Sometime after the soko hunt, which gave rise to the striking portrait of the beast that Livingstone has left, Katomba presented to him a young soko that had been caught when its mother was killed. “She sits eighteen inches high; has fine, long black hair all over, which was pretty, so long as it was kept in order by her dam. She is the least mischievous of all the monkey tribe I have seen, and seems to know that in me she has a friend, and sits quietly on the mat beside me. In walking the first thing I observed is, that she does not tread on the palms of her hands, but on the backs of the second line of bones of the hands; in doing this the nails do not touch the ground, nor do the knuckles. She uses the arms thus supported crutch-fashion, and hitches herself along between them; occasionally, one hand is put down before the other, and alternates with the feet, or she walks upright, and holds up a hand to any one to carry her; if refused she turns her face down and makes grimaces of the most bitter human weeping, wringing her hands, and sometimes adding a fourth hand or foot to make the appeal more touching. Grass or leaves she draws around her to make a nest, and resents any one meddling with her property. She is a most friendly little beast, and came up to me at once, making her chirrup of welcome, smelled my clothing, and held out her hand to be shaken. I slapped her palm without offence, though she winced. She began to untie the cord, with which she was afterward bound, with fingers and thumbs in quite a systematic way, and on being interfered with by a man, looked daggers, and screaming, tried to beat him with her hands. She was afraid of his stick and faced him, putting her back to me as a friend. She holds out her hand for people to lift her up and carry her quite like a spoiled child, then bursts into a passionate cry, somewhat like that of a kite, wrings her hands quite naturally, as if in despair. She eats everything, covers herself with a mat to sleep, and makes a nest of grass or leaves, and wipes her face with a leaf.”
A soko alive is thought by the natives to be a good charm for rain. There being a drought, one was caught; but the captor met with the usual fate of those men who, without weapons, contend with this animal; he lost the ends of his fingers and toes.
CHAPTER CLXV.
AFRICA—Continued.
UNYAMWEZI.
SIGNIFICATION OF UNYAMWEZI — EXTENT OF ITS TERRITORY — CHARMING SCENERY — STANLEY’S DESCRIPTION — TREES OF FOREST — FRUIT-BEARING TREES — THE “MEDICINE MAN” — CREDULITY OF THE PEOPLE — DISEASE — PEN-PORTRAIT OF A MNYAMWEZI — THE YANKEE OF AFRICA — LOVE OF MUSIC — SINGULAR CUSTOMS IN REGARD TO BIRTH AND BURIAL — OLD AGE SELDOM SEEN — PROBABLE EXTINCTION OF THIS TRIBE.
Although an extended and interesting account of the people of Unyamwezi has been given in a former portion of this work (see page 386), we think our readers will be grateful for the additional sketch of them compiled from Stanley’s “Travels and Adventures in Central Africa,” resulting from his romantic and successful expedition in search of Livingstone.
The name Wanyamwezi, or Banyamwezi, as Livingstone gives it, is derived, he says, from an ivory ornament of the shape of the new moon, hung to the neck, with a horn reaching round over either shoulder. The tradition is that their forefathers came from the sea coast, and when people inquired after them they said, “We mean the men of the moon ornament.” This ornament is worn very extensively now and a large amount of ivory is used in its manufacture. Sometimes, however, the curved tusks of hippopotami are substituted for ivory.
If the name referred to the “moon ornament” as the people think, the name would be Ba or Wamwezi, but Banyamwezi means probably Ba, they or people, Nya, place, Mwezi, moon, people of the moon locality or moonland.
Note.—M is a prefix to denote a person of any country, as, for example, M-jiji, a native of Jiji. U is a prefix to denote the country, as U-jiji, meaning the country of the Jiji. Wa denotes persons, thus, Wa-jiji, means people of the Jiji. Wa-nya-mwezi, the people of Mwezi.
The pronunciation of this word, Unyamwezi, by the natives is Oo-nya-mwezi. Its meaning, according to the African explorers, Krapf, Burton, Speke, is “Country of the Moon.” Mr. Desbrough Cooley thinks it means “Lord of the World,” and its orthography, he thinks, should be Monomoezi. Mr. Stanley, however, differs from them all, and gives the following as the reason for his interpretation: There once lived a powerful and successful king in Ukalaganza, the original name of the country as known to the western tribes. His name was Mwezi, and after his death his sons contended for the possession of his power. The portions they secured as the result of their wars were named from them. The people of the central portion, Ukalaganza, accepting the one whom the old king had appointed his successor, came to be known at length as Children of Mwezi, and the country as Unyamwezi, while the other districts were called Konongo, Sagozi, Gunda, Simbiri, etc. This theory, so in conflict with the opinion of other travellers, Stanley bases upon a tradition related to him by the old chief of Masangi, which lies on the road to Mfuto. He confirms it also by the fact that the name of the king of Urundi is Mwezi, and the name of almost every village in Africa is named from some chief either living or dead.
This country contains about 24,500 square miles, and is divided into districts known as Unyanyembe, the most populous, Ugunda, Usagara, Ugara, Nguru, Usongo, etc.