CHAP V. PORTRAIT OF A HOVA CHIEF. 139 



a type of head that I met with occasionally on the coast and 

 at the capital. The olive tinge in the complexion of this chief 

 and in that of his wife was exceedingly slight, and in many of 

 the Hovas it is less than is frequently seen amongst the in- 

 habitants of the south of Europe. His figure was slight but well 

 proportioned, and he was rather above the middle statm-e ; his 

 hair appears as he usually wore it, and not drawn down over his 

 forehead. I became acquainted with him by his calling to 

 ask me to accompany him to his residence, where one of his 

 family was ill and in great suffering. I had much intercourse 

 with him afterwards, both on the coast and at the capital, and 

 his disposition always appeared peculiarly gentle and benevo- 

 lent. He usually wore the large white lamba, bordered with 

 the akotso, or fine broad stripes, the distinctive badge of the 

 Hovas. The accompanying wood engi-aving is a faithful copy 

 of the photograph of which I brought home a number of 

 copies. Many of the Hovas possessed remarkably well-formed 

 heads, though not always perhaps so finely proportioned as 

 the one here represented. The foreheads were always well- 

 shaped, even where the space between the eyebrows and the 

 lyiir, as in some few instances, was comparatively narrow. The 

 eyes were never large or projecting, but clear and bright; and 

 the eyebrows well defined without being heavy. The nose 

 was frequently aquiline and firm, never thick and fleshy ; it 

 was, however, more frequently straight, and sometimes short 

 and broad, without fulness at the end. The lips were gene- 

 rally slightly projecting, though seldom round and large, as 

 will be seen in the portraits of the Hovas inserted in the sub- 

 sequent pages. Style of feature seems to mark the Hovas 

 much more distinctively than colom- or hair-. The colour of 

 some of the Hovas is as dark as that of the most swarthy 

 races in the island, while their hair is straight or curling, and 

 their features exhibit the peculiar form of the European ; and 

 even where the hair is frizzled or crisped, as is occasionally 



