374 



FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



or horn, their ears, nostrils, and fingers with rings of silver. An 

 apron reaching to the ankle is worn round the loins instead of 

 trousers, and the shawl is wound in picturesque folds around breast 

 and shoulders. The boys go naked until their sixth or eighth year; 

 the girls wear from their fourth year an exceedingly becoming 

 tassel-apron, made of fine strips of leather, and often decorated 

 with glass-beads or shells. 



Fig. 55. — A H'ubian Village on the Nile. 



All the Nubians settled in the valley of the river live in four- 

 cornered huts, more or less cubical in form. The walls are some- 

 times built of sun-dried bricks, and then they slope slightly inwards 

 as they ascend, or the house may consist of a light wooden frame- 

 work covered with straw. Usually there is but one room with a 

 low door, and often the windows are represented only by air-holes; 

 in fact the whole arrangements are of the simplest. The furnish- 

 ings consist of a raised couch — the aukareb — with a cover of inter- 

 woven strips of leather or bast; simple chests; well-finished, even 

 water-tight baskets; leather-bags; vessels for holding water, dhurra 



