1866.] THE MATAMBWE. 40 



from this. A respectable man, called Makoloya, or Impande, 

 visited me, and wished to ask some questions as to where I 

 was going, and how long I should be away. He had heard 

 from a man who came from Ibo, or Wibo, about the Bible, 

 a large book which was consulted. 



13th June. — Makoloya brought his wife and a little corn, 

 and says that his father told him that there is a God, but 

 nothing more. The marks on their foreheads and bodies are 

 meant only to give beauty in the dance, they seem a sort 

 of heraldic ornament, for they can at once tell by his tattoo 

 to what tribe or portion of tribe a man belongs. The tattoo 

 or tembo of the Matambwe and Upper Makonde very much 

 resembles the drawings of the old Egyptians; wavy lines, 

 such as the ancients made to signify water, trees and gardens 

 enclosed in squares, seem to have been meant of old for the 

 inhabitants who lived on the Eovuma, and cultivated also, 

 the son takes the tattoo of his father, and thus it has been 

 perpetuated, though the meaning now appears lost. The 



i Mis ^y^Mmw it 







Tattoo of Matambwe. 



Makoa have the half or nearly full moon, but it is, they 

 say, all for ornament. Some blue stuff is rubbed into the 

 cuts (I am told it is charcoal), and the ornament shows 

 VOL. I. e 



