In The Meanwhile The Villagers Were Very Merry, Brewing And
Drinking Their Pombe (Beer) By Turns, One House After The Other
Providing The Treat.
On these occasions the chief - who always
drank freely, and more than any other - heading the public
gatherings of
Men and women, saw the large earthen pots placed
all in a row, and the company taking long draughts from bowls
made of plaited straw, laughing as they drank, until, half-
screwed, they would begin bawling and shouting. To increase the
merriment, one or two jackanapes, with zebras' manes tied over
their heads, would advance with long tubes like monster bassoons,
blowing with all their might, contorting their faces and bodies,
and going through the most obscene and ridiculous motions to
captivate their simple admirers. This, however, was only the
feast; the ball then began, for the pots were no sooner emptied
than five drums at once, of different sizes and tones, suspended
in a line from a long horizontal bar, were beaten with fury, and
all the men, women, and children, singing and clapping their
hands in time, danced for hours together.
A report reached me, by some of Sirboko's men, whom he had sent
to convey to us a small present of rice, that an Arab, who was
crossing Msalala to our northward, had been treacherously robbed
of all his arms and guns by a small district chief, whose only
excuse was that the Wanyamuezi had always traded very well by
themselves until the Arabs came into the country; but now, as
they were robbed of their property, on account of the
disturbances caused by these Arabs, they intended for the future
to take all they could get, and challenged the Arabs to do the
same.
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