THE WAGOGO. 



309 



masters send them off the road lest they should be 

 recognised and claimed: after a time a large hoe is 

 placed in their hands, and the fools feel, when too late, 

 that they have exchanged an easy for a hard life. The 

 Wagogo sell their fellow tribe-men only when convicted of 

 magic ; though sometimes parents, when in distress, part 

 with their children. The same is the case amongst 

 their northern neighbours, the Wamasai, the Wahumba, 

 and the Wakwafi, who, however, are rarely in the 

 market, and who, when there, though remarkable for 

 strength and intelligence, are little prized, in conse- 

 quence of their obstinate and untameable characters ; 

 — many of them would rather die under the stick 

 than level themselves with women by using a hoe. 



The Wagogo are celebrated as thieves who will, like 

 the Wahehe, rob even during the day. They are im- 

 portunate beggars, who specify their long list of wants 

 without stint or shame; their principal demand is tobacco, 

 which does not grow in the land ; and they resemble the 

 Somal, who never sight a stranger without stretching 

 out the hand for " Bori." The men are idle and de- 

 bauched, spending their days in unbroken crapulence 

 and drunkenness, whilst the girls and women hoe the 

 fields, and the boys tend the flocks and herds. They 

 mix honey with their pombe, or beer, and each man 

 provides entertainment for his neighbours in turn. 

 After midday it would be difficult throughout the 

 country to find a chief without the thick voice, fiery 

 eyes, and moidered manners, which prove that he is 

 either drinking or drunk. 



The Arabs declaim against the Wagogo as a " curst," 

 ill-conditioned and boisterous, a violent and extortionate 

 race. They have certainly no idea of manners : they 

 flock into a stranger's tent, squat before him, staring 



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