CHANG A NDUMI. 



127 



humped cows, attest present degradation. There 

 were a few of the small Umasai asses, which 

 are said to be useless for travelling. Amongst 

 the children I remarked an Albino with flaxen 

 hair and reddish-white skin, as if aflPected by 

 leprosy. None of the tenants preserved any 

 tradition about the place, which they call 

 ' Changa Ndumi.' The Arabs, however, who 

 accompanied me, declared that they belonged to 

 the ' old ancient ' Y'urabi, the dynasty preceding 

 the present rulers of Oman ; and if so, they must 

 have been built before the middle of the last 

 century (a,d. 1741). We returned in time to 

 witness a funeral. The mourners were women 

 with blackened faces, and habited in various 

 coloured clothes, unpleasantly outlining angles 

 and segments of circles. They ' keened ' all day, 

 and the drum paraded its monotonous sounds 

 till the dawn streaked with pale light the 

 shoulders of the far Bondei hills. I visited the 

 little heap of cajan huts called Janja-ni, and 

 lying half a mile to the north-east : here w^ere 

 four civil men, Bohrahs from Hindostan, who 

 lived by the cowrie trade. 



On every fifth day the Tanga people hold 

 at the neighbouring village of Ambo-ni a market 

 with the savages of the interior. Having 



