110 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFKICA. 



unbleached cotton, which he stains a dirty yellow, like the 

 Indian gerua, with a clay dug in the subsoil. Their 

 ornaments are extensive girdles and bead necklaces of 

 various colours, white disks, made from the base of a 

 sea-shell, and worn single on the forehead or in pairs at 

 the neck. A massy ring of brass or zinc encircles the 

 wrist. The decoration peculiar to the tribe, and com- 

 mon to both sexes, is the mgoweko, a tight collar or 

 cravat, 1 to 1*50 inches broad, of red and yellow, white 

 and black beads, with cross- bars of different colours at 

 short intervals. Men never appear in public without 

 an ostentatious display of arms. The usual weapons, 

 when they cannot procure muskets, are spears, bows, 

 and arrows, the latter poisoned, and sime, or long knives 

 like the Somali daggers, made by themselves with im- 

 ported iron. The chiefs are generally seen in handsome 

 attire ; embroidered Surat caps bound with a tight 

 snowy turban of a true African shape, which contrasts 

 well with black skins and the short double-peaked beards 

 below. The body-garment is a loin-cloth of showy In- 

 dian cotton or Arab check ; some prefer the long shirt 

 and the kizbao or waistcoat affected by the slaves at 

 Zanzibar. The women are well dressed as the men — 

 a circumstance rare in East Africa, Many of them 

 have the tibia bowed in front by bearing heavy water- 

 pots at too early an age ; when not burdened they have 

 a curious mincing gate, they never veil their faces, and 

 they show no shame in the presence of strangers. The 

 child is carried in a cloth at the back. 



The habitations of the Wazaramo are far superior in 

 shape and size to those of K'hutu, and, indeed, to any 

 on this side of Unyamwezi. Their buildings generally 

 resemble the humbler sort of English cow-house, or an 

 Anglo-Indian bungalow. In poorer houses the outer 



