THE WAMKIMA OE COAST CLANS. 



S3 



of the former people there is but one learned man, the 

 Shaykh Jami of Harar, and the Kazi Muhiyy-el-Din 

 of Zanzibar is the only literato amongst the Wasa- 

 wahili. Study, or indeed any tension of the mind, seems 

 to make these weak-brained races semi-idiotic. They 

 cannot answer Yes or No to the simplest question. If, 

 for example, a man be asked the place of his tribe, he 

 will point to a distance, though actually living amongst 

 them ; or if questioned concerning some particular of 

 an event, he will detail everything but what is wanted. 

 In the earlier days of exploration, I have repeatedly 

 collected the diwans, and, after a careful investigation 

 and comparison of statements, have registered the names 

 and distances of the stages ahead. These men, though 

 dwelling upon the threshold of the regions which they de- 

 scribed, and being in the habit of traversing them every 

 year, yet could hardly state a single fact correctly; 

 sometimes they doubled, at other times they halved, 

 the distance; they seldom gave the same names, and they 

 almost always made a hysteron-proteron of the stations. 

 The reader may gather from this sample some idea of 

 the difficulties besetting those who would collect infor- 

 mation concerning Africa from the Africans. It would 

 not have happened had an Arab been consulted. I soon 

 resolved to doubt for the future all Wasawahili, Wam- 

 rima, Washenzi, and slaves, and I found no reason for 

 regretting the resolution. 



The Wamrima are of darker complexion, and are 

 more African in appearance, than the coast Arabs. The 

 popular colour is a dull yellowish bronze. The dress is 

 a fez, or a Surat-cap ; a loin-cloth, which among the 

 wealthy is generally an Arab check or an Indian print, with 

 a similar sheet thrown over the shoulders. Men seldom 

 appear in public without a spear, a sword, or a staff ; 



VOL. I. D 



