206 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



Two -days from Koninkum brought us into the Kachi- 

 Panda hills, where lives a pagan tribe which does not recog- 

 nise marriage customs. Only leaves are worn, or many 

 of the women wear nothing more than a curious ornament, 

 which is cyUndrical in shape, about 8 in. long and made of 

 twisted rope. When the ornament is encased in brass, it 

 denotes virginity. It is hung down over the lower part of 

 the back and kept in position by a string round the loins. 

 It has a quaint effect and at a little distance gives one the 

 impression of a tail. They also use the pelele, a hideous 

 fashion, consisting in two discs of wood, inserted into holes 

 in the upper and lower lips. As they grow older larger discs 

 are used, till, with the old women, the lips are forced out 

 beyond the nose. Their bodies, even those of the babies 

 are smeared over with red clay. In one of their villages 

 a hideous, toothless old hag wearing only her " tail," which 

 was not encased in brass, came out and cut capers before us. 

 Her body, too, was smeared with red, and when I asked her 

 why she painted it, she said that she had lived all her life 

 to please men by her beauty and her dancing. 



The villages of the Kachi are situated at the foot of 

 isolated kopjes where they till the rich volcanic soil of the 

 lower slopes and grow good crops of guinea-corn, maize, 

 and ground nuts. 



With another two days' marching we arrived at Katab, 

 a fairly large Fulani town picturesquely surrounded by thick 

 groves of cocoa-nut palms. It was on the main road, so had 

 a market where we were able to get supplies of food. Before 

 this, through the Kachi country supplies had been precarious 

 and I had been living on tinned rations. We left Katab 



