PREVALENGE OF DRUNKENNESS. 451 



which lasts a few minutes, and when an attempt is made, the words are 

 scarcely intelligible. The arms of the Wajiji are small battle-axes, and 

 daggers, spears, and large bows, which carry unusually heavy arrows. They 

 fear the gun and the sabre, yet they show no unwillingness to fight. The 

 Arabs avoid granting their demands for muskets and gunpowder, conse- 

 quently, a great chief never possesses more than two or three fire-arms. 



" The Wajiji are considered by the Arabs to be the most troublesome race 

 upon this line of road. They are taught by the example of their chiefs to be 

 rude, insolent, and extortionate ; they demand beads even for pointing out the 

 road ; they will deride and imitate a stranger's speech and manner before his 

 face ; they can do nothing without a long preliminary of the fiercest scolding ; 

 they are as ready with a blow as with a word ; and they may often be seen 

 playing at ( rough and tumble' fighting, pushing, and tearing hair, in their 

 boats. The Wajiji draw dagger or use spear upon a guest with little hesita- 

 tion. They think twice, however, before drawing blood, which will cause a 

 feud. Their roughness of manner is dashed with a curious ceremoniousness. 

 When the Sultan appears amongst his people he stands in a circle and claps 

 his hands, to which all respond in the same way. Women curtsey to one 

 another, bending the right knee almost to the ground. When two men meet 

 they clasp each other's arms with both hands, rubbing them up and down, and 

 ejaculating for some minutes, ' Nama Sanga ? Nama Sanga ? — Art thou well ? ' 

 They then pass the hands down to the fore-arm, exclaiming ' Wakhe ? 

 Wakhe? — How art thou?' and, finally, they clap hands at each other — a 

 token of respect which appears common to these tribes of Central Africa. The 

 children have all the frowning and unprepossessing look of their parents ; they 

 reject little civilities, and seem to spend life in disputes, biting and clawing 

 like wild cats. There appears to be little family affection in this undemon- 

 strative race. The only endearment between father and son is a habit of 

 scratching and picking each other, caused probably by the prevalence of a 

 complaint before alluded to ; as among the Simiads, the intervals between 

 pugnacity are always spent exercising the nails. Sometimes, also, at sea, 

 when danger is near, the Wajiji breaks the mournful silence of his fellows, 

 who are all thinking of home, with the exclamation, ' Ya mguri wange — O 

 my wife ! ' They are never sober when they can be drunk ; perhaps in no part 

 of the world will the traveller more often see men and women staggering 

 about the villages with thick speech and violent gestures. The favourite 

 inebrient is tembo or palm-toddy ; almost every one, however, when on board 

 the canoe, smokes bhang, and the whooping and screaming which follows the 

 indulgence resemble the noise of wild beasts rather than the sounds of human 

 beings. Their food consists principally of holcus, manioc, and fish, which is 

 rarely eaten before it becomes offensive to European organs. 



"The great Mwami or Sultan of Ujiji in 1858-9 was Rusimba ; under him 



