VII.] HARSH-TONGUED PEOPLE, 87 



that Bombay himself was afraid to give an order. For in- July, 

 stance, when directed to have a certain thing done, such as i^'^^- 

 gathering wood for our camp-fire, and after a time being asked 

 why it had not been brought in, he would reply, " Oh, no man 

 want go !" On inquiring who had refused, and desiring that 

 the offenders should be brought to me for punishment, his next 

 answer would be, " Tell all man, all man say no go." Of course, 

 as no individual had been singled out for the duty, they consid- 

 ered that what was every man's business was no man's business, 

 and it usually resulted in my having to give the order myself. 



Magomba, who was chief of Kanyenye when Burton passed 

 in 1857, was still in power, being reported by his subjects to be 

 over three hundred years of age, and to be cutting his fourth 

 set of teeth, the third set having, according to our informant, 

 worked out about seven years before our visit. From that time 

 he had subsisted on pombe, being unable to eat meat, the only 

 other food which one occupying his rank and position could 

 deign to touch. I have no doubt that this ancient chieftain 

 was considerably over a century, for his grandchildren were 

 gray and grizzled. 



Another instance of the extraordinary longevity of the Afri- 

 can races was noticed by Dr. Livingstone at Ma Kazembe's. 

 He found there, in 1871 or 1872, a man named Pembereh, who 

 had children upward of thirty years of age when Dr. Lacerda e 

 Almeida visited that place in 1796. And this Pembereh was 

 still living, according to the Arabs, in 1874, and must then have 

 been at least a hundred and thirty years old. 



No restrictions were placed upon --the intercourse between 

 the natives and ourselves ; and throughout the day the camp 

 was crowded with them, staring, yelling, and gesticulating. 

 They were a cowardly but merry set of thieves, laughing and 

 joking among themselves at every new and strange sight. 

 Their voices were particularly nnpleasant and jarring, their 

 tones resembling snapping and snarling, even in ordinary con- 

 versation; and, when excited, the noise reminded one of a hun- 

 dred pariah dogs fighting over their food. 



Magomba's chancellor of the exchequer, chief of the customs, 

 or whatever the title of the ofiicial deputed to arrange mhongo 

 may be, was busily engaged repairing his tenibe, and we were 



