452 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



were several niutware or minor chiefs, one to each settlement, as Kannena in 

 Kawele, and Lurinda in Ghingu. On the arrival of a caravan, Rusimba 

 forwards, through his relations, a tusk or two of ivory, thus mutely intimating 

 that he requires his blackmail, which he prefers to receive in beads and cloth, 

 proportioning, however, his demands to the trader's means. When the point 

 has been settled, the mutware sends his present, and expects a proportionate 

 return. He is, moreover, entitled to a fee for every canoe hired ; on each 

 slave the Kiremba or excise is about half the price ; from one to two cloths 

 are demanded upon every tusk of ivory ; and he will snatch a few beads from a 

 man purchasing provisions for his master. The minor chiefs are fond of 

 making ' sare ' or brotherhood with strangers, in order to secure them in case 

 of return. They depend for influence over their unruly subjects wholly upon 

 personal qualifications, bodily strength, and violence of temper. Kannena, the 

 chief of Kawele, though originally a slave, has won golden opinions by his 

 conduct; when in liquor, he assumes the most ferocious aspect, draws his 

 dagger, brandishes his spear, and, with loud screams, rushes at his subjects as 

 with the intention of annihilating them. The affairs of the nation are settled 

 by the Mwami, the great chief, in a general council of the lieges, the Wateko 

 (in the singular Mteko), or elders presiding. Their intellects, never of the 

 brightest, are invariably muddled with toddy, and, after bawling for hours 

 together, and coming apparently to the most satisfactory conclusion, the word 

 of a boy or an old woman will necessitate another lengthy palaver. The 

 sultans, like their subjects, brook no delay in their own affairs; they im- 

 patiently dun a stranger half-a-dozen times a day for a few weeks on occasions 

 to him of the highest importance, whilst they are drinking pombe or taking 

 leave of their wives. Besides the Magubiko or preliminary presents, the 

 chiefs are bound, before the departure of a caravan which has given them 

 satisfaction, to supply it with half-a-dozen masuto or matted packages of grain, 

 and to present the leader with a slave, who generally manages to abscond. 

 The parting gifts are technically called ' urangozi ' or guidance. 



" . . . The Wajiji never could reconcile themselves to ' merchants ' 

 who had come to see and not to buy, and, under the influence of slavery, made 

 no progress in the science of commerce. They know nothing of bargaining 

 or of credit ; they will not barter unless the particular medium on which they 

 have set their hearts is forthcoming ; and they fix a price proportioned to their 

 wants, not to the value of the article. The market varies with the number of 

 caravans present at the depot, with the season, the extent of the supply, and 

 a variety of similar considerations. Besides the trade in ivory, slaves, cloth, 

 and palm-oil, they manufacture and hawk about iron sickles, shaped like the 

 European ; small bells, and wire circlets, worn as ornaments round the ankles ; 

 long double-edged knives in wooden sheaths, neatly whipped with strips of 

 rattan ; and Jembe, or hoes. 



