370 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



tall poles near the interior doors of the tenements. 

 Often, too, the insicles of the settlements boast of pigeon- 

 houses, which in this country are made to resemble, in 

 miniature, those of the people. In Unyamwezi the 

 centre is sometimes occupied by the Iwanza, or village 

 " public-house," which will be described in a future 

 chapter. 



In some regions, as in Ugogo, these lodgings become 

 peculiarly offensive if not burnt after the first year. 

 The tramping of the owners upon the roof shakes mud 

 and soot from the ceiling, and the rains wash down 

 masses of earthwork heavy enough to do injury. The 

 interior is a menagerie of hens, pigeons, and rats, of 

 peculiar impudence. Scorpions and earwigs fall from 

 their nests in the warm or shady rafters. The former, 

 locally termed " Nge," is a small yellow variety, and 

 though it stings spitefully the pain seldom lasts through 

 the day ; as many .as three have dropped upon my couch 

 in the course of the week. In Ugogo there is a green 

 scorpion from four to five inches long, which inflicts a 

 torturing wound. According to the Arabs the scorpion 

 in Eastern Africa dies after inflicting five consecutive 

 stings, and commits suicide if a bit of stick be applied to 

 the middle of its back. The earwig is common in all damp 

 places, and it haunts the huts on account of the shade. 

 The insect apparently casts its coat before the rainy 

 season, and the Africans ignore the superstition which 

 in most European countries has given origin to its 

 trivial name. A small xylophagus with a large black 

 head rains a yellow dust like pollen from the riddled 

 woodwork ; house-crickets chirp from evening to dawn ; 

 cockroaches are plentiful as in an Indian steamer ; and 

 a solitary mason -wasp, the " Kumbharni," or "potter's 

 wife" of western India — a large hymenopter of several 



