The natives of British Central Africa

								


            (2) Nyanja ball-game,                         }



       XIV. (1) Boys digging out field-mice,              }      ”     120

            (2) Caught,                                   }

            (3) Roasting,                                 }

            (4) Eating,                                   }



        XV. (1) Boy extracting jigger from a companion’s  }      ”     122

                  foot,                                   }

            (2) Herd-boys cooking their midday meal,      }



       XVI. Women pounding maize in Yao village,                 ”     135



      XVII. Two men eating,                                      ”     137



     XVIII. Gang of Angoni at Mandala,                           ”     138



       XIX. Nguru hut,                                           ”     139



        XX. Grinding snuff,                                      ”     178



       XXI. Women weeding maize-garden,                          ”     181



      XXII. Women carrying baskets of maize,                     ”     185



     XXIII. Boy with bow,                                        ”     187



      XXIV. Canoes at Liwonde’s,                                 ”     194



       XXV. (1) Mat-making,                               }      ”     196

            (2) Native loom,                              }



      XXVI. Making mtanga basket,                              ”     198



     XXVII. Boy with crate of fowls,                             ”     199



    XXVIII. Knives and ‘Angoni handkerchief,’                    ”     203



      XXIX. The ‘Dancing-man,’                                   ”     221



       XXX. Musical instruments,                                 ”     222



      XXXI. Preparing for the dance,                             ”     226



     XXXII. Angoni warriors,                                     ”     278

THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY



    Geography. Botany: bush-fire. Climate. Fauna: beasts, birds,

    fish, insects.

When you steam up the Shiré, you pass on the first, second, or some
subsequent day (according to the state of the river and the capabilities
of your craft), after turning out of the Zambezi at Chimwara, a tree
on the western bank. This tree bears a notice-board which marks the
beginning of the British Central Africa Protectorate.
But the globe-trotter who is anxious to record in his diary the precise
hour and minute of all momentous events of a monotonous voyage may easily
overlook the all-important tree. The most eager inquirer may find his
experiences pall upon him when for hour after hour he sees nothing but
level shore, and a foreground of green bango-reeds festooned with dull
magenta convolvulus. In fact, the reason why the boundary had to be
marked by a board affixed to a tree, is because this particular angle