Ants, of course, abound—those that get into the food, those that eat you (or would if they got the chance), and those (only, properly speaking, they are not ants at all) that build mounds and destroy wood-work, besides others, which seem to do nothing in particular. The hill-building termites vary their erections according to locality—the huge, conical mounds are chiefly found on low land liable to floods. Sometimes they build curious erections like irregular chimneys. The chapter devoted to these in the late Professor Drummond’s _Tropical Africa_ shows that they do an important work in the economy of Nature; but it is a mistake to suppose that there are no earth-worms in Africa, though they are not so common as with us. I do not know, however, if the Nyasaland ones are ever as large as one I measured in Natal, which was 22 inches long, and except for its size, just like those in our gardens. Bees make their nests in hollow trees, or in boxes hung up for them; mason-wasps build tiny clay nests the shape of the common native water-jar, about the length of one’s finger-nail. One must not conclude even the most imperfect review without a glance at the locusts (of which we shall have something to say later on), grasshoppers, and the extraordinary group of insects which look like leaves and sticks, and are comprehended under the name of Mantis. Having now taken a hasty survey of the country in its main outlines, of the vegetation which clothes it, and the wild creatures which (in their various ways) enliven it, let us see, in the next chapter, who are the people that live there. CHAPTER II INHABITANTS Classification of tribes. Physical characters. Keloids and tribal marks. Ear ornaments. Tooth-chipping. Hair. The principal tribes inhabiting British Central Africa are as follows: In the Protectorate proper:— 1. The Anyanja, or Mang’anja. 2. The Yaos (Wayao or Ajawa). 3. The Alolo. 4. The Awankonde. 5. The Batumbuka. 6. The Angoni. The Angoni are placed last, as being the most recent arrivals in the country. They are, as will be explained later on, rather a ruling caste than a distinct race. The Makololo, as we shall see, cannot be counted as a tribe; neither can the Achikunda of the Middle and Lower Zambezi, ‘compounded of the old slaves of the Portuguese, brought from many different parts of Eastern and Central Africa,’[2] who, moreover, scarcely come into British Central Africa, though some of them are to be found on the Shiré. Of the above, 1 and 6 extend beyond the Protectorate into North-eastern Rhodesia, where we find, in addition, The Awemba (Babemba). The Alunda. The Alungu. The Batonga—above Zumbo on the Zambezi.