Chap. XYI. DRESS AND HABITS OF THE OBONGOS. 321 



heard agreed in tliis, that the Obongo men were 

 thickly covered with hair on these parts of their body ; 

 besides, I saw myself, during the course of my stay 

 at Niembouai on my return, male Obongos in the 

 village, and although they would not allow me to 

 approach them, I could get near enough to notice 

 the small tufts of hair : one of the men was black. 

 The only dress they v/ear consists of pieces of grass- 

 cloth which they buy of the Ashangos, or which 

 these latter give them out of pure kindness, for I 

 observed that it was quite a custom of the Ash- 

 angos to give their old worn denguis to these poor 

 Obongos. 



The modes of burial of these savages, as related to 

 me by my Ashango companions, are curious. The 

 most common habit is to place the corpse in the 

 interior of a hollow tree in the forest, filling up the 

 hole with branches and leaves mixed with earth ; but 

 sometimes they make a hole in the bed of a running 

 stream, diverting the current for the purpose, and 

 then, after the grave is covered in, turning back the 

 rivulet to its former course. 



The Ashangos like the presence of this curious 

 people near their villages because the Obongo men 

 are very-expert and nimble in trapping wild animals 

 and fish in the streams, the surplus of which, after 

 supplying their own wants, they sell to their neigh- 

 bours in exchange for plaintains, and also for iron 

 implements, cooking utensils, water-jars, and all 

 manufactured articles of which they stand in need. 

 The woods near their villages are so full of traps and 

 pitfalls that it is dangerous for any but trained woods- 



