"A highly intelligent lad, who had the lobe of one ear perforated, stated, that the size of this opening, among the M'Kuafi, 'indicates the rank of the individual, the king having one of very remarkable dimensions.' With regard to his own history he stated, that, 'on the occasion of an attack by some foreign tribe,' he, with other children, hid themselves; but the circumstance had been observed at some distance by some Wampugo, who came to the spot and carried them away. The towns of the M'Kuafi are not fixed; but when the grass fails, a new one is made in another place. The M'Kuafi ride donkeys; they eat beef and sheep, and drink water and milk. It is customary, when a man kills a bullock, to send a piece to the king, to give another on account of circumcision, and then to call his friends to eat the remainder. There are camelopards in the country; and poor people, who have no bullocks, kill them for food, taking them in pitfalls, or sometimes with poison.
"The mode of circumcising differs from that prevailing among the Moslim. The government likewise differs; and if one man kills another, the price of blood is from ten to twenty bullocks.
"The M'Kuafi put on a cap of ostrich feathers when they go out to fight. On a former occasion they beat the M'Sigua, taking all the cattle, which they sold at Zanzibar. They fight with the Wakamba towards sunrise; and they are so warlike that they would fight even with their nearest relations. They sometimes go to the Monomoisy country to fight and take property; but not into the country of the Chaga, with whom they do not fight, unless meeting by accident. They fight, however, with the Lupalaconga, who live on a mountain, and speak the same language with the Chaga; and who, according to his description, must be a Negro tribe.
"His people once went towards sunrise to fight with the Sikir-washi, who are the nation called Galla at Zanzibar. They saw a large river which 'came dry,' and men carrying large spears, who spoke a different language from their own. They took all the cattle and donkeys, and the fat-tailed sheep; but they disdained taking the horses, an animal they had never before seen. The king of the Sikir-washi wears a large beard, while the rest of the people shave: using for the purpose a sort of small iron chisel; and these practices prevail equally with the M'Kuafi.
"When the lad was asked about the Mussai, he rejoined with some emotion,—'They who break my country: he knew them well; they dwell farther inland than the M'Kuafi.'
"He did not know how old he was, and asked, 'if any one could tell him.' His people have no prayers: he could not speak lies. He did not wish to return to his native-country—he had got no bullocks; he was now a slave: no matter, he should soon die. He did not know where he should go to after death. He had heard that God had made him, that was all."
MUSSAI(?).
Locality.—West of the M'Kuafi; to which tribes they are allied. Probably M'Kuafi.
CHAGA(?).
Locality.—South-west of the Wanika, on the upper part of the Pungany River.