n is so large they would have very
unsettled times of it. At every turning we meet people, or see their
villages; all armed with bows and arrows. The bows are unusually long:
I measured one made of bamboo, and found that along the bowstring it
measured six feet four inches. Many carry large knives of fine iron;
and indeed the metal is abundant. Young men and women wear the hair
long, a mass of small ringlets comes down and rests on the shoulders,
giving them the appearance of the ancient Egyptians. One side is often
cultivated, and the mass hangs jauntily on that side; some few have a
solid cap of it. Not many women wear the lip-ring: the example of the
Waiyau has prevailed so far; but some of the young women have raised
lines crossing each other on the arms, which must have cost great
pain: they have also small cuts, covering in some cases the whole
body. The Maravi or Manganja here may be said to be in their primitive
state. We find them very liberal with their food: we give a cloth to
the headman of the village where we pass the night, and he gives a
goat, or at least cooked fowls and porridge, at night and morning.

[Illustration: Tattoo on Women.]

We were invited by Gombwa in the afternoon to speak the same words to
his people that we used to himself in the morning. He nudged a boy to
respond, which is considered polite, though he did it only with a
rough hem! at the end of each sentence. As for our general discourse
we mention our relationship to our Father: His love to all His
children--the guilt of selling any of His children--the consequence;
_e.g._ it begets war, for they don't like to sell their own, and steal
from other villagers, who retaliate. Arabs and Waiyau invited into the
country by their selling, foster feuds, and war and depopulation
ensue. We mention the Bible--future state--prayer: advise union, that
they should unite as one family to expel enemies, who came first as
slave-traders, and ended by leaving the country a wilderness. In
reference to union, we showed that they ought to have seen justice
done to the man who lost his wife and child at their very doors; but
this want of cohesion is the bane of the Manganja. If the evil does
not affect themselves they don't care whom it injures; and Gombwa
confirmed this, by saying that when he routed Khambuiri's people, the
villagers west of him fled instead of coming to his aid.

We hear that many of the Manganja up here are fugitives from Nyassa.

_1