THE WAK'IIUTU. 



.119 



howls, and weeps : the departing is allowed to depart life 

 upon the kitanda, or cartel. There is, however, little de- 

 monstrative sorrow amongst these people, and, having the 

 utmost dread of disembodied spirits, all are anxious to 

 get rid of the corpse and its appertainings. The YVaza- 

 ramo, more civilised than their neighbours, bury their 

 dead stretched out and in the dress worn during life: 

 their graves have already been described. 



The " industry " of Usaramo will occupy but few sen- 

 tences. Before the great rains of the year set in the 

 land must be weeded, and scratches must be made with 

 a hoe for the reception of seed. The wet season ushers 

 in the period for copal digging : the proceeds are either 

 sold to travelling traders, or are carried down to the 

 coast in makanda — mat-sacks — of light weight, and 

 are sold to the Banyans. Bargaining and huckstering, 

 cheapening and chaffering, are ever the African's highest 

 intellectual enjoyments, and he does not fail to stretch 

 them to their utmost limits. After the autumnal rains 

 during the Azyab, or the north-east monsoon, the grass 

 is fired, when the men seizing their bows, arrows, and 

 spears, indiscriminately slaughter beast and bird — an 

 operation which, yearly repeated, accounts in part for the 

 scarcity of animal life so remarkable in this animal's 

 paradise. When all trades fail, the Mzaramo repairs to 

 the coast, where, despite his bad name, he usually finds 

 employment as a labourer. 



Next in order to the maritime Wazaramo are the 

 Wak'hutu, to whom many of the observations upon the 

 subject of their more powerful neighbours equally apply, 

 Their territory extends from the Mgeta Kiver to the 

 mountains of Usagara, and in breadth from the Du- 

 t'humi Highlands to the Rufiji Kiver. 



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