136 Wanderings in Eastern Africa. 
time, returned to Zanzibar, and that ere long he, his 
wife and child, all became the victims of this terrible 
climate. 
The study of the language was, of course, one 
of the first things which engaged our attention. 
Until you have acquired it you are a cipher among 
the people. In common parlance among themselves 
you are designated a " mudzinga'' (Kisuahili, mjinga), 
an ignoramus or simpleton. We have met with 
Englishmen ere now who have spoken their own lan- 
guage to foreigners, and finding themselves not under- 
stood, have exclaimed in surprise, " What idiots these 
people are!, they don't even understand English!'' 
The natives in Eastern Africa, in the same way, think 
strangers " deficient " until they make themselves 
masters of the language. We found the acquirement 
not a little difficult, though we were greatly aided* 
therein by some previous knowledge of the Kishuahili. 
The following incident will illustrate the importance of 
close study, and the disadvantage of imperfect know- 
ledge. At a great "'maneno" a missionary was 
complaining to the elders that he could not get any 
of the women of the country to grind his corn for 
him. The verb to grind " in Kinika is " ku saga," 
the objective form being " ku sagira." But the 
missionary was not "well up" in the language, and 
he used the first instead of the second form. Instead 
of saying, therefore, that he could not get any of the 
women to grind for him, he complained that he could 
not get them to gri7id him. The elders who sat near 
to the missionary, understanding what he meant, had 
too much politeness to notice the mistake ; but those 
who were at the farther end of the party could not 
