Ali draws a very dark picture of the Makonde.

He says they know nothing of a Deity, they pray to their mothers when in distress or dying; know nothing of a future state, nor have they any religion except a belief in medicine; and every headsman is a doctor.

No Arab has ever tried to convert them, but occasionally a slave taken to the coast has been circumcised in order to be clean; some of them pray, and say they know not the ordeal or muavi.

The Nassick boys failed me when I tried to communicate some knowledge through them.

They say they do not understand the Makonde language, though some told me that they came from Ndonde's, which is the head-quarters of the Makonde.