THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 131 



people that can be found in Africa. At the principal station, 

 Zareebo, one of the natives generously offered Baker a bullock, 

 which he refused, until he saw that the man was affronted. 

 Notwithstanding the vast herds of cattle these people own, their 

 misery is beyond description. They will not kill their cattle, nor 

 do they ever taste meat unless an animal dies of sickness ; neither 

 will they work, and thus starvation is common among them, as 

 they exist almost wholly upon rats, lizards, snakes and h'.sh. 

 They capture fish by means of a harpoon, which is a neatly made 

 instrument, attached to a reed pole about twenty feet in length, 

 and secured by a long line. They cast the harpoon haphazard, 

 anywhere among the reeds, without regard for signs of fish ; 

 thus they may make and do make hundreds of casts before 

 striking a fish. Occasionally, but always by accident, they har- 

 poon species of fish weighing as much as two hundred pounds ; 

 and in such an event a long and exciting chase ensues, for the 

 fish carries away the harpoon and the spearman has to swim with 

 the line and play with the fish until it is tired out. 



Baker was introduced to the chief of the Kytch tribe, and he 

 describes him and his people as follows: " The chief of the 

 Kytch people wore a leopard skin across his shoulders, and a 

 skull-cap of white beads, with a crest of ostrich feathers ; but 

 the mantle was merely slung over his shoulders, and all other 

 parts of his person were naked. His daughter was the best- 

 looking girl that I have seen among the blacks ; she was about 

 sixteen. Her clothing consisted of a little piece of dressed 

 hide, about a foot wide, slung across her sJioulders, all other 

 parts being exposed. All the girls of this country wear merely 

 a circlet of little iron jingling ornaments round their waist. 

 They came in numbers, bringing small bundles of wood to ex- 

 change for a few handfuls of corn. Most of the men are tall, 

 but wretchedly thin ; the children are mere skeletons, and the 

 entire tribe appears thoroughly starved. The language is that 

 of the Dinka. The chief carried a curious tobacco-box, an iron 

 spike about two feet long, with a hollow socket, bound with 

 iguana-skin ; this served for either tobacco-box, club, or dagger. 



