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.