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with palm oil and ashes iu its fabrication. The greater number of 

 them — the females especially — have transverse cicatrices on their faces, 

 from incisions made when they are young, and this gives them a very 

 disagreeable appearance. Their hair is dressed with the pomatum 

 mixed with red clay, which gives the curls the appearance of having 

 lumps of red lead attached to the ends. Some of tlie higher classes 

 paint their faces with red, yellow, white, and brown dyes alternately in 

 patches under the eyes and. on the cheeks. Many of the men have 

 long beards pendent from their chin ; others have mustachios, but 

 whiskers are seen on very few. Their dress — of those who do dress — 

 consists of a hat, often only a mere plate, but sometimes approaching 

 the conical, which is fastened to the head by a skewer passed through 

 the hair from one side to the other. Often a bunch of parrot's red 

 feathers is stuck in the hat, which is frequently covered by a monkey's 

 §kiD. Their gu-dles, of five or six inches iu width, are worn on their 

 l£gs and arms, and made from small pieces of the whilk shell strung 

 tpgether. Circlets of this whilk shell, the size of half-a-crown, are 

 passed over the forehead, a monkey skin hanging down in front of the 

 body, and that is all. The ladies sometimes have an enormous weight of 

 beads round their necks. Their arms of warfare are only a spear with 

 many indentations in it, that would give a very disagreeable wound. 

 Its blade is from six to eight inches long, generally quadrilateral, and 

 the handle is from six to eight feet. But their intestine wars — the 

 only broils they can indulge iu — are very rare ; and when they do occur, 

 neither age nor sex is spared. 



Of the Boobee language, Mr. Clarke, a Baptist missionary, who has 

 compiled a vocabulary, declares there are five different species in the 

 island, and a great number of dialects. This I am not enough of a 

 linguist to decide ; but such parts of the spokeu tongue as I have 

 heard, seem to me very peculiar. " Oipudo Abiaso ? " is their "How 

 do you do. Sir?" and the reply is, " Potto Abiaso," meaning "Thank 

 you, Sir," leaving j-^ou to understand that " very well " is intended to 

 be prefixed to the response. 



Their currency is represented by small plates made of the whilk 

 shell, to the size of a silver three-halfpenny bit. Some of them are 

 smaller, and others as large as half-a-crown. Twelve strings of the 

 former, about a finger's length each, are valued at sixpence, and 100 

 strings may be purchased for a doUar ; so that this halfpenny currency 

 is their only one in the domestic markets. These they entitle "Ishibbu;" 

 the largest specimens are called " Ishoko," and are generally worn in 

 a circle round the foreheads of great men. A smaller size is also worn 

 in girdles round the arms and legs. The mint for the manufacture of 



