The Swahili Men Wear A Long White Cotton
Garment, Like A Night-Shirt, Called A Kanzu; The
Women - Who Are
Too liberally endowed to be
entirely graceful - go about with bare arms and
shoulders, and wear a long brightly-coloured
Cloth which they wind tightly round their bosoms
and then allow to fall to the feet. All are
followers of the Prophet, and their social customs
are consequently much the same as those of
any other Mohammedan race, though with a good
admixture of savagedom. They have a happy
knack of giving a nickname to every European
with whom they have to do, such nickname
generally making reference to something peculiar
or striking in his habits, temper, or appearance.
On the whole, they are a kindly, generous folk,
whom one cannot help liking.
Of the many tribes which are to be seen about
the railway on the way up from the coast, perhaps
the most extraordinary-looking are the Wa Nyika,
the people who inhabit the thorny nyika (wilderness)
which borders on the Taru Desert. They
are exceedingly ugly and of a low type. The men
wear nothing in the way of dress but a scanty and
very dirty cloth thrown over the shoulders, while
the women attire themselves only in a short kilt
which is tied round them very low at the waist.
Both men and women adorn themselves with brass
chains round the neck and coils of copper and iron
wire round the arms.
The nearest native inhabitants to Tsavo are
the Wa Taita, who dwell in the mountains near
N'dii, some thirty miles away.
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