150 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



historians of Africa on account of an irruption, in 1570, 

 from the north as far as the Zambezi River, " were no 

 other than the M'Biza, or Moviza, as they are called by 

 the Portuguese who still occupy its (the Nyassa's) 

 south-western banks/' The proper name of this well- 

 known tribe is Wabisa (in the sing. Mbisa), not Wa- 

 bisha^, as it is pronounced at Zanzibar, where every 

 merchant knows " Bisha ivory." The Wabisa extend 

 according to the Arabs from the west of the Nyassa or 

 Kilwa Lake towards the south of the Tanganyika. 

 They dress in bark-cloth, carry down their fine ivory to 

 Tete and Kilimani (Quillimane) ; and every four or 

 five years a caravan appears at Kilwa, where, confound- 

 ing their hosts with the Portuguese, they call every 

 Arab " muzungu," or white man. They are a semi- 

 pastoral tribe, fond of commerce, and said to be civil 

 and hospitable to strangers. It must be observed that 

 those geographers are in error who connect the Wabisa 

 with the Wanyamwezi ; they are distinct in manners 

 and appearance, habits and language. Mr. Cooley has, 

 for instance, asserted that "the i Moviza' and the ' Mo- 

 nomoezi ' are similar in physical character and national 

 marks." The only mark known to the Wabisa is the 

 kishshah, or crest of hair ; not, as Khamisi Wa Tani 

 asserted to Mr. Cooley ("Inner Africa laid Open," p. 61), 

 a dotted line on the nose and forehead ; whereas, the 

 Wanyamwezi, as has been seen, puncture the skin. 

 Thus Lacerda calls the " Moviza " a frizzled and peri- 

 wigged people. The Arabs deny the assertion of 

 Pereira, recorded by Bowdich, that the Moviza, like the 

 Wahiao, file their teeth. 



Marungu is described by the Arabs as a hilly country 

 like Ujiji and XJvira : the precincts of the lake, however, 

 are here less bold than the opposite shore. Off the 



