92 



CUSTOMS. 



Mombasah, adored a drum called Esrahim. It 

 was covered with skin only at one end, and was 

 suspended by a cord to be beaten ; the result 

 was a frightful sound, heard at the distance of a 

 league. 



Languor and apathy are here at once the 

 gifts of the media or climate, and the heritage of 

 the race : moreover, man in these lands, wanting 

 little, works less. Two great classes, indeed, 

 seem everywhere to make of life one long holi- 

 day — the civilized rich, who have all things, and 

 the savage, who possesses almost nothing. Yet 

 is the Mnyika, and indeed mostly the wild 

 man, greedy of gain — alieni appetens, sui pro- 

 fusus — perfectly dishonest in quest of lucre, and 

 not to be bound by honour or oath, as he is 

 reckless, wasteful, and improvident. Like their 

 neighbour-nations in this part of Africa, these 

 people are instinctively and essentially thieves. 

 They never go to war; agriculture, commerce, 

 and a settled life have enervated them into 

 pusillanimity without supplying superior know- 

 ledge for offence or even for defence. They 

 scratch the ground with their little hoes ; they 

 wander about after their few cows and goats ; 

 they sit dozing or chatting in the sun or 

 before a fire; and they spend hours squatting 



