226 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



out of all reason and proportion. For corn that was only- 

 worth a spoonful of salt they asked four yards of cloth, 

 and when refused preserved their pride by marching off 

 unshaken in their demands ; but when they saw that we 

 were not to be imposed upon they did not let the chance 

 of doing business slip by and sold their produce through 

 friends at our price. They are good farmers, fisher-folk, 

 and expert watermen, and with the help of their canoes drive 

 a brisk trade. They commence by selling their fish for 

 beads, and with these they buy maniocs (a kind of potato) 

 from the neighbouring tribes ; they take the maniocs down 

 the river to Bangi and sell them for the flat, triangular pieces 

 of iron, or " ginga," as they are called. With these they 

 return and buy goats and fowls from the Bou-bous of the 

 interior, by whom iron is much prized for making spear- 

 heads. They then take the goats down the river and sell 

 them for a good price, which enables them to go to a factory 

 and buy what goods they like. 



The " ginga " is looked upon as the most valuable 

 currency and a hundred will buy a wife, but the most common 

 currency is salt or very small red and white beads, the 

 constant demand for which is surprising ; their value is 

 always the same and holds good everywhere. 



The women are passionately fond of the red beads, 

 which they weave together in pieces and wear over the head, 

 so closely intertwined in the hair that they have the appear- 

 ance of tight-fitting skull caps. In some cases coils of beads 

 are worn at the back of the head like the " bun " of a white 

 woman. A heavy necklace of rope, an inch thick and closely 

 woven with beads, hangs round the neck in the form of a 



