NAMES. 



425 



(leaper upon a chair), Mshindo-Mamba (con- 

 queror of crocodile), Khombe la Simba (lion's 

 claw), Mguru Mfupi (short-legs), Mui' Mvua 

 (Mister rain), Mkia ya Nyani (monkey's tail), 

 Masimbi (cowries), and Ugali (stirabout). 



Girls take Arabic names, as Mamai Khamisi 

 (Mother Thursday), Fatimah, and Arusi, or they 

 borrow from the pagans Magonera, Zawadi 

 and Apewai (a gift), Timeh, Siti, Bahati, Tinisi, 

 and Machoyao (their eyes). The ceremonial 

 address to men is Bwana (pronounced B'ana) 

 master, possibly a corruption of the Arabic 

 6 Abuna :' it is prefixed to proper names, especially 

 Arabic, as B'ana Muamadi. The diminutive 

 KibYma is the Italian 6 Signorino.' The fe- 

 minine form Mwana (M'ana) has equal claims 

 of descent from the Arabic Unimana, our 

 mother. It means, however, c child ' generi- 

 cally in the proverb M'ana uwwa Mze, Mze 

 hawwa M'ana — child slays parent, parent slays 

 not child — the equivalent of the Italian Amor de- 

 scende non ascende, and the Arab's 6 My heart is on 

 my son, my son's is on a stone.' Amongst certain 

 interior tribes it is still prefixed to the names of 

 chiefs ; hence probably the 6 Emperor ' Monomo- 

 tapa (M'ana Mtapa) which J. dc Barros writes 

 Benomotapa : the latter may not be a misprint, 



