Wanika. 
97 
is without cause or object ; it is lying for lying's sake. 
You ask a man his name, his tribe, where he lives, or 
any other simple question of like nature, and the 
answer he gives you will, as a rule, be the very oppo- 
site of the truth ; yet he has nothing to evade or gain 
by so doing. Lying seems to be more natural to him 
than speaking the truth. He lies when detection is 
evident, and laughs at it as though he thought it a 
good joke. He hears himself called a mulongo (liar) 
a score of times a day, but he notices it not, for there 
is no opprobrium in the term to him. To hide a fault 
he lies with the most barefaced audacity and blindest 
obstinacy. In such a case he dare look in the face of 
the sun and declare that it does not shine. Evidence is 
nothing ; be it as convincing as it may, he meets it 
with dogged denial. When his object is gain, he will 
invent falsehoods wholesale, and deal them out with an 
ease, a volubility, coolness, and an apparent sincerity 
which would carry all before them, if his character 
were not known. As it is, he often succeeds in making 
his lying pass current, and it pays him on the whole 
pretty well. He boasts that ulongo (lying) is his 
pesa (pice, ha pence), and holds bare truth to be the 
most unprofitable commodity in the world. But 
while he lies causelessly, objectlessly, recklessly in self- 
defence or for self-interest, he is not a malicious liar. 
He does not lie with express intent to do others harm ; 
this he would consider immoral, and he has sufficient 
goodness of heart to avoid indulging therein. Ill 
feeling may often get the better of him, and strong 
passion may drive him to extremes, but as a rule he 
is not fond of " bending his tongue hke a bow " for 
the purpose of shooting poisoned arrows to the 
.7 
