The principal tribes inhabiting British Central Africa are as follows:

In the Protectorate proper:—

• 1. The Anyanja, or Mang’anja.
• 2. The Yaos (Wayao or Ajawa).
• 3. The Alolo.
• 4. The Awankonde.
• 5. The Batumbuka.
• 6. The Angoni.

The Angoni are placed last, as being the most recent arrivals in the country. They are, as will be explained later on, rather a ruling caste than a distinct race. The Makololo, as we shall see, cannot be counted as a tribe; neither can the Achikunda of the Middle and Lower Zambezi, ‘compounded of the old slaves of the Portuguese, brought from many different parts of Eastern and Central Africa,’[2] who, moreover, scarcely come into British Central Africa, though some of them are to be found on the Shiré.

Of the above, 1 and 6 extend beyond the Protectorate into North-eastern Rhodesia, where we find, in addition,

• The Awemba (Babemba).
• The Alunda.
• The Alungu.
• The Batonga—above Zumbo on the Zambezi.

The Anyanja extend, under several different names, from the Shiré valley to the Luangwa, and as far north as the middle of Lake Nyasa. At one time they seem to have occupied this country continuously, but they have been displaced and broken up by intrusions of strange tribes. The Makalanga (of whom the Mashona are a subdivision) appear to have formed a powerful kingdom in the sixteenth century, and they are nearly related to the Anyanja, if not actually the same people. Their language so closely resembles Anyanja that a European, who had acquired the latter at Likoma, could make himself understood without difficulty in Mashonaland. The languages called by some writers ‘Sena,’ and ‘Tete’ (Nyungwe) are dialects of Nyanja, and the following tribes may all be reckoned as closely united branches of the same stock: Achewa, Achipeta (Maravi), Basenga, Makanga, Badema (north bank of the Zambezi, near Kebrabasa Rapids), Anguru, Ambo, and Machinjiri, the last-named in Portuguese territory, between the Ruo and the coast.

Livingstone first came across these people under the name of the Maravi, when he descended the Zambezi from Linyanti in 1855. ‘Beyond Senga,’ he says, ‘lies a range of mountains called Mashinga, to which the Portuguese in former times went to wash for gold, and beyond that are great numbers of tribes which pass under the general name Maravi.’ A little above Zumbo, he first came across women wearing the characteristic lip-ring (pelele), and adds: ‘This custom prevails throughout the country of the Maravi.’ It is now more prevalent among the Yaos—the Anyanja, from whom they adopted it, having more or less disused it. Between Kebrabasa and Zumbo there were two independent Anyanja chiefs, Mpende and Sandia; all the rest were subject to these. ‘Formerly all the Mang’anja were united under the government of their great chief, Undi, whose empire extended from Lake Shirwa (Chilwa) to the river Luangwa; but after Undi’s death it fell to pieces, and a large portion of it on the Zambezi was absorbed by their powerful southern neighbours, the Banyai.’[3]

These are the people marked on the Portuguese maps as ‘Mang’anja d’alem Chire’ (beyond the Shiré).

In attempting to describe the physical type of this people, one finds that there is so much variety as to make it difficult to fix on any one as specially characteristic. This is not to be wondered at, when we remember how the various tribes have been blended together in the course of the wars and migrations to which we shall come back in a later chapter. I think I may say I have noticed three well-marked varieties of physique among Anyanja, or men reckoned as such. Before considering these, it may be well, however, to glance at the characteristics possessed in common by the people with whom we have to do in this book.

They all belong to the ‘Bantu’ family of African natives, which, as regards language, is sharply distinguished from the ‘Negro’ peoples of West Africa and the Soudan. In other respects, it is more difficult to draw the line. As long as our ideas of the ‘Negro’ were taken from degraded and exaggerated types found in the unhealthy Niger delta and the slave-trading ports of the Guinea coast, it was easy to say that the Bantu were altogether on a higher level, and attribute the difference to some hypothetical admixture of Arab or other Asiatic blood. A better acquaintance with the inland peoples of the Guinea region shows that the difference is not so great as one had supposed. But the question which was the main stock whence the other parted off, and that as to the exact nature of the difference between them, need not be discussed here, as our concern is entirely with the Bantu.

Perhaps it is scarcely necessary to explain that this word, or something very like it, means ‘people,’ in the language of (roughly speaking) every tribe from the Cape of Good Hope to Lake Victoria and the great loop of the Congo, with the exception of the Kora and Nama (Hottentots), the Bushmen, and the Masai. It was adopted as a convenient designation when Bleek had shown how closely these languages were interrelated, and has never been superseded by any other.

The Bantu, then, are brown (not black), and have woolly hair, growing continuously over the head, and not in separate tufts, like the Bushmen. The nose is broad and somewhat flattened (but the last is by no means invariably the case), and the lips thick, from being turned outward more than they are in Europeans; but this, too, is not always very marked. The hair is black, and the eyes generally dark brown, sometimes hazel.

The colour of the skin varies very much in different tribes, and even in individuals of the same tribe. Sir Harry Johnston says: ‘There are extremes met with in the individual members of a tribe, as well as a general tendency to be detected in one tribe or another towards greater average darkness or lightness of skin. As a rule, the negro of British Central Africa is decidedly black, so far as any human skin is really black—the nearest approach to actual black being a deep, dull slaty-brown. I should say that the average skin-tint is ... a dark chocolate.’

If I can trust my recollection of the Anyanja, they were many of them not quite so dark as this; but in the Blantyre district they are intermixed with the Yaos, who are described by the same writer as ‘probably the lightest-tinted tribe’ in the region under review. The soles of the feet and palms of the hands are always much lighter, and give a curious impression, as if the colour had been washed out.

Among these Anyanja you find, chiefly on the River, tall, broad-shouldered, finely built men, with well-developed muscles, though rather smoother and more rounded in outline than an athletic European. The Rev. H. Rowley, who saw them before the Yao invasion, describes the Hill Mang’anja as smaller and poorer in physique than the River people, and lays stress on their small jaws and weak mouths and chins. Their physical inferiority and want of union among themselves fully account for their subjugation. This writer also says: ‘In stature, the Mang’anja were not a tall race, though you rarely met a little man.’ But tall individuals are fairly common. The length of the arms is particularly noticeable. Measurements show that very often the distance between the finger-tips of the outstretched arms is considerably greater than the height of the individual, whereas, in a well-proportioned European, they are supposed to be equal.

The second type is that of the people usually, but erroneously called ‘Angoni,’ who live in the districts west of the Upper Shiré, and are really Anyanja conquered by the Zulu Angoni and subject to their chiefs. These are small, active, wiry men, usually rather dark. They sometimes have good features and even, aquiline noses.

Here and there, among these last, you find yet a third kind, very tall men, over six feet, but painfully lean and slender, and perhaps a shade lighter in complexion than their neighbours. So far as it was possible to trace the history of these men, they seemed to come from a distance; but I will recur to this in a later chapter. I do not remember any women of this type, though one of the men in question had two daughters, slim, delicate-looking girls, who might have been like him when grown up. One of them, a really pretty creature, died suddenly—I fancy of consumption—aged, most likely, about fifteen or sixteen.

The description given by the writer already quoted will still serve fairly well for a good many of the Anyanja:—

‘The forehead of the Mang’anja was high, narrow, but not retreating; and now and then, among the chiefs and men in authority, you found a breadth of brain not inferior to that of the best European heads. The nose, though decidedly African, was not always unpleasantly flat or expansive; occasionally you saw this feature as well formed as among the possessors of the most approved nasal organs. The cheek-bones were not high; indeed, they rarely interfered with the smooth contour of the face. The jaws were small and not very prominent; the chin, however, was insignificant and retreating. But the mouth was their worst feature.’

This requires some deductions, and Mr. Rowley goes on to qualify it in the case of the River people, who, however, ‘had less amiability of expression—indeed, many of them looked fiercely vile.’ Perhaps time had mellowed them in this respect, for I cannot say I observed any lack of amiability when I came on the scene some thirty years later; and I must own that I cannot form a very clear idea of a man’s expression when he looks ‘fiercely vile.’ A cast of countenance with which I am more familiar is that of the ‘Angoni’ (= Anyanja).

The original home of the Yaos seems to be in the Unango Mountains, between Lake Nyasa and the Mozambique coast. They were driven thence by the encroachments of other tribes from the north, and forced into the Shiré Highlands, where they partially displaced the population, but in course of time settled down side by side with them. In 1893-4 the villages surrounding the mission station at Blantyre were reckoned, some as Yao and some as Nyanja; but a good deal of intermarriage had taken place, and many of the present generation are Yao by the mother’s side, and Nyanja by the father’s, or vice versâ. When this is the case, they usually speak both languages. Even in the villages west of the Shiré, where the people are supposed to be pure Nyanja, there were families whose mothers were Yaos, brought back in the Angoni raids of 1880-1890.

Perhaps the appearance of the Yaos cannot be better described than by the authority already quoted for the Anyanja. ‘Compare an ordinary Mang’anja with an ordinary Ajawa man, and the latter was at once seen to be physically the superior: his face was broader; his frontal development more masculine; the organs of causality fuller; the perceptive faculties larger; the jaws not more prominent, but more massive; the chin large and well to the front; the mouth, though of full lip, shapely and expressive of strength of will; while the eyes ... had a steadfastness and an intensity of expression.... Compared with the Mang’anja, the Ajawa head was large and round.... The Ajawa varied greatly in height. You saw men not more than five feet two or three, and you saw others five feet eight or ten.’

I should have said—but it is dangerous to make such statements without actual measurements—that a good proportion of them were six feet and over.

The Yaos of some of the Ndirande villages used to have a great reputation for strength and stature, and were much in request as machila-carriers. A gang of them took me from Blantyre to Matope—forty miles, though, it is true, most of the way is downhill—between 8 A.M. and sunset—say 6 P.M.; and I do not think I ever saw a finer set of men. They are usually, as Mr. Rowley describes them, of square and sturdy build, even in youth; but sometimes you see lithe and slender boys, graceful, and at the same time full of fire and vivacity, like a spirited horse. The Yao women, as a rule, are bigger and stouter than those of the Anyanja, and are said to be not so good-looking. Personally, when I try to recall individuals among both, I should find it hard to say that they were typically different—one finds Yao girls with slender figures, and small, neat features, as well as faces on a larger scale, which are by no means unattractive. The younger woman in the illustration is, apart from the pelele, by no means a favourable specimen.

The Anguru, or Alolo, are a tribe belonging to the Makua group who occupy the country inland from Mozambique. Some of them live in the Mlanje district. The Lomwe country, which is entirely inhabited by them (A-lomwe is either a synonym for Alolo, or the name of a tribe closely allied to them), is west of Lake Chilwa. Some Alolo were, about forty years ago, living at the back of Morambala. A correspondent tells me: ‘Anguru are localised on the east side of Shirwa round the Luasi hills, and are a sort of mongrel lot, as these hills seem to have been a sort of junction of Yao, when they were driven from the north, Lomwe driven from the east, and Mang’anja, on the Shirwa shores.’ The Anguru speak a dialect of Nyanja, the Alolo one of Makua, a language, as Father Torrend points out, resembling Sechwana in several important particulars, in which the intervening languages differ from both. The Lomwe country was for many years harassed by slavers, and its people were continually at war with one another—so much so that, in 1894, the villagers did not know the names of hills more than a day’s journey from their own homes, and travellers could not get guides except to the next village ahead of them. Perhaps this state of things accounts for the comparatively poor physique of the Alolo.

The Batumbuka. These are a set of people considered by Sir H. H. Johnston as indigenous to the plateau west of Lake Nyasa, and including, besides the Batumbuka proper, the Wapoka, Wahenga, and Atonga. These last live along the western shore of the lake, to which they were driven by the conquering Angoni, under Mombera. Father Torrend, however, supposes that they are a branch of the Batonga on the Zambezi, whom he thinks ‘the purest representatives of the original Bantu.’ In that case, they have either disused or greatly changed their original language; that which they now speak being closely allied to Tumbuka, Henga, and Poka, which are virtually identical. The Atonga are well known at Blantyre, as they are (or were some years ago) in the habit of coming down in gangs to work in the plantations, or otherwise. They are usually tall, strongly built men, with well-developed muscles, and (like the Alolo) very dark skins.

The Awa-nkonde, or Nkonde people (this is said by some to mean ‘people of the plain’) live at the north end of Lake Nyasa—some of them in German territory. They include the Awakukwe, Awawiwa, and several others, whose names we need not enumerate. They are very dark, usually tall, and sometimes described as extremely well shaped; but to judge by the photographs reproduced by Sir H. H. Johnston and Dr. Fülleborn, a good many of them would seem to have a tendency to bow-legs, and to be what is called ‘in-kneed.’ The legs are also, in some cases, of excessive length in proportion to the rest of the body. M. Edouard Foà[4] says that the Awankonde are, on the whole, good-looking, and, both men and women, ‘plump and well-liking,’ in consequence, no doubt, of their diet, and the pleasant, easy life they lead—now that they are no longer raided by Arabs and others. They are, with the exception of the Angoni and Achewa, the only people in the Protectorate who keep cattle to any great extent; and they live chiefly on milk and bananas.

The Angoni were originally a Zulu clan who came from the south, under Zwangendaba, about 1825, and incorporated with themselves large numbers of the tribes whom they conquered by the way, so that there are now few, if any, of unmixed descent remaining. The ‘southern Angoni’—formerly known as ‘Chekusi’s people’—are mostly Anyanja; but there were, in 1894, a few head-men and others, besides Chekusi’s own family, who spoke Zulu, and some of the elders wore the head-ring, but of a different pattern from the Zulu isigcoco (which is a smooth, round ring), being more like a crown done in basket-work. The northern Angoni (Mombera’s people) all speak Zulu, with considerable dialectic modifications, such as the gradual elimination of the clicks, and the substitution of r for l. But their speech is quite intelligible to Zulus from the south. As already stated, there is a great variety of types. The young warriors introduced to me under the name of ‘Mandala’s boys’ (Mandala was the brother of Chekusi or Chatantumba, at that time chief of the southern Angoni) were big, swaggering, long-limbed fellows, somewhat vacant of face, and, I think, somewhat lighter in colour than the sturdy little men who went to work on the Blantyre plantations. But whether the difference between them was a matter of race, or merely of an easier life and a diet of beef, I would not venture to say; for these warriors must have been, in part at least, recruited from the sons of the small, dark, hard-working Anyanja, who lived on scanty rations of maize and millet porridge in the Upper Shiré villages. These were always liable to have their growing lads sent for ‘ku mdzi’—i.e. to the chief’s kraal in the hills—where they had to herd Chekusi’s cattle, and, later on, entered what we may call the ‘Life Guards.’

The history of the Angoni and their migrations will be considered in a later chapter.

The Makololo of the Shiré valley, though they cannot be enumerated as a separate tribe, have had no small influence on the affairs of the Shiré valley tribes, and must not therefore be passed over without notice. Their history will help to illustrate what I have already mentioned and shall have to come back to later on—the ceaseless drifting backwards and forwards, and consequent intermingling of the Bantu tribes, which has gone on, more or less, ever since Europeans knew anything about them, and may be compared with the movement which brought the Germanic peoples into the Roman world, and for which we seem to have no compendious designation equivalent to the German word Völkerwanderung. The original Makololo were a Basuto tribe, driven from their home by the onslaughts of the Matebele, about 1823. Under the name of ‘Mantatees,’[5] they spread terror and desolation among the Griquas and Bechuana, and finally, under the leadership of Sebituane, made their way northward and settled in the Barotse valley on the Zambezi, where Livingstone visited them in 1851. They had even then begun to incorporate with themselves the Barotse and other darker tribes about them, and had introduced their language into the country, where it is still spoken, though the Makololo were expelled, after Sekeletu’s death, by Sipopo, one of the former line of Barotse chiefs. Sekeletu, Sebituane’s son, furnished Livingstone with an escort, when he left Linyanti for Loanda in 1853, and again when, after his return from the West coast, he started down the Zambezi. These Makololo (most of whom, however, belonged to the subject tribes—Baloi and others) remained behind at Tete when Livingstone returned to England; and though, when he came out again in 1858, he offered to take them all back to Sekeletu’s, some preferred to stay where they were. Some others, among whom was the well-known Ramakukane, came back with him from Sesheke, after he had taken the rest home in 1860. In course of time, having settled on the Shiré below the Cataracts, and married women of the country, they became powerful chiefs, and, though somewhat oppressive towards the Anyanja, they were a check on the Yao advance from the east. One of these chiefs, Mlauri, is still living, and as active as ever, in spite of age. Masea, whose village was on the west bank of the Shiré, two or three miles below Katunga’s, died a few years ago. In 1893 he was still a very fine, vigorous old man, and his numerous family of sons and daughters (some of them educated at the Mission) are mostly noticeable for good looks and intelligence: they show their descent in the lighter complexion. Livingstone says that Sebituane was ‘of an olive or coffee-and-milk’ colour. As far as language and customs go, these descendants of the Makololo are now completely merged in the Anyanja.

As we have seen, the breaking-up and absorption of one tribe by another has gone on to such an extent that, though in some cases we might confidently pronounce a man to be a Yao or a Nyanja from his build and personal appearance generally, yet very often it would be quite impossible. A surer criterion—though even that is nowadays beginning to fail us—is that afforded by artificial deformations—such as the filing and chipping, or even removal, of the teeth, the boring of noses, lips, and ears for the insertion of ornaments, and the scarifying and tatuing of the skin. These arts seem to be resorted to all the world over by people who do not go in for much clothing—apparently on the principle that the human face and figure need some modification in order to differentiate them as such. If your teeth are not chipped, you might as well be a dog—such, in general, seems to be the native line of reasoning.

The African knows nothing of tatuing proper, and the introduction of colouring matter under the skin is hardly known. For the coloured designs of Polynesia is substituted the raised scar. The process is very rough and usually consists in making cuts which heal and leave ‘proud flesh’ (keloid) behind. Dr. Kerr Cross says: ‘The tissues of the negro seem to have a tendency to take on a keloid growth. That is to say, the cicatricial tissue grows large. If a native gets a cut, it becomes like a tumour or a new growth. If he has been vaccinated, the mark rises up like a two-shilling piece. If he tatus (i.e. scars) himself, the surface becomes a series of little growths protruding above the general level of the skin.’ But in case the natural tendency should not be enough, the operator sometimes assists nature by pinching the lips of the cut away from each other. Some tatu-marks (mpini, konde) are not raised much above the level of the skin; they have a smooth surface and a dark-blue colour, which blends well with the skin, and is produced by rubbing in charcoal or wood-ash, and sometimes gunpowder. Formerly the various scars always indicated the tribe to which a person belonged, and the children were marked with the mother’s pattern; now the tribal marks are no longer strictly kept to. The distinctive Yao tatu (called mapalamba) was two rows of small cuts across the temples. Some have stars in dark blue on the chest and elsewhere. I have seen them on Yaos, but do not know if they are distinctive. The Nyanja women used to score long lines over shoulders, chest, and back. The Lomwe tribes have various patterns—one a crescent, turned downwards, just between the eyebrows, others a series of from three to six crescents in the same position. The Alolo have a mark on each side of the chest, consisting of a crescent turned up, and two short, vertical cuts below it. The Makua make a line of cuts above the eyes, deep enough to form ‘little pouches’ in which they keep snuff, as I hear from Mr. J. Reid. Some tribes add dots all over the forehead, and some, on the Zambezi, raise a line of small lumps down the middle of the forehead. I have seen Yao women whose chests and shoulders seemed to be covered with small marks like those left by ordinary vaccination; and some seem to have the whole body more or less covered. Besides marks intended for decoration, there are those caused by a favourite method of treatment for various kinds of indisposition, viz., to make a cut and rub in the juice of a herb, or some other form of ‘medicine’; and I remember a poor girl, evidently suffering from a bad attack of influenza, who had just had a series of these cuts made all down the inside of her arm.

I was once present at a discussion between a number of young people (this kind of debate is called mákani, and is a recognised fireside amusement) on the question whether ‘it is better to make holes in one’s lips, like the Yaos, or in one’s ears, like the Angoni.’ The pelele, which was referred to, was a Nyanja decoration, but is now seen more frequently amongst Yao women. The upper lip is bored and a bit of grass-stalk inserted into the hole, which at first is scarcely larger than would be made by a stout darning-needle. After this has been worn for some time—I have often seen girls of ten or twelve with it—a slightly thicker one is inserted, and that, in time, again exchanged for a thicker, till at last the hole is large enough to admit a small plug of ivory, say a quarter of an inch across. The plug becomes larger and larger, till a ring is substituted for it, which also grows in size, with the wearer’s advance in years, till you see matrons wearing one like an ordinary napkin-ring. It seemed to me, however, that there was a tendency to stop short at the earlier stages, as I remember quite elderly women, with only a moderate plug. The Alolo women, not content with the pelele, wear a brass nail, two or three inches long, in the lower lip as well. Certainly, as far as personal preference went, I was inclined to side with the Angoni in the mákani above alluded to.

The favourite ear ornaments are a kind of conical stud, ornamented in patterns with beads. They are quite small, and do not distend the lobe of the ear much. I think they are considered by natives to be a speciality of the Angoni. I have once or twice seen young warriors wearing in their ears ornaments about the length of one’s finger, which may have been very diminutive tusks of the bush-pig (nguluwe), or perhaps the teeth of some other animal. Both sexes have the ears bored. I have seen girls who had only recently had it done, wearing a flower stuck in the hole.

A style of ornament for the ear which I have only met with once was that of a woman at Mlanje, from Matapwiri’s (on the Portuguese border), who had her ears pierced with a series of holes in the outer edge of the cartilage, and loops of white beads strung through them. She probably belonged to the Alolo, or some other tribe of Makua. Some Yao and Makua women wear a stud (chipini) of lead or some other metal in the side of the nose.

As to the teeth, it was a standing wonder to me that the way they were treated did not ruin them entirely; but it does not seem as if chipped teeth decayed any more readily than whole ones. Naturally, as most travellers have reported, natives usually have splendid teeth; though Dr. Fülleborn, in his observations on tribes at the north end of Lake Nyasa, says he found a considerable percentage of people with decayed teeth. I have come across one or two cases of toothache myself, but should say that, on the whole, there is no need to revise the general opinion.

The Yaos chip the edge of the four upper front teeth into saw-like points. This is usually done to boys and girls at about fifteen or sixteen. I never saw the operation performed, but fancy that a mallet and chisel are the instruments used. They are brought up to face the prospect, I suppose, and seem to contemplate it with more equanimity than most of us do going to the dentist. The Mambwe (on the Nyasa Tanganyika plateau) have the two middle teeth of the lower jaw removed. One of them told M. Foà that they were knocked out with an axe, adding ‘it is very quickly done!’

A triangular gap between the two upper front teeth is made by different tribes—the Anyika[6] of North-west Nyasa being one. I have a note of a man whose teeth had been chipped in this way, and whom I understand to have been a Yao; but, as he had gone to Zanzibar early in life (‘I do not know how—probably through slavery,’ said my English-speaking informant), there may have been some irregularity about his teeth.

Some of the Makua tribes file each separate tooth to a point (as shown in the fourth example of our illustration); this is also done by the Basenga, and, I believe, other tribes near the Luangwa. The Batonga knock out the upper front teeth—or did so, in Livingstone’s time. ‘When questioned respecting the origin of this practice, the Batoka reply that their object is to be like oxen, and those who retain their teeth they consider to resemble zebras.’ As the Batonga venerate the ox and detest the zebra, we have here, what is absent elsewhere, some sort of a clue to a connection between this custom and the people’s religious beliefs. Livingstone further points out that the knocking out of the teeth is of the nature of a solemn ceremony, without which no young people can be considered grown up.

Fashions in hairdressing, though not precisely of the same kind with the adornments just enumerated, may perhaps best be considered here. Most natives, I fancy, would look on a person who let his or her hair grow without doing anything to it (unless in mourning, or otherwise debarred from ordinary social intercourse) as little better than a wild beast. The usual thing among the Yaos and Anyanja is to shave the head from time to time for the sake of coolness and cleanliness, never letting the hair grow more than an inch or two in length. This is often clipped and shaved into all sorts of patterns. A favourite one for little girls is to have two bands shaved diagonally across the head, from the left temple to the back of the right ear. Sometimes a ridge or crest is left, running along the middle of the head, from front to back, and then clipped into points like a cock’s comb; or some young men, while shaving the back of the head, leave the hair an inch or two long over the brow, like a coronet. The Angoni are very fond of the long pigtails called minzu; these are not plaited, but very neatly and tightly rolled round with twisted palm-fibre, fastened off at the ends. The most popular fashion used to be to have these arranged in a line (like the crest already referred to), forming a kind of lateral halo, if such a thing were possible. The dandy with minzu nine or ten inches long is a proud youth indeed. It is a quaint spectacle to see such an one seated on the ground and a chum squatting beside him, doing his hair. But the caprices of fashion are endless. The illustration shows another style of coiffure worn by a Mngoni, who may have evolved it out of his own inner consciousness, or borrowed it, directly or indirectly, from the Bashukulumbwe of the Kafue. As many Angoni have of late years travelled overland to Salisbury and even farther south, to work in the mines or otherwise, it is possible that the subject of the picture may have seen his model for himself in the course of his wanderings.

Referring back to the picture of the Mnguru already given, we find that he wears his hair fairly long and divided into strands, with beads tied to the ends of them. Now and again we see a Yao woman (but I think the fashion is not confined to any particular tribe; it is not very extensively followed, comparative wealth, leisure, and one or more skilled assistants being necessary) with what looks like a wig of red beads. This is made by stringing on every few hairs the beads known as chitalaka, which are like red coral, and white inside. How long it takes to complete the dressing of a head in this way, I have no notion; but African women possess an almost unlimited capacity for passive endurance. A pretty variant of this is sometimes seen in little girls who have a few loops of chitalaka strung to the hair on the top of the head, adding a touch of bright colour and no suggestion of discomfort. Some of the Atonga shave the hair all round, leaving a patch on the top of the scalp, which they plait into small tails.

Dress, which is a comparatively simple matter, apart from the singlets, shirts, and other garments of European introduction, may be reserved for another chapter which deals with native life from the cradle to the grave.