THE PEOPLE OF RUSIA. 297 
Now the Rusia were delighted that we had overcome this 
Wak, and said they should no longer fear the Arbore. 
The sheep, after being washed with a solution so care- 
fully prepared, was at once slaughtered and cooked. The 
liver was cut up and the pieces eaten by the Rusia and the 
two Europeans, so that thus we became brothers. 
The Rusia were naked, very dark in color, and resembled 
much the other tribes that I had seen since leaving Lake 
Stephanie, except that they were tall. The women wear a 
plaited skirt of leather, but the upper part of their bodies 
is usually naked. 
The young men often paint themselves with red or 
white clay, and mass their hair in a thick bag of mud that 
hangs well over the back of their necks. This head-dress 
is further adorned with one or two long reeds or ostrich 
feathers, curved forward over the head and waving to and 
fro with every motion of the body. The ears are bored 
in many places, and small copper rings inserted, while 
a narrow strip of brass sometimes hangs over the chin, 
fastened in a hole made through the lower hp. The men, 
strange to say, are circumcised, but this is not the result of 
Mohammedan teachings, as, previous to Count Teleki’s 
expedition, no Arabs or traders of any description had 
ever visited them.’ 
The Rusia weapons consist of spears, bows and arrows, 
and a curious ring of iron, sharpened like the blade of a 
knife, which they wear around their wrists. I will not go 
into further particulars regarding these people, as they 
have been to a great extent already described by their 
discoverer. It was Count Teleki’s intention to explore the 
country north of Lake Rudolf, but he was deterred, owing 
1 A couple of years ago a Swahili caravan, from Mombasa, passed along the 
eastern shore of Lake Rudolf, and traded for ivory, as far north as the Kére 
people, on the river Nianam. 
