434 THE KILIMA-NJABO EXPEDITION. 
episode as the one recorded on page 214 of this work. 
Nevertheless they display strange callousness some¬ 
times where death is concerned. The body of a much¬ 
loved wife or child is hastily buried in a shallow trench 
outside the circle of huts, and covered with stones and 
grass. The hyenas at night proceed to exhume and 
devour the corpse without provoking any interference 
from the sorrowing relatives, who the next morning will 
kick aside the osseous fragments of their loved ones with¬ 
out exhibiting the slightest sign of emotion or tenderness. 
They have a vague belief in life after death, but it is the 
disembodied spirits on whom they concentrate their 
thoughts, and not the lifeless clay, which is to them of no 
account. This is not as most of their congeners think— 
it is rather the effect of Masai influence; for among the 
majority of Bantu negroes very considerable attention 
is paid to the corpse, under the idea that the spirit of 
the dead person is still much affected by the condition 
and disposal of its previous tenement. 
The people of Taveita subsist mainly on vegetable 
food, of which they rear a great variety in their 
beautiful gardens. They also eat fish and meat. The 
fish are caught in the River Lumi, which runs through 
the settlement, by means of skilfully-made wicker¬ 
work traps and weirs. They also construct from the 
midribs of a Raphia palm most clever rods and lines, 
the whole material coming from the palm, with a 
native-made iron hook superadded. 
The Wa-taveita proper number about 2000. They 
bear an excellent reputation among the coast traders 
for honesty and friendliness. They speak Ki-swaliili 
almost universally, and speak it with singular correct¬ 
ness ; but of course among themselves Ki-taveita is 
the only language used. This very interesting Bantu 
