THE WAKARANGA TRIBE. 453 



" . . . The traveller in the Lake regions loses by cloth ; the people, 

 contented with softened skins and tree-bark, prefer beads, ornaments, and 

 more durable articles. On the other hand, he gains upon salt, which is' pur- 

 chased at half-price at the Parugerero pans, and upon large wires brought 

 from the coast. Beads are a necessary evil to those engaged in buying ivory 

 and slaves. ... A serious inconvenience awaits the inexperienced, who 

 find a long halt at, and a return from, Ujiji necessary. The Wanyamwezi 

 porters, hired at Unyanyembe, bring with them the cloth and beads they have 

 received as hire for going to, and coming from the lake; and they lose no 

 time in bartering the outfit for ivory and slaves. Those who prefer the 

 former article, will delay for some days with extreme impatience and daily 

 complaints, fearing to cross Uvinza, in small bodies, when loaded with 

 valuables. The purchasers of slaves, however, knowing that they will 

 evidently lose them after a few days at Ujiji, desert at once. In all 

 cases, the report that a caravan is marching eastwards, causes a general 

 disappearance of the parties. As the Wajiji will not carry, the caravan is 

 reduced to a halt, which may be protracted for months — in fact, till another 

 body of men coming from the east will engage themselves as return-porters. 

 Moreover, the departure homewards almost always partakes of the nature of 

 a flight, so fearful are the strangers, lest their slaves should seize the oppor- 

 tunity to desert. The Omani Arabs obviate these inconveniences, by always 

 travelling with large bodies of domestics, whose interest it is not to aban- 

 don the master. They also wisely discourage the African's proclivity for 

 ' levanting,' by refusing to hire parties who have run away. The coast 

 Arabs, and the Wasawahili, on the other hand, ignore this point of commercial 

 honour, and shamelessly offer a premium to deserters. 



" South of the Wajiji He the Wakaranga, a people previously described 

 as almost identical in development and condition, but somewhat inferior in 

 energy and civilization. Little need be said of the Warinza, who appear to 

 unite the bad qualities of both the Wanyamwezi and the Wajiji. They are a 

 dark, meagre, and ill-looking tribe ; poorly clad, in skin aprons and kilts. 

 They keep off insects, by inserting the chauri, or fly-flap, into the waist-band 

 of their kilts ; and at a distance present, like the Hottentots, the appear- 

 ance of a race with tails. Their arms are spears, bows, and arrows ; and they 

 use, unlike their neighbours, wicker-work shields, six feet long by two in 

 breadth. Their chiefs are of the Watosi race ; hence, every stranger who 

 meets with their approbation is called, in compliment, Mtosi. They will 

 admit caravans into their villages, dirty clumps of bee-hive huts; but they 

 refuse to provide them with lodging. Merchants, with valuable outfits, prefer 

 the jungle, and wait patiently for provisions brought in baskets from the 

 settlements. They seldom muster courage to attack a caravan, but stragglers 

 are in imminent danger of being cut off by them. Their country is rich in 



