XVIII.] PERSONAL ADORNMENT. 239 



to prevent their escaping ; otherwise they were not really bad- June, 

 ly used, being fairly fed, and not orerloaded. In the few cases i^*^*- 

 of bad treatment which came nnder my notice, the owners were 

 either slaves themselves, or freedmen who, on beginning to taste 

 the delights of freedom, seemed anxious to prevent any one low- 

 er in the scale from rising to a like state of happiness. 



Many of the villages through which we passed had their 

 " public jiarks " — large open spaces preserved in their centres, 

 and shaded by fine trees. Large trunks of the fan palm were 

 laid upon the ground, and on these we usually found the male 

 population seated for a stare when we M'ent by, while the wom- 

 en and children, though kept in the background, rivaled them 

 in curiosity. 



The men saluted the principal people of the caravan as they 

 passed by, singing " Maji muko " in chorus, and clapping their 

 hands ; and on being answered in the same manner, they vocif- 

 erated " Eh ban." 



Notwithstanding this apparent desire to be civil, they were 

 churlish and disobliging. If asked for a drink of water or a 

 light for a pipe, they would rejjly that the river would be found 

 near, or that the fire was their own ; although, had they been 

 more obliging, they would have received a small j^resent of 

 beads, or a pinch of salt, of which they are inordinately covet- 

 ous, having none in their own country. 



We were now passing through Uhiya, and the people differ- 

 ed materially from their neighbors in dress and habits. Many 

 adopted the horrid practice of chipping all their teeth to points, 

 giving them the appearance of wild beasts ; and their head-dress- 

 es were both hideous and curious. 



Some wore a huge bowl -shaped leather chignon, having a 

 hole in the centre out of which hung a kind of leather tongue. 

 Others plastered their hair with mud and oil, and so frizzed and 

 trained it as to present a certain resemblance to a judge's wig, 

 and others divided it into crests and ridges. 



Tattooing was common among both sexes ; but there was no 

 beauty or design in the patterns, as among the Waguhha ; in- 

 deed, the appearance of the ghastly scars left by some of the 

 gashes was most abhorrent. Among the most favorite marks 

 were rude attempts at crescents, Maltese crosses, and a trel- 



