THE WAGOGO AND WANYAMUEZI.
THE MANY AND TRANSITORY TRIBES OF AFRICA -- UGOGO AND THE PEOPLE --
UNPLEASANT CHARACTER OF THE WAGOGO -- THEFT AND EXTORTION -- WAGOGO
GREEDINESS -- THE WANYAMUEZI OR WEEZEE TRIBE -- THEIR VALUE AS GUIDES
-- DRESS OF THE MEN -- “SAMBO” RINGS -- WOMEN’S DRESS AND ORNAMENTS
-- HAIR-DRESSING -- GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE WOMEN -- WEEZEE
ARCHITECTURE -- USE OF THE DRUM -- SALUTATION -- SULTAN STIRABOUT --
THE HUSBAND’S WELCOME -- GAMES AND DANCES -- SHAM FIGHTS -- PITCH AND
TOSS -- NIGHT IN A WEEZEE VILLAGE -- BREWING AND DRINKING POMBE --
HARVEST SCENE -- SUPERSTITIONS -- FUNERALS.
We will now pass from the west to the east of Africa, and accompany
Captains Speke and Grant in their journey through the extraordinary
tribes that exist between Zanzibar and Northern Africa. It will be
impossible to describe in detail the many tribes that inhabit this
tract, or even to give the briefest account of them. We shall therefore
select a few of the most important among them, and describe them as
fully as our very limited space will permit.
Perhaps the reader may think it strange that we are lingering so long
in this part of the world. The reason is, that Africa, southern and
equatorial, is filled with a bewildering variety of singular tribes,
each of which has manners and customs unique in themselves, and
presents as great a contrast to its neighbors as if they were separated
by seas or mountain ranges. Sometimes they merge into each other by
indefinable gradations, but often the line of demarcation is boldly and
sharply drawn, so that the tribe which inhabits one bank of a river is
utterly unlike that which occupies the opposite bank, in appearance, in
habits, and in language. In one case, for example, the people who live
on one side of the river are remarkable for the scrupulous completeness
with which both sexes are clad, while on the other side no clothing
whatever is worn.
The same cause which has given us the knowledge of these remarkable
tribes will inevitably be the precursor of their disappearance. The
white man has set his foot on their soil, and from that moment may be
dated their gradual but certain decadence. They have learned the value
of fire-arms, and covet them beyond everything. Their chiefs have
already abandoned the use of their native weapons, having been wealthy
enough to purchase muskets from the white men, or powerful enough to
extort them as presents. The example which they have set is sure to
extend to the people, and a few years will therefore witness the entire
abandonment of native-made weapons. With the weapons their mode of
warfare will be changed, and in course of time the whole people will
undergo such modifications that they will be an essentially different
race. It is the object of this work to bring together, as far as
possible in a limited space, the most remarkable of these perishing
usages, and it is therefore necessary to expend the most space on the
country that affords most of them.
The line that we now have to follow can be seen by referring to a map
of Africa. We shall start from Zanzibar on the east coast, go westward
and northward, passing by the Unyamuezi and Wahuma to the great N’yanza
lakes. Here we shall come upon the track of Sir Samuel Baker, and shall
then accompany him northward among the tribes which he visited.
Passing by a number of tribes which we cannot stop to investigate, we
come upon the Wagogo, who inhabit Ugogo, a district about lat. 4° S.
and long. 36° E. Here I may mention that, although the language of
some of these tribes is so different that the people cannot understand
each other, in most of them the prefix “Wa” indicates plurality, like
the word “men” in English. Thus the people of Ugogo are the Wagogo,
and the inhabitants of Unyamuezi are the Wanyamuezi, pronounced, for
brevity’s sake, Weezee. An individual of the Wagogo is called Mgogo.
The Wagogo are a wild set of people, such as might be expected from the
country in which they live. Their color is reddish-brown, with a tinge
of black; and when the skin happens to be clean, it is said to look
like a very ripe plum. They are scanty dressers, wearing little except
a cloth of some kind round the waist; but they are exceedingly fond of
ornaments, by means of which they generally contrive to make themselves
as ugly as possible. Their principal ornament is the tubular end of a
gourd, which is thrust through the ear; but they also decorate their
heads with hanks of bark fibre, which they twist among their thick
woolly hair, and which have a most absurd appearance when the wearer is
running or leaping. Sometimes they weave strings of beads into the hair
in a similar manner, or fasten an ostrich feather upon their heads.
They are not a warlike people, but, like others who are not remarkable
for courage, they always go armed; a Mgogo never walking without
his spear and shield, and perhaps a short club, also to be used as
a missile. The shield is oblong, and made of leather, and the spear
has nothing remarkable about it; and, as Captain Speke remarks, these
weapons are carried more for show than for use.
They are not a pleasant people, being avaricious, intrusive, and
inquisitive, ingrained liars, and sure to bully if they think they can
do so with safety. If travellers pass through their country, they are
annoying beyond endurance, jeering at them with words and insolent
gestures, intruding themselves among the party, and turning over
everything that they can reach, and sometimes even forcing themselves
into the tents. Consequently the travellers never enter the villages,
but encamp at some distance from them, under the shelter of the
wide-spreading “gouty-limbed trees” that are found in this country,
and surround their camp with a strong hedge of thorns, which the naked
Mgogo does not choose to encounter.
Covetous even beyond the ordinary avarice of African tribes, the
Wagogo seize every opportunity of fleecing travellers who come into
their territory. Beside the usual tax or “hongo,” which is demanded
for permission to pass through the country, they demand all sorts
of presents, or rather bribes. When one of Captain Speke’s porters
happened to break a bow by accident, the owner immediately claimed as
compensation something of ten times its value.
Magomba, the chief, proved himself an adept at extortion. First he
sent a very polite message, requesting Captain Speke to reside in
his own house, but this flattering though treacherous proposal was
at once declined. In the first place, the houses of this part of the
country are small and inconvenient, being nothing more than mud huts
with flat-topped roofs, this kind of architecture being called by the
name of “tembe.” In the next place, the chief’s object was evidently
to isolate the leader of the expedition from his companions, and so to
have a hold upon him. This he could more easily do, as the villages are
strongly walled, so that a traveller who is once decoyed inside them
could not escape without submitting to the terms of the inhabitants.
Unlike the villages of the Southern Africans, which are invariably
circular, these are invariably oblong, and both the walls and the
houses are made of mud.
Next day Magomba had drunk so much pombé that he was quite unfit for
business, but on the following day the hongo was settled, through
the chief’s prime minister, who straightway did a little business on
his own account by presenting a small quantity of food, and asking
for an adequate return, which, of course, meant one of twenty times
its value. Having secured this, he proceeded to further extortion
by accusing Captain Grant of having shot a lizard on a stone which
he was pleased to call sacred. So, too, none of them would give any
information without being paid for it. And, because they thought
that their extortion was not sufficiently successful, they revenged
themselves by telling the native porters such horrifying tales of the
countries which they were about to visit and the cruelty of the white
men, that the porters were frightened, and ran away, some forgetting to
put down their loads. These tactics were repeated at every village near
which the party had to pass, and at one place the chief threatened to
attack Captain Speke’s party, and at the same time sent word to all the
porters that they had better escape, or they would be killed. Half of
them did escape, taking with them the goods which would have been due
to them as payment; and, as appeared afterward, the rascally Wagogo had
arranged that they should do so, and then they would go shares in the
plunder.
They were so greedy, that they not only refused to sell provisions
except at an exorbitant rate, but, when the leaders of the expedition
shot game to supply food for their men, the Wagogo flocked to the spot
in multitudes, each man with his arms, and did their best to carry off
the meat before the rightful owners could reach it. Once, when they
were sadly in want of food, Captain Speke went at night in search of
game, and shot a rhinoceros. By earliest dawn he gave notice to his men
that there was plenty of meat for them.
“We had all now to hurry back to the carcass before the Wagogo could
find it; but, though this precaution was quickly taken, still, before
the tough skin of the beast could be cut through, the Wagogo began
assembling like vultures, and fighting with my men. A more savage,
filthy, disgusting, but at the same time grotesque, scene than that
which followed cannot be described. All fell to work with swords,
spears, knives, and hatchets, cutting and slashing, thumping and
bawling, fighting and tearing, up to their knees in filth and blood
in the middle of the carcass. When a tempting morsel fell to the
possession of any one, a stronger neighbor would seize and bear off
the prize in triumph. All right was now a matter of pure might, and
lucky it was that it did not end in a fight between our men and
the villagers. These might be afterward seen, covered with blood,
scampering home each one with his spoil--a piece of tripe, or liver,
or lights, or whatever else it might have been his fortune to get off
with.” The artist has represented this scene on the next page.
It might be imagined that the travellers were only too glad to be
fairly out of the dominions of this tribe, who had contrived to cheat
and rob them in every way, and had moreover, through sheer spite and
covetousness, frightened away more than a hundred porters who had been
engaged to carry the vast quantities of goods with which the traveller
must bribe the chiefs of the different places through which he passes.
THE WANYAMUEZI.
The next tribe which we shall mention is that which is called
Wanyamuezi. Fortunately the natives seldom use this word in full, and
speak of themselves as Weezee, a word much easier to say, and certainly
simpler to write. In the singular the name is Myamuezi. The country
which they inhabit is called Unyamuezi, The Country of the Moon.
Unyamuezi is a large district about the size of England, in lat. 5°
S. and between long. 3° and 5° E. Formerly it must have been a great
empire, but it has now suffered the fate of most African tribes, and
is split into a number of petty tribes, each jealous of the other, and
each liable to continual subdivision.
For many reasons this is a most remarkable tribe. They are almost the
only people near Central Africa who will willingly leave their own
country, and, for the sake of wages, will act as porters or guides
to distant countries. It seems that this capability of travel is
hereditary among them, and that they have been from time immemorial the
greatest trading tribe in Africa. It was to this tribe that the porters
belonged who were induced by the Wagogo to desert Captain Speke, and
none knew better than themselves that in no other tribe could he find
men to supply their places.
The Weezee are not a handsome race, being inferior in personal
appearance to the Wagogo, though handsome individuals of both sexes
may be found among them. Like the Wagogo, they are not a martial race,
though they always travel with their weapons, such as they are, _i. e._
a very inefficient bow and a couple of arrows. Their dress is simple
enough. They wear the ordinary cloth round the loins; but when they
start on a journey they hang over their shoulders a dressed goatskin,
which passes over one shoulder and under the other. On account of its
narrowness, it can hardly answer any purpose of warmth, and for the
same reason can hardly be intended to serve as a covering. However, it
seems to be the fashion, and they all wear it.
They decorate themselves with plenty of ornaments, some of which are
used as amulets, and the others merely worn as decoration. They have
one very curious mode of making their bracelets. They take a single
hair of a giraffe’s tail, wrap it round with wire, just like the bass
string of a violin, and then twist this compound rope round their
wrists or ankles. These rings are called by the name of “sambo,”
and, though they are mostly worn by women, the men will put them on
when they have nothing better. Their usual bracelets are, however,
heavy bars of copper or iron, beaten into the proper shape. Like
other natives in the extreme South, they knock out the two central
incisor teeth of the lower jaw, and chip a V-like space between the
corresponding teeth of the upper jaw.
The women are far better dressed. They wear tolerably large cloths made
by themselves of native cotton, and cover the whole body from under the
arms to below the knees. They wear the sambo rings in vast profusion,
winding them round and round their wrists and ankles until the limbs
are sheathed in metallic armor for six or seven inches. If they can do
so, they naturally prefer wearing calico and other materials brought
from Europe, partly because it is a sign of wealth, and partly because
it is much lighter than the native-made cotton cloths, though not so
durable.
[Illustration: (1.) WAGOGO GREEDINESS. (See Page 386.)]
[Illustration: (2.) ARCHITECTURE OF THE WEEZEE. (See Page 387.)]
Their woolly hair is plentifully dressed with oil and twisted up,
until at a little distance they look as if they had a headdress of
black-beetle shards. Sometimes they screw it into tassels, and hang
beads at the end of each tassel, or decorate them with little charms
made of beads. The manner in which these “tags” are made is very
simple. There is a kind of banian tree called the miambo, and from
this are cut a quantity of slender twigs. These twigs are then split
longitudinally, the outer and inner bark separated, and then well
chewed until the fibres are properly arranged. At first they are much
lighter in color than the black woolly hair to which they are fastened,
but they soon become blackened by use and grease. They use a little
tattooing, but not much, making three lines on each temple, and another
down the middle of the nose. Lines of blue are often seen on the
foreheads of both sexes, but these are the permanent remains of the
peculiar treatment which they pursue for the headache, and which, with
them, seems to be effectual.
The character of the women is, on the whole, good, as they are decent
and well-conducted, and, for savages, tidy, though scarcely clean in
their persons. They will sometimes accompany their husbands on the
march, and have a weakness for smoking all the time that they walk.
They carry their children on their backs, a stool or two and other
implements on their heads, and yet contrive to act as cooks as soon as
they halt, preparing some savory dish of herbs for their husbands. They
have a really wonderful practical knowledge of botany, and a Weezee
will live in comfort where a man from another tribe would starve.
Besides cooking, they also contrive to run up little huts made of
boughs, in shape like a reversed bell, and very tiny, but yet large
enough to afford shelter during sleep.
The houses of the Weezee are mostly of that mud-walled, flat-topped
kind which is called “tembe,” though some are shaped like haystacks,
and they are built with considerable care. Some, of these have the roof
extending beyond the walls, so as to form a verandah like that of a
Bechuana house; and the villages are surrounded with a strong fence.
The door is very small, and only allows one person to pass at a time.
It is made of boards, and can be lifted to allow ingress and egress.
Some of the stakes above and at the side of the door are decorated with
blocks of wood on their tops; and some of the chiefs are in the habit
of fixing on the posts the skulls of those whom they have put to death,
just as in former years the heads of traitors were fixed over Temple
Bar. The architecture of the Weezee is illustrated on page 387.
Some of the villages may lay claim to the title of fortified towns,
so elaborately are they constructed. The palisading which surrounds
them is very high and strong, and defended in a most artistic manner,
first by a covered way, then a quickset hedge of euphorbia, and,
lastly, a broad dry ditch, or moat. Occasionally the wall is built out
in bastion-fashion, so as to give a good flanking fire. Within the
valleys the houses extend to the right and left of the entrances, and
are carefully railed off, so that the whole structure is really a very
strong one in a military point of view.
They are a tolerably polite race, and have a complete code of etiquette
for receiving persons, whether friends or strangers. If a chief
receives another chief, he gets up quite a ceremony, assembling all the
people of the village with their drums and other musical instruments,
and causing them to honor the coming guest with a dance, and as much
noise as can be extracted out of their meagre band. If they have
fire-arms, they will discharge them as long as their powder lasts; and,
if not, they content themselves with their voices, which are naturally
loud, the drums, and any other musical instrument that they may possess.
But, whatever may be used, the drum is a necessity in these parts, and
is indispensable to a proper welcome. Even when the guest takes his
leave, the drum is an essential accompaniment of his departure; and,
accordingly, “beating the drum” is a phrase which is frequently used to
signify departure from a place. For example, if a traveller is passing
through a district, and is bargaining with the chief for the “hongo”
which he has to pay, the latter will often threaten that, unless he is
paid his demands in full, he will not “beat the drum,” _i. e._ will
not permit the traveller to pass on. So well is this known, that the
porters do not take up their burdens until they hear the welcome sound
of the drum. This instrument often calls to war, and, in fact, can be
made to tell its story as completely as the bugle of European armies.
When ordinary men meet their chief, they bow themselves and clap
their hands twice, and the women salute him by making a courtesy as
well as any lady at court. This, however, is an obeisance which is
only vouchsafed to very great chiefs, the petty chiefs, or headmen of
villages, having to content themselves with the simple clapping of
hands. If two women of unequal rank meet, the inferior drops on one
knee, and bows her head; the superior lays one hand on the shoulder of
the other; and they remain in this position for a few moments, while
they mutter some words in an undertone. They then rise and talk freely.
To judge from Captain Grant’s account of the great chief Ugalee (_i.
e._ Stirabout), who was considered a singularly favorable specimen of
the sultans, as these great chiefs are called, the deference paid to
them is given to the office, and not to the individual who holds it.
Ugalee, who was the finest specimen that had been seen, was supposed to
be a clever man, though he did not know his own age, nor could count
above ten, nor had any names for the day of the week, the month, or the
year.
“After we had been about a month in his district, Sultan Ugalee arrived
at Mineenga on the 21st of April, and was saluted by file-firing from
our volunteers and shrill cries from the women. He visited us in the
verandah the day following. He looks about twenty-two years of age;
has three children and thirty wives; is six feet high, stout, with a
stupid, heavy expression. His bare head is in tassels, hanks of fibre
being mixed in with the hair. His body is loosely wrapped round with a
blue and yellow cotton cloth, his loins are covered with a dirty bit
of oily calico, and his feet are large and naked. A monster ivory ring
is on his left wrist, while the right one bears a copper ring of rope
pattern; several hundreds of wire rings are massed round his ankles.
“He was asked to be seated on one of our iron stools, but looked at
first frightened, and did not open his mouth. An old man spoke for
him, and a crowd of thirty followers squatted behind him. Speke, to
amuse him, produced his six-barrelled revolver, but he merely eyed it
intently. The book of birds and animals, on being shown to him upside
down by Sirboko, the headman of the village, drew from him a sickly
smile, and he was pleased to imply that he preferred the animals to
the birds. He received some snuff in the palm of his hand, took a good
pinch, and gave the rest to his spokesman.
“He wished to look at my mosquito-curtained bed, and in moving away was
invited to dine with us. We sent him a message at seven o’clock that
the feast was prepared, but a reply came that he was full, and could
not be tempted even with a glass of rum. The following day he came to
bid us good-by, and left without any exchange of presents, being thus
very different from the grasping race of Ugogo.”
It has been mentioned that the Wanyamuezi act as traders, and go to
great distances, and there is even a separate mode of greeting by
which a wife welcomes her husband back from his travels. The engraving
No. 1, on the next page, illustrates this wifely welcome. As soon as
she hears that her husband is about to arrive home after his journey
to the coast, she puts on all her ornaments, decorates herself with
a feathered cap, gathers her friends round her, and proceeds to the
hut of the chiefs principal wife, before whose door they all dance
and sing. Dancing and singing are with them, as with other tribes,
their chief amusement. There was a blind man who was remarkable for
his powers of song, being able to send his voice to a considerable
distance with a sort of ventriloquial effect. He was extremely popular,
and in the evenings the chief himself would form one of the audience,
and join in the chorus with which his song was accompanied. They have
several national airs which, according to Captains Speke and Grant, are
really fine.
Inside each village there is club-house or “Iwansa,” as it is called.
This is a structure much larger than those which are used for
dwelling-houses, and is built in a different manner. One of these
iwansas, which was visited by Captain Grant, “was a long, low room,
twelve by eighteen feet, with one door, a low flat roof, well blackened
with smoke, and no chimney. Along its length there ran a high inclined
bench, on which cow-skins were spread for men to take their seats. Some
huge drums were hung in one corner, and logs smouldered on the floor.
“Into this place strangers are ushered when they first enter the
village, and here they reside until a house can be appropriated to
them. Here the young men all gather at the close of day to hear the
news, and join in that interminable talk which seems one of the chief
joys of a native African. Here they perform kindly offices to each
other, such as pulling out the hairs of the eyelashes and eyebrows with
their curious little tweezers, chipping the teeth into the correct
form, and marking on the cheeks and temples the peculiar marks which
designate the clan to which they belong.”
These tweezers are made of iron, most ingeniously flattened and bent so
as to give the required elasticity.
Smoking and drinking also go on largely in the iwansa, and here the
youths indulge in various games. One of these games is exactly similar
to one which has been introduced into England. Each player has a stump
of Indian corn, cut short, which he stands on the ground in front of
him. A rude sort of teetotum is made of a gourd and a stick, and is
spun among the corn-stumps, the object of the game being to knock down
the stump belonging to the adversary. This is a favorite game, and
elicits much noisy laughter and applause, not only from the actual
players, but from the spectators who surround them.
In front of the iwansa the dances are conducted. They are similar
in some respects to those of the Damaras, as mentioned on page 313,
except that the performers stand in a line instead of in a circle. A
long strip of bark or cow-skin is laid on the ground, and the Weezees
arrange themselves along it, the tallest man always taking the place of
honor in the middle. When they have arranged themselves, the drummers
strike up their noisy instruments, and the dancers begin a strange
chant, which is more like a howl than a song. They all bow their heads
low, put their hands on their hips, stamp vigorously, and are pleased
to think that they are dancing. The male spectators stand in front and
encourage their friends by joining in the chorus, while the women stand
behind and look on silently. Each dance ends with a general shout of
laughter or applause, and then a fresh set of dancers take their place
on the strip of skin.
[Illustration: (1.) THE HUSBAND’S WELCOME. (See page 390.)]
[Illustration: (2.) DRINKING POMBÉ. (See page 394.)]
Sometimes a variety is introduced into their dances. On one occasion
the chief had a number of bowls filled with pombé and set in a row. The
people took their grass bowls and filled them again and again from the
jars, the chief setting the example, and drinking more pombé than any
of his subjects. When the bowls had circulated plentifully, a couple of
lads leaped into the circle, presenting a most fantastic appearance.
They had tied zebra manes over their heads, and had furnished
themselves with two long bark tubes like huge bassoons, into which they
blew with all their might, accompanying their shouts with extravagant
contortions of the limbs. As soon as the pombé was all gone, five drums
were hung in a line upon a horizontal bar, and the performer began to
hammer them furiously. Inspired by the sounds, men, women, and children
began to sing and clap their hands in time, and all danced for several
hours.
“The Weezee boys are amusing little fellows, and have quite a talent
for games. Of course they imitate the pursuits of their fathers, such
as shooting with small bows and arrows, jumping over sticks at various
heights, pretending to shoot game, and other amusements. Some of the
elder lads converted their play into reality, by making their bows and
arrows large enough to kill the pigeons and other birds which flew
about them. They also make very creditable imitations of the white
man’s gun, tying two pieces of cane together for the barrels, modelling
the stock, hammer, and trigger-guard out of clay, and imitating the
smoke by tufts of cotton wool. That they were kind-hearted boys is
evident from the fact that they had tame birds in cages, and spent much
time in teaching them to sing.”
From the above description it may be inferred that the Weezees are a
lively race, and such indeed is the fact. To the traveller they are
amusing companions, singing their “jolliest of songs, with deep-toned
choruses, from their thick necks and throats.” But they require to be
very carefully managed, being independent as knowing their own value,
and apt to go on, or halt, or encamp just when it happens to suit them.
Moreover, as they are not a cleanly race, and are sociably fond of
making their evening fire close by and to windward of the traveller’s
tent, they are often much too near to be agreeable, especially as they
always decline to move from the spot on which they have established
themselves.
Still they are simply invaluable on the march, for they are good
porters, can always manage to make themselves happy, and do not become
homesick, as is the case with men of other tribes. Moreover, from
their locomotive habits, they are excellent guides, and they are most
useful assistants in hunting, detecting, and following up the spoor of
an animal with unerring certainty. They are rather too apt to steal
the flesh of the animal when it is killed, and quite sure to steal the
fat, but, as in nine cases out of ten it would not have been killed at
all without their help, they may be pardoned for these acts of petty
larceny. They never seem at a loss for anything, but have a singular
power of supplying themselves out of the most unexpected materials.
For example, if a Wanyamuezi wants to smoke, and has no pipe, he makes
a pipe in a minute or two from the nearest tree. All he has to do is
to cut a green twig, strip the bark off it as boys do when they make
willow whistles, push a plug of clay into it, and bore a hole through
the clay with a smaller twig or a grass-blade.
Both sexes are inveterate smokers, and, as they grow their own tobacco,
they can gratify this taste to their hearts’ content. For smoking, they
generally use their home-cured tobacco, which they twist up into a
thick rope like a hayband, and then coil into a flattened spiral like
a small target. Sometimes they make it into sugar-loaf shape. Imported
tobacco they employ as snuff, grinding it to powder if it should be
given to them in a solid form, or pushing it into their nostrils if it
should be in a cut state, like “bird’s-eye” or “returns.”
The amusements of the Weezees are tolerably numerous. Besides those
which have been mentioned, the lads are fond of a mimic fight, using
the stalks of maize instead of spears, and making for themselves
shields of bark. Except that the Weezee lads are on foot, instead of
being mounted, this game is almost exactly like the “djerid” of the
Turks, and is quite as likely to inflict painful, if not dangerous,
injuries on the careless or unskilful.
Then, for more sedentary people, there are several games of chance and
others of skill. The game of chance is the time-honored “pitch and
toss,” which is played as eagerly here as in England. It is true that
the Weezee have no halfpence, but they can always cut discs out of
bark, and bet upon the rough or smooth side turning uppermost. They are
very fond of this game, and will stake their most valued possessions,
such as “sambo” rings, bows, arrows, spear-heads, and the like.
The chief game of skill has probably reached them through the
Mohammedan traders, as it is almost identical with a game long familiar
to the Turks. It is called Bao, and is played with a board on which are
thirty-two holes or cups, and with sixty-four seeds by way of counters.
Should two players meet and neither possess a board, nor the proper
seeds, nothing is easier than to sit down, scrape thirty-two holes
in the ground, select sixty-four stones, and then begin to play. The
reader may perhaps call to mind the old English game of Merelles, or
Nine-men’s Morris, which can be played on an extemporized board cut in
the turf, and with stones instead of counters.
The most inveterate gamblers were the lifeguards of the sultan, some
twenty in number. They were not agreeable personages, being offensively
supercilious in their manner, and flatly refusing to do a stroke of
work. The extent of their duty lay in escorting their chief from
one place to another, and conveying his orders from one village to
another. The rest of their time was spent in gambling, drum-beating,
and similar amusements; and, if they distinguished themselves in any
other way, it was by the care which they bestowed on their dress. Some
of these lifeguards were very skilful in beating the drum, and, when
a number were performing on a row of suspended drums, the principal
drummer always took the largest instrument, and was the conductor of
the others, just as in a society of bellringers the chief of them takes
the tenor bell. For any one, except a native, to sleep in a Weezee
village while the drums are sounding is perfectly impossible, but when
they have ceased the place is quiet enough, as may be seen by Captain
Grant’s description of a night scene in Wanyamuezi.
“In a Weezee village there are few sounds to disturb one’s night’s
rest: the traveller’s horn, and the reply to it from a neighboring
village, are accidental alarms; the chirping of crickets, and the cry
from a sick child, however, occasionally broke upon the stillness of
one’s night. Waking early, the first sounds we heard were the crowing
of cocks, the impatient lowing of cows, the bleating of calves, and the
chirping of sparrows and other unmusical birds. The pestle and mortar
shelling corn would soon after be heard, or the cooing of wild pigeons
in the grove of palms.
“The huts were shaped like corn-stacks, supported by bare poles,
fifteen feet high, and fifteen to eighteen feet in diameter. Sometimes
their grass roofs would be protected from sparks by ‘michans,’ or
frames of Indian corn-stalks. There were no carpets, and all was as
dark as the hold of a ship. A few earthern jars, made like the Indian
‘gurrah,’ for boiling vegetables or stirabout, tattered skins, an
old bow and arrow, some cups of grass, some gourds, perhaps a stool,
constitute the whole of the furniture. Grain was housed in hard boxes
of bark, and goats or calves had free access over the house.”
Their customs in eating and drinking are rather remarkable. Perhaps we
ought to transfer those terms, drinking holding the first place in the
mind of a Weezee. The only drink which he cares about is the native
beer or “pombé,” and many of the natives live almost entirely on pombé,
taking scarcely any solid nourishment whatever. Pombé making is the
work of the women, who brew large quantities at a time. Not being able
to build a large tank in which the water can be heated to the boiling
point, the pombé maker takes a number of earthen pots and places them
in a double row, with an interval of eighteen inches or so between the
rows. This intermediate space is filled with wood, which is lighted,
and the fire tended until the beer is boiled simultaneously in both
rows of pots. Five days are required for completing the brewing.
The Sultan Ukulima was very fond of pombé, and, indeed, lived
principally upon it. He used to begin with a bowl of his favorite
beverage, and continue drinking it at intervals until he went to his
tiny sleeping-hut for the night. Though he was half stupefied during
the day, he did not suffer in health, but was a fine, sturdy, hale
old man, pleasant enough in manner, and rather amusing when his head
happened to be clear. He was rather fond of a practical joke, and
sometimes amused himself by begging some quinine, mixing it slyly
with pombé, and then enjoying the consternation which appeared on the
countenances of those who partook of the bitter draught.
Every morning he used to go round to the different houses, timing his
visits so as to appear when the brewing was finished. He always partook
of the first bowl of beer, and then went on to another house and drank
more pombé, which he sometimes sucked through a reed in sherry-cobbler
fashion. (See page 391.) Men and women seldom drink in company; the
latter assembling together under the presidency of the sultana, or
chief wife, and drinking in company.
As to food, regular meals seem to be almost unknown among the men,
who “drop in” at their friends’ houses, taking a small potato at one
place, a bowl of pombé at another, and, on rare occasions, a little
beef. Indeed, Captain Grant says that he seldom saw men at their meals,
unless they were assembled for pombé drinking. Women, however, who eat,
as they drink, by themselves, are more regular in their meals, and at
stated times have their food prepared.
The grain from which the pombé is made is cultivated by the women, who
undertake most, though not all, of its preparation. When it is green,
they reap it by cutting off the ears with a knife, just as was done by
the Egyptians of ancient times. They then carry the ears in baskets to
the village, empty them out upon the ground, and spread them in the
sunbeams until they are thoroughly dried. The men then thresh out the
grain with curious flails, looking like rackets, with handles eight or
nine feet in length.
When threshed, it is stored away in various fashions. Sometimes it is
made into a miniature corn-rick placed on legs, like the “staddles” of
our own farmyards. Sometimes a pole is stuck into the earth, and the
corn is bound round it at some distance from the ground, so that it
resembles an angler’s float of gigantic dimensions. The oddest, though
perhaps the safest, way of packing grain, is to tie it up in a bundle,
and hang it to the branch of a tree. When wanted for use, it is pounded
in a wooden mortar like those of the Ovambo tribe, in order to beat off
the husk, and finally it is ground between two stones. A harvest scene,
illustrating these various operations, is given on the 397th page.
The Wanyamuezi are not a very superstitious people,--at all events they
are not such slaves to superstition as many other tribes. As far as
is known, they have no idols, but then they have no religious system,
except perhaps a fear of evil spirits, and a belief that such spirits
can be exorcised by qualified wizards. A good account of one of these
exorcisms is given by Captain Grant.
“The sultan sits at the doorway of his hut, which is decorated with
lion’s paws.
“His daughter, the possessed, is opposite to him, completely hooded,
and guarded by two Watusi women, one on each side, holding a naked
spear erect. The sultana completes the circle. Pombé is spirted up in
the air so as to fall upon them all. A cow is then brought in with its
mouth tightly bound up, almost preventing the possibility of breathing,
and it is evident that the poor cow is to be the sacrifice.
“One spear-bearer gives the animal two gentle taps with a hatchet
between the horns, and she is followed by the woman with the evil
spirit and by a second spear-bearer, who also tap the cow. A man now
steps forward, and with the same hatchet kills the cow by a blow behind
the horns. The blood is all caught in a tray (a Kaffir custom), and
placed at the feet of the possessed, after which a spear-bearer puts
spots of the blood on the woman’s forehead, on the root of the neck,
the palms of the hands, and the instep of the feet. He spots the other
spear-bearers in the same manner, and the tray is then taken by another
man, who spots the sultan, his kindred, and household.
“Again the tray is carried to the feet of the possessed, and she
spots with the blood her little son and nephews, who kneel to receive
it. Sisters and female relatives come next to be anointed by her,
and it is pleasant to see those dearest to her pressing forward with
congratulations and wishes. She then rises from her seat, uttering
a sort of whining cry, and walks off to the house of the sultana,
preceded and followed by spear-bearers. During the day she walks
about the village, still hooded, and attended by several followers
shaking gourds containing grain, and singing ‘Heigh-ho, massa-a-no,’
or ‘masanga.’ An old woman is appointed to wrestle with her for a
broomstick which she carries, and finally the stick is left in her hand.
“Late in the afternoon a change is wrought; she appears as in ordinary,
but with her face curiously painted in the same way. She sits without
smiling to receive offerings of grain, with beads or anklets placed on
twigs of the broomstick, which she holds upright; and, this over, she
walks among the women, who shout out, ‘Gnombe!’ (cow), or some other
ridiculous expression to create a laugh. This winds up the ceremony
on the first day, but two days afterward the now emancipated woman is
seen parading about with the broomstick hung with beads and rings, and
looking herself again, being completely cured. The vanquished spirit
had been forced to fly!”
Like many other African tribes, the Weezees fully believe that when a
person is ill witchcraft must have been the cause of the malady, and
once, when Captain Grant was in their country, a man who used to sell
fish to him died suddenly. His wife was at once accused of murdering
him by poison (which is thought to be a branch of sorcery), was tried,
convicted, and killed. The truth of the verdict was confirmed by the
fact that the hyænas did not touch the body after death.
They have all kinds of odd superstitions about animals. Captain
Grant had shot an antelope, which was quite new to him, and which
was therefore a great prize. With the unwilling aid of his assistant
he carried it as far as the village, but there the man laid it down,
declining to carry it within the walls on the plea that it was a
dangerous animal, and must not be brought to the houses. The Sultan
Ukalima was then asked to have it brought in, but the man, usually so
mild, flew at once into a towering rage, and would not even allow a
piece of the skin to be brought within the village. He said that if
its flesh were eaten it would cause the fingers and toes to fall off,
and that if its saliva touched the skin an ulcer would be the result.
Consequently, the skin was lost, and only a sketch preserved. These
ideas about the “bawala,” as this antelope was called, did not seem to
have extended very far; for, while the body was still lying outside the
walls, a party of another tribe came up, and were very glad to cook it
and eat it on the spot.
All lions and lynxes are the property of the sultan. No one may wear
the lion skin except himself, and he decorates his dwelling with the
paws and other spoils. This may be expected, as the lion skin is
considered as an emblem of royalty in other lands beside Africa. But
there is a curious superstition about the lion, which prohibits any
one from walking round its body, or even its skin. One day, when a
lion had been killed, and its body brought into the village, Captain
Grant measured it, and was straightway assailed by the chief priest of
the place for breaking the law in walking round the animal while he
was measuring it. He gave as his reason that there was a spell laid
on the lions which kept them from entering the villages, and that the
act of walking round the animal broke the spell. He said, however,
that a payment of four cloths to him would restore the efficacy of the
spell, and then he would not tell the sultan. Captain Grant contrived
to extricate himself very ingeniously by arguing that the action which
broke the spell was not walking round the body, but stepping over it,
and that he had been careful to avoid. After sundry odd ceremonies have
been performed over the dead body of the lion, the flesh, which is by
that time half putrid, is boiled by the sultan in person, the fat is
skimmed off, and preserved as a valued medicine, and the skin dressed
for regal wear.
The Wanyamuezi have a way of “making brotherhood,” similar to that
which has already been described, except that instead of drinking each
other’s blood, the newly-made brothers mix it with butter on a leaf
and exchange leaves. The butter is then rubbed into the incisions, so
that it acts as a healing ointment at the same time that the blood is
exchanged. The ceremony is concluded by tearing the leaves to pieces
and showering the fragments on the heads of the brothers.
The travellers happened to be in the country just in time to see a
curious mourning ceremony. There was a tremendous commotion in the
chiefs “tembe,” and on inquiry it turned out that twins had been born
to one of his wives, but that they were both dead. All the women
belonging to his household marched about in procession, painted and
adorned in a very grotesque manner, singing and dancing with strange
gesticulations of arms and legs, and looking, indeed, as if they had
been indulging in pombé rather than afflicted by grief. This went on
all day, and in the evening they collected a great bundle of bulrushes,
tied it up in a cloth, and carried it to the door of the mother’s hut,
just as if it had been the dead body of a man. They then set it down on
the ground, stuck a quantity of the rushes into the earth, at each side
of the door, knelt down, and began a long shrieking wail, which lasted
for several hours together.
[Illustration: (1.) HARVEST SCENE. (See page 395.)]
[Illustration: (2.) SALUTATION. (See page 409.)]