THE BANZIRIS OF THE CONGO BASIN. 677 



rency. Cotton goods will pass in small quantities ; and firearms 

 and powder are beginning to be in sharp demand. 



The headdresses of the Banziris might by themselves form 

 the subject of a whole article. They are built up by women the 

 mothers, wives, sisters, or friends of the wearer, who weave plaits, 

 tresses, or cords in the hair of the dandies, and adorn them with 

 beads. There is nothing grotesque about the structure ; and the 

 model, chosen with the most accurate taste, is always appropriate 

 to the physiognomy of the patient a word we can well use here, 

 for it takes about eight months to perfect the dressing. 



The hair, parted over the back of the head, is brought over to 

 the sides and made up into a number of small tresses which are 

 crimped and rolled into a considerable truncated cone above and 

 a little behind either ear. The top of the section is formed of a 

 larger tress adorned with beads. A series of braids rolled upon 

 one another in the circular contour gives this scaffolding a very 

 curious aspect. 



Particular pains is taken with the two bands forming the outline 

 of a shaven triangle over the foreheads which is very common in 

 Banziri toilets. They are formed of natural hair plaited with leaves 

 of herbs. A square of hair and a square of bayaka beads, and 

 then lozenges, form a very graceful design. Other headdresses are 

 less complicated, but in all of them beads are associated with hair 

 in a variety of braids ; and this accounts for the time it takes the 

 most skillful hairdressers to perfect their masterpieces. If the 

 elaboration of the structure calls for it, hair is borrowed from 

 slaves or from the dead. The false braid is rolled up on top 

 of the head, or falls gracefully from it. Over the forehead is 

 the shaven triangle bordered with bands of hair set with beads. 

 Sometimes cowries are combined with beads; and the details of 

 the contrivances vary infinitely. Men of war usually wear a tuft 

 of cock or parrot feathers in their hair. After the death of 

 a near relative, pearls, cowries, false braids all disappear, and 

 men and women wear as a sign of mourning their hair as Nature 

 gave it to them. 



The Banziris differ in language, customs, and physical appear- 

 ance from all the surrounding tribes, except their eastern neigh- 

 bors, the Sangos, whom they much resemble. Opinions may vary 

 as to their origin, but the fact about them that makes them an 

 exception among all the non-Mussulman negroes I met from the 

 Loangos of the coast to the Mandijas and Saras of the unexplored 

 regions is that they are pleasant and their women are graceful. 

 Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scien- 

 tifique. 



