88 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



children of nine to ten years old. They were originally captured 

 by some other African race and carried off into slavery ; in 

 course of time they came into the hands of Mr. W. Grant the 

 officer in command of Usoga. The male pigmy has a con- 

 siderable assortment of vices : he is drunken and dissolute to 

 a degree, easily roused to fury, and very vindictive ; but he 

 appears to be attached to his master, and accompanies him on 

 every campaign. 



From one of my journeys through Usoga I brought a 

 Mozambique monkey and a pair of grey parrots to England. 

 All three did very well in London. " Jim," the monkey, occa- 

 sionally got loose ; but though he could not be caught as he 

 jumped from house to house and tree to tree, he invariably 

 returned at night-time to his cage and slept soundly, thoroughly 

 tired out with his day's romp. To avoid his becoming a 

 nuisance to our neighbours, he was ultimately sent to the Zoo, 

 after having been for over two years the pet of the family. He 

 knew me at once, though he had not seen me for two years. 

 The parrots have stood two London winters already and are 

 flourishing. It is curious that the colour of their eyes, which 

 was originally grey, has changed to bright yellow. They are 

 very good talkers. I bought these birds young. There is a 

 considerable trade carried on in grey parrots, and as there is 

 a good demand for them, they are not cheap even in Usoga. 

 At the coast they fetch as much as £2 to ;^3 each. I tried at 

 first to get a bird by slightly maiming it with a shot, but the 

 bird I aimed at tumbled down dead ; it was a big handsome 

 old bird. I skinned it, and to my surprise I found that the 

 South Kensington Museum was pleased to get the skin. These 

 birds are so very common in Usoga, that no one ever dreams 

 of shooting one for a collection. Museums, however, do not 

 care for cage-birds, but prefer to get a wild specimen ; con- 

 sequently the bird I had unintentionally killed proved an 

 acceptable acquisition to the Museum. 



Visiting the ruins of the old fort at Luba's, I came upon a 

 porter playing the "zeze," a Swahili musical instrument. It 

 consists of a flat piece of carved wood, having a gourd-bowl 

 attached to one end. It is three-stringed ; one string runs 

 along the flat upper surface, and the other two strings pass 



