THE SHULI AND MADI. 99 



of metal locomotion becomes difficult, while to look to the right or left the fashion- 

 able Shuli has to wheel his whole body half round. The costume is completed with 

 red and white beads, and diverse amulets of silk, roots, teeth, horn, and the like. 

 The women, however, wear nothing but a loin-cloth, a few glass trinkets, some 

 decorative paintings, and a queue, like that of the Niam-Niam. 



The Shuli, Lur, and Madi are distinguished from the neighbouring tribes by the 

 consideration they pay to the women in all social matters. Young girls, livino- 

 apart in huts reserved for the purpose, have the privilege of choosing their own 

 husbands. They are never beaten, and the husband seldom takes any important step 

 without consulting his wife, or receives any present without sharing it with her. 

 The women are also exempt from field operations, and occupy themselves exclu- 

 sively with household duties. 



The national name, Shuli, recalling that of the Shilluks on the White Nile, 

 points to a common origin of these tribes, a conclusion confirmed by the obvious 

 affinity of their respective idioms. The Shuli, however, unlike their northern 

 kindred, are a peaceful people, engaged chiefly in agricultural pursuits. They 

 grow excellent tobacco, various kinds of vegetables, and large quantities of cereals 

 and sesame. In the midst of their orchards they plant here and there certain 

 fetish trees, loading the branches with the horns, teeth, and heads of animals cap- 

 tured in the chase. Like the Nyanza tribes, they also dedicate small shrines to the 

 local genii, and never start on any enterprise without consulting the wizards. All 

 travellers meet with a friendly welcome, and on their departure a goat is sacrificed 

 by the wayside to avert all dangers on their homeward journey. Three days of the 

 week are considered propitious, three ill-omened, and the seventh indifferent. But 

 through their ignorance of these local superstitions strangers often become involved 

 in serious troubles. 



In the Shuli territory the Egyptians have established a few military posts 

 placed at intervals of two or three days' march from each other, so as to overawe the 

 whole land by a system, of strategic routes. Wadelai, one of these stations, lies on 

 the left bank of the Nile, at the confluence of a small tributary. But the most 

 important place is Fatiko, founded by Baker, some 60 miles east of the river, between 

 two affluents of the Asua, in a fertile district commanded by granite heights. One 

 of these crags rises north of the fort about 300 feet above the plains, affording an 

 extensive view of the whole region beyond the Nile. Fatiko, standing at an altitude 

 of 4,000 feet above the sea, occupies the culminating point of the Shuli territory, 

 whence the land falls in abrupt terraces north, west, and south. Lying midway 

 between Foweira, on the Somerset Nile, and Dufilé, on the Bahr-el-Jebel, it is 

 favourably placed for trading purposes, and exports much corn and wax. Other 

 large villages in the Shuli country are Fajello (Fajitli), Fadihek, Fàrajôk and Obho, 

 lying east and north of the Asua river. 



The Madi, who occupy the right bank of the Nile north of the Shuli, resemble 

 them in appearance, in their style of headdress and other usages, notably the 

 respect paid to their women, who take part in their tribal deliberations. Although 

 apparently of kindred stock, their language is quite distinct from that of the Lur, 



