266 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFRICA 



each with his axe or bow and arrows on his back, 

 dressed in bright-coloured cloth zouaves, with skins 

 hanging from the waist. Some are taller than the 

 others, and will perhaps attain the height of a man's 

 knee. These are privileged, and may wear a cowrie 

 on the top of their heads. 



But they are not the only inhabitants of this moun- 

 tainous region, nor the ones most commonly to be seen. 

 Kob live there, and gazelle the size of hares, for there 

 is good bush cover, though the country is wild and 

 rocky. The Fikans are great hunters. They use dogs, 

 and ride down game in the plains. They snare and 



also stalk — for this purpose they 

 attach a toucan's head made of wood, 

 with a real bill, to their foreheads, 

 and, as they creep close to their 



Toucan's Head. . . , • i i . 



Victim, the animal stops to gaze at 

 the strange bird that advances, nodding its head this 

 way and that as if in search of food. 



One day the chief gave Mr Talbot a lion's skin, shot 

 the previous morning by a huntsman who had killed it 

 with one arrow from a distance of sixty yards. It was 

 poisoned, and the hunter left it to do its work. Some 

 hours later he returned to the spot and found the lion 

 dead. He gave us an exhibition of his archery, and, 

 as is shown in the illustration, he stoops to shoot 

 and aims straight at the mark. He can achieve fair 

 accuracy at a distance of eighty yards. It will be 

 noticed that his arrows are unfeathered, as is invari- 

 ably the case in that part of Africa. 



Baba the hunter is one of those who has been 

 privileged to see the rock-dwellers, but he can never do 

 so more, for he was fearful and ran to the Mallam and 



