INDEX

THE END.

Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath.

LONDON: SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS LTD

[1]. It must also be added that the text has been handled somewhat freely, and many passages eliminated, not because they were in themselves objectionable, but because they added nothing important to the narrative, and fell intolerably flat in translation.

[2]. The first to recognise the importance of Dar es Salam harbour was Sayyid Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar, who determined to erect a residence there and divert the trade of the interior to it. The town was laid out on a large scale, and buildings begun, when the Sultan’s death in 1870 put an end to the operations. His successor, Sayyid Barghash, disliked the place, and the unfinished town was allowed to fall into ruins.—See the description in Thomson, To the Central African Lakes and Back, vol. i, pp. 71–75.—[Tr.]

[3]. Published in English as The World’s History (4 vols., London, 1901) with introduction by Professor Bryce.

[4]. This song is a mixture of Nyamwezi, Swahili and corrupt Arabic; the last three words being intended for Bismillahi yu (= he is) akbar.

[5]. “Discussion”—but it is an elastic term, corresponding in most if not all, of its many meanings to the Chinyanja mlandu, the Zulu indaba and the “palaver” of the West Coast.—[Tr.]

[6]. The U.M.C.A. (Universities’ Mission to Central Africa). Masasi Station was founded in 1876 by Bishop Steere and the Rev. W. P. Johnson (now Archdeacon of Nyasa).—[Tr.]

[7]. Canon Porter went out to Africa in 1880.

[8]. This is more intelligible if we remember the shape of the native razor, which is usually about five or six inches long, with the cutting end like a spatula and tapering back into a stalk-like handle, the end of which could easily be sharpened as an awl.

[9]. Mr. J. T. Last says that some of the Makua women, “in addition to the pelele, wear a brass or iron nail from four to seven inches in length ... passed through a hole in the lower lip and left hanging in front of the chin. When a lady cannot afford a metal ornament of the sort, she utilizes a piece of stick which she covers with beads.”

[10]. This is not pure D natural, but a sound between D sharp and D natural, though nearer the latter.

[11]. Zur Oberflächengestaltung und Geologie Deutsch-Ostafrikas, Berlin, 1900.

[12]. Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow Release.

[13]. “Off you go!”

[14]. Dr. Weule translates this as “He works for the European,” but it is more accurately rendered “Foreign work,” or “work in” (or “of”) “Europe”—or foreign countries generally.

[15]. This expression (Naturvölker) was adopted by F. Ratzel in preference to the vague and misleading term “savages.” It rests on the definition of civilization as a process whereby man renders himself, in an ever-increasing degree, independent of nature. The usual English equivalent, “primitive peoples,” is somewhat lacking in precision.—[Tr.]

[16]. 100 to the rupee.

[17]. Chingulungulu is a Yao word, meaning the turquoise blue beads which have always been a staple article of trade since the days of the ancient Egyptians.

[18]. The “phenomenon” can scarcely be considered surprising, in view of Dr. Weule’s previous remarks (see p. [52]), and his subsequent confession of the difficulty he experienced in keeping his carriers out of mischief at Chingulungulu. It is not apparent from the narrative whether it occurred to him to inquire into their behaviour at Masasi. They need not be set down as reprobates beyond all other wapagazi. The carrier expects to work hard on the march, and to rest and enjoy himself with his family about him in his own village, also to have some sort of a spree, in reason, when paid off on the Coast, in the interval between two journeys. But a lengthened period of inaction, in the middle of a safari, and in a strange country, is something quite outside his scheme of life, and it is no wonder if he gets demoralized.

[19]. “Bad insects!”

[20]. A species of alcohol expressly designed for native consumption, and more especially as a present to chiefs and headmen. Dr. Weule refers to it again later on, but gives no particulars as to its chemical constitution.—[Tr.]

[21]. This is surely a mistake, unless the word “blush” is only to be used of turning red. Natives certainly change colour under stress of emotion.—[Tr.]

[22]. This must be taken with some reservations. Even in 1862, when Livingstone ascended the Rovuma for the first time, he repeatedly found villages deserted for fear of the slavers, whose main route from Kilwa to Nyasa crossed the Rovuma above Kichokomane. Matters seem to have become worse in this respect by 1866. See Livingstone’s Last Journals, Vol. I, pp. 24, 37, 39, 41 and elsewhere. The Mazitu (Wangoni) had already become a terror by the latter date. Ib., p. 43, etc.—[Tr.]

[23]. Joseph Thomson made the same remark with regard to the Mahenge somewhat further north.—See To the Central African Lakes and Back, Vol. I, p. 188.—[Tr.]

[24]. A well-known German humorist, one of the principal contributors to Fliegende Blätter.

[25]. This is the Matola who welcomed the U.M.C.A. missionaries to Newala, in 1877, and of whom the late Bishop Maples said: “He is without exception the most intelligent and the most pleasing African I know. He has many excellent qualities, and withal an amount of energy that is rare in that part of the world. He has a fund of information about the people, the country, and the languages, of which he can speak six.” Matola died at Newala in October, 1895.—[Tr.]

[26]. The accents are reproduced from Dr. Weule’s transcript. The accent never in Yao falls on the last syllable but sometimes, in singing, the accent appears to be displaced, or possibly the rising intonation has been confused with the accent.—[Tr.]

[27]. A subsequent passage in which almost the same description is given must be taken with the above as somewhat qualifying it. It must be admitted that Dr. Weule’s statements, as they stand here, are certainly misleading, and convey an exaggerated impression of universal neglect and misery among African babies. It is true that there is much to be done, by women missionaries and others, in the way of inculcating sound hygienic principles (though not more, perhaps, than in London!)—but the appalling state of things described is by no means universal, and it must be remembered that the tribes of the Makonde plateau had been harassed by slavers and hunted from place to place even beyond the wont of Africans in general.—[Tr.]

[28]. This crowing serpent is well known by hearsay throughout Nyasaland. It is said to have a red crest and to have “killed very many people in the Angoni country” (Scott’s Dictionary, s.v., Kasongo). The natives who told me about it had never seen it themselves, but had heard about it from hunters; they described its habit of darting down from trees, and added that the said hunters circumvented it by making the foremost man of the party carry a pot full of fire (others say very hot gruel or scalding bran-mash) on his head, into which the snake descends and perishes. The Anyanja say ingolira koh—“It cries koh!” (they render the sound of a cock’s crow as kokololiko). Mr. Richard Crawshay assured me that the songo was a real and not a mythical snake; he had killed one—but it had no red crest, and he had not heard its voice. The late Bishop Maples, however, did, on one occasion, hear a “large snake with a serrated comb” crow like a cock while travelling between Masasi and the Rovuma in 1877.—[Tr.]

[29]. Apparently the same word as the Chinyanja chindapi, meaning either a proverb, a short story, or a riddle. The Rev. H. B. Barnes says that in a “riddle contest” the propounder of the enigma says “Chindapi!” and the rest of the company “Chijija” (let it come!) Similar formulas appear to be in use throughout Bantu Africa.—[Tr.]

[30]. Both words mean “this,” but are of different classes. “Ichi, ichi” (this, this), is a similar riddle recorded at Blantyre, to which the answer is “a shadow.” In fact, I am indebted to Dr. Weule for the explanation, having (no doubt through failing to notice the accompanying gestures) abandoned it as a hopeless puzzle.—[Tr.]

[31]. This riddle also I obtained at Blantyre, in the Chinyanja language, but from a Yao girl, thus: “Ambuye naona alikwenda m’njira natenga ufa” (“I saw my master walking on the road and he was carrying flour”).—[Tr.]

[32]. This is given, in a slightly different form, in Bishop Steere’s Collections for a Handbook of the Yao language (p. 105): “Apitako tusimanako” (“Where they pass, where we meet”).—[Tr.]

[32a]. This form shows that the name is really Nsulila, though the n is often not heard, and may be really dropped, in speaking.—[Tr.]

[33]. This is not necessarily implied by the use of Che or Ku. Every Yao uses these prefixes of himself and his neighbours; even small children are Kuluponje or Chendilijika, etc.—[Tr.]

[34]. One would expect chilwele chachijinji, but possibly there is some mistake in transcription.—[Tr.]

[35]. The old custom of the Yaos (at any rate in the case of a chief) is to bury the dead man inside his hut (or where he has several, in that of his principal wife), which is then closed, and allowed to decay. Lengths of calico (the quantity being proportioned to the wealth of the deceased) are draped over the roof and left there. Perhaps the building of a house over the grave, which appears to be done sometimes near Lake Nyasa, is a later modification of this custom.—[Tr.]

[36]. Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertrankes. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Mythologie der Indo-Germanen. Berlin, 1859.

[37]. To prevent complications, this prohibition applies to friendly tribes as well as to the late rebels.

[38]. See Last Journals, vol. i, chapters i-iii.—[Tr.]

[39]. Query “a hoe”? The shovel is not a native implement.—[Tr.]

[40]. More correctly in Yao, Jua Michila = “(he) of the tails.” The Rev. Duff Macdonald says that he is called “the rattler of the tails,” juakuchimula michila. Tails of animals are supposed to have great efficacy in magic, and usually belong to a witch-doctor’s outfit, either forming part of his costume or carried in his hand.—[Tr.]

[41]. The Makua word corresponding to ngoma.—[Tr.]

[42]. This Nyanja word, here used for convenience sake, means the “village green,” or “forum,” where the affairs of the community are discussed, and all public transactions take place.—[Tr.]

[43]. This action is called ku luluta both in Yao and in Nyanja. The Rev. H. B. Barnes explains the word, in the latter language, as “to say lu-lu-lu-lu indefinitely. The women do this as a sign of rejoicing; the sound is produced by moving the tongue quickly from side to side with the mouth a little open, and very often the hand is alternately clapped to the lips and taken away rapidly.” The cry itself is called in Nyanja ntungululu. It seems to be universal (under various names) among African women.—[Tr.]

[44]. Surely this name, if not the figure itself, must be of Muslim origin?—[Tr.]

[45]. Called in Chinganja chitedzi; it is the plant known as “cowage.”—[Tr.]

[46]. These are a small kind of turnip, the size of a large radish, grown at and near Teltow, a Prussian town on the line between Berlin and Potsdam.—[Tr.]

[47]. The Persians who had settled at Lamu in the tenth century.—[Tr.]

[48]. It has sometimes been thought that the Ma in “Makua” and “Makonde” is a prefix, as in “Matabele,” “Mashona,” etc. It appears, however, to be an integral part of the word, and the correct plural is therefore Wamakua, Wamakonde.—[Tr.]

[49]. The author seems to have overlooked the fact that the “short, woolly crop” is the result of regular shaving. The shock heads of, e.g., the Alolo (Alomwe) or other “bush people” strike the eye at once among the Yaos or Anyanja, and these people (who are a branch of the Makua) frequently wear the hair twisted into long strings. The sentence about washing, as it stands, is somewhat too sweeping. It only applies to districts where water is scarce—as, indeed, appears from other passages in the book.—[Tr.]

[50]. “This kind of lock and key,” says the late Rev. D. C. Scott (Cyclopædic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language, s.v., mfungulo), “is common among the Ambo branch of the Mang’anja” (living between the Ruo junction and the sea), “and is a wooden key about a foot long, with three teeth; it is passed in between the wall-post and upright door-stick (kapambi) inside, and the teeth fit into notches and lift the bolts; only the Ambo can make them and they lock their door thus behind them, carrying the key with them when they go to any short distance from their house.” (See also svv. Funga and Mtengo: “mitengo ya Ambo, the Ambos’ stick keys.”) The ordinary method of fastening the door (chitseko) is by cross-bars, slipped in between the door and the side posts. The following passage from Mr. Charles Doughty’s Travels in Arabia Deserta seems to show that this Ambo form of lock and key must have been borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the Arab settlers on the coast—doubtless at a remote period, as it seems to be no longer in use among the latter. “The fastening, as in all Arabic places, is a wooden lock; the bolt is detained by little pegs falling from above into apposite holes, the key is a wooden stele, some have them of metal, with teeth to match the holes of the lock, the key put in under, you strike up the pegs and the slot may be withdrawn” (Vol. I, p. 143).—[Tr.]

[51]. Both Yaos and Anyanja carry sheath-knives, either stuck in the waist-cloth or hung to a cross-belt passing over the right shoulder, or (if of small size) on a string round the neck or left arm.—[Tr.]

[52]. The reference is to p. [315] where the chimbandi ceremony (observed when a young wife is expecting her first child) is described. Dr. Weule does not mention the fact of bark-cloth being worn by the girls at the unyago mysteries he has previously described—indeed, he says expressly that, at Nuchi (p. [231], and apparently also at Akuchikomu’s, p. [222]) they were dressed in new, bright-coloured calicoes. But he appears to have witnessed only the closing ceremony. Usually, if not always, bark-cloth is worn during the weeks spent in the bush. This was certainly the case among the Yaos of the Shire Highlands, fourteen or fifteen years ago, and probably is so still. “The unyago [at one of the Ndirande villages near Blantyre] was just over, and [two of the missionaries] met the girls coming away from it all freshly anointed and dripping with oil. They found the masasa (booths or huts) built round three sides of a square, divided into little compartments, where the girls sleep. They are not allowed outside the place till the thing is over, and they wear bark-cloth. In the middle of the square were traces of pots having been made, and ufa (flour) pounded.... The girls go through symbolic performances of all their married duties,—pretend to sow maize, hoe it, gather it, bring it home, etc.—pounding, sweeping, fetching water, cooking, making pots, etc., are all gone through.”—(MS. note, September 26th and 27th, 1894.)—[Tr.]

[53]. A native is not likely to tell a stranger, above all a European, the names by which he is known at home. The name by which he is known to his employer is therefore most probably a nickname, or one assumed by himself for the occasion.—[Tr.]

[54]. It is not always easy to draw the line between games and dances; but there is certainly no lack of the former. Particulars of games played by a number of children are given in Scott, Cyclopædic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language, s.vv. Masewero and Sewera.—[Tr.]

[55]. In Chinyanja, Nguli or Nanguli.—[Tr.]

[56]. This is evidently the one called Nsikwa in Chinyanja. See Scott, Cyclopædic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language, p. 465: “A small top made of a round piece of gourd-shell with a spindle of cane through the middle.” A game is played with the Nsikwa in which the players take sides, and spin their tops so as to knock down bits of maize-cob set up by their adversaries.—[Tr.]

[57]. The articles figured look like bull-roarers, which no doubt might be put to the use indicated, by a native who had seen the telephone at Lindi. But we take leave to doubt their being originally made for such a purpose.—Tr.

[58]. The Rev. Dr. Hetherwick says that masange is “a game played by children in which they build mimic houses and act as grown-up people.” [Tr.]

[59]. The author seems to be mistaken in the distinction drawn between the ngosyo and the “groups.” See note at end of chapter. [Tr.]

[60]. Miraji, plural of mlaji, a form interchangeable with mlasi. [Tr.]

[61]. Rice in Makua is mvuka or moka; the word in the text may be a corrupt form intermediate between this and the Yao mpunga.

[62]. See, inter alia, Mr. R. T. Dennett’s At the Back of the Black Man’s Mind, pp. 38, 68–70. [Tr.]

[63]. The same thing is done by Mang’anja girls on the Shire, in order to make them articulate clearly. The pebbles used for the purpose are taken from the stomachs of crocodiles, which sometimes contain enough to fill a bucket. (MS. note made at Blantyre, August 30th, 1894.)—[Tr.]

[64]. See note at end of chapter.—[Tr.]

[65]. The latter spelling is intended to represent the Makua version of the English pronunciation of Anastasius.—[Tr.]

[66]. Discovered by Consul O’Neill in 1882.—[Tr.]

[67]. The late Dr. Elmslie computed that this crossing must have taken place in 1825, as Ngoni tradition states that an eclipse (during which the chief Mombera, who died in 1892, was prematurely born) occurred at the time.—[Tr.]

[68]. This may be a mistake for chikolongwe, which is the correct form of the word in Yao—or it may be a Makonde word. Chitopole, in Yao (see Dr. Hetherwick’s Handbook) means “the crescent-shaped tribal mark of the Walomwe” (a division of the Makua). This is quite sufficiently like the curved spring of the trap in the illustration on p. [98], if the latter were turned round with the opening downwards. Probably the Yaos only know the word as applied to the keloid pattern, having learned it from the Makua, in whose language no doubt it originally had the sense attributed to it by Dr. Weule.—[Tr.]

[69]. We cannot help thinking that Dr. Weule must be mistaken in supposing this game to be borrowed from a European source. The late Commander Cameron, at Kasongo in 1874, saw a slave of the Arab, Juma Merikani, “exhibiting tricks ... with a piece of heavy, hard wood shaped like an hour-glass, and two sticks each a foot in length. Taking a stick in each hand, he could make the wood rotate rapidly and run backwards and forwards ... between the sticks, on a piece of string attached to their ends; then, by a peculiar jerk, he would send the wood flying up into the air, higher than a cricket-ball could be thrown, and catching it on the string, would again set it rolling” (Across Africa, II, 91). At this time, diabolo, of course, was quite unknown in Europe, though it had been a fashionable game in the early part of last century. A writer in the Bulletin de la Société Belge des Etudes Coloniales (December, 1908), in a notice of Dr. Weule’s book, after quoting the above passage from Cameron, refers to a description of the game (under the name of Le Diable), from a work entitled Les Amusements de la Campagne (Paris, 1826). It was believed to have originated in China.—[Tr.]

[70]. This was probably not accidental, as the Wayao always bury their dead with the knees drawn up. See Macdonald, Africana, i, 103.—[Tr.]

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

  1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
  2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
  3. Re-indexed footnotes using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter.