XX NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AFRICAN NATIVE 205 
latter refused to take any action owing to the length 
of time that had elapsed since the perpetration of 
the crime. 
With regard to religion, most of the coast natives 
and a great number of those of the interior have 
embraced Moslemism. The remainder are practi¬ 
cally without religion at all, and are called shenzis 
(heathens) by their Mahometan brothers. They 
have some conception of a Supreme Being, but 
very little idea of a hereafter, save perhaps the 
belief in a reincarnation in the form of some 
animal or other. Simba, my tracker, a man of 
great force of character and absolutely without fear, 
once expressed his views on this subject of re¬ 
incarnation to me. 
‘ Master,’ he said, ‘ when I die, I should like 
my spirit to go into a wild dog, because the wild 
dog can kill almost any of the beasts of the 
forest. He is swift and tireless, and can get 
food with ease and is the only animal against 
which the black man’s hand is never turned.’ 
I once had a tracker called Matomoro, who was, 
by the way, a very gay Lothario, and, on one 
occasion, preparatory to going on a hunt, I heard 
Matomoro’s father, .well primed with pombe, giving 
his son the following brief lecture on the conduct 
of life. It may be a simple one, but aptly fits the 
native mind. 
