NORTH-EASTERN RHODESIA 89 



By a curious piece of misfortune the Chameleon 

 was elected to carry this appeal. He was 

 threatened and coaxed, and at last he set off 

 with most definite instructions as to his mission, 

 and the pleas and commands of the world at 

 large that he was to '* m'sanga ! m'sanga ! " 

 (hurry! hurry!). He went a little way, and lo ! 

 he found a swarm of gnats. He fed and then 

 indulged in a very lengthy siesta. Eventually 

 he was ushered into the presence of the Deity, 

 and he delivered his appeal. " Alas," said the 

 Deity, " you are many moons too late. Long 

 ago the Lizard came here, and I have already 

 sent into the world my legions of sickness and 

 lingering death." 



There is another version of this pretty primitive 

 tale in which the Chameleon is held to blame for 

 the black skin of the negro. Originally he was 

 white, and it was only because of the dawdlings 

 of the Chameleon on an important mission to the 

 Deity that his complexion was changed to black. 

 And thus it is that the Chameleon — "lumfwe" 

 of the Awemba and " gorumankwe " of the 

 Angoni — is so greatly loathed. 



The Swazis, too, have a somewhat similar 

 legend, but with them the particular hete noire 

 of their " In the beginning " is a small lizard 

 with a red tail, on which they wage a perpetual 

 warfare of extinction, but still the lizard runs 

 around their kraals and seems to brandish his 

 appalling crime in their faces. 



Of quite a different nature is the Book of 

 Genesis of the Masai, those lithe, ochre-stained 

 savages who a few years ago were the terror of 

 all East Africa. Amongst their serfs were the 

 N'Derobo, a curious people who live in the 

 depths of the great forests of the escarpments 



