TAME SERPENTS. 339 



as well as the removal of the four lower incisor teeth and the 

 two canines. 



The Agar are armed with two or three long, very broad- 

 bladed spears, which have no barbs, heavy throwing sticks or 

 clubs, and a large buffalo-hide shield. The At wot is the only 

 Dinka tribe that uses arrows. Formerly in hunting elephants 

 the people only used the spear ; now, however, pitfalls are em- 

 ployed, as well as weighted spears hung to the branches of 

 trees, as is customary in the south. 



The articles of luxury employed are, in addition to brandy, 

 the usual mrissa and a drink named um oUbil, which occupies 

 a position between brandy and beer ; also tobacco, which is 

 carried in small packets hung on the arm, and chewed. Plugs 

 of tobacco are carried behind the right ear. 



Dr. Schweinfurth has already mentioned the many small 

 snakes which inhabit the straw roofs of the Dinka huts, and 

 which generally live on very friendly terms with the master 

 of the house. The great Python africanus is very common in 

 the whole of the Agar district, and one of these fine snakes 

 may be often seen as a privileged inmate in the huts of this 

 tribe. It is the women especially who form friendship 

 with them ; they sometimes rub them with fat, and even 

 pour small quantities of fat down their throats. The Agar 

 chiefs told me that the snakes are so much at home that 

 they will never think of touching a goat or a sheep belonging 

 to the people with whom they live, even if they are very hungry, 

 but will go hunting far off into the forest, where they some- 

 times pay their friends a visit, and are always welcomed. 



Of the various Dinka tribes, the Nuer and the Atwot speak 

 the same language, which differs considerably from the true 

 Dinka ; whereas, on the other hand, the Eek, Mok, Gok, 

 Agar, Alwaj, Elyab, Kick, and Bor speak exactly the same 

 idiom. 



In this family a very peculiar and isolated position, like 

 that of a pariah caste, is occupied by the so-called Derr, people 

 of a very dark skin, of middle size, and well-set bodies, who 

 wander through the dry land between the Kich and Elyab, 

 sometimes associating with them, sometimes with the Atwot. 

 They are hunters, possessing no settled dwellings or villages, 



