IMPRESSIONS AND SCENES OF M;0ZAMBIQUE 819 



KAFIR DRUMS AND RATTl.ES: THE ROAR OE THESE HUGE DRUMS CAN BE HEARD TEN 



Mn.ES AWAY 



distinguished from that of any neighbor- 

 ing Kafir tribe, and many of their cus- 

 toms are also pecuHar. About 25,000 

 individuals are now in existence. They 

 have the best "shambas" and take the 

 most interest in agriculture of any known 

 native tribe in East Africa. 



The young girls' dance of the M'chopi 

 tribe requires several years' practice be- 

 fore the difficult poses and contortions 

 can be successfully performed. Several 

 ankle rattles may be seen worn by the 

 girls at the lower left of the picture on 

 page 828. These hollow spheres are 

 made of palm-leaf or grass, if not young 

 gourd fruits, and are partially filled with 

 large seeds, pebbles, etc. The noise of 

 these ankle rattles is supposed to assist 

 in keeping time in the dance. This is 

 probably a Zulu custom, and even today 

 in civilized Durban the ricksha boys fre- 

 quently wear similar ornaments. 



The tribes meet but do not mingle. 

 Here we saw grave old M'kumbi, who 



has an income of $50,000 from the 10,000 

 huts of his tribe. 



On the Zambesi, at the head of Chinde, 

 1 counted eight hippos at one time around 

 the boat. Since the natives are not sup- 

 posed to have guns of any sort, and since 

 few devastating tourists pass that way, 

 these uncouth monsters may endure a 

 few years longer. There are usually to 

 be seen one or two pairs in the Inkomati 

 River, some three hours from Lourenco 

 Marques, the capital. Feet a foot across 

 and a body as wide as a wagon — no 

 wonder the poor native sits up nights 

 beside his corn-field when he hears the 

 ominous "woo-ufif" of an old tramp bull 

 in the neighborhood. 



Near Mopea, three days up the Zam- 

 besi, we passed through two small native 

 kraals in which the lions had eaten t8 

 people in three months previous. It is 

 quite impossible to hunt these man-eaters 

 on account of the tall, rank grass (four 

 to six feet high), and, since they soon 



