Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/365

 THE MAKUAS. 201 whole of the Matambwo country into a howling wilderness, and for many years all the markets along the coast were furnished with hundreds and thousands of slaves from this source. So abundant was the supply, that at that time a man fetched a less price than a sheep or a gout. But things have greatly changed since then. The Wunindis have withdrawn to their camping-grounds, whore they have again begun to till the land. There was nothing left to plunder when the late Sultan of Zanzibar interfered to stop their depredations. The Makuas. The Makuas (Ma-Kua, Ma-Kwa) occupy a vast domain, wljich stretches from Mozambique Bay westwards to the Namuli highlands and the lakes where the Lujenda has its sources. They are divided into numerous groups, such as the Medos and Mihavanis, nearly all hostile to each other, although closely related in language and usages. Each tribe, however, is specially distinguished by its peculiar style of headdress, and methods of tattooing the face and filing the teeth. During the last few decades the race has been much reduced by their constant intertribal feuds. Ruined villages, abandoned fields and gardens, are met in many places, and considerable tracts have become solitudes. The naturally fertile Namuli uplands are almost uninhabited. Amongst these tribes spirit- worship is universal, and in certain villages, notably at Mpassu, on the route between Quelimane and Blantyre, every cabin has its trophy of offerings to the local genii. Before all the villages are piled up heaps of presents, such as food and merchandise, which are expected to secure the favour of tutelar deities. On the southern slope of the Namuli mountains and the banks of the Lukugu River there is a Makua tribe, recently visited by Last, whose warriors still eat human flesh. These are the Mawas (Ma-AVa), vho occasionally devour their own dead, as well as captives in war, and still more frequently slaves and people secretly condemned either for their magic arts or because they happen to be corpulent, that is, in " prime condition." The victim must be kept ignorant of his fate ; at some public feast he is made drunk with beer, and then his executioners suddenly fall upon him and club him. Like their Maganya and Maviha sisters, the Makua women wear the pelele, or lip-ornament. They consider themselves fully equal to the men, and in some respects even take the first rank. Their right to hold property is perfectly recog- nised; they keep "establishments," huts, and fields, and can dispose of themselves according to their own fancy. In case of divorce they also keep possession both of the children and the land. Nevertheless the wives of the chief kneel before him, and when ordered salute him by clapping of hands. One of them is also selected to accompany him as his swordbearer. The wives have often been buried alive in the same grave with distinguished members of the community. The customs, however, vary greatly from tribe to tribe, and certain practices, such as circumcision, held to be a point of vital importance amongst most of the natives, are left by the Makuas to the option of the individual. Each petty state