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THE LAKE BEG IONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



few minutes, and when an attempt is made the words 

 are scarcely intelligible. The arms of the Wajiji are 

 small battle-axes and daggers, spears, and large bows, 

 which carry unusually heavy arrows. They fear the 

 gun and the sabre, yet they show no unwillingness to 

 fight. The Arabs avoid granting their demands for 

 muskets and gunpowder, consequently a great chief 

 never possesses more than two or three fire-locks. 



The Lakists are an almost amphibious race, excellent 

 divers, strong swimmers and fishermen, and vigorous 

 ichthyophagists all. At times, when excited by the 

 morning coolness and by the prospect of a good haul, 

 they indulge in a manner of merriment which re- 

 sembles the gambols of sportive water-fowls : standing 

 upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, 

 which appear but little larger than themselves, they 

 strike the water furiously with their paddles, skimming 

 over the surface, dashing to and fro, splashing one 

 another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their 

 craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with 

 wonderful dexterity. They make coarse hooks, and 

 have many varieties of nets and creels. Conspicuous 

 on the waters and in the villages is the Dewa, or " otter " 

 of Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the 

 position of the net. A stronger kind, and used for 

 the larger ground- fish, is a cage of open basket-work, 

 provided, like the former, with a bait and two entrances. 

 The fish once entangled cannot escape, and a log of 

 wood, used as a trimmer, attached to a float-rope of 

 rushy plants, directs the fisherman. The heaviest ani- 

 mals are caught by a rope-net — the likh of Oman — 

 weighted and thrown out between two boats. They 

 have circular lath frames, meshed in with a knot some- 

 what different from that generally used in Europe ; the 



