118 



NOETH-EAST AEEICA. 



amongst the trees are a proof of the general security from the attacks of enemies 

 or beasts of prey. In his many voyages across the world, Schuver nowhere found 

 men whose simple pleasures, quiet life, and mutual kindness seemed to bring them 

 more in harmony with the surrounding country. The Koma commxmities never 

 quarrel with each other, and no jealous authority prevents the families from 

 acting as they please ; the people are guided by the opinion, and in important 

 matters by the decision, of a public meeting. 



The Komas extract the upper incisors. The men go naked, like most of their 

 neighbours, but some wear a collar or necklace of teeth or pearls. From their 



Fig. 38. — Confluence of the Sobat and Yal. 

 Scale 1 : 2,000,000. 



30 Miles. 



childhood the women are clothed with bark or cloth ; engaged and mai'ried women 

 mostly wear an apron embroidered with pearls and rounded pieces of broken ostrich 

 eggs. The women, moreover, ornament themselves with red pigtails of hair or 

 vegetable fibres, with which they scourge themselves when mourning for the dead. 

 Their cries and sobs are heard almost every morning, even before cock-crow. 

 The dead, men and women alike, are kept over a period of seven to ten years in 

 special huts, built so as to protect them from the ants, the relatives and friends 

 occasionally bringing them presents of salt or pearls. But when the bones are 

 buried all these gifts are sold by auction to defray the expenses of a public feast. 



