330 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



futile impatience ; under delay or disappointment they 

 become madmen. In their own country, where such 

 displays are safe, they are remarkable for a presump. 

 tuousness and a violence of manner which elsewhere 

 disappears. As the Arabs say, there they are lions, 

 here they become curs. Their squabbling and clamour 

 pass description : they are never happy except when in 

 dispute. After a rapid plunge into excitement, the 

 brawlers alternately advance and recede, pointing the 

 finger of threat, howling and screaming, cursing and 

 using terms of insult w r hich an inferior ingenuity— -not 

 want of will— causes to fall short of the Asiatic's model 

 vituperation. After abusing each other to their full, both 

 " parties " usually burst into a loud laugh or a burst 

 of sobs. Their tears lie high ; they weep like Goanese. 

 After a cuff, a man will cover his face with his hands 

 and cry as if his heart would break. More furious 

 shrews than the women are nowhere met with. Here it 

 is a great truth that " the tongues of women cannot be 

 governed. " They work off excitement by scolding, and 

 they weep little compared with the men. Both sexes 

 delight in " argument," which here, as elsewhere, means 

 two fools talking foolishly. They will weary out of 

 patience the most loquacious of the Arabs. This de- 

 velopment is characteristic of the East African race, 

 and " maneno marefu ! " — long words ! — will occur as a 

 useless reproof half a dozen times in the course of a 

 single conversation. When drunk, the East African is 

 easily irritated ; with the screams and excited gestures 

 of a maniac he strides about, frantically flourishing his 

 spear and agitating his bow, probably with notched 

 arrow ; the spear-point and the arrow-head are often 

 brought perilously near, but rarely allowed to draw 

 blood. The real combat is by pushing, pulling hair, 



