1. “Mchombwa” or “Msuo”
2. Nyanja Ball-game
Children build little houses of grass, and otherwise imitate the proceedings of grown-up people; the boys make themselves little bows, with arrows of grass-stalks (sometimes these are tipped with sharp bits of bamboo and strong enough to kill small birds with), and girls grind soft stones to powder, pretending they are ufa, and carry maize-cobs on their backs for babies. The little Yao girls have a kind of wooden doll called a mwali (‘girl’): there is no attempt at representing the human figure; in fact, the thing is more like a ninepin than anything else, except that both ends are rounded, so that it will not stand up, and one of them, by way of suggesting the head, is covered with small scarlet seeds, fitted on like a wig.
Cat’s cradle is played, though I am not certain how, and there is a variety of guessing games, called ‘tricks’ (zinyao), such as chagwa, which is something like ‘hunt-the-slipper’; and another where ‘three arrows or three sticks are set, and one guesses which is chosen—if he guess wrongly, his companions laugh and beat him in fun with the sticks.’
An elementary kind of swing is sometimes extemporised by means of a convenient creeper hanging from the branch of a large tree; but I think I have also seen one made with a rope.
There is a genuine native ball-game (mpira) played with an india-rubber ball, in which the players stand in a circle, and, after every catch, clap their hands rhythmically and leap into the air. This, being done with great regularity, has a very pleasing effect. In one account I have seen, an umpire is described as calling out ‘Hock! hock!’ after every good catch. This is an impossible word in either Yao or Nyanja; one conjectures it may be meant for yaka, ‘catch.’ The well-known game of ‘mankala,’ which seems to be played all the way down from Abyssinia to Mashonaland, and to be of Arab origin, is here called mchombwa and msuo. The Abyssinians play it on a board, but this is not at all necessary; the four rows of holes can be made on any bit of smooth ground, and one often sees them in the bwalo of a Nyanja village, where the men sit smoking and gossiping and weaving baskets. It has been said that no European has ever succeeded in mastering this game; and I must own that I have always failed to follow the explanations obligingly given by the players, but Dr. Scott’s description seems fairly clear. Premising that there are two players, each provided with a handful of pebbles or seeds, and six (or nine) holes in each row, it is as follows: ‘The game consists in distributing one’s men along the rows of holes on one’s own side, and again moving them up one hole at a time, until those in any one hole surpass in number those in the enemy’s hole opposite, when the latter are appropriated and placed out of the game; the game is won when one is able to appropriate the last remaining one on his opponent’s side.’
Chuchu is a kind of combination of this game and ‘hunt-the-slipper.’ A spiral is drawn on the ground, and holes made in it; three stones are chosen and two put into the holes. ‘The people are divided into two bodies, and the stone belonging to each party is moved up according to the skill of that party in guessing who has the other stone—this third stone is put in the hands of one by a person who goes all round and pretends to give the stone to each.’ A somewhat similar game is played with ten holes and nine stones, and the boy who goes away (or hides his face) has to guess whether there is a stone in any particular hole at the moment he is asked, or not.
Some of the above, especially the mchombwa, are also played by adults, who enter into them with great zest. On the coast, and in the Portuguese settlements, they also play at cards, though the game, or that form of it which has now spread to the Shiré Highlands, is said to be ‘unintelligible to Europeans.’ They call the court-cards after local celebrities, such as Sir Harry Johnston (‘Jonsen’) and the late Mr. John Buchanan (‘Makanani’). Speaking of games adopted from Europeans—though it does not strictly belong to our subject—I cannot forbear quoting the following description from Mr. H. L. Duff’s Nyasaland under the Foreign Office:—
‘The football played at Kota Kota has scarcely more in common with Association than with Rugby or any other known rules. Indeed, the distinguishing peculiarity of the game would seem to be its gay immunity from any rules or restrictions whatever. No limit is apparently set to the extent of the ground, to the period of time to be covered, or to the number of those who participate in the game. The spectators may and do join in when and where they please, and continue to play as long as they can stand or see. The ball, once fairly committed to the mêlée, disappears for good. So, of course, does any man who has the misfortune to tumble down in a scrimmage. The goal-posts are rickety superfluities, a mere concession to appearances, heeded by nobody and nearly always prostrated at the first rush. The same abundant energy and the same lack of restraint are noticeable wherever these Central African natives take to any European game, and they take to European games of the rougher sort very readily indeed. I have seen them at Blantyre clubbing one another on the head, under pretence of playing hockey, just as they rend one another to pieces at Kota Kota under pretence of playing football. It is, however, only fair to add that they show great activity, enthusiasm, and pluck; nor is there much reason to doubt that they might develop into really sound players, if they could only be induced to adopt a coherent system and a somewhat more chastened style.’