AFRICAN GEAVES. 



57 



as well as feasting, and by the uproar of the wild men, 

 who, when reconnoitred by the scouts, were found to 

 be shouting away the hippopotami. 



In the hurry and the confusion of loading on the 

 next morning one ass was left behind, and the packs 

 were so badly placed that the fatigue of marching was 

 almost doubled by their repeated falls. Whilst descend- 

 ing the well-wooded river terrace, my portion of the 

 escort descried an imaginary white flag crossing the 

 grassy valley below. This is the sign of a Diwan's expe- 

 dition or commando: it is unwisely allowed by the 

 Arabs, whose proper colours are a plain blood -red. 

 After marching a few miles over undulating ground, 

 open and parklike, and crossing rough and miry beds, 

 the path disclosed a view verging upon the pretty. By 

 the wayside was planted the peculiarly African Mzimu 

 or Fetiss hut, a penthouse about a foot high, containing, 

 as votive offerings, ears of holcus or pombe-beer in a 

 broken gourd. There, too, the graves of the heathen 

 met the eye. In all other parts of East Africa a moul- 

 dering skull, a scattered skeleton, or a few calcined bones, 

 the remains of wizards and witches dragged to the 

 stake, are the only visible signs of man's mortality. The 

 Wazaramo tombs, especially in the cases of chiefs, imi-. 

 tate those of the Wamrima. They are parallelograms, 

 seven feet by four, formed by a regular dwarf paling 

 that encloses a space cleared of grass, and planted with 

 two uprights to denote the position of head and feet. In 

 one of the long walls there is an apology for a door. 

 The corpse of the heathen is not made to front any 

 especial direction ; moreover the centre of the oblong 

 has the hideous addition of a log carved by the unartistic 

 African into a face and a bust singularly resembling 

 those of a legless baboon, whilst a white rag tied 



