their crockery: into the roof are thrust the
various small knick-knacks, which such families
need— the pipe, and bunch of tobacco-leaves,
the stick of dried snails, various mysterious compounds
wrapped in leaves of plants, pounded
herbs, and what not. Besides these we noted,
as household treasures, the skins of goats, mongoose
or civet, weasel, wild cat, monkey, and
leopard, shells of land snails, very large and
prettily marked, and necklaces of the Achatina
monetaria. There is also quite a store of powdered
camwood, besides curiously carved bits of
wood, supposed to be talismans against harm,
and handsome spoons, while over the door are
also horns of goats and small forest deer, and,
occupying conspicuous places, the gaudy war
head-dress of feathers of the grey-bodied and
crimson-tailed parrots, the drum and some heavy
broad-bladed spears with ironwood staffs.
In the “ arts and sciences ” of savage life,
these exceedingly primitive Africans, buried
though they have been from all intercourse with
others, are superior in some points to many
tribes more favourably situated. For instance,
until the day I arrived at Kiussi village, I had
not observed a settee. Yet in the depths of
this forest of Uregga every family possessed a
neatly made water-cane settee, which would seat
comfortably three persons.
Another very useful article of furniture was
rNov. 10, 1876.1 FURNITURE IN UREGGA. 173 L Kiussi. J ' ^
the bench 4 or 5 feet long, cut out of a single
log of the white soft wood of one of the Rubiaceae,
and significant as showing a more sociable spirit
than that which seems to govern Eastern Africans,
among whom the rule is, “ Every man to his
own stool.”
Another noteworthy piece of furniture is the
fork af a tree, cut off where the branches begin
to ramify. This, when trimmed and peeled, is
placed in an inverted position. The branches,
sometimes three or even four, serve as legs of
a singular back-rest.
The southern Waregga who border upon
Uzimba and Manyema say they came from the
north some five or six generations ago; that
they found the forest in possession of the Wa-
vinza and Wazimba, and dispossessed them of
the land. They retain the names of their forefathers
from six to ten generations back. Sheikh
Abdallah questioned the chief of Kiussi in my
presence of his forefathers, and he gave in
succession ten different names in answer to
questions such as these: “What is your name?”
“Who was your father?” and “Whose son was
he?” “ Then who was his father?”
All the adult males wear skull-caps of goat-
or monkey-skin, except the chief and elders,
whose heads were covered with the aristocratic
leopard-skin, with the tail of the leopard hanging
down the back like a tassel.