xx NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AFRICAN NATIVE 205 



latter refused to take any action owing to the length 

 of time that had elapsed since the perpetration of 

 the crime. 



With regard to religion, most of the coast natives 

 and a great number of those of the interior have 

 embraced Moslemism. The remainder are practi- 

 cally without religion at all, and are called shenzis 

 (heathens) by their Mahometan brothers. They 

 have some conception of a Supreme Being, but 

 very little idea of a hereafter, save perhaps the 

 belief in a reincarnation in the form of some 

 animal or other. Simba, my tracker, a man of 

 great force of character and absolutely without fear, 

 once expressed his views on this subject of re- 

 incarnation to me. 



' Master,' he said, ' when I die, I should like 

 my spirit to go into a wild dog, because the wild 

 dog can kill almost any of the beasts of the 

 forest. He is swift and tireless, and can get 

 food with ease and is the only animal against 

 which the black man's hand is never turned.' 



I once had a tracker called Matomoro, who was, 

 by the way, a very gay Lothario, and, on one 

 occasion, preparatory to going on a hunt, I heard 

 Matomoro's father, well primed with pombe, giving 

 his son the following brief lecture on the conduct 

 of life. It may be a simple one, but aptly fits the 

 native mind. 



