112 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



proached by a narrow alley of strong stockade, and is 

 guarded by a thick planking that fits into a doorway 

 large enough to admit cattle. 



The Wazaramo are an ill-conditioned, noisy, boisterous 

 violent, and impracticable race. A few years ago they 

 were the principal obstacle to Arab and other travellers 

 entering into East Africa. But the seizure of Kaole and 

 other settlements by the late Sayyid of Zanzibar has 

 now given strangers a footing in the land. After tasting 

 the sweets of gain, they have somewhat relented ; but 

 quarrels between them and the caravans are still fre- 

 quent. The P'hazi, or chief of the district, demands a 

 certain amount of cloth for free passage from all mer- 

 chants on their way to the interior ; from those return- 

 ing he takes cattle, jembe, or iron hoes, shokah or 

 hatchets, in fact, whatever he can obtain. If not con- 

 tented, his clansmen lie in ambush and discharge a few 

 poisoned arrows at the trespassers : they never have 

 attempted, like the Wagogo, to annihilate a caravan ; in 

 fact, the loss of one of their number causes a general 

 panic. They have hitherto successfully resisted the little 

 armies of touters that have almost desolated K'hutu, and 

 they are frequently in hostilities with the coast settle- 

 ments. The young men sometimes set out on secret 

 plundering expeditions to Bagamoyo and Mbuamaji, and 

 enter the houses at night by mining under the walls. 

 The burghers attempt to defeat them by burying stones 

 and large logs as a foundation, but in vain: their 

 superior dexterity has originated a superstitious notion 

 that they possess a peculiar " medicine," a magic spell 

 called " Ugumba," which throws the household into a 

 deep trance. When a thief is caught in flagrante delicto, 

 his head soon adorns a tall pole at the entrance of the 

 settlement : it is not uncommon to see half a dozen 



