Chap. XIV. SUPREMACY OF FIREARMS. 375 



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 be- 

 tween them and the rest of the Manganja is in the mode of 

 tattooing the face. Their language is the same. Their 

 distinctive 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 tat- 

 tooing, 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. 



It would not be worth while to advert for a moment to 

 the routine of travelling, or the little difficulties that 

 beset every one who attempts to penetrate into a new 

 country, were it not to show the great source of the power 

 here possessed by slave-traders. We needed help in 

 carrying our goods, while our men were ill, though still 

 able to march. When we had settled with others for hire, 

 we were often told, that the dealers in men had taken 

 possession of some, and had taken them away altogether. 

 Other things led us to believe that the slave-traders carry 

 matters with a high hand ; and no wonder, for the posses- 

 sion of gunpowder gives them almost absolute power. 

 The mode by which tribes armed with bows and arrows 

 carry on warfare, or defend themselves, is by ambuscade. 

 They never come out in open fight, but wait for the 

 enemy ensconced behind trees, or in the long grass of the 

 country, and shoot at him unawares. Consequently, if 

 men come against them with firearms, when, as is usually 



