CHAPTER: 2 
THE SWAHILI AND OTHER NATIVE TRIBES 
I HAvE always been very keenly interested in the 
different native races of Africa, and consequently 
availed myself of every opportunity of studying their 
manners and customs. | had little scope for this at 
Tsavo, however, as the district around us was practic- 
ally uninhabited. Still there was of course a good 
number of Swahili among my workmen, together 
with a few Wa Kamba, Wa N’yam Wezi, and others, 
so I soon became more or less acquainted with 
the habits of these tribes. The Swahili live 
principally along the coast of British East Africa 
anaeat Zanzibar, They area mixed race, being 
the descendants of Arab fathers and negro mothers. 
Their name is derived from the Arabic word suéhi7, 
coast; but it has also been said, by some who have 
found them scarcely so guileless as might have been 
expected, to be really a corruption of the words 
sawa hili, that is, ‘those who cheat all alike.” How- 
