700 



NILOTIC NEGIIOES 



The hair on llic head is that (jf the ordinary 

 negro type, jind is fairly abundant, the 

 women being able to grow it in long strings 

 or plaits to the length of nearly twelve 

 inches. ]Iair is scrn})ulously removed from 

 all parts of the body. 



\\'hen free from ]Mnliammadan influence, 

 none iif the Nile races circumcise. Most 

 of them, however, knock end the loiver 

 incisors. This, however, is not generally 

 done by tlie ]>ari and ^ladi. but seems to 

 he practically limited to the many tribes 

 who speak Nilotic languages of the wide- 

 sjiread Dinka-Acholi group. Some of the 

 Madi people — a group com})rising many 

 tribes — score the cheeks with three or four 

 parallel longitudinal cuts, which give an 

 ugly, scarred appearance to the face ; l:)ut 

 tins is only done where they have come 

 under Nubian influence as slaves and soldiers. 

 In the Aluru, who are a western branch 

 of the Acholi. a })attern is sometimes made 

 on the brow hy means of raised lumps of 

 skin. As a rule, the Bari, Acholi, and 

 Lango men leave their skins undecorated 

 by cicatrisatiou. Sometimes, however, the 

 Acholi men raise prominent cicatrices over 

 the temples or cheeks in wavy or zigzag 

 patterns. On the outer side of the thigh 

 and buttocks these raised scars are traced 

 in long scrolls of artistic design. The 

 Bari ivomen raise scars of a herring-bone }jattern on the upper arm 

 down from the shoulder to the inner aspect of the elbow. 



In many of the tribes to the east and west of the Nile the lon:er Up is 

 pierced, and a piece of polished quartz, sometimes three inches in length, 

 is inserted. The women in some tribes pierce the ujiper li]), and wear 

 through it a big brass ring, which is hung Avith beads. Among the IMadi 

 tins is done, or a small disc of wood is inserted in the upper lip. like the 

 '• pelele " of the Eabira and Nyasaland natives. Some of the w"estern 

 Acholi tribes have a stone ])encil not only through the lower lip, but 

 anotlier oru^ phiced in the upper lip. (This custom extends also into the 

 Karamojo connfry. and examples may be seen in Figs. 40(i and 408.) Some 



407. A LOGBWAKl (,MAIIl) NEGKO (MIXED 

 KACE OF NILE NEGRO AND BANTU) 



