CH. XII 



THE RAID 



117 



of bomas, but the authority they exercise is feeble 

 and confined to their immediate vicinity, while beyond 

 their spheres of influence rapine and pillage and 

 murder are rife. 



The hilly plateau that walls in the eastern shore 

 of Lake Nyassa is in- 

 habited by the Wyao tribe 

 under several chiefs, of 

 whom the most powerful 

 and notorious are Mataka, 

 Malinganiro (orKisombi), 

 and Makanjira. These 

 people are the descend- 

 ants of the slave-raiders, 

 hunters, rubber and wax 

 collectors of old, from 

 whom were mostly re- 

 cruited the dreaded Ruka- 

 ruka, the force employed 

 by the Arab traders to 

 conduct their caravans of 

 slaves and ivory to the 

 coast. A certain admix- 

 ture of Arab blood has 

 crept into their composi- 

 tion, rendering them braver and more enterprising 

 than their lowland neighbours, and they are, to- 

 day, the prime source of most of the turbulence 



A TYPICAL 'WYAO' HEADMAN. 



