ON THE SHORES OF LAKE ALBERT 207 



Having selected the twenty-five men to form the new garrison, 

 I made arrangements to ship the others to Kibero with their 

 women, children, followers, and belongings. 



There was great rejoicing among the garrison on receiving 

 their arrears of pay. The Effendi had quite a tidy sum owing to 

 him, represented by a good many bales of cloth. 



The native chief brought me a couple of chickens and a few 

 eggs. I went to visit his village, and at the very entrance 1 came 

 across a most interesting group. A young man, tall, well-built, 

 and muscular, stood with a spear in his hand ; by the door of 

 the hut was his wife in the full bloom of youth ; an urchin 

 was playing on the ground. The whole scene, full of tranquil 

 peace, recalled the condition of mankind at the dawn of history. 

 The sort of leathern sling, in which Lur babies are carried, is a 

 strong support to the weak spine of babyhood, and at the same 

 time allows a full and free motion to head, arms, and legs. 

 The baby partly sits in this leathern support. There are no 

 crooked or bandy-legged individuals in the whole race. Only 

 small children go about uncovered. 



The spear carried by every adult male, is a business-like 

 weapon, evidently not meant for show. I saw neither shields, 

 nor bows, nor swords. The spear-head is somewhat like the 

 Kavirondo one, small and narrow ; it is continuous with a 

 tubular iron prolongation one to two feet in length, into which 

 the wooden shaft of the spear is inserted. 



A queer fashion with many of the young warriors was the 

 chignon-hke bunch of gay feathers attached to the occiput. 

 The men wore more ornaments than the women. Necklaces 

 and bracelets of bright-coloured beads were very fashionable 

 with the men. A few of the elders wore ivory bracelets and 

 anklets. The men never went uncovered, and in this respect 

 were much more particular than the women. Many of the 

 women had their heads clean shaved. 



The Lur women occupy, as regards dress, a position mid- 

 way between the Makraka with their bunches of leaves and the 

 Kavirondo with their tails of plaited strings. They wear the 

 Makraka leaves and the Kavirondo tails. In the Lur village I 

 saw a woman carrying an enormous burden of firewood on her 

 head. It was a proof of the abundance of firewood in the 

 neighbourhood. The logs of wood are tied into a long cone- 

 shaped bundle eight to ten feet long. By this arrangement the 



