Geography and Ethnology i 
277 
carry a weapon of some sort. The Wapokomo carry 
the only one they have, and find it useful in more 
ways than one. 
The Wapokomo are a quiet, harmless, good-natured 
race, with whom, apart from other influences, it would 
be easy to establish friendly relations. Going as we 
did from the Wanika to them, we felt at home with 
them at once. If they were not good-tempered, I do 
not see how they could be so contented in the wretched 
circumstances in which their lot is cast. For several 
months their country is under water ; and mosquitoes 
swarm about them throughout the whole year, with 
scarcely any mitigation. To the question, " How do 
you like your life here 1 " they quietly reply, " We are 
used to it." With all its inconveniences, however, their 
position gives them some advantages. The river is like a 
wide and beautiful street by which they can move from 
place to place with great convenience and facility. 
Their canoes, to use a Kisuahili expression, are just 
the things ''ku passua" (to split) the water. Dug out 
of a single tree, and not often a large one, they only 
afford room for two or three persons in addition to other 
things they may wish to take with them, so that with 
a couple of paddles they can be urged through the 
water, and especially down the stream, at a surprising 
rate. The Wanika have to carry their material on 
their heads, under a burning sun, for long, exhausting 
distances to the market ; but the Wapokomo have 
simply to load their canoes and take their seats, and 
they can bring down their stuff from the farthest limits 
of their territory, with little further expenditure of 
labour than an occasional turn of the paddle to- steer 
their craft. If time were an object to them, a slight 
