198 A VISIT TO THE MONBUTTU. 



his neck in the presence of Arabs, but the latter have exerted 

 no palpable influence on the physical and moral condition of 

 the people generally. There is not even any progress visible 

 in the implements of wood and iron used for the cultivation 

 of the soil, and yet I repeatedly came across saws, files, &c. 

 The fault, then, probably lies on the part of those who have been 

 too idle to teach the people. I have no doubt at all that, with 

 very little trouble, one could make the Monbuttu into exceed- 

 ingly clever workmen ; but this can only be accomplished by 

 men who do not hold work to be degrading, not by those who, 

 though acquainted with the art of weaving, allow the cotton 

 to rot in the fields, and prefer to clothe themselves, like the 

 Negroes, in bark cloth or skins. I would also mention 

 another excellent point about the Monbuttu, which is, that 

 drunkenness seems to me to prevail less among them than 

 elsewhere ; unfortunately, they have learnt the secret of the 

 manufacture of brandy, but I have not seen any drunkenness. 

 It would be an injustice not to refer to the fair sex, who 

 play such an important role in Monbuttu, and are the cause of 

 all the misfortune from which the country suffers. At the 

 very beginning of the invasion, the intruders seem to have 

 found pleasure in the daughters of the land, and those at least 

 who remained in the country married there according to the 

 native customs, after paying a small price for their brides. 

 The first dissensions arose as a result of this intermarriage, 

 some of the invaders wishing to take their wives out of the 

 country ; and the war against Munza, which cost him his life, 

 and created an entirely new state of affairs in Monbuttu, was 

 undertaken on account of a woman whom Munza refused to 

 give to an Arab. ' As far as I had opportunity of seeing and 

 getting to know Monbuttu women, I always found them very 

 decent in their behaviour. Their dress certainly would hardly 

 be permissible for church-going ; but, for the rest, they are 

 said to be affectionate and teachable, and therefore favourites 

 with the Arabs. A surprising number of them have light 

 yellow, almost Egyptian, colour of skin ; these are not patho- 

 logical phenomena, like the albinos, but perfectly normal 

 individuals, with a light fundamental pigment. Such women 

 are particularly admired, and I must confess that their appear- 



