272 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



the other hand, do not waste much time in talking, and, as 

 they go about their business, just shake fists in the faces of any 

 friends their eyes may light on. I remember I was much 

 surprised and amused the first time a Shua cattle-drover 

 shook his fist at me on the road, and I puzzled for long to find 

 an origin in the gesture, for there are always interesting 

 reasons, if only they can be traced, for the variations in 

 forms of greeting. 



As we all know, the hand-shake originally signified an 

 assurance that no weapon was concealed, and I have some- 

 times wondered if the pledging in a cup of wine could not be 

 traced to the idea that while the lips are closed upon the cup 

 they can speak no ill. Working on the same system of 

 deduction, I imagine that the fashion which the Kanembus 

 have of taking one's hand in both of theirs is derived from 

 the custom peculiar to this tribe of going about armed with 

 bow in one hand and spear in the other. A Buduma chief 

 greets one on approach by raising the light hand extended 

 like a priest's in blessing, as if to show that he carries no 

 arms, while his women kneel, abasing themselves, with arms 

 outstretched in oriental fashion, which supports the tradi- 

 tion that the Budumas originated eastward in Kanem, and 

 so would have come under the influence of the farther East. 



As regards the Shua and his peculiar form of greeting 

 by shaking his fist in the face of a friend, I found out after- 

 wards that it was to be attributed to a constant habit of 

 carrying his string of small praying beads wound round the 

 palm of his right hand. 



Now the Kanuri greet the white man on the road with 

 a clapping of hands, and I can only imagine that this is 



