displeasure. The value o f the stolen food was
given to the defrauded natives, and peace and
tranquillity were restored.
T he Warimi are the finest people in physique
we saw between their country and the sea. T h e y
are robust, tall, manly in bearing, and possess
v e ry regular features. A s they go stark naked,
we perceived that the males had undergone the
process o f circumcision. Their ornaments are
cinctures o f brass wire round the loins, armlets
and leglets o f brass, brass-wire collars, beads
plentifully sprinkled over their hair, and about
a dozen long necklaces suspended from the neck.
The war-costumes which they were wearing
when I had thought that trouble was near were
curious and various. Feathers o f the kite and
hawk, manes o f the zebra and giraffe, encircled
their foreheads. Their arms consisted o f portent-
ous-looking spears, bows and yard-long arrows,
and shields o f rhinoceros hide. T h e women, I
imagine, are generally a shade lighter than the
men. I failed to see in a d ay’s examination a
single flat nose or thick lip, though th e y were
truly negroidal in hair and colour. I ought to
have said that many shaved their heads, leaving
only a thin w a v y line over the forehead.
The rolling plain o f Suna was at this season
utterly devoid o f grass. An immense area was
under cultivation; clusters o f small villages were
sprinkled over all the prospect the e y e emrjan.
i3-i6> i87S-1 SITUATION DEPLORABLE. 145
[ Suna. J
braced, and large flocks o f goats and sheep
and herds o f cattle proved that they were a
pastoral as well as an agricultural people.
The Warimi appear to have no chief, but
submit to direction b y the elders, or heads of
families, who have acquired importance b y judicious
alliances, and to whom th ey refer civil
causes. In time o f war, however, as we observed
the day after we arrived, th ey have for
their elder, one who has a military reputation.
This fighting elder, to whom, I remarked, great
deference was paid, was certainly 6^2 feet in.
height. The species o f beads called Kanyera
were, it seemed to me, most in favour; brass
wire was also in demand, but all cloth was rejected
except ,the blue Kaniki.
W e halted four days at Suna, as our situation
was deplorable. A constantly increasing sick
list, culminating in the serious illness o f Edward
Pocock, the evident restlessness o f the: Warimi
at our presence, who most certainly wished us
anywhere excep t in their country, and y e t had
no excuse for driving us b y • force from their
neighbourhood, the insufficient quantity o f food
that could be purchased, and the growing' im-
portunacy of the healthy Wangwana to be led.
away from such a churlish and suspicious people,
plunged me in perplexity.
W e had now over thirty men ailing. Some
THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT. VOL. I. D