THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ARRIVAL AT GONDOKORO. 



ON the 1st of February Baker arrived at Gondokoro, which is 

 a Turkish slave and trading station, composed of miserable little 

 grass huts and the ruins of an old mission. Here a long stay 

 was made, waiting the arrival of a Turkish trader from the 

 interior, whom Baker hoped to accompany on the return to 

 Central Africa. 



The natives of Gondokoro belong to the Bari tribe, a singular 

 people who have become savage in their nature by contact with 

 the barbarous Turks. Their dwellings are very cleanly, but far 

 from picturesque. The domicile of each family is surrounded by 

 a hedge of impenetrable thickness, and the interior of the 

 enclosure usually consists of a yard neatly plastered with a 

 cement of ashes, cow-dung and sand. The huts have projecting 

 roofs, in order to afford shade, and the entrance is only about 

 two feet high. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BARI TRIBE. 



WHEN a member of the family dies he is buried in the yard ; a 

 few ox-horns and skulls are suspended on a pole above the spot, 

 while the top of the pole is ornamented with a bunch of cock's 

 feathers. Every man carries his weapons, pipe, and stool, the 

 whole (except the stool) being held between his legs when 

 standing. The men are well grown, the women are not prepos- 

 sessing, but the negro type of thick lips and flat nose is wanting ; 

 the features are good, and the woolly hair alone denotes the 

 trace of negro blood. They are tattooed upon the stomach, 

 sides, and back so closely that it has the appearance of a brow* 

 belt of fish-scales, especially when they are rubbed with red 

 ochre, which is the prevailing fashion. This pigment is made 

 of a peculiar clay, rich in oxide of iron, which, when burnt, is 

 reduced to powder, and then formed into lumps like pieces of 

 soap ; both sexes anoint themselves with this ochre, formed into 



