being usually made into coarse, but very strong blankets.
The cotton seemed to be a fine quality.
I watched with great interest some of the operatives
rna.lnng thread in their primeval way. Their spinning-
wheels consisted of a thin piece of stick, having at one end
a cone of wood with notches, through which the spun thread
was passed. A little hook at the apex of the cone held
the thread tightly, while the worker spun more, to be added
to the spool on the stick. To obtain the required velocity,
the spinner would spin the stick between the palm of his
right hand and his thigh, feeding the while with his left
hand the skein, which he had before partially equalised m
thickness.
The men make very neat baskets of palm. The women,
as they do in other parts of Africa, prepare the food. The
men build the huts and fences, hunt for game, and
spin.
The husks of millet and rice are cleaned in mortars,
called banda, which are hollowed from the trunks of trees.
The meal is ground upon blocks of granite, in a way that
reminded me of the method followed by the Mexican
tortilla makers.
Msenga women, of whom I have been speaking, are easily
distinguished from those of other tribes, particularly by
the upper lip, which protrudes excessively, being an artificial
growth, in which a ring (Jaja) is worn. By paying
particular attention to her toilet, and yearly enlarging the
ring, it is possible for a woman to develop the growth of
the upper lip, so as to protrude two and a half inches from
the front teeth. Filing the teeth is also a common custom ;
the usual fashion being the form of crocodiles’ teeth, or the
saw. Many of them, when approaching middle age, have a
thick, yellow tartar coating the teeth; and when they
smile, the elongating of the lips sideways turns the ring
upwards against the nose, thus disfiguring the face in a
most repulsive manner. A European would find it hard to
discover the captivation in visages of this description,
although with them it is considered a triumph of culture
over crude nature. The people generally shave the head.
MSENQA WOMAN OF THE MANGANJA TRIBE.
After Senhor Rubero said, “ In the morning your men
will be ready,” I retired, for the last time, to, my uneasy
couch at Chibinga, longing for the brightening signs of the
opening day.
Morning breaks! For' some time past the weather has
been intensely hot, but the dawn of day brings an easterly