dig for gold,

because, as they believe, it was hidden there in the earth by “Ngolu,”

which means, as the Arabs say, Satan, and also departed spirits.

The fear of death among this people is universal and very strong.

They never molest the wagtails, believing, if one be killed, death

would visit and destroy them. The whydah birds are protected by this

same superstitious notion that death would ensue if they be harmed.

The people are everywhere degraded and oppressed by these and similar

notions, which seem very absurd to us, and yet, after all, are not

much more unreasonable and silly than some of the superstitions that

are cherished by people in civilized countries. Are there not many

believers still in the efficacy of the horse-shoe over the door? Who

would not rather see the new moon over his right shoulder, as the token

of better luck than if seen over the left? Do not multitudes forbear

to undertake a journey or any new enterprise on Friday, because they

regard it an unlucky day?

Unless he has swilled beer or _pombé_ to excess, Casembé is a chief

of very considerable good sense. His decisions often evince an

independence and wisdom that show him to be worthy of his place at the

head of the people. The Arabs are enthusiastic in his praise. A case

of _crim. con._ was brought before him involving an Arab’s slave. An

effort was made to arrange the matter privately by offering cloths,

beads, and another slave. The complainant declined every proposition;

but Casembé dismissed the case by saying to the complainant, “You send

your women to entrap the strangers in order to get a fine, but you will

get nothing.” This verdict was exceedingly gratifying to the Arabs, and

the owner of the slave especially.

Kapika, an old chief, had charged his young and handsome wife with

infidelity, and in punishment thereof had sold her as a slave. But the

spectacle of a woman of high rank in the slave-gang greatly excited the

ladies of Lunda, and learning from her that she was really a slave,

they clapped their hands on their mouths, in a way peculiar to them

and expressive of horror and indignation. The hard fate of the young

chieftainess evoked the sympathy of all the people. Kapika’s daughters

brought her refreshments, offers were made by one and another to redeem

her with two and even three slaves; but Casembé, who is very rigorous

in his treatment of all violations of chastity, said, “No; though ten

slaves be offered, she must go.” Possibly a fear that he might lose his

own queen, if such infidelities were not severely punished, may have

led him to his stern and inexorable decision. Pérembé, the oldest man

in Lunda, had a young wife who was sold as a punishment; but she was

redeemed. The slave-trader is undoubtedly a means of making the young

wives of some of these old men faithful to their marriage.

The people, however, are not kindly disposed toward the slave

dealer, who is used as a means of punishing those who have family

feuds,--as a wife with her husband, or a servant with his master. In

cases of jealousy, revenge, or real criminality, they are the ready

instrumentalities for effecting the just or the unjust punishment. The

slaves are said to be generally criminals, and are sold in revenge or

as a punishment.

The incident narrated below indicates the belief of the Africans in a

future state,--a belief, however, around which cluster the darkest and

saddest superstitions. The reader will see how the miseries and wrongs

of their life shaped and colored their anticipations of the life to

come. The hope of avenging the barbarities they endured inspired them

with a sort of ghastly satisfaction, so that they blended songs with

their sufferings.

“Six men slaves,” as Livingstone relates the incident, “were singing as

if they did not feel the weight and degradation of the slave-sticks. I

asked the cause of their mirth, and was told that they rejoiced at the

idea of coming back after death, and haunting and killing those who had

sold them. Some of the words I had to inquire about; for instance, the

meaning of the words, ‘To haunt and kill by spirit power’; then it was,

‘Oh! you sent me off to _manga_ (sea-coast), but the yoke is off when I

die, and back I shall come to haunt and to kill you.’ Then all joined

in the chorus, which was the name of each vender. It told not of fun,

but of the bitterness and tears of such as were oppressed, and on the

side of the oppressors there was a power.--There be higher than they!

“The slave owner asked Kapika’s wife if she would return to kill

Kapika. The others answered to the names of the different men with

laughter. Her heart was evidently sore: for a lady to come so low down

is to her grievous. She has lost her jaunty air, and is, with her

head shaved, ugly; but she never forgets to address her captors with

dignity, and they seem to fear her.”

In personal appearance the Babemba are very handsome, many of them

having heads as finely formed as the majority of Europeans. They are

distinguished by small hands and feet, and have none of the gross

ugliness of the Congo tribes of West Africa, who are with most persons

the typical negroes.

Dr. Livingstone’s observations led him to adopt the opinion which

Winwood Reade formed,--that the ancient Egyptian is the type of the

negro race, and not the awkward forms and hideous features of the West

Coast tribes. It is probable that this beautiful and romantic region

was the real home of the negro. The women excited the admiration of the

Arabs by the charms of their full forms and delicate features. The only

drawback was the result of a fashion among them, as is often the case

among their civilized sisters: they file their teeth to points, and

this “makes their smile like that of a crocodile.”

CHAPTER CLXIII.

AFRICA--_Continued_.

THE MANYUEMA COUNTRY.

LIVINGSTONE’S DEPARTURE FROM UJIJI -- LORD OF THE PARROT -- GRAPHIC

PICTURE -- MOENÉKUSS AND HIS SONS -- FEAR OF THE MANYUEMA -- THEIR

HORRIBLE DEEDS -- REMARKABLE BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY -- AGRICULTURE OF

THE PEOPLE -- THEIR VILLAGES -- DWELLINGS -- THE WOMEN CLEVER TRADERS

-- THEIR VALUE AS WIVES -- RITE OF CIRCUMCISION -- LARGE POPULATION

-- THE CHITOKA -- VIVID DESCRIPTION OF MARKET-DAY -- DREADFUL

MASSACRE.

The Manyuema country, for which Livingstone set out on the 12th of

July, 1869, from Ujiji, the Arab settlement on Lake Tanganyika, had

till then never been visited by any white man. It will be seen that its

people differ from any of the tribes on the East Coast. Thinking that

this portion of Africa, hitherto untravelled by foot of civilized man,

must abound in ivory, the Arab merchants were desirous of securing the

rich stores awaiting the earliest adventurers. Livingstone accompanied

the first of these bands of Ujijan traders who entered this new field.

The distance from Lake Tanganyika to Bambarré or Moenékuss (the

paramount chief of the Manyuema) is about forty days’ travel.

The light-gray parrot with red tail which is so common in this

region, and which is called Kuss or Koos, gives this chief his name,

which means Lord of the Parrot. The pronunciation by the Manyuema is

Monanjoose. This district is in the large bend of the Lualaba River,

which is much larger here than at Mpwéto’s, near Moero Lake.

The course taken by the great explorer led over a very uneven country.

It was up and down hills perpetually; now into dells filled with

enormous trees, some of which were twenty feet in circumference and

sixty or seventy feet to the first branches; then, rising upon some

commanding height, the vast valley Jorumba lay before him with all its

remarkable beauty. There were many villages dotted over the slopes

of these mountains. One had been destroyed, showing by the hard clay

walls and square form of the houses that it belonged to the Manyuema.

A graphic picture of the country and its scenery is given by Dr.

Livingstone. “Our path lay partly along a ridge, with a deep valley on

each side. On the left the valley was filled with primeval forests,

into which elephants, when wounded, escape completely. The bottom

of this great valley was two thousand feet below us. Then ranges of

mountains, with villages on their bases, rose as far as they could

reach. On our right there was another deep but narrow gorge, and

mountains much higher than on the ridge close adjacent. Our ridge wound

from side to side, and took us to the edge of deep precipices,--first

on the right, then on the left, till down we came to the villages of

chief Monandenda. The houses were all filled with fire-wood, and each

had a bed on a raised platform in an inner room.

“The paths are very skilfully placed on the tops of ridges of hills,

and all gulleys are avoided; otherwise the distance would be doubled

and the fatigue greatly increased. The paths seem to have been used for

ages; they are worn deep on the heights, and in the hollows a little

mound rises on each side, formed by the feet tossing a little soil

on one side. Many villages teeming with a prodigious population were

passed on the route.”

Approaching a village they were met by a company of natives beating

a drum. This is a signal of peace: if war be meant the attack is

stealthy. The people are friendly if they have not been assailed and

plundered by the Arabs. The arrows used are small, made of strong

grass-stalks, and poisoned; those for elephants and buffaloes are large

and poisoned also. The two sons of Moenékuss, who had lately died, had

taken his place. As there were signs of suspicion on their part, the

ceremony of mixing blood was performed. This consists in making a small

incision on the forearm of each person and then mixing the bloods and

making declarations and vows of friendship. Moenembagg, the elder of

the two sons, and the spokesman on all important occasions said, “Your

people must not steal: we never do,”--which was no unwarrantable claim

in behalf of his tribe. Blood in a small quantity was then conveyed

from one to the other by a fig-leaf. “No stealing of fowls or of men,”

said this chief. “Catch the thief and bring him to me. One who steals a

person is a pig,” said Mohamad. Stealing, however, began on our side, a

slave purloining a fowl. “They had good reason,” says Livingstone, “to

enjoin honesty upon us. They think that we have come to kill them; we

light on them as if from another world; no letters come to tell who we

are or what we want. We cannot conceive their state of isolation and

helplessness, with nothing to trust but their charms and idols, both

being bits of wood.”

The village huts are very inconvenient, with low roofs and low

door-ways. The men build them, but the women have to keep them well

supplied with fire-wood and water. They carry their burdens in large

baskets hung to the shoulders, like some of the fish-women in European

cities.

Other tribes live in great terror of the Manyuema, whom they represent

as man-eaters. A woman’s child crept into the corner of the hut to eat

a banana. The mother, having missed him, at once suspected that the

Manyuema had kidnapped him to eat him. She ran in a frenzy through the

camp, screaming “Oh, the Manyuema have stolen my child to make meat of

him! Oh, my child eaten! Oh! Oh!”

Two fine-looking young men made a visit to Livingstone one day. After

preliminary questions about his country, such as “Where is it?” they

asked whether people die there, and where they go after death. “Who

kills them? Have you no charm (_buanga_) against death?” They were told

that his people pray to the Great Father Mulungu, and he hears them,

all which seemed to satisfy their curiosity as very reasonable.

The bloody and murderous propensity of the Bambarré people is evinced

by the most horrible deeds. If a man be at work alone in the field he

is almost sure of being slain. When they tell of each other’s deeds

the heart sickens at the recital. Kandahara, brother of old Moenékuss,

murdered three women and a child and also a trading-man, for no reason

but to eat their bodies.

“The head of Moenékuss is said to be preserved in a pot in his house,

and all public matters are gravely communicated to it, as if his

spirit dwelt therein; his body was eaten; the flesh was removed from

the head and eaten too. His father’s head is said to be kept also. In

other districts graves show that sepulture is customary, but here no

grave appears. Some admit the existence of this practice, but others

deny it. In the Metamba country, adjacent to the Lualaba, a quarrel

with a wife often ends in the husband killing her and eating her heart

mixed up in a huge mess of goat’s flesh; this has the charm character.

Fingers are taken as charms in other parts, but in Bambarré alone is

the depraved taste the motive for cannibalism.”

The country inhabited by the Manyuema, which means forest people,

is surpassingly beautiful. Livingstone gives this description in

his journal: “Palms crown the loftiest heights of the mountains and

their gracefully bended fronds wave beautifully in the wind; and the

forests, usually about five miles broad between groups of villages, are

indescribable. Climbers, of cable size, in great number, are hung among

the gigantic trees; many unknown wild-fruits abound, some the size of a

child’s head, and strange birds and monkeys are everywhere.

“The soil is very rich, and the people, although isolated by old feuds

that are never settled, cultivate largely. They have selected a kind of

maize that bends its fruit-stalk round into a hook, and hedges, some

eighteen feet high, are made by inserting poles which sprout, like

Robinson Crusoe’s hedge, and never decay. Lines of climbing plants

are tied so as to go along from pole to pole, and the maize-cobs are

suspended to these by their own hooked fruit-stalk. As the corncob

is forming, the hook is turned round so that the fruit-leaves of it

hang down and form a thatch for the grain beneath or inside of it.

This upright granary forms a solid looking wall round the village.

The people are not stingy, but take down maize and hand it to the men

freely. Plantains, cassava, and maize are the chief food.

“The hoeing of the Manyuema is very superficial, being little better

than the scraping of the soil. They leave the roots of maize, dura,

ground-nuts, sweet potatoes, to find their way into the soft, rich

earth. There is no need of plowing for ground-nuts, and cassava will

resist the encroachments of grass for years. Rice will yield one

hundred and twenty fold of increase, showing the wonderful fertility of

the land. If kept free from weeds, the soil yields its grains and roots

in the rankest profusion; pumpkins, melons, meleza, plantains, bananas,

all flourish most abundantly. The Bambarré, however, are indifferent

husbandmen, planting but a few things. The Balégga, like the Bambarré,

rely chiefly upon plantains and ground-nuts. Their principal amusement

is playing with parrots.

“It is the custom among this people to make approaches to the villages

as difficult as possible. The hedges, which sprout and grow into a

living fence, are covered with a sort of calabash, with its broad

leaves, so that nothing appears of the fence outside.

“The villages are perched in the talus of each great range, so as to

secure quick drainage. The streets generally run east and west in order

that the heat of the sun may rapidly dissipate the moisture. The houses

are mostly in line with meeting-houses at each end, fronting the middle

of the street. The walls of these houses are of well-beaten clay,

protected from the weather by the roof, the rafters of which are often

the leaf-stalk of palms, split so as to be thin. The roofs are low,

but well thatched with a leaf resembling that of the banana, but more

durable. The leaf-stalk has a notch made in it of two or three inches

lengthwise. This hooks to the rafters.”

These dwellings inside are very comfortable, and until the Arabs

visited this tribe, vermin were unknown. Bugs and vermin go wherever

the Arabs and Suaheli go.

“Where the southeast rains abound, the Manyuema place the back side of

their houses to this quarter, and protect the walls by carrying the low

roof considerably below the top of the walls. These clay walls will

last for ages, and men often return after long years of absence to

restore the portions that may have been washed away. Each housewife has

from twenty-five to thirty earthen pots strung to the ceiling by neat,

cord-swinging trestles, and often as many neatly-made baskets hung up

in the same way, filled with fire-wood.”

The women are good traders, and ready for a bargain, bringing loads

of provisions to exchange for beads. They are very strong, one basket

three feet high being a woman’s load. They wear no dress, and their

hair is plaited in the form of a basket behind. It is first rolled into

a very large coil, then wound around something till it is eight or ten

inches long, projecting from the back of the head.

The Manyuema buy their wives from each other. A pretty girl costs ten

goats. When brought to the husband’s house, the new wife stays five

days, then goes back and remains five days at home. The husband then

goes for her again, and she remains with him afterward.

The remark is a common one among the Arabs, “If we had Manyuema wives,

what beautiful children we should beget.” The men are usually handsome,

and the women many of them are beautiful,--hands and feet, limbs and

forms, perfect in shape, and the color light-brown. The women dress in

a kilt of many folds of gaudy _lambas_. The orifices of the nose are

widened by snuff-taking. Those addicted to the habit push the snuff as

far up as possible with finger and thumb. The only filing of the teeth

is a small space between the two upper front teeth. Yet with these

disfigurements, Livingstone adds, “I would back a company of Manyuema

men to be far superior in shape of head and generally in physical form

too, against the whole Anthropological Society.”

Among all the Manyuema the rite of circumcision is performed upon the

male children. If a head man’s son is to be operated on, an experiment

is first made on a slave. Certain times of the year are regarded as

unfavorable. If the trial prove successful, they go into the forest,

beat drums, and have a feast. Unlike all other Africans they do not

hesitate to speak about the rite even in the presence of women.

The inquiry very naturally arises, Whence came this custom? It seems to

link this tribe, but lately unknown by all civilized peoples, dwelling

in the interior of the great African continent, to a memorable people

of whom this rite is the distinguishing characteristic. But, doubtless,

somewhere and somehow along the centuries, this ancient rite of the

Jewish people was communicated to this tribe.

Children in Manyuema do not creep, as those in civilized lands on their

knees, but begin by putting forward one foot and using one knee; they

will use both feet and both hands, but never both knees. An Arab child

will do the same, never creeping, but getting up on both feet and

holding on till he can walk.

The country swarms with villages. At some places the people are

civil and generous, but at others, where the palm-trees flourish and

palm-toddy is abundant, the people are consequently degraded and

disagreeable, often inclined to fight on account of real or imaginary

offences.

The Manyuema will not buy slaves, except females to make wives of them.

They prefer to let their ivory rot than exchange it with the Arab

traders for male slaves, who are generally criminals.

Iron bracelets are the usual medium of exchange and coarse beads and

cowries. Copper is much more highly prized, and for a bracelet of this

metal three fowls and three and a half baskets of maize are given.

Effigies of men made of wood may often be seen in Manyuema. Some are

of clay, and cone-like, with a small hole in the top. They are called

_Bathata_ (fathers or ancients), and the name of each is carefully

preserved. Ancient or later chiefs are thus kept in remembrance. The

natives are very careful to have the exact pronunciation of the name.

On certain occasions goat’s flesh is offered to them by the old men. No

young person and no women are permitted to partake. The flesh of the

parrot, though often eaten by old men, is forbidden to young men, with

the belief that if eaten by them their children will have the waddling

gait of this bird.

The banks of the Lualaba are thickly peopled. One of the best methods

of judging in regard to the number of the inhabitants is a visit to

the _chitoka_ or market. This is attended principally by women. They

hold market one day, and then have an interval of three days, going

to other markets in other places. All prefer to buy and sell in the

market rather than elsewhere. If one says, “Come, sell me that fowl

or cloth,” the answer is, “Come to the _chitoka_,” or market-place.

This market is an important and cherished institution in Manyuema.

The large numbers inspire confidence, and also help to maintain or

enforce justice between the traffickers. “To-day,” adds Livingstone,

“the market contained over a thousand people carrying earthen pots and

cassava, grass-cloth, fishes, and fowls. They were alarmed at my coming

among them, and were ready to flee. Many stood afar off in suspicion.”

At another time he counted over seven hundred passing his hut on their

way to market. It is the supreme pleasure of these women to haggle and

joke, to laugh and chaffer. The sight of the throng is a peculiar one:

women, some old, some young and beautiful, are mingled together.

All chiefs claim the privilege of shaking hands; that is, they touch

the hand held out with their palm, then clap two hands together, then

touch again and clap again, and the ceremony is ended.

Livingstone gives this description of market-day in Manyuema: “The

market is a busy scene; every one is in dead earnest; little time

is lost in friendly greetings. Venders of fish run along with

potsherds full of snails or small fishes, or young _Clarias capensis_,

smoke-dried and spitted on twigs, or other relishes, to exchange for

cassava-roots, dried after being steeped about three days in water;

potatoes, vegetables or grain, bananas, flour, palm-oil, fowls, salt,

pepper. Each is intensely eager to barter food for relishes, and makes

strong assertions as to the goodness or badness of everything; the

sweat stands in beads on their faces; cocks crow briskly even when

strung over the shoulder, with their heads hanging down, and pigs

squeal; iron knobs, drawn out at each end to show the goodness of the

metal, are exchanged for cloth of the muabe-palm. They have a large

funnel of basket-work below the vessel holding the wares, and slip the

goods down, if they are not to be seen.

“They deal fairly, and when differences arise they are easily settled

by the men interfering or pointing to me; they appeal to each other

and have a strong sense of natural justice. With so much food changing

hands among the three thousand attendants, much benefit is derived.

Some come from twenty to twenty-five miles. The men flaunt about in

gaudy-colored _lambas_ of many-folded kilts; the women work hardest;

the potters slap and ring their earthenware all around, to show that

there is not a single flaw in them. I bought two finely-shaped earthen

bottles of porous earthenware, to hold a gallon each, for one string

of beads. The women carry huge loads of them in their funnels above

the baskets strapped to the shoulders and foreheads, and their hands

are full besides. The roundness of the vessels is wonderful, seeing

no machine is used. No slave could be induced to carry half so much

as they do willingly. It is a scene of the finest natural acting

imaginable,--the eagerness with which all sorts of assertions are made;

the earnestness with which, apparently, all creatures above, around,

and beneath are called on to attest the truth of what they allege;

and then the intense surprise and withering scorn cast on those who

despise their goods: but they show no concern when the buyers turn up

their noses at them. Little girls run about selling cups of water for

a few small fishes to the half-exhausted, wordy combatants. To me it

was an amusing scene. I could not understand the words that flowed

off their glib tongues, but the gestures were too expressive to need

interpretation.

“Dugumbé’s horde tried to domineer over these market-women. ‘I shall

buy that,’ said one. ‘These are mine,’ said another. ‘No one must touch

these but me,’ said a third. They soon learned, however, that they

could not monopolize nor coerce, but must deal fairly. These women are

very clever traders, stand by each other, and will not submit to nor

allow overreaching by any one.”

But this cheerful scene of eager and active life was doomed to

be darkened by a dreadful deed of bloodshed and horror. We leave

Livingstone to narrate in his graphic way the story of this merciless

and unpardonable massacre of unoffending women:--

“It was a hot and sultry day, and when I went into the market I saw

Adie and Manilla and three of the men who had lately come with Dugumbé.

I was surprised to see these three with their guns, and felt inclined

to reprove them, as one of my men did, for bringing weapons into the

market; but I attributed it to their ignorance. It being very hot I was

walking away to go out of the market, when I saw one of the fellows

haggling about a fowl and seizing hold of it. Before I had got thirty

yards out, the discharge of two guns in the middle of the crowd told

me that slaughter had begun. Crowds dashed off from the place and

threw down their wares in confusion and ran. At the same time that

the three opened fire on the mass of people near the upper end of the

market-place, volleys were discharged from a party down near the creek

on the panic-stricken women who dashed at the canoes. These, some fifty

or more, were jammed in the creek. The men forgot their paddles in the

terror that seized all. The canoes were not to be got out, for the

creek was too small for so many. Men and women, wounded by the balls,

poured into them and leaped and scrambled into the water, shrieking.

A long line of heads in the river showed that great numbers struck out

for an island a full mile off. In going toward it they had put the left

shoulder to the current of about two miles an hour. If they had struck

away diagonally to the opposite bank, the current would have aided

them, and though nearly three miles off, some would have gained land;

as it was, the heads above water showed the long line of those that

would inevitably perish.

“Shot after shot continued to be fired on the helpless and perishing.

Some of the long line of heads disappeared quietly, while other poor

creatures threw their arms high, as if appealing to the great Father

above, and sank. One canoe took in as many as it could hold, and all

paddled with hands and arms; three canoes, got out in haste, picked up

sinking friends until all went down together and disappeared. One man

in a long canoe, which could have held forty or fifty, had clearly lost

his head; he had been out in the stream before the massacre began, and

now paddled up the river nowhere, and never looked to the drowning. By

and by all the heads disappeared; some had turned down stream toward

the bank and disappeared. Dugumbé put people into one of the deserted

vessels to save those in the water, and rescued twenty-one; but one

woman refused to be taken on board, thinking that she was to be made

a slave: she preferred the chance of life by swimming, to the lot

of a slave. The Bagenya women are experts in the water, as they are

accustomed to dive for oysters, and those who went down stream may have

escaped; but Arabs themselves estimated the loss of life at between

three hundred and thirty and four hundred people. The shooting parties

near the canoes were so reckless they killed two of their own people;

and a Banyamwezi follower who got into a deserted canoe to plunder,

fell into the water, went down, then came up again, and down to rise no

more.

“My first impulse was to pistol the murderers, but Dugumbé protested

against my getting into a blood-feud, and I was thankful afterward that

I took his advice.

“After the terrible affair in the water this party of Tagamoio’s, who

were the chief perpetrators, continued to fire on the people and burn

their villages. As I write I hear the loud wails on the left bank over

those who are there slain, ignorant of their many friends now in the

depths of the Lualaba. Oh, let Thy kingdom come! No one will ever know

the exact loss on this bright, sultry summer morning. It gave me the

impression of being in hell. All the slaves in the camp rushed at the

fugitives on land and plundered them; women were for hours collecting

and carrying loads of what had been thrown down in terror.

“Some escaped to me and were protected. Dugumbé saved twenty-one, and

of his own accord liberated them. They were brought to me and remained

over night near my house. I sent men with our flag to save some, for

without a flag they might have been victims, for Tagamoio’s people were

shooting right and left like fiends. I counted twelve villages burning

this morning. I asked the question of Dugumbé and others, ‘Now, for

what is all this murder?’ All blamed Manilla as its cause, and in one

sense he was the cause; but it is hardly credible that they repeat that

it is in order to be avenged on Manilla for making friends with head

men, he being a slave. The wish to make an impression in the country as

to the importance and greatness of the new-comers was the most potent

motive; but it was terrible that the murdering of so many should be

contemplated at all. It made me sick at heart. Who could accompany

Dugumbé and Tagamoio to Lomané and be free from blood-guiltiness?

“I proposed to Dugumbé to catch the murderers and hang them up in

the market-place as our protest against the bloody deeds before the

Manyuema. If, as he and others added, the massacre was committed by

Manilla’s people he would have consented, but it was done by Tagamoio’s

people and others of the party headed by Dugumbé.

“This slaughter was peculiarly atrocious as we have always heard that

women coming to and from market have never been known to be molested.

Even when two districts are engaged in actual hostilities ‘the women’

say they ‘pass among us to market unmolested,’ nor has one ever been

known to be plundered by the men. These nigger Moslems are inferior to

the Manyuema in justice and right. The people under Hasani began the

superwickedness of capture and pillage of all indiscriminately. Dugumbé

promised to send over men to order Tagamoio’s men to cease firing and

burning villages. They remained over among the ruins, feasting on goats

and fowls, all night, and next day continued their infamous work till

twenty-seven villages were destroyed.

“I restored thirty of the rescued to their friends.... An old man

called Kabolo came for his old wife. I asked her if this was her

husband; she went to him and put her arms lovingly around him and said

‘Yes.’ I gave her five strings of beads to buy food, all her stores

being destroyed with her house. She bowed down and put her forehead to

the ground as thanks, and old Kabolo did the same; the tears stood in

her eyes as she went off.

“The murderous assault on the market-people felt to me like Gehenna

without the fire and brimstone; but the heat was oppressive, and the

firearms pouring their iron bullets on the fugitives was not an inapt

representation of burning in the bottomless pit.”

CHAPTER CLXIV.

AFRICA--_Continued_.

THE MANYUEMA--_Concluded_.

THEIR BLOOD-THIRSTY CHARACTER -- BRUTAL CUSTOMS -- UNTRUTHFUL BUT

HONEST -- FEAR OF GUNS -- BAD REPUTATION -- CANNIBALISM -- ONLY

ENEMIES EATEN -- ABUNDANCE OF FOOD -- WANT OF POLITICAL COHESION --

NO PROGRESS -- THE SAFURA -- THE COUNTRY UNHEALTHY -- THE SOKO --

LIVINGSTONE’S GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION.

The Manyuema do not lack in industry and energy. In their villages they

are orderly, courteous and kind toward each other. But if a man of

another district ventures into a village, it is in peril of his life;

he is not regarded as one of their tribe, and is almost sure to be

killed. Those who served as guides to Livingstone would desert him as

they approached a village, not daring to go near those between whom and

their own people there was a bitter feud. The head men of the villages,

in a strange blindness, often enlist by gifts of ivory the Arab traders

to inflict punishment upon their enemies. Livingstone passed through

eleven villages that had been burned, and all on account of one string

of beads,--a mournful illustration of the barbarities committed.

The better he became acquainted with this people the more convinced was

he of their degraded and blood-thirsty character. He noticed at one

time a pretty woman, the young wife of Monasimba. Ten goats were given

for her. Her friends, not satisfied, came and tried to obtain another

goat. This being refused they enticed her away. She became sick and

died a few days afterward, yet no one expressed one word of regret for

the beautiful young creature, but all the grief was for the loss of the

goats. “Oh, our ten goats! Our ten goats! Oh, oh!”

Monasimba went to his wife, and after washing he may appear among men.

If no widow can be obtained, he must sit naked behind his house till

some one happens there; all the clothes he wore are thrown away. The

man who killed a woman goes free; he offered his grandmother to be

killed in his stead, and after a great deal of talk nothing was done to

him. They are the lowest of the low especially in blood-thirstiness.

A strong man among them is lawless, doing whatever he lists without any

remonstrance or resistance by the head man. Thus, for example, a man’s

wife was given away to another for ten goats, and then his child was

sold also. For goats and cattle this people will do any mean or brutal

thing.

Livingstone has to record this testimony after discovering some new

proofs respecting the debasement of this people: “The Manyuema are the

most bloody, callous savages I know. One puts a scarlet feather from a

parrot’s tail on the ground, and challenges those near to stick it in

the hair. He who accepts this challenge must kill a man or a woman.

“Another custom is that none dare wear the skin of the musk-cat

(_ngawa_) unless he has murdered somebody. Guns alone prevent their

killing us all, and for no reason either; some will kill people in

order to be permitted to wear the red tail-feathers of the parrot in

their hair. Yet these are not ugly-looking like the West Coast negroes,

for many of the men have as finely formed heads as can be found in

London. We English, if naked, would make but poor figures beside the

strapping forms and finely-shaped limbs of Manyuema men and women.”

So blood-thirsty are the people that travellers are asked everywhere

that some of their fellow-men be killed. They are afraid to go to

villages three or four miles off, because there are murderers of

fathers and mothers and other relations living there. The moral

condition of this people is one of pre-eminent degradation.