Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/446

 868 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. usmil rites preliminary to the state of manhood, after which all reside together in one large cabin. Burials are accompanied by a very strict ceremonial, which varies with the age and sox of the deceased, and every year a national feast is held in honour of the dead. This feast of " All Souls " is in fact the chief national solemnity, and provision is made for the lavish expenditure usuil on these occa- siiins by much j)rcviou8 thrift and economy. The Pokomos are essentially an agricultural people ; all take an equal share in field operations, and devote their attention especially to the cultivation of rice and maize. Some of the young men also occupy themselves with fishing and hunting, but the industrial arts are entirely neglected. They neither spin nor weave, nor practise metallurgy, but, apart from their huts and boats, import from the coast people all the manufactured wares of which they stand in need. Their com- munities are organised in petty republican states, enjoying complete self-govern- ment. Each group is separately administered by a mae, or elder, assisted by other •' patriarchs," who deliberate in council with him, and who are entrusted with the executive power. The Pokomos have a sort of traditional common law based on the principle of " eye for eye and tooth for tooth." North and north-west of Kilima-Njaro the most advanced, or northernmost, Bantu tribes are the AVakambas and Wakiluyus (Wa-Kamba, AVa-Kiluyu). The missionary Wakefield also mentions a tribe of the same stock, the Mbe or Dhaicho peoj)lo, who are said to inhabit the plains stretching to the north-east of Mount Kenia. The Wakambas, called also Warimangaos (Wa-Rimangao), who dwell to the south of this huge mounta.n mass, and whom Krapf estimated at about seventy thousand souls, are divided into as many republican communities as there are native villages in their territory. They are an enterprising people, who have been exposed to the constant attacks of the neighbouring Masai and Galla nations. But they have hitherto successfully resisted these attacks, thanks to the natural lines of defence presented by their rugged bush-grown territory. Nevertheless one of their tribes was compelled to emigrate in the year 1882, when men, women, and children, leaving the dangerous neighbourhood of the Masai nomads, suc- ceeded in reaching the Usagara country in the upper Wami basin over 300 miles farther south. The Wakambas are of a roving disposition, and being accustomed to long journeys, they are chiefly employed for keeping up the commercial relations throughout the vast region comprised between the Mombaz coast and Lake Victoria Nyanza. Most of the porters engaged by the Swaheli traders in the transport service across this region are members of the Wakamba nation. These natives have the curious habit of drinking cows' milk mixed with blood drawn from the necks of their bulls. Beyond the volcanic plateau, the watershed of the Victoria Nyanza is again occupied by tribes of Bantu speech. Here the Kavirondo people of the uplands, who differ greatly from those of the same name settled on the shores of the great lake, speak a Bantu dialect so closely related to Ki-Swaheli, that the coast popula- tions have no difficulty in understanding them. .