NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 403 
33^ inches; thickest part of thigh, i8f; length of arm from shoulder to tip 
of second finger, 32^ inches ; from chin to pubes, 26f inches ; pubes to ankle- 
bone, 31 \ inches ; fork of legs to heel, 32! inches; wrist to end of second finger, 
8| inches; first joint of thumb to tip, ij- inch; ankle-bone to 
tip of big toe, 8 inches. 
In women of an average height of 5 ft. the measurement 
round the buttocks ranged from 35 \ in. to 374. The women have 
thumbs of slightly smaller proportionate length than those of 
the males. 
As regards the quality of the voice in these Central African 
negroes, although there is never any marked development of 
“ Adam’s Apple ” in the throat the men have full, deep, virile- 
sounding voices ; much deeper and more manly in tone than is 
the case with the natives of India. In singing, the commonest 
kind of men’s voices is tenor and after tenor, baritone. A bass 
voice is rare. When untrained by Europeans their singing is 
nasal and they are much given to using the falsetto voice. 
The women’s voices are usually low and melodious, not 
differing ordinarily very much in tone from those of European 
women. The laugh of an African man is deep-chested and 
hearty, and does one good to hear ; but the boys and youths and 
the full-grown girls can develop under European influence what 
is known as the “ mission giggle,” as it is peculiarly characteristic 
of the young people attached to the mission schools. I suppose it arises,from 
the constant desire to laugh and a feeling that such merriment is unseemly 
A MUNKONDE 
FROM NORTH NYASA 
(to show shape of legs) 
and should be suppressed. 
These negroes, considering their almost absolute nudity in the savage state, 
bear cold remarkably well up to a certain point. Beyond that point, especially 
if the cold be accompanied by wet, they collapse with such suddenness as 
actually to be in danger of dying from cold. But they will reside for weeks on 
the top of high mountains and plateaux like Mlanje where the temperature 
may be down to 40° in the daytime, and 29 0 at night, and yet wear nothing but 
the usual loin cloth in the daytime, and consider themselves sufficiently 
shielded by a covering of thin calico at night provided they can light a fire 
and go to sleep with their feet towards the blaze. In the Zambezi Valley and 
on the Lower Shire, where the climate is hottest they are apparently more 
sensitive to night chills. In this region they weave a curious bag or case of 
matting which is called “ mfumba.” They creep into this at night and look 
exactly like so many bales done up in matting. 
Exposure to the sun, when not combined with severe fatigue and thirst, does 
them no harm whatever. 
Their skulls are very thick and though the hair is often shaved for cleanli¬ 
ness they require no head-covering to break the force of the sun’s rays. 
Nevertheless here again, in the regions bordering on the Zambezi from copying 
European habits the natives have become more sensitive to the want of a 
head covering, and wear large broad-brimmed straw hats of native manufacture. 
Muhammadanised negroes use the small white skull-cap characteristic of the 
Arab, round which they often wind a piece of cloth as a turban. After a time 
these people get used to a head-covering and do not like to dispense with it. 
Central African negroes are very thirsty people and scarcely suffer less than 
Europeans in travelling long distances on foot without frequent drinking. A 
