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.