xii THE KAVIRONDOS 143 



A woman is not entitled to don the tail immediately 

 after marriage, but has to wait a month or two ; the 

 husband then presents her with a goat wherewith to 

 purchase it. If a man of the same tribe touch the tail 

 he commits a great offence, even if it be the woman's 

 husband. Unless atonement be made by the sacrifice 

 of a goat, it is believed that the woman will die of the 

 insult. If it be torn off by an enemy or a stranger no 

 harm is done. 



The Kavirondos have a superstition that if a woman 

 wears a cloth round her loins she \vill have no children. 

 J. F. Cunningham, when making a visit to one of their 

 villages, found himself surrounded by a batch of naked 

 young women. He thought to improve their appearance, 

 and gave them some pieces of American sheeting to 

 wrap round their loins, and showed them how to do it, 

 but the girls threw the stuff away, saying, " Foreign 

 customs ; we don't want them here." Cook in his first 

 voyage among the South Sea Islands found the natives 

 naked. He gave one an old shirt. To the captain's 

 surprise the recipient bound it round his head like a 

 turban instead of using it to cover any part of his 

 body. 



The Kavirondo women are tattooed on the belly. 

 Mr. Hobley states that all Kisumu girls are tattooed just 

 below the navel. When a woman first becomes 

 pregnant more elaborate tattooings are added in front 

 as high as the breasts, and a belt of markings is carried 

 round the waist. Tattooing is a matter of choice with 

 the men. Major Powell-Cotton, when among the 

 Turkana and Suk tribes which live in a country adjacent 

 to the Kisumu Province, noticed curious little tattoo 

 marks on the bodies of the warriors, and it was 

 explained to him that they were a tally of the number 

 of the people the man had killed. For the first man 

 slain a series of lines of little scars is made on the right 

 arm by thrusting a needle through the skin and 



