Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/115

 war drums. Beyond the first enclosure is the court of justice, where the king, seated on a throne decorated with teeth, talons, and horns, settles the disputes of his subjects. A second palisade, less substantial than that of the royal palace, encircles the whole village, with in huts, winding lanes, and cultivated fields, where are cultivated tobacco, cereals, and various vegetables introduced by the Arabs.

The south-east side of Lake Victoria is bordered by the U-Zinza (U-Zinja) country lying west of the Isanga River, which flows to a narrow fiord penetrating over 30 miles inland. This little-known region has been visited by Europeans only on its southern slope, which drains to Lake Tanganyka. Like the Wa-Sukuma, the Wa-Zinza are divided into several communities governed by chiefs and their wizards. They live in constant dread of the marauding Wa-Tuta tribe, who are said to be southern Bantus, perhaps Zulus penetrating from Lake Nyassa through the Tanganyka basin northwards, plundering and massacring along the route, like a horde of wild beasts. The Wa-Zinza of the hilly sandstone districts in the north, who have less to fear from hostile inroads, are a finer and more vigorous race than those of the lowlands. They wear a skirt of tanned ox-hide, deck themselves with necklaces and amulets, and lard their bodies with rancid butter. Of all the Wa-Zinza tribes, the Wa-Sui branch is the most powerful. In these regions the chief power belongs to families of the Wa-Huma, a race of pastors which is represented by one or more communities on all the upland plateaux round about Lake Victoria. According to Speke and Grant, these Wa-Huma are conquerors of Galla stock, originally from the Ethiopian highlands. In U-Nyamezi, and as far as the seventh degree of south latitude, kindred tribes are found, here known as Wa-Tusi, who closely resemble the Wa-Huma in speech and usages. They are distinguished from their agricultural neighbours by a loftier figure and more regular features, oval face, straight and well-chiselled nose, and small mouth, without the pouting lips characteristic of the true Negro. The Wa-Huma women best represent this fine Ethiopian type; hence they are readily purchased by the chiefs of other races for their harems. But while all the surrounding peoples become gradually modified by these crossings, the Wa-Huma preserve their original purity, keeping aloof from all contact with the aborigines. They are nearly all stock-breeders, and as they mostly live in the jungle, far from villages, they are seldom met by travellers. Although they have given kings to most of the upland tribes, they are nevertheless regarded as barbarians by the Negro cultivators, just as in the "Middle Kingdom" the Manchu conquerors are despised by their Chinese subjects. But in the midst of all these enslaved communities, who vaunt their industrial arts and agricultural pursuits, the Wa-Huma have at least the superiority acquired from a free and independent life. They tolerate no masters, and those amongst them who have failed to defend their liberties are no longer regarded as belonging to their nation. Speke even tells us that captured and ensbved