166 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



which is sometimes threaded with very small beads. They 

 have more oval faces than the men, and their heads are shaved 

 and the scalps painted all over with a red clay. The un- 

 married girls wear a small rectangular piece of tin, suspended 

 by a string or leather to hide their nakedness. The tribal 

 marks are deep, circular cuts close together down the whole 

 of each side of the face. 



The Sara are a timid people but good and industrious 

 farmers. They grow millet and ground-nuts chiefly. Both 

 the men and women work, which is a rare thing in Africa. 

 They may be seen in the fields together sowing their crops. 

 After the ground has been cleared, the man walks along 

 making a dab in the soil at intervals with his native hoe and 

 the woman follows with the seed which she places in the hole 

 and covers up with her foot. 



The Sara make most ingenious baskets for holding their 

 ground millet that remind one of huge wasps' nests. They 

 consist of nothing but leaves, most deftly woven together, 

 layer upon layer, the stalk of one leaf being fastened into the 

 next. 



We stayed a day at Miltu for hunting and bird-collecting. 

 Accompanied by twenty Sara beaters with drums. Gosling 

 crossed over to the right bank where the country is very flat 

 and at this time swampy, owing to the rains. After several 

 drives a rhino came out to Gosling, which he shot. These 

 animals are plentiful in this part, but in the rainy season it 

 is difficult to find them as they have not the necessity to 

 come down to the river to drink. This remark applies to 

 all other game as well, and at this season, hunting is not so 

 easy owing to the thicker vegetation. 



