THE ETHIOPIAN RACE. 



217 



large river, which ' came dry,' and men carrying large spears, who 

 spoke a different language from their own. They took all the cattle, 

 the donkeys, and the fat-tailed sheep ; but they disdained taking the 

 horses, an animal they had never before seen. The king of the Sikir- 

 washi wears a large beard, while the rest of the people shave, using 

 for the purpose a sort of small iron chisel; and these practices prevail 

 equally with the M'Kuafi." 



When the lad was asked about the Mussai, he rejoined with some 

 emotion; " they who break my country ; he knew them well. They 

 dwell further inland than the M'Kuafi." 



He did not know how old he was, and asked, "if any one could tell 

 him. His people have no prayers; he could not speak lies. He did 

 not wish to return to his native country ; he had got no bullocks. He 

 was now a slave ; no matter, he should soon die. He did not know 

 where he should go to, after death. He had heard that God made 

 him ; that was all." 



AI U S S A I. 



The Mussai, hold the country west of the M'Kuafi; and they are 

 the most distant of the pastoral tribes known at Zanzibar. Accord- 

 ing to the girl above-mentioned, they speak the same language as the 

 M'Kuafi; with whom they agree in not cultivating the soil, and in 

 living exclusively on milk and meat. Indeed, all the accounts show 

 them to be a kindred nation. 



My interpreter, Sadik, had conversed with persons, who, on a 

 trading expedition to Chaga, saw there some of the Mussai. These 

 were described, as being " like the M'Kuafi, but stronger; and as hav- 

 ing shields that reach to the breast; together with long-pointed spears 

 and round-headed clubs, neither of which are missile. The young 

 men only, go out to fight, sometimes five hundred of them in a body ; 

 and when they capture a town, they put to death all except the hand- 

 some women; remaining afterwards for two or three days iipon the 

 ground, lest they should seem to run away." 



55 



