DISCO VEKY OF THE VICTORIA N'YANZA. 75 



women have stood before me in the very primitive 

 costume of a bunch of leafy twigs. 



But far worse clad than these are the Wataturu, a 

 tribe living to the eastward, and the Watuta, living to 

 the westward of this place, to whose absolute naked- 

 ness I will draw your attention, because a ridiculous 

 opinion prevails that man, by natural impulse, as was 

 the case with our original progenitors Adam and Eve, 

 entertains an innate sense of shame from the exposure 

 of his person. 



Of the first mentioned, the Wataturu, a people 

 living a little to the northward of Turu, I have 

 only seen a few males, and they were stark naked, 

 and adhered to the ancient Jewish rite, which is the 

 more remarkable, as they are the only natives that I 

 am aware of who indulge in this practice, and none 

 are Mussulmans. The Wataturus despise any one 

 who is weak enough to cover his person, considering 

 that he does so only to conceal his natural imperfec- 

 tions. Their women are currently reported to be as 

 naked as the men, but I did not see any of them, and 

 cannot vouch for it. 



Of the Watuta tribe, the second mentioned, who 

 live a little to the westward of Msene, these sav- 

 ages are said to be all but naked also, only wearing 

 a cylinder, or a piece of hollow bamboo. This is a 

 second living example, though I have no doubt there 

 are many more in Africa, antagonistic to the received 

 opinion, which holds that man is possessed of an in- 



