EAST CENTRAL AFRICAN CUSTOMS. 249 



child she is carrying is a boy or girl, frequently replies, " My child 

 is of the sex that does not speak." The position of woman is prac- 

 tically that of a chattel. Women kneel when addressing men, 

 and go off the public path into the grass or bush when they meet 

 any of the opposite sex as a sign of subordination and subjection. 

 Young girls do not take milk ; if they did it would make them 

 barren. Women, especially Makololo, wear a lip-ring the size of 

 a small table napkin-ring in the lip, not suspended, as earrings 

 are, but inserted into the lip as the " eyes " through which " reef 

 points " pass are inserted between the canvas of the sail and its 

 " bolt-rope." It causes the lip to project an inch and a half in 

 front of its natural position, and at right angles to the teeth and 

 gums. A small brass or lead ornament is suspended from the side 

 of the nose, which is pierced for the purpose as the lobe of the ear 

 is for earrings. Some of the front teeth are knocked out as a 

 beauty mark, and the arms, cheeks, breast, and shoulders are tat- 

 tooed with strange and fantastic devices. Necklets of teeth, shells, 

 or bits of wood are common, and brass wire is in great demand 

 for bracelets and anklets. The dress consists of a loin-cloth of 

 skin, cotton, or bark. The latter is made by stripping a piece of 

 bark from a tree, and then beating it with an ebony hammer till 

 soft and pliant. It is easily torn, and even when treated with the 

 greatest care does not last long. On the Shire and round Lake 

 Nyassa the people have hardly any stock except fowls and a few 

 goats, and are thus precluded from having the comfortable sheep- 

 skin garments so common among the Kaffirs. Domestic animals 

 are precious in Central Africa, so when chickens are hatched the 

 abandoned egg-shells are collected and hung up in the house to 

 protect the brood from hawks and accidents of all kinds. 



The principal industries among the tribes whose customs I am 

 considering consist of pottery and working in iron.* They manu- 

 facture clay pots of beautiful design, and burn them with consid- 

 erable skill. There is a tradition lingering in odd corners that 

 once upon a time their ancestors used hollow stones as pots before 

 the art of pottery was discovered. If this is true of which there 

 is no adequate proof, however it effectually disposes of Don San- 

 tos's idea that the East Central African had gradually degenerated 

 from a higher civilization, and points rather to a record of prog- 

 ress. And there seems to be beyond question steady, if slow, 

 progress in their skill in working metal and fashioning imple- 

 ments of war and husbandry. There is no question that within a 

 comparatively recent period they tilled the ground with wooden 



* The Angoni own a tribe of inner Africa which they have reduced to the position of 

 domestic slaves. They are the best smiths in the lake region. Whence they came I do 

 not know, but they were not natives of that region originally. 



