THE BANTU OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA 319 



Photo by Father Osborne] 



WABENI SCHOOL-GIRLS. 



[Oxford. 



raids of the Masai. They live in strongly stockaded villages, frequently situated in a patch of 

 forest. Their huts show a trace of Arab influence, as, unlike those of the ordinary East African 

 Bantu, they are often built with a gabled roof. The men wear only a small loin-cloth, made 

 of the type of calico known as " Mericani " ; the women have a double-flounced petticoat 

 fastened round the waist and round the knees. Their ornaments consist of strings of red 

 and blue beads, anklets and neck-rings made of brass and iron wire and light steel chain. Their 

 main industry is agriculture, as they sell their produce in the coast towns for the calico, wire, 

 beads, and implements which they require. 



They are a superstitious tribe, and fetish-worship is more conspicuous among them than 

 other British East African Bantu. The entrances to the fields are usually through an archway 

 hung with fetishes; small fetish-huts occur in most of the villages, and some conspicuous 

 trees are surrounded by a sacred belt, which the women and children are forbidden to enter. 



The country is very liable to drought, and in places the people store up water in the 

 shells of a large snail common in the district. In the dry seasons the people sometimes 

 devote the whole night to fetching water from distant pools. 



THE WAPOKOMO. 



The high plateau at the back of the belt of country inhabited by the Wagiryama is occupied by 

 the nomadic scattered families and small villages of the Wanyika and Waduruma. The mountains 

 that rise above the scrub-covered deserts of the Nyika are occupied by the Wateita. 



The scrub-covered coast plateau of British East Africa is broken by the valleys of the 

 Sabaki and the Tana rivers, along the latter of which dwell the Wapokomo, who represent a 



