TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. DEPT. ANTHROPOLOGY. 393 



was done without giving much apparent pain or vexation to the lady. The flow of 

 blood is staunched" by an application of boiling porridge. Their notions of pro- 

 priety are peculiar, and will not allow them to cook at another person's fire, or 

 to drink while another is looking on. Tattooing is an elaborate work of art in this 

 curious country ; and one of the punishments a husband may inflict on an insubor- 

 dinate wife is to cut, say out of her arm, a portion of the pattern tattooed there. 

 The lady is then obliged to stay at home. Attention was called to the skill of 

 this rude people in communicating long messages to distant places by the beat of 

 the drum. They employ, in fact, a kind of telegraphic system. 



In Urua, weddings generally lasted three or four days. The author was present 

 at one, and had an opportunity of witnessing the festivities. All the people in the 

 village were assembled. Some men blowing pipes and beating drums stood in the 

 centre of a great circle of people who danced around them, groaning and howling 

 and making a great noise. This was kept up day and night. Suddenly at the end 

 of the third day the bride came out of a hut dressed in all the finery the village 

 could muster. She wore a small apron made of a piece of linen which had been 

 given to the chief, and was adorned with feathers, beads, and shells. She was 

 carried on the shoulders of a very stout woman, and supported by a woman on 

 each side. She was brought into the middle of the dancing people and jumped up 

 and down on the shoulders of the woman. A number of beads and shells were 

 given to her, which she scattered about indiscriminately, and the people scrambled 

 for them, as they were considered to possess some virtue as charms. The jumping 

 up and down of the bride was carried on so energetically that the skin was com- 

 pletely worn off the shoulders of the woman who carried her. Then the husband, a 

 great fellow, came in, picked up his bride, put her under his arm, and walked off 

 with her. 



The resemblance between the African names Zambesi and Chambesi, and that 

 of a river called the Tambezi, suggested to the author the speculation that there 

 might be some connection between the language of that part of Africa and the 

 Malayan tongue. He could find no root for these words in the African languages. 

 The Malays had been in Madagascar, and this led him to the supposition that they 

 might have gone further west. 



2. On the Native Races of the Head-Waters of the Zambesi. 

 By Major De Sekpa Pinto. 



The author gave an account of the people of Bihe and some tribes on the west 

 side of the Zambesi River. The Bihe people are slightly cannibal, but never eat 

 each other except on great occasions. On fete days a limited number of people are 

 sacrificed and their flesh eaten, mixed with beef. The inhabitants of the Bihe" 

 district are not the original residents of that country. A hundred years ago it 

 was a deserted country. The son of the King of Humbe came north with a great 

 many followers to this country on a hunting excursion. An encampment was 

 formed. The prince one day met a princess of the north in his travels, and resolved 

 to marry her. She came to his camp, bringing with her a train of maidens. The 

 irincess of the north, who was a daughter of the King of Andulo, coidd not long 

 ie in her new country without having a following of her father's subjects who 

 were attached to her. In like manner the King of Humbe's subjects emigrated to 

 the north to live with the son of their king. Mixed marriages resulted, and the 

 race of Bihe" people were established under the native name of Muhumbes. This 

 was only 100 years ago. They have rude .manufactures in iron and fabrics. They 

 were able to supply the traveller with 15,000 rude bullets. He further described two 

 races who both live near the river Cuchibi, one a black race called the Ambuellas, 

 and the other the Mucassequeres, a white race. These races contrasted strongly 

 not only in their colour, but in then- form and feature. The most impressive 

 characteristic of the Mucassequeres is their extreme ugliness. Of the Ambuellas, 

 on the other hand, the author speaks in terms of admiration. Their eyes do not 

 retreat like those of the Mucassequeres, but are perfectly well set ; their noses are 



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