66 



WAKAMBAS. 



formed (and misinformed) that an annual cara- 

 van of ' red people,' from the neighbourhood of 

 Mombasah, carried beads to buy ivory on the 

 Nile, about N. lat. 3°. He laid down the length 

 of the journey at two to three months. The 

 Arabs knew nothing of the matter. 



Nothing even among the Somali Eedawin can 

 be wilder than the specimens from Ukamba-ni; 

 these Warimangao,^ as the people of Mombasah 

 call them, the ' sons ' of the chief Kivoi, that 

 danced and sang the Nyunbo or song of triumph 

 in the streets of Mombasah. It was a perfect 

 picture of savagery. About 50 blacks, ruddled 

 with ochre, performed the Zumo (procession) ; 

 men blowing Kudu-horns, or firing their muskets, 

 and women ' luUalooing.' They sat with us for 

 some hours drinking a sherbet of Ngizi, or mo- 

 lasses extracted from cocoa-tree toddy, and the 

 number of gallons which disappeared were a cau- 

 tion. The warriors of the tribe, adorned with 

 beads on the necks, loins, and ankles, were armed 

 with the usual long bows and poisoned arrows, 

 spears or rather javelins, knobsticks for striking 



^ The singular is Mrimangao, hence Mr Cooley 's Meremongao, 

 whence iron was exported to make Damascus blades — risum 

 teneatis ? Dr Krapf says ' the Wakamba are called by the Sua- 

 hili, Waumanguo.' M. Gruillain (iii. 216) translates ' M'rim- 

 anggao, or Ouarimanggao ' by 'gens qui vont nus.' 



