176 THE WANYAMBO OR KARAGUE PEASANTRY. 
of the family was so shy that he only came near me 
when told to sit for his portrait ; and the fourth, Kii- 
koko, was such a pet, and was so nice-looking, that 
the father never went anywhere nor did anything 
without taking the young prince along with him. He 
was mild and gentlemanly in manner, and would 
come to us every day, putting out his left hand when 
wishing us good morning, and remaining to chat 
quietly for an hour at a time. After we left Karague 
we sent him a comfortable blanket as a reward for his 
attentions. Although none of these lads had more 
covering than a sheet of leather round the loins, it 
was so neatly put on, their ornaments were so be- 
coming, their persons so bronze-looking, their gait so 
polite and distingue, that we quite forgot their naked- 
ness ; more particularly when we saw the effect pro- 
duced by pulling on a pair of white kid gloves upon 
Kukoko's hands, and seeing him strut away with the 
air of a Bond Street swell ! Their food was chiefly 
a bowl of milk once in the morning ; no grain, nor 
mutton, nor fish, nor fowl, but a small quantity of 
boiled beef or goat at night. They looked after the 
cattle belonging to their father, had M'koongoos, or 
agents of their own, who went to neighbouring coun- 
tries to traffic for them ; and so domestic were they 
that they never were known to sleep out of their own 
country. 
The Wanyambo are the ryots, or peasantry. In the 
low grounds of Urigi, where there was a great deal of 
swamp at the very doors of the people, they are very 
black and rather lanky. All grease their bodies to 
prevent the skin getting dried in the sun, and smoke 
themselves with sweet fuel having a peculiar heavy 
