JOHN THE BAPTIST 271 



thigh it broadened till it reached the outside of the 

 hips. Generally it was worn as a tail, but when in 

 presence of white men it was brought to the front. 

 It was a mark of honour, not decency, for nowhere 

 is it more true that, to the chaste all things are so, 

 than among wholly naked savages. 



One Dinka case I had to decide was this. In an 

 elephant killed by one of them was found the spear- 

 head lost by another some months before. Whose was 

 the ivory ? I do not think the Cawnpore tent club 

 would have given it to the second man, otherwise 

 the tusks of many a scarred pig would change hands. 



Incidentally, in this case, I heard that a roaring 

 illicit ivory trade was done in the north of my district, 

 but as my new chief's ideas on the subject were 

 diametrically opposed to those of his predecessor, I 

 was not obliged to take any notice of the information. 

 The question of rights to an elephant-slaying machine 

 taught me a native method of hunting. A mahogany 

 log, I by I by 5 feet, had fixed to the centre a 

 murderous-looking blade. The log was hoisted and 

 tied to a branch overhanging an elephant path. As 

 the herd passed, the sportsman, lying alongside his 

 log, cut the thongs that supported it, and trusted to 

 its piercing the spine of one of the elephants. 



Just about this time a prisoner was sent me from 

 Kafiakingi. He pretended to be a John the Baptist, 

 and collected a quantity of ivory, female slaves, &c., 

 from the people about. He was given up by a Greek, 

 from whom he demanded, with threats, a portion of 

 his goods. In appearance he was rather like an 



