XII 



THE KAVIRONDOS 



141 



of its course are Kavirondos. As the train passes near 

 their villages and " shambas," as the cultivated patches 

 are called, the men, women, and children will run out 

 to watch the train go by and race each other to reach 

 the line. Some of them 

 assume the curious posture of 

 standing on one leg with the 

 sole of the foot placed on the 

 thigh of the other limb. 



Kavirondo men, women, 

 and children go about stark 

 naked. Married women wear 

 a thin narrow girdle around 

 the waist with a tassel hang- 

 ing behind. Matrons have a 

 short leather apron orna- 

 mented with heads suspended 

 from the girdle in front. The 

 tassel, made of fibre usually 

 obtained from a species of 

 aloe, is about twelve inches 

 long, dyed black, and very 

 pliant. It is the especial mark 

 of a married woman (Hobley). 

 When a young girl goes on a 

 visit to another village, she 

 wears a tassel or tail on her 

 journey, but must take it off 

 on reaching her destination 

 and not don it again until she 

 leaves. By wearing the tail 

 she is taken for a married 

 woman, and is not likely to 

 be molested by anyone she may happen to meet on 

 the way. 



If a woman who has borne a child runs out of her 

 hut in a hurry, for example, if she has been beaten, and 

 goes into another hut without her tail, the hut she 



Although the girls and women 

 of Kavirondo go about naked, 

 married women wear a thin 

 narrow girdle, which supports 

 a tassel behind. 



