g6 Wanderings in Eastern Africa, 
The moral condition of th'e Wanika is low, yet 
again the surprise is that it should not be much lower. 
It is certainly preferable to that of their semi-civilized 
neighbours, the Muhammadans of the coast. They 
are very far from having lost all knowledge of the 
distinctions between right and wrong. Though they 
have no written law, they ''are a law unto themselves," 
having the law of God inscribed upon their hearts. 
Conscience lives in them as the vice gerent of Almighty 
God, and is ever excusing or else accusing them. It 
may be blunted, hardened, resisted, and largely sup- 
pressed, but there it is ; ages upon ages of degradation 
have not been able to extinguish it. 
Still it is not pretended that the Wanika are free 
from vice. Drunkenness prevails largely. The older 
men give themselves up to it upon every possible 
occasion ; and if there be a point upon which their 
consciences are at rest, it is upon this. Nothing is 
done among the Wanika without drink. Marriages, 
births, deaths, civil and religious rites, and all ''maneno" 
(palavers) are celebrated by drinking carousals. Some- 
times these celebrations continue for weeks together, 
and are kept up day and night. The people are not 
all equally given to this vice. Some are scarcely ever 
sober, others only go too far on special occasions, and 
others are seldom ever seen worse for drink. Drunk- 
enness is not common among young men, and among 
women it is hardly ever witnessed. It may be re- 
garded as the special privilege of the older men. A 
teetotaller is met with here and theie. 
Lying is to the Wanika almost as the very breath 
of their nostrils, and all classes, young and old, male 
and female, indulge in it. A great deal of their lying 
