THE AGIBBAS loi 



among them a brother of the sheikh, who needed a lot 

 of subduing. Their interpreter, a cocky, well-adorned 

 stripling, with a wing of lustrous green hung round 

 his neck, became rather offensive once. Fortunately 

 a nice fellow turned up who also knew Nuer, and 

 through him the sheikh begged me not to get angry, 

 as how were we to know if our conversation, passing 

 through so many mouths, was correctly interpreted. 

 The sheikh was very curious to know all about us. 

 He asked if my Arab servant were my brother ; and 

 when his position was described to him, he dived 

 into the crowd, produced an old man, and said that 

 the latter performed the same offices for him. I have 

 never yet come across a native in his wild state who 

 thought the complexion of the European extraordinary. 

 Hideous — yes ! 



From what we could gather wherever we met the 

 Agibbas, it was plain that they are a well-organised 

 tribe under a strong-minded paramount chieftain ; 

 that they have a feud with the Nuers, whom they hold 

 in great respect ; that they appear to despise the 

 Anuaks, who are a very inferior tribe, and it is 

 through them they get the beads they have ; that 

 the Abyssinians have made their raids felt as far as 

 this. In appearance they are quite unlike riverain 

 negroids. They are much more like those of Dar 

 Fertit ; their stature, not at all uniform, averaging, I 

 should say, 5 feet 7 inches. 



The dress of a young man was as follows : — 

 His hair was arranged like an inverted soup-plate, 

 the part over the forehead cut off. Across the fore- 



