MANTEMA-LAND. 487 



Albert Nyanza, but I could not go to it ; nor have I seen the connecting link 

 between the two — the upper side of the loop — though I believe it exists. 



" The Manyema are certainly cannibals, but it was long ere I could get 

 evidence more positive than would have led a Scotch jury to give a verdict of 

 i not proven.' They eat only enemies killed in war ; they seem as if insti- 

 gated by revenge in their man-eating orgies, and on these occasions they do 

 not like a stranger to see them. I offered a large reward in vain to any one 

 who would call me to witness a cannibal feast. Some intelligent men have 

 told me that the meat is not nice, and made them dream of the dead. The 

 women never partake, and I am glad of it, for many of them far down Lua- 

 laba are very pretty ; they bathe three or four times a day, and are expert 

 divers for oysters. 



" The terror that guns inspire generally among the Manyema, seem to 

 arise among the Bakuss from an idea that they are supernatural. The effect 

 of gun-shot on a goat was shown, in order to convince them that the traders 

 had power, and that the instruments they carried were not, as they imagined, 

 the mere insignia of chieftainship : they looked up to the skies and offered to 

 bring ivory to purchase the charm by which lightning was drawn down ; and 

 afterwards, when the traders tried to force a passage, which was refused, 

 they darted aside on seeing Banyamwezi followers place the arrows in the 

 bow-strings, but stood in mute amazement while the guns mowed them down 

 in great numbers. They use long spears in the thick vegetation of their 

 country with great dexterity; and they have told me frankly, what was 

 self-evident, that but for the fire-arms, not one of the Zanzibar slaves or 

 half-castes would leave their country. 



" There is not a single great chief in all Manyema. No matter what 

 name the different divisions of people bear — Manyema, Balegga, Babire, 

 Bazire, Bakoos — there is no political cohesion — not one king or kingdom. 

 Each heid man is independent of every other. The people are industrious, 

 and most of them cultivate the soil largely. We found them everywhere very 

 honest. When detained at Bambarre, we had to send our goats and fowls to 

 the Manyema villages, to prevent them all being stolen by the Zanzibar 

 slaves ; the slave-owners had to do the same. 



" Manyema-land is the only country in Central Africa I have seen where 

 cotton is not cultivated, spun, and woven. The clothing is that known in 

 Madagascar as ' lambas ' or grass cloth, made from the leaves of the ' Muale ' 

 palm. 



" They call the good spirit above ' Ngulu,' or the Great One ; and the 

 spirit of evil, who resides in the deep, ' Mulambu.' A hot fountain near Bam- 

 barre is supposed to belong to this being, the author of death by drowning 

 and other misfortunes. 



The following graphic account of travel in Manyema-land, which occurs 



