116 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



the rim, — like the rim of a bicycle wheel, — are inserted 

 between it and the flesh. This is done both in the 

 lower and upper lips, and often in the lobe of the ear 

 as well. Their size is gradually increased, and the 

 women learn to use them as a sort of sounding-board, 

 over which they clutter their tongues in terrible shrill 

 wails that curdle the blood. Pronunciation is so dis- 

 torted that their own people often find it hard to under- 

 stand what is said, and, most disgusting of all, a steady 

 stream of saliva dribbles from the unclosed mouths. 



We hardened our hearts, and in the interests of 

 science oflered to buy some spare discs, and imme- 

 diately one woman after another took these grisly 

 objects from her lips, leaving visible a gaping fissure 

 and a loosely hanging half-wheel of skin. 



We could bear no more, and turned to go with 

 our eau -de - Cologine bedrenched handkerchiefs held 

 tightly to our noses, so that they might conceal an 

 expression of disgust we did not care to show. It 

 was fortunate we still had a bottle of eau-de-Cologne, 

 and we carried it with us, for, besides being the 

 loveliest, Musgum is also the dirtiest city one can 

 imagine. It has never occurred to its inhabitants to 

 use the river as a drain, and the stench that every- 

 where permeates the air is unutterably nauseating. 

 In spite of our precautions, we were all three more 

 or less actively the worse for our visit. 



We were invited to camp inside the town, and 

 were told that Germans had done so ; but we could 

 only admire their greater powers of endurance, and 

 ourselves fly to a spot half a mile to the windward 

 side of the town, where we could escape the smell. 



Our respite was short, however, for the wind changed, 

 and nauseating odours were once more wafted over us. 



