214 
THE KILIMA-NJAR 0 EXPEDITION. 
stately savage, innocently naked, and a type of per¬ 
fect physical development, wanted me to visit him at 
kis house, so I went thither with my Indian servant. 
Hound his little compound was a kind of fence formed 
of the long raid-ribs of the Mwale palm laid lengthways. 
There were three houses inside, one for the women, 
one for the goats and sheep, and one for the man. 
His dwelling, though small, was far from uncomfort¬ 
able, and the interior was remarkable for the neatness 
that characterizes the domestic arrangements of most 
Africans. There was a raised dais for the bed, on 
which skins were laid; a little three-cornered stool to 
sit on ; afire burning in the centre of the floor; spears, 
knives, horns of animals, and many other articles ranged 
to dry round the walls. At the man’s earnest re¬ 
quest we partook of sour milk and sugar-cane. He 
also wished us to try some rather dirty half-fried fish, 
but this I was obliged to decline. Whilst I sat talk¬ 
ing to him, his wife, a motherly-looking soul, appeared, 
leading a small, rather unhealthy child, and was 
further followed by a genial old hag, my friend’s 
mother. This latter was a merry, social old body, 
though very monkey-like as she sat and chewed sugar¬ 
cane, holding it before her with both hands, and 
gnawing it laterally with her teeth, while the farther 
end of the cane was clutched between her lean thighs. 
My host caught his child to him with unmistakable 
parental affection. He carefully pinched and pressed 
the great protruded stomach, as if divining this to 
be an unhealthy symptom. Seeing he was anxious 
and wishing to say something kind, I offered to send 
medicine, which in the Swahili tongue is expressed by 
an Arab word 44 dawa.” But he only replied, 44 Dawa, 
what do we know of dawa ? ” Then he looked up 
