290 IN AFRICA 



are driven up to their airy stronghold and made 

 snug for the night. And who knows but that a 

 great herd of cattle would add much to the heat of 

 the cave and make its nearly naked tenants forget 

 that they were high on the chilly slopes of one 

 of Africa's greatest mountains? 



They certainly do not dress warm. Around their 

 arms and legs are all sorts of brass and nickel wire 

 wound in scores of circles. Chains of wire and neck- 

 laces of beads encircle the women's throats and ele- 

 phant ivory armlets are often clasped about the 

 arms so tight that it would seem that the natural 

 circulation would be hopelessly retarded. But they 

 must be healthy, these people who go about with 

 only a thin sheet of dyed cotton thrown about them, 

 while we northerners shivered with sweaters and 

 warm woolen things about us. 



It's all a case of getting used to it, just as it is a 

 case of getting used to seeing people frankly and 

 unconsciously naked, as many of these people are. 

 But after a while one even gets used to seeing them 

 so and regards their nakedness as one would regard 

 the nakedness of animals. 



