TREATMENT OF DISEASE. 95 



made of small stones and pieces of cornelian : 

 a few of the females wore bells and buttons, 

 which we had given them. 



They af)pear to have no remedies or medicines 

 for the numerous diseases to which they are 

 liable, and place great confidence in charms 

 written by the Mallams, who thus impose upon 

 their credulity, and whose influence over the 

 poor creatures is unbounded. Shampooing is 

 a favourite, and, I believe, successful remedy, 

 in chronic rheumatism and pains of the limbs. 

 Their mourning consists in wearing pieces of 

 cotton thread round their ankles, wrists, and 

 necks ; they are worn for three months : they 

 also besmear their foreheads with wood- 

 ashes. 



I have previously alluded to the dances of the 

 young people of Rabbah : those of the adults are 

 not so interesting to an European to witness. 

 Their dance is a succession of painful efforts, 

 commencing with a very slow and solemn step ; 

 the performers stamping with each foot, bending 

 the body, and lowering the shoulders, and drop- 

 ping the arms carelessly by their sides. They 

 then make the most prodigious springs and ve- 

 hement pirouettes, with extravagant contortions 



