THE LADO ENCLAVE 



the grass and wending their way up the slope. On 

 reaching my hut they hastened forward with the cus- 

 tomary outstretched hand, a quiet, reserved and most 

 respectful people, but shy and timid to a degree. They 

 came from a village about half an hour from us. One of 

 them when out hunting had seen a msungu (white man) 

 pass close to his game traps and lost no time in reporting 

 to his people. They had brought with them a few 

 miserable looking chickens, some matama and eggs. 

 A well-built pleasant looking young fellow seemed to 

 be the leader of the party, he was arrayed in a piece of 

 cloth suspended like an apron from a grass cord round 

 his waist, and had a piece of stick about four inches long 

 through the lobe of each ear. This completed his toilet 

 save for the curious treatment of his head, which had 

 been shaved clean, except for a small tuft of hair in the 

 centre, that stuck up like the knob of a tam-o'-shanter. 

 On a string round his neck were a number of old cart- 

 ridge cases, and his chest was covered with cicatrised 

 marks in a large X-shaped design. Cicatrisation is met 

 with practically all through Central Africa. I saw it 

 first among the Portuguese East African natives around 

 Mozambique. At an early age small incisions are made 

 in the skin, from time to time, at intervals of some months, 

 and black powder, cam-wood, powdered charcoal and 

 ashes are alternatively employed by various tribes in 

 filling in these incisions, which in time stand out in bold 

 relief. Mr. Herbert Ward in his book, " A Voice from 

 the Congo," gives reproductions of Bronzes executed by 

 him illustrating clearly this peculiar decoration, which 

 is not always confined to the body, for some of the people 

 cover their faces also with this manner of adornment. 



The young man, who spoke Swahili fluently, in- 

 formed me that many moons since he had visited Koba, 

 where he had seen the Bwana Makubwa (the Commis- 

 sioner), he had even been on safari with a white man, and 



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