64 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
fined to the house. Free women are exempt from 
work, but they do a httle cooking, and otherwise oc- 
cupy themselves by plaiting Mikeka, fine coloured 
mats, which are thought much of by the coast people. 
They are made of the leaves of the mkindu palm, torn 
into narrow slips, and dyed in various bright colours. 
The msala, or prayer mat, with which great pains is 
usually taken, is often a very pretty article, and sells 
at a high price — from four to six dollars each. 
The male munguana (gentleman) is the most useless 
being upon the coast of Africa. He is altogether 
above work. Work is the badge of the slave, and it 
is, therefore, in his estimation disgraceful. He lives 
entirely upon the sweat and toil of the wretched 
people whom he has brought into bondage. The 
ordinary routine of a munguana's life is as follows. 
If he be a zealous religionist, he rises at first cock-crow 
to prayer, whiles away his time till dawn, and then 
wends his way to the mosque for prayers again. 
During the forenoon he sits at home to receive visitors, 
or perambulates the town himself on visits to others. 
At noon he goes to the mosque again for prayers. 
Some portion of the mid-day he devotes to sleep. 
At three, at six, and seven o'clock he is to be found 
in the mosque, the interval being filled up with gossip 
and chitchat, sometimes at home, sometimes abroad, 
sometimes in the public baraza, or palaver house, or 
it may be in the harem among his wives and concu- 
bines. His life is altogether objectless, except for the 
gratification of his own indolent propensities, purely 
animal needs, and personal conceit. He is a cipher, 
and he will never become anything till circumstances 
compel him to work. 
