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 Python for Scientific
Computing and Artificial
Intelligence
Python for Scientific Computing and Artificial Intelligence is split into 3 parts: in Section 1,
the reader is introduced to the Python programming language and shown how Python can aid in
the understanding of advanced High School Mathematics. In Section 2, the reader is shown how
Python can be used to solve real-world problems from a broad range of scientific disciplines.
Finally, in Section 3, the reader is introduced to neural networks and shown how TensorFlow
(written in Python) can be used to solve a large array of problems in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This book was developed from a series of national and international workshops that the author
has been delivering for over twenty years. The book is beginner friendly and has a strong practi-
cal emphasis on programming and computational modeling.

Features:

• No prior experience of programming is required.

• Online GitHub repository available with codes for readers to practice.
• Covers applications and examples from biology, chemistry, computer science, data science,
electrical and mechanical engineering, economics, mathematics, physics, statistics and bi-
nary oscillator computing.
• Full solutions to exercises are available as Jupyter notebooks on the Web.

In 2022, Stephen Lynch was named a National Teaching Fellow, which celebrates and recognises
individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and teaching in higher
education. He won the award for his work in programming in the STEM subjects, research
feeding into teaching, and widening participation (using experiential and object-based learn-
ing). Although educated as a pure mathematician, Stephen’s many interests now include applied
mathematics, cell biology, electrical engineering, computing, neural networks, nonlinear optics
and binary oscillator computing, which he co-invented with a colleague. He has authored 2 in-
ternational patents for inventions, 8 books, 4 book chapters, over 40 journal articles, and a few
conference proceedings. Stephen is a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applica-
tions (FIMA) and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). He is currently
a Reader with MMU and was an Associate Lecturer with the Open University from 2008-2012.
In 2010, Stephen volunteered as a STEM Ambassador, in 2012, he was awarded MMU Public
Engagement Champion status, and in 2014 he became a Speaker for Schools. He runs national
workshops on “Python for A-Level Mathematics and Beyond,” and international workshops on
“Python for Scientific Computing and TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence.” He has run work-
shops in China, Malaysia, Singapore, and the USA.
Chapman & Hall/CRC
The Python Series
About the Series
Python has been ranked as the most popular programming language, and it is widely used in
education and industry. This book series will offer a wide range of books on Python for students
and professionals. Titles in the series will help users learn the language at an introductory and
advanced level, and explore its many applications in data science, AI, and machine learning.
Series titles can also be supplemented with Jupyter notebooks.

Image Processing and Acquisition using Python, Second Edition

Ravishankar Chityala, Sridevi Pudipeddi
Python Packages
Tomas Beuzen and Tiffany-Anne Timbers
Statistics and Data Visualisation with Python
Jesús Rogel-Salazar
Introduction to Python for Humanists
William J.B. Mattingly
Python for Scientific Computing and Artificial Intelligence
Stephen Lynch

For more information about this series please visit: https://www.crcpress.com/Chapman--HallCRC/

book-series/PYTH
 Python for Scientific
Computing and Artificial
Intelligence

Stephen Lynch
Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

and by CRC Press

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

© 2023 Stephen Lynch

Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot
assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers
have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Lynch, Stephen, 1964- author.

Title: Python for Scientific Computing and Artificial Intelligence /
Stephen Lynch.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton : C&H/CRC Press, 2023. | Series:
Chapman & Hall/CRC the Python series | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022057798 (print) | LCCN 2022057799 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032258737 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032258713 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003285816 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Python (Computer program language) | Science--Data
processing. | Artificial intelligence.
Classification: LCC QA76.73.P98 L96 2023 (print) | LCC QA76.73.P98
(ebook) | DDC 005.13/3--dc23/eng/20230125
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022057798
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022057799

ISBN: 978-1-032-25873-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-032-25871-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-28581-6 (ebk)

DOI: 10.1201/9781003285816

Typeset in LM Roman
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.

Publisher’s note: This book has been prepared from camera-ready copy provided by the authors
 To my family,
my brother Mark and my sister Jacqueline,
my wife Gaynor,
and our children, Sebastian and Thalia,
for their continuing love, inspiration and support.
Contents

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Section I An Introduction to Python

Chapter 1  The IDLE Integrated Development Learning Environment 3

1.1 INTRODUCTION 4
1.1.1 Tutorial One: Using Python as a Powerful Calculator (30
Minutes) 5
1.1.2 Tutorial Two: Lists (20 Minutes) 7
1.2 SIMPLE PROGRAMMING IN PYTHON 8
1.2.1 Tutorial Three: Defining Functions (30 Minutes) 9
1.2.2 Tutorial Four: For and While Loops (20 Minutes) 11
1.2.3 Tutorial Five: If, elif, else constructs (10 Minutes) 11
1.3 THE TURTLE MODULE AND FRACTALS 11

Chapter 2  Anaconda, Spyder and the Libraries NumPy, Matplotlib and

SymPy 21

2.1 A TUTORIAL INTRODUCTION TO NUMPY 23

2.1.1 Tutorial One: An Introduction to NumPy and Arrays (30
Minutes) 23
2.2 A TUTORIAL INTRODUCTION TO MATPLOTLIB 25
2.2.1 Tutorial Two: Simple Plots using the Spyder Editor Window
(30 minutes) 25
2.3 A TUTORIAL INTRODUCTION TO SYMPY 28
2.3.1 Tutorial Three: An Introduction to SymPy (30 Minutes) 28

vii
viii  Contents

Chapter 3  Jupyter Notebooks and Google Colab 33

3.1 JUPYTER NOTEBOOKS, CELLS, CODE AND MARKDOWN 33

3.2 ANIMATIONS AND INTERACTIVE PLOTS 37
3.3 GOOGLE COLAB AND GITHUB 41

Chapter 4  Python for AS-Level (High School) Mathematics 45

4.1 AS-LEVEL MATHEMATICS (PART 1) 46

4.2 AS-LEVEL MATHEMATICS (PART 2) 50

Chapter 5  Python for A-Level (High School) Mathematics 61

5.1 A-LEVEL MATHEMATICS (PART 1) 62

5.2 A-LEVEL MATHEMATICS (PART 2) 68

Section II Python for Scientific Computing

Chapter 6  Biology 81

6.1 A SIMPLE POPULATION MODEL 81

6.2 A PREDATOR-PREY MODEL 84
6.3 A SIMPLE EPIDEMIC MODEL 87
6.4 HYSTERESIS IN SINGLE FIBER MUSCLE 89

Chapter 7  Chemistry 95

7.1 BALANCING CHEMICAL-REACTION EQUATIONS 95

7.2 CHEMICAL KINETICS 97
7.3 THE BELOUSOV-ZHABOTINSKI REACTION 99
7.4 COMMON-ION EFFECT IN SOLUBILITY 101

Chapter 8  Data Science 107

8.1 INTRODUCTION TO PANDAS 107

8.2 LINEAR PROGRAMMING 110
8.3 K-MEANS CLUSTERING 115
8.4 DECISION TREES 119
 Contents  ix

Chapter 9  Economics 125

9.1 THE COBB-DOUGLAS QUANTITY OF PRODUCTION MODEL 126

9.2 THE SOLOW-SWAN MODEL OF ECONOMIC GROWTH 128
9.3 MODERN PORTFOLIO THEORY (MPT) 130
9.4 THE BLACK-SCHOLES MODEL 133

Chapter 10  Engineering 139

10.1 LINEAR ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS AND THE MEMRISTOR 139

10.2 CHUA’S NONLINEAR ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT 142
10.3 COUPLED OSCILLATORS: MASS-SPRING MECHANICAL
SYSTEMS 144
10.4 PERIODICALLY FORCED MECHANICAL SYSTEMS 146

Chapter 11  Fractals and Multifractals 153

11.1 PLOTTING FRACTALS WITH MATPLOTLIB 153

11.2 BOX-COUNTING BINARY IMAGES 158
11.3 THE MULTIFRACTAL CANTOR SET 160
11.4 THE MANDELBROT SET 162

Chapter 12  Image Processing 167

12.1 IMAGE PROCESSING, ARRAYS AND MATRICES 168

12.2 COLOR IMAGES 169
12.3 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ON AN IMAGE 170
12.4 IMAGE PROCESSING ON MEDICAL IMAGES 172

Chapter 13  Numerical Methods for Ordinary and Partial Differential

Equations 177

13.1 EULER’S METHOD TO SOLVE IVPS 178

13.2 RUNGE KUTTA METHOD (RK4) 179
13.3 FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD: THE HEAT EQUATION 181
13.4 FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD: THE WAVE EQUATION 184
x  Contents

Chapter 14  Physics 191

14.1 THE FAST FOURIER TRANSFORM 192

14.2 THE SIMPLE FIBER RING (SFR) RESONATOR 194
14.3 THE JOSEPHSON JUNCTION 196
14.4 MOTION OF PLANETARY BODIES 198

Chapter 15  Statistics 203

15.1 LINEAR REGRESSION 203

15.2 MARKOV CHAINS 207
15.3 THE STUDENT T-TEST 210
15.4 MONTE-CARLO SIMULATION 214

Section III Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 16  Brain Inspired Computing 223

16.1 THE HODGKIN-HUXLEY MODEL 224

16.2 THE BINARY OSCILLATOR HALF-ADDER 227
16.3 THE BINARY OSCILLATOR SET RESET FLIP-FLOP 231
16.4 REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE WORK 234

Chapter 17  Neural Networks and Neurodynamics 241

17.1 HISTORY AND THEORY OF NEURAL NETWORKS 241

17.2 THE BACKPROPAGATION ALGORITHM 245
17.3 MACHINE LEARNING ON BOSTON HOUSING DATA 247
17.4 NEURODYNAMICS 250

Chapter 18  TensorFlow and Keras 255

18.1 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 256

18.2 LINEAR REGRESSION IN TENSORFLOW 257
18.3 XOR LOGIC GATE IN TENSORFLOW 259
18.4 BOSTON HOUSING DATA IN TENSORFLOW AND KERAS 261
 Contents  xi

Chapter 19  Recurrent Neural Networks 267

19.1 THE DISCRETE HOPFIELD RNN 267

19.2 THE CONTINUOUS HOPFIELD RNN 270
19.3 LSTM RNN TO PREDICT CHAOTIC TIME SERIES 273
19.4 LSTM RNN TO PREDICT FINANCIAL TIME SERIES 278

Chapter 20  Convolutional Neural Networks, TensorBoard and Further

Reading 285

20.1 CONVOLVING AND POOLING 285

20.2 CNN ON THE MNIST DATASET 288
20.3 TENSORBOARD 290
20.4 FURTHER READING 292

Chapter 21  Answers and Hints to Exercises 299

21.1 SECTION 1 SOLUTIONS 299

21.2 SECTION 2 SOLUTIONS 303
21.3 SECTION 3 SOLUTIONS 306

Index 309
Foreword

I came to know about the author through his previous text: Dynamical Systems with
Applications using Python, Springer International Publishing (2018). I simply loved
this book as it helped me to enhance my knowledge in both Python and Dynamical
Systems. I was so pleased with this book that in collaboration with a senior colleague
in Dynamical Systems, we developed a set of two-semester courses with the same
title as the book. We also invited Stephen to offer for us a short course on Python for
Scientific Computing and TensorFlow for Artificial Intelligence (AI). We were very
pleased that he accepted our offer, as he has been in demand to offer these courses
all over the world. For Pitt, he first offered it online (due to Covid) in summer 2021,
and then in person on Pitt campus in summer 2022. Both of these courses were huge
successes with several hundreds of participants each time. These delegates came from
a wide variety of backgrounds: professors, scientists and engineers from a wide range
of disciplines in industry & government labs, and both graduate and undergraduate
students in a broad range of disciplines. The excellent textbook plus Stephen’s natural
teaching talents made the course very popular. We plan to offer it on a regular basis
as long as Stephen is up for it.
Based on these experiences, I was naturally very eager and excited to read
Stephen’s newest (present) text, and I am not surprised to see that this volume
is also a masterpiece! The topics and approach taken in this book are indeed like no
other! The first section provides an introduction to Python for complete novices and
goes on to show how it can be used for teaching High School mathematics. Readers
are shown how to access Python through the IDLE platform, Spyder and jupyter
notebooks through Anaconda, and cloud computing using Google Colab. The second
section covers a vast array of examples from the scientific fields of biology, chemistry,
data science, economics, engineering, fractals & multifractals, image processing, nu-
merical methods for ordinary and partial differential equations, physics and statistics.
Each chapter covers several examples from the field and there are exercises with even
more examples at the end of each chapter. The final section covers AI, with brain-
inspired computing and neurodynamics and neural networks following on nicely from
Section 2. The final chapters introduce TensorFlow and Keras, and recurrent and con-
volutional neural networks, respectively. There is further reading for those interested
in cyber security, ethics in AI, the internet of things, natural language processing and
reinforcement learning.
All Python and TensorFlow programs can be downloaded through GitHub and full
worked solutions for all of the exercises are available to view on the Web. Overall, the
book will appeal to a very wide range of readers, from high school, to undergraduate
and postgraduate students in science & engineering, to academics and researchers

xiii
xiv  Foreword

in industry. Novices to programming and even experienced programmers will all get
something from this book.
Professor Lynch has recently been named a National Teaching Fellow in the
UK. I am not very familiar with UK’s system. But as I understand, this fellowship is
“...to recognize and celebrate individuals who have made an outstanding impact on
student outcomes and the teaching profession...” Based on his other books, and his
courses, I can easily see that Stephen is surely deserving of this recognition. He is an
excellent writer, with an exceptional knack for teaching.
I hope that the reader is as excited as I was to get started on this book.

Professor Givi Peyman, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the

James T. MacLeod Professor in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University
of Pittsburgh.
Other documents randomly have
different content
the box is fastened at a height of some five or six feet above the
ground, or hung up (but this is not so common) like a swinging bar
on a stand made for the purpose. This last arrangement is
particularly safe, as affording no access to vermin. As the birds
multiply, the owner adds cylinder to cylinder till they form a kind of
wall. Towards sunset, he or his wife approaches the dovecote, greeted
by a friendly cooing from inside, picks up from the ground a piece of
wood cut to the right size, and closes the opening of the first bark box
with it, doing the same to all the others in turn, and then leaves them
for the night, secure that no wild cat or other marauder can reach
them.

DOVECOTE AND GRANARY

I have found out within the last few days why so few men are to be
seen in my rounds. The settlements here scarcely deserve the name
of villages—they are too straggling for that; it is only now and then
that from one hut one can catch a distant glimpse of another. The
view is also obstructed by the fields of manioc, whose branches,
though very spreading, are not easily seen through on account of the
thickly-growing, succulent green foliage. This and the bazi pea are,
now that the maize and millet have been gathered in, the only crops
left standing in the fields. Thus it may happen that one has to trust
entirely to the trodden paths leading from one hut to another, to be
sure of missing none, or to the guidance of the sounds inseparable
from every human settlement. There is no lack of such noises at
Masasi, and in fact I follow them almost every day. Walking about
the country with Nils Knudsen, I hear what sounds like a jovial
company over their morning drink—voices becoming louder and
louder, and shouting all together regardless of parliamentary rules. A
sudden turn of the path brings us face to face with a drinking-party,
and a very merry one, indeed, to judge by the humour of the guests
and the number and dimensions of the pombe pots which have been
wholly or partially emptied. The silence which follows our
appearance is like that produced by a stone thrown into a pool where
frogs are croaking. Only when we ask, “Pombe nzuri?” (“Is the beer
good?”) a chorus of hoarse throats shouts back the answer—“Nzuri
kabisa, bwana!” (“Very good indeed, sir!”)
As to this pombe—well, we Germans fail to appreciate our
privileges till we have ungratefully turned our backs on our own
country. At Mtua, our second camp out from Lindi, a huge earthen
jar of the East African brew was brought as a respectful offering to us
three Europeans. At that time I failed to appreciate the dirty-looking
drab liquid; not so our men, who finished up the six gallons or so in a
twinkling. In Masasi, again, the wife of the Nyasa chief Masekera
Matola—an extremely nice, middle-aged woman—insisted on
sending Knudsen and me a similar gigantic jar soon after our arrival.
We felt that it was out of the question to refuse or throw away the
gift, and so prepared for the ordeal with grim determination. First I
dipped one of my two tumblers into the turbid mass, and brought it
up filled with a liquid in colour not unlike our Lichtenhain beer, but
of a very different consistency. A compact mass of meal filled the
glass almost to the top, leaving about a finger’s breadth of real, clear
“Lichtenhainer.” “This will never do!” I growled, and shouted to
Kibwana for a clean handkerchief. He produced one, after a
seemingly endless search, but my attempts to use it as a filter were
fruitless—not a drop would run through. “No use, the stuff is too
closely woven. Lete sanda, Kibwana” (“Bring a piece of the shroud!”)
This order sounds startling enough, but does not denote any
exceptional callousness on my part. Sanda is the Swahili name for
the cheap, unbleached and highly-dressed calico (also called bafta)
which, as a matter of fact, is generally used by the natives to wrap a
corpse for burial. The material is consequently much in demand, and
travellers into the interior will do well to carry a bale of it with them.
When the dressing is washed out, it is little better than a network of
threads, and might fairly be expected to serve the purpose of a filter.
I found, however, that I could not strain the pombe through it—a
few scanty drops ran down and that was all. After trying my tea and
coffee-strainers, equally in vain, I gave up in despair, and drank the
stuff as it stood. I found that it had a slight taste of flour, but was
otherwise not by any means bad, and indeed quite reminiscent of my
student days at Jena—in fact, I think I could get used to it in time.
The men of Masasi seem to have got only too well used to it. I am far
from grudging the worthy elders their social glass after the hard work
of the harvest, but it is very hard that my studies should suffer from
this perpetual conviviality. It is impossible to drum up any
considerable number of men to be cross-examined on their tribal
affinities, usages and customs. Moreover, the few who can reconcile
it with their engagements and inclinations to separate themselves for
a time from their itinerant drinking-bouts are not disposed to be very
particular about the truth. Even when, the other day, I sent for a
band of these jolly topers to show me their methods of
basketmaking, the result was very unsatisfactory—they did some
plaiting in my presence, but they were quite incapable of giving in
detail the native names of their materials and implements—the
morning drink had been too copious.
It is well known that it is the custom of most, if not all, African
tribes to make a part of their supply of cereals into beer after an
abundant harvest, and consume it wholesale in this form. This, more
than anything else, has probably given rise to the opinion that the
native always wastes his substance in time of plenty, and is nearly
starved afterwards in consequence. It is true that our black friends
cannot be pronounced free from a certain degree of “divine
carelessness”—a touch, to call it no more, of Micawberism—but it
would not be fair to condemn them on the strength of a single
indication. I have already laid stress on the difficulty which the
native cultivator has of storing his seed-corn through the winter. It
would be still more difficult to preserve the much greater quantities
of foodstuffs gathered in at the harvest in a condition fit for use
through some eight or nine months. That he tries to do so is seen by
the numerous granaries surrounding every homestead of any
importance, but that he does not invariably succeed, and therefore
prefers to dispose of that part of his crops which would otherwise be
wasted in a manner combining the useful and the agreeable, is
proved by the morning and evening beer-drinks already referred to,
which, with all their loud merriment, are harmless enough. They
differ, by the bye, from the drinking in European public-houses, in
that they are held at each man’s house in turn, so that every one is
host on one occasion and guest on another—a highly satisfactory
arrangement on the whole.
My difficulties are due to other causes besides the chronically
bemused state of the men. In the first place, there are the troubles
connected with photography. In Europe the amateur is only too
thankful for bright sunshine, and even should the light be a little
more powerful than necessary, there is plenty of shade to be had
from trees and houses. In Africa we have nothing of the sort—the
trees are neither high nor shady, the bushes are not green, and the
houses are never more than twelve feet high at the ridge-pole. To this
is added the sun’s position in the sky at a height which affects one
with a sense of uncanniness, from nine in the morning till after three
in the afternoon, and an intensity of light which is best appreciated
by trying to match the skins of the natives against the colours in Von
Luschan’s scale. No medium between glittering light and deep black
shadow—how is one, under such circumstances, to produce artistic
plates full of atmosphere and feeling?
For a dark-room I have been trying to use the Masasi boma. This is
the only stone building in the whole district and has been
constructed for storing food so as to prevent the recurrence of famine
among the natives, and, still more, to make the garrison independent
of outside supplies in the event of another rising. It has only one
story, but the walls are solidly built, with mere loopholes for
windows; and the flat roof of beaten clay is very strong. In this
marvel of architecture are already stacked uncounted bags
containing millet from the new crop, and mountains of raw cotton. I
have made use of both these products, stopping all crevices with the
cotton, and taking the bags of grain to sit on, and also as a support
for my table, hitherto the essential part of a cotton-press which
stands forsaken in the compound, mourning over the shipwreck it
has made of its existence. Finally, I have closed the door with a
combination of thick straw mats made by my carriers, and some
blankets from my bed. In this way, I can develop at a pinch even in
the daytime, but, after working a short time in this apartment, the
atmosphere becomes so stifling that I am glad to escape from it to
another form of activity.
On one of my first strolls here, I came upon
a neat structure which was explained to me as
“tego ya ngunda”—a trap for pigeons. This is
a system of sticks and thin strings, one of
which is fastened to a strong branch bent over
into a half-circle. I have been, from my youth
up, interested in all mechanical contrivances,
and am still more so in a case like this, where
we have an opportunity of gaining an insight
into the earlier evolutional stages of the
RAT TRAP human intellect. I therefore, on my return to
camp, called together all my men and as many
local natives as possible, and addressed the assembly to the effect
that the mzungu was exceedingly anxious to possess all kinds of
traps for all kinds of animals. Then followed the promise of good
prices for good and authentic specimens, and the oration wound up
with “Nendeni na tengenezeni sasa!” (“Now go away and make up
your contraptions!”).
How they hurried off that day, and how eagerly all my men have
been at work ever since! I had hitherto believed all my carriers to be
Wanyamwezi—now I find, through the commentaries which each of
them has to supply with his work, that my thirty men represent a
number of different tribes. Most of them, to be sure, are
Wanyamwezi, but along with them there are some Wasukuma and
Manyema, and even a genuine Mngoni from Runsewe, a
representative of that gallant Zulu tribe who, some decades ago,
penetrated from distant South Africa to the present German
territory, and pushed forward one of its groups—these very Runsewe
Wangoni—as far as the south-western corner of the Victoria Nyanza.
As for the askari, though numbering only thirteen, they belong to no
fewer than twelve different tribes, from those of far Darfur in the
Egyptian Sudan to the Yao in Portuguese East Africa. All these
“faithfuls” have been racking their brains to recall and practise once
more in wood and field the arts of their boyhood, and now they come
and set up, in the open, sunny space beside my palatial abode, the
results of their unwonted intellectual exertions.
The typical cultivator is not credited in literature with much skill
as a hunter and trapper; his modicum of intellect is supposed to be
entirely absorbed by the care of his fields, and none but tribes of the
stamp of the Bushmen, the Pygmies and the Australian aborigines
are assumed by our theoretic wisdom to be capable of dexterously
killing game in forest or steppe, or taking it by skilful stratagem in a
cunningly devised trap. And yet how wide of the mark is this opinion
of the schools! Among the tribes of the district I am studying, the
Makua are counted as good hunters, while at the same time they are
like the rest, in the main, typical hoe-cultivators—i.e., people who,
year after year, keep on tilling, with the primitive hoe, the ground
painfully brought under cultivation. In spite of their agricultural
habits their traps are constructed with wonderful ingenuity. The
form and action of these traps is sufficiently evident from the
accompanying sketches; but in case any reader should be entirely
without the faculty of “technical sight,” I may add for his benefit that
all these murderous implements depend on the same principle.
Those intended for quadrupeds are so arranged that the animal in
walking or running forward strikes against a fine net with his muzzle,
or a thin cord with his foot. The net or the string is thereby pressed
forward, the upper edge of the former glides downwards, but the end
of the string moves a little to one side. In either case this movement
sets free the end of a lever—a small stick which has hitherto, in a way
sufficiently clear from the sketch—kept the trap set. It slips
instantaneously round its support, and in so doing releases the
tension of the tree or bent stick acting as a spring, which in its
upward recoil draws a skilfully fixed noose tight round the neck of
the animal, which is then strangled to death. Traps of similar
construction, but still more cruel, are set for rats and the like, and,
unfortunately, equal cunning and skill are applied to the pursuit of
birds. Perhaps I shall find another opportunity of discussing this side
of native life; it certainly deserves attention, for there is scarcely any
department where the faculty of invention to be found in even the
primitive mind is so clearly shown as in this aspect of the struggle for
existence.

TRAP FOR ANTELOPES

Of psychological interest is the behaviour of the natives in face of

my own activity in this part of my task. When, we two Europeans
having finished our frugal dinner, Nils Knudsen has laid himself
down for his well-deserved siesta, and the snoring of my warriors
resounds, more rhythmically than harmoniously from the
neighbouring baraza, I sit in the blazing sun, like the shadowless
Schlemihl, only slightly protected by the larger of my two helmets,
sketching.

TRAP FOR GUINEA-FOWL

 TRAP FOR LARGE GAME

The ability to make a rapid and accurate sketch of any object in a

few strokes is one whose value to the scientific explorer cannot be
overrated. Photography is certainly a wonderful invention, but in the
details of research-work carried on day by day, it is apt to fail one
oftener than might be expected, and that not merely in the darkness
of hut-interiors, but over and over again by daylight in the open air.
I am sitting sketching, then. Not a breath of air is stirring—all
nature seems asleep. My pen, too, is growing tired, when I hear a
noise immediately behind me. A hasty glance shows me that the
momentum of universal human curiosity has overcome even the
primæval force of negroid laziness. It is the whole band of my
carriers, accompanied by a few people belonging to the place. They
must have come up very softly, as they might easily do with their
bare feet on the soft, sandy soil. Presently the whole crowd is looking
over my shoulder in the greatest excitement. I do not let them
disturb me; stroke follows stroke, the work nears completion,—at last
it is finished. “Sawasawa?” (“Is it like?”) I ask eagerly, and the
answering chorus of “Ndio” (“Yes”) is shouted into my ears with an
enthusiasm which threatens to burst the tympanum. “Kizuri?” (“Is it
fine?”) “Kizuri sana kabisa” (“Very fine, indeed”), they yell back still
more loudly and enthusiastically; “Wewe fundi” (“You are a master-
craftsman”). These flattering critics are my artists who, having
practised themselves, may be supposed to know what they are
talking about; the few washenzi, unlettered barbarians, unkissed of
the Muse, have only joined in the chorus from gregarious instinct,
mere cattle that they are.
Now comes the attempt at a practical application. I rise from my
camp-stool, take up an oratorical attitude and inform my disciples in
art that, as they have now seen how I, the fundi, set about drawing a
trap, it would be advisable for them to attempt a more difficult
subject, such as this. It is dull work to keep on drawing their friends,
or trees, houses, and animals; and they are such clever fellows that a
bird-trap must surely be well within their powers. I have already
mentioned the look of embarrassed perplexity which I encountered
when beginning my studies at Lindi. Here it was even more marked
and more general. It produced a definite impression that the idea of
what we call perspective for the first time became clear to the men’s
minds. They were evidently trying to express something of the sort
by their words and gestures to each other; they followed with their
fingers the strangely foreshortened curves which in reality stood for
circles—in short, they were in presence of something new—
something unknown and unimagined, which on the one hand made
them conscious of their intellectual and artistic inferiority, and on
the other drew them like a magnet to my sketch-book. None of them
has up to the present attempted to draw one of these traps.
Travellers of former days, or in lands less satisfactorily explored
than German East Africa, found the difficulties of barter not the least
of their troubles. Stanley, not so many years ago, set out on his
explorations with hundreds of bales of various stuffs and
innumerable kinds of beads, and even thus it was not certain
whether the natives of the particular region traversed would be
suited; not to mention the way in which this primitive currency
increased the number of carriers required by every expedition. In
German East Africa, where the Colonial Administration has so often
been unjustly attacked, the white man can now travel almost as
easily as at home. His letter of credit, indeed, only holds good as far
as the coast, but if his errand is, like mine, of an official character,
every station, and even every smaller post, with any Government
funds at its disposal, has orders to give the traveller credit, on his
complying with certain simple formalities, and to provide him with
cash. The explanation is not difficult: the fact that our rupees are
current on the coast compels all the interior tribes to adopt them,
whether they like it or not. I brought with me from Lindi a couple of
large sacks with rupees, half and quarter rupees, and for immediate
needs a few cases of heller.[16] This copper coin, long obsolete in
Germany, has been coined for circulation in our colony, but the
natives have not been induced to adopt it, and reckon as before by
pice—an egg costs one pice (pesa) and that is enough—no one thinks
of working out the price in hellers. Neither is the coin popular with
the white residents, who deride its introduction and make feeble
puns on its name—one of the poorest being based on the name of the
present Director of Customs, which happens to be identical with it.
I find, however, that the natives are by no means averse to
accepting these despised coins when they get the chance. On our
tramps through the villages, Moritz with the lantern is followed by
Mambo sasa, the Mngoni, carrying on his woolly head a large jar of
bright copper coin newly minted at Berlin.
After a long, but not tedious examination of all the apartments in
the native palaces, I return to the light of day, dazzled by the tropical
sunshine. With sympathetic chuckles, my bodyguard—those of my
men who are always with me and have quickly grasped, with the
sympathetic intuition peculiar to the native, what it is that I want—
follow, dragging with them a heap of miscellaneous property. Lastly
come the master of the house and his wife, in a state of mingled
expectation and doubt. Now begins the bargaining, in its essentials
not very different from that experienced in the harbours of Naples,
Port Said, Aden and Mombasa. “Kiasi gani?” (“What is the price?”)
one asks with ostentatious nonchalance, including the whole pile in a
compendious wave of the hand. The fortunate owner of the valuables
apparently fails to understand this, so he opens his mouth wide and
says nothing. I must try him on another tack. I hold up some article
before his eyes and ask, “Nini hii?” (“What is this?”), which proves
quite effectual. My next duty is to imagine myself back again in the
lecture-hall during my first term at college, and to write down with
the utmost diligence the words, not of a learned professor, but of a
raw, unlettered mshenzi. By the time I have learnt everything I want
to know, the name, the purpose, the mode of manufacture and the
way in which the thing is used, the native is at last able and willing to
fix the retail price. Up to the present, I have met with two extremes:
one class of sellers demand whole rupees, Rupia tatu (three) or
Rupia nne (four), quite regardless of the nature of the article for sale
—the other, with equal consistency, a sumni as uniform price. This is
a quarter-rupee—in the currency of German East Africa an
exceedingly attractive-looking silver coin, a little smaller than our
half-mark piece or an English sixpence. Possibly it is its handiness,
together with the untarnished lustre of my newly-minted specimens
in particular, which accounts for this preference. One thing must be
mentioned which distinguishes these people very favourably from
the bandits of the ports already mentioned. None of them raises an
outcry on being offered the tenth or twentieth part of what he asks.
With perfect calm he either gradually abates his demands till a fair
agreement is reached, or else he says, at the first offer, “Lete” (“Hand
it over”). At this moment Moritz and my jar of coppers come to the
front of the stage. The boy has quickly lifted the vessel down from the
head of his friend Mambo sasa. With the eye of a connoisseur he
grasps the state of our finances and then pays with the dignity, if not
the rapidity, of the cashier at a metropolitan bank. The remaining
articles are bargained for in much the same way. It takes more time
than I like; but this is not to be avoided.
When the purchase of the last piece is completed, my carriers, with
the amazing deftness I have so often admired, have packed up the
spoil, in the turn of a hand, in large and compact bundles. A
searching look round for photographic subjects, another last glance
at the house-owner chuckling to himself over his newly-acquired
wealth, and then a vigorous “Kwa heri” (“Good-bye”), and lantern
and jar go their way. We had only just settled into our house here
when we received a visit from the chief’s son, Salim Matola, a very
tall and excessively slender youth of seventeen or eighteen,
magnificently clad in a European waistcoat, and very friendly. Since
then he has scarcely left my side; he knows everything, can do
everything, finds everything, and, to my delight, brings me
everything. He makes the best traps, shows me with what diabolical
ingenuity his countrymen set limed twigs, plays on all instruments
like a master, and produces fire by drilling so quickly that one is
astonished at the strength in his slight frame. In a word, he is a
treasure to the ethnographer.
One thing only seems to be unknown to my young friend, and that
is work. His father, Masekera Matola, already mentioned, has a very
spacious group of huts and extensive gardens. Whether the old
gentleman ever does any perceptible work on this property with his
own hands, I am not in a position to judge, as he is for the present
most strenuously occupied in consuming beer; but at every visit, I
have noticed the women of the family working hard to get in the last
of the crops. The young prince alone seems to be above every
plebeian employment. His hands certainly do not look horny, and his
muscles leave much to be desired. He strolls through life in his
leisurely way with glad heart and cheerful spirit.
MY CARAVAN ON THE MARCH. DRAWN BY PESA MBILI
 CHAPTER VII
MY CARAVAN ON THE SOUTHWARD
MARCH

Chingulungulu, beginning of August, 1906.

It is not very easy to locate my present abode on the map. Masasi and
its exact latitude and longitude have been known to me for years, but
of this strangely named place,[17] where I drove in my tent-pegs a few
days ago, I never even heard before I had entered the area of the
inland tribes.
One trait is common to all Oriental towns, their beauty at a
distance and the disillusionment in store for those who set foot
within their walls. Knudsen has done nothing but rave about
Chingulungulu ever since we reached Masasi. He declared that its
baraza was the highest achievement of East African architecture,
that it had a plentiful supply of delicious water, abundance of all
kinds of meat, and unequalled fruit and vegetables. He extolled its
population, exclusively composed, according to him, of high-bred
gentlemen and good-looking women, and its well-built, spacious
houses. Finally, its situation, he said, made it a convenient centre for
excursions in all directions over the plain. I have been here too short
a time to bring all the details of this highly coloured picture to the
test of actual fact, but this much I have already ascertained, that
neither place nor people are quite so paradisaical as the enthusiastic
Nils would have me believe.
 YAO HOMESTEAD AT CHINGULUNGULU

To relate my experiences in their proper order, I must, however, go

back to our departure from Masasi which, owing to a variety of
unfortunate circumstances, took place earlier than originally
planned. To begin with, there was the changed attitude of the
inhabitants, who at first, as already stated, showed the greatest
amiability, and allowed us, in the most obliging way, to inspect their
homes and buy their household furnishings. In my later sketching
and collecting expeditions, I came everywhere upon closed doors and
apparently deserted compounds. This phenomenon, too, comes
under the heading of racial psychology. However much he may profit
by the foreigner’s visits, the African prefers to have his own hut to
himself.[18]
In the second place, we began, in the course of a prolonged
residence, to discover the drawbacks of our quarters in the rest-
house. Knudsen, who is very sensitive in this respect, insisted that it
was damp, and we soon found that the subsoil water, which indeed
reached the surface as a large spring on the hillside a little below the
house, was unpleasantly close to our floor. Even on the march up
from the coast, Knudsen had suffered from occasional attacks of
fever. These now became so frequent and severe that he was scarcely
fit for work. His faithful old servant, Ali, nursed him with the most
touching devotion, and never left his bedside night or day.
I had myself on various occasions noticed a curious irritation of
the scalp, for which I could discover no cause, in spite of repeated
examination. One day, while hastening across from the dark-room to
the rest-house, with some wet plates in my hand, I was conscious of
intense discomfort among my scanty locks, and called out to Moritz
to take off my hat and look if there was anything inside it. He obeyed,
inspected the hat carefully inside and out, and, on pursuing his
researches under the lining, turned grey in the face, and ejaculated
with evident horror, “Wadudu wabaya!”[19] The case becoming
interesting, I put my plates down and instituted a minute
investigation into Moritz’s find, which proved to consist of a number
of assorted animalcules, with a sprinkling of larger creatures
resembling ticks. This was somewhat startling. I had come to Africa
with a mind entirely at ease as regards malaria—I swear by Koch and
fear nothing. But remittent fever is another matter. In Dar es Salam I
had heard enough and to spare about this latest discovery of the
great Berlin bacteriologist, and how it is produced by an
inconspicuous tick-like insect which burrows in the soil of all sites
occupied for any length of time by natives. The mosquito-net, I was
told, is a sufficient protection against the full grown papasi, as they
are called, but not against their hopeful progeny, which can slip
unhindered through the finest mesh. This particular kind of fever,
moreover, was said to be most especially trying—you were never
seriously ill, and yet never really well, or fit for work; and nothing,
not even quinine, would avail to keep the attacks from recurring
every few days. Small wonder if, at the sight of these wadudu
wabaya in the shape of ticks, I too turned pale at the thought of the
ignoble end possibly awaiting my enterprise before it was well begun.
I had already found out that Masasi was not precisely an abode of
all the virtues, and that an appreciable percentage of the soldiers
forming the garrison at the boma were suffering from venereal
diseases; but the incident which precipitated our departure was the
following. The akida, or local headman (a former sergeant in the
Field Force), was the owner of a small herd of cattle, and with the
good-nature which is one of the most striking traits in the African
character, earned my warmest gratitude by sending me a small jar of
milk every day. After a time we heard, and the rumour gained in
definiteness with each repetition, that the akida was a leper. I could
not refuse the milk, which continued to arrive regularly, and came in
very handy for fixing my pencil drawings.
In their totality the evils enumerated may
not signify more than a succession of pin-
pricks; but even such trifling interferences
with human well-being may in the end
appreciably diminish one’s enjoyment of life.
With the attractions of Chingulungulu as an
additional inducement, it was not surprising
that only a day or two intervened between the
first suggestion that we should migrate
southward and our actual departure. With
their usual monkeylike agility, my carriers one
evening packed a large heap of specimens in
convenient loads, and as quickly the order was
given to Saleh, the corporal in command of
the askari, and Pesa mbili, the leader of the
porters, “Safari to-morrow at six!”
THE YAO CHIEF
MATOLA Next to Matola, the Yao chief of
Chingulungulu, no man in the country is
oftener in men’s mouths than his illustrious
colleague and fellow tribesman, Nakaam, of Chiwata in the north-
western part of the Makonde plateau. The Europeans on the coast
are not agreed as to which of these two chiefs is the more powerful.
In the interior, however, Matola seems to be far more looked up to by
the natives than the chief of Chiwata. Nevertheless, I thought it
absolutely necessary to visit the latter and his people. My plans are
not based on any fixed line of march, but were expressly arranged so
that I should be able to take whatever route circumstances might
render most convenient.
I must confess that my stay at Masasi has turned out a
disappointment as regards the customs, habits and ideas of the
natives, though I have gained a very fair insight into the outward,
material details of their life. But here too, Nils Knudsen is ready with
consolation and encouragement. “What can you expect, Professor?
the people here are a terribly mixed lot, after all, and have lost all
their own traditions and customs. Don’t waste any more time in this
wretched hole of a Masasi, but come to Chingulungulu; you have no
idea what a fine place that is!”
We marched at daybreak on July 31. The
road through the Masasi district, as already
mentioned, skirts the great chain of insular
mountains on the east, passing, at a sufficient
height to afford an extensive view to the east
and south, over an escarpment formed by the
products of aerial denudation from the gneiss
peaks. Did I say the plain? it is an ocean that
we see spread out before our eyes, a white,
boundless expanse, studded with islands, here
one, there another, and yonder, on the misty
horizon, whole archipelagoes. This wonderful
spectacle, passing away all too quickly as the
sun climbs higher—the peaks rising like
islands from the sea of the morning mist,
while our caravan trails its length along the
shore—pictures for us as in a mirror the
aspect it presented in those distant ages when
the blue waves of the primæval ocean rolled
where now the blue smoke of lowly huts NAKAAM, A YAO
CHIEF
ascends to the heavens.
The goal of our first day’s march was Mwiti,
where, to judge from the importance given to it on the map, I
expected a large native settlement. Not far from the Masasi Mission
station, the road to Mwiti branches off from the Coast road on the
right. I order a halt; the column opens out; I shout into the fresh
morning air “Wapagazi kwa Lindi!” (“the carriers for Lindi!”); and
the oldest and also the tallest of my porters, a Mnyamwezi of
pronounced Masai type, strides up with a heavy, swaying motion like
a camel.
 INTERIOR OF A COMPOUND AT MWITI

His name, Kofia tule, was at first a puzzle to me. I knew that kofia
means a cap, but, curiously enough it never occurred to me to look
up tule (which, moreover, I assumed to be a Nyamwezi word) in the
dictionary. That it was supposed to involve a joke of some sort, I
gathered from the general laughter, whenever I asked its meaning. At
last we arrived at the fact that kofia tule means a small, flat cap—in
itself a ridiculous name for a man, but doubly so applied to this black
super-man with the incredibly vacant face.
Kofia tule, then, comes slowly forward, followed by six more
Wanyamwezi, and some local men whom I have engaged as extra
carriers. With him as their mnyampara they are to take my
collections down to the Coast, and get them stored till my return in
the cellars of the District Commissioner’s office at Lindi. The final
instructions are delivered, and then comes the order, “You here, go
to the left,—we are going to the right. March!” Our company takes
some time to get into proper marching order, but at last everything
goes smoothly. A glance northward over the plain assures us that
Kofia tule and his followers have got up the correct safari speed; and
we plunge into the uninhabited virgin pori.
There is something very monotonous and fatiguing about the
march through these open woods. It is already getting on for noon,
and I am half-asleep on my mule, when I catch sight of two black
figures, gun in hand, peeping cautiously round a clump of bushes in
front. Can they be Wangoni?
For some days past we have heard flying rumours that Shabruma,
the notorious leader of the Wangoni in the late rebellion, and the last
of our opponents remaining unsubdued, is planning an attack on
Nakaam, and therefore threatening this very neighbourhood. Just as
I look round for my gun-bearer, a dozen throats raise the joyful shout
of “Mail-carrier!” This is my first experience of the working of the
German Imperial Post in East Africa; I learnt in due course that,
though by no means remunerative to the department, it is as nearly
perfect as any human institution can be. It sounds like an
exaggeration, but it is absolutely true, to say that all mail matter,
even should it be only a single picture post-card, is delivered to the
addressee without delay, wherever he may be within the postal area.
The native runners, of course, have a very different sort of duty to
perform from the few miles daily required of our home functionaries.
With letters and papers packed in a water-tight envelope of oiled
paper and American cloth, and gun on shoulder, the messenger trots
along, full of the importance of his errand, and covers enormous
distances, sometimes, it is said, double the day’s march of an
ordinary caravan. If the road lies through a district rendered unsafe
by lions, leopards, or human enemies, two men are always sent
together. The black figures rapidly approach us, ground arms with
soldierly precision and report in proper form:—Letters from Lindi
for the Bwana mkubwa and the Bwana mdogo—the great and the
little master. As long as Mr. Ewerbeck was with us, it was not easy for
the natives to establish the correct precedence between us. Since they
ranked me as the new captain, they could not possibly call me
Bwana mdogo. Now, however, there is not the slightest difficulty,—
there are only two Europeans, and I being, not only the elder, but
also the leader of the expedition, there is nothing to complicate the
usual gradation of ranks.