524 FILING THE TEETH. Chap. XXV. 



of the Maravi." The trees were in general scraggy, and 

 covered, exactly as they are in the damp climate of the Coast, 

 with lichens, resembling orchilla-weed. The maize, which 

 loves rather a damp soil, had been planted on ridges to allow 

 the superfluous moisture to run off. Everything indicated a 

 very humid climate, and the people warned us that, as the 

 rains were near, we were likely to be prevented from return- 

 ing by the country becoming flooded and impassable. 



Villages, as usual encircled by euphorbia hedges, were 

 numerous, and a great deal of grain had been cultivated 

 around them. Domestic fowls, in plenty, and pigeons with 

 dovecots like those in Egypt were seen. The people call 

 themselves Matumboka, but the only difference between 

 them and the rest of the Manganja is in the mode of tat- 

 tooing the face. Their language is the same. Their dis- 

 tinctive mark consists of four tattooed lines diverging from 

 the point between the eyebrows, which, in frowning, the 

 muscles form into a furrow. The other lines of tattooing, as 

 in all Manganja, run in long seams, which crossing each other 

 at certain angles form a great number of triangular spaces on 

 the breast, back, arms, and thighs. The cuticle is divided by 

 a knife, and the edges of the incision are drawn apart till the 

 true skin appears. By a repetition of this process, lines of 

 raised cicatrices are formed, which are thought to give 

 beauty, no matter how much pain the fashion gives. 



The teeth here, as also among the Babisa, are filed to 

 points ; other Manganja notch each of the upper fore-teeth 

 by means of small quartz stones : the notch in some is 

 angular, in others round ; this latter style gives the edges of 

 the upper front teeth a semilunar shape ; other tribes make 

 an opening of a triangular shape between the central front 

 teeth. It is surprising that the filing and chipping which 

 the teeth undergo, that the possessor may be in the fashion, 



