20 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



subjects with cruel rites. A deep pit is sunk, with a 

 kind of vault or recess projecting fforn it : in this the 

 corpse, clothed with skin and hide, and holding a bow 

 in the right hand, is placed sitting, with a pot of pombe, 

 upon a dwarf stool, whilst sometimes one, but more 

 generally three female slaves, one on each side and the 

 third in front, are buried alive to preserve their lord 

 from the horrors of solitude. A copious libation of 

 pombe upon the heaped-up earth concludes the cere- 

 mony. According to the Arabs, the Wasukuma inter 

 all their sultans in a jungle north of Unyanyembe, and 

 the neighbouring peasants deposit before seed-time small 

 offerings of grain at the Mzimo or Fetiss-house which 

 marks the spot. 



The habitations of the eastern Wanyamwezi are the 

 Tembe, which in the west give way to the circular 

 African hut ; among the poorer sub-tribes the dwelling 

 is a mere stack of straw. The best Tembe have large 

 projecting eaves supported by uprights : cleanliness, 

 however, can never be expected in them. Having no 

 limestone, the people ornament the inner and outer 

 walls with long lines of ovals formed by pressing the 

 finger tips, after dipping them into ashes and water for 

 whitewash, and into red clay or black mud for variety 

 of colour. With this primitive material they sometimes 

 attempt rude imitations of nature — human beings and 

 serpents. In some parts the cross appears, but the 

 people apparently ignore it as a symbol. Rude carving 

 is also attempted upon the massive posts at the en- 

 trances of villages, but the figures, though to appear- 

 ance idolatrous, are never worshipped. The household 

 furniture of the Tembe differs little from that described 

 in the villages generally. The large sloping Kitanda, 

 or bedstead of peeled tree-branch, supported by forked 



