PRIMITIVE STATE OF NATIVES 209 



men, and were obviously well treated, from the savage 

 .standpoint ; there was no male brutaUty like that which 

 forms such a revolting feature in the life of the 

 Australian black fellows and, although to a somewhat 

 less degree, in the life of so many negro and Indian 

 tribes. They were practically absolutely naked. In 

 many savage tribes the men go absolutely naked, but 

 the women wear a breech-clout or loin-cloth. In certain 

 tribes we saw near Lake Victoria Nyanza, and on the 

 upper White Nile, both men and women were practically 

 naked. Among these Nhambiquaras the women were 

 more completely naked than the men, although the 

 difference was not essential. The men wore a string 

 around the waist. Most of them wore nothing else, 

 but a few had loosely hanging from this string in front 

 a scanty tuft of dried grass, or a small piece of cloth, 

 which, however, was of purely symbolic use so far as 

 either protection or modesty was concerned. The 

 women did not wear a stitch of any kind anywhere on 

 their bodies^ They did not have on so much as a string, 

 or a bead, or even an ornament in their hair. They 

 were all, men and women, boys and well-grown young 

 girls, as entirely at ease and unconscious as so many 

 friendly animals. All of them — men, women, and 

 children, laughing and talking — crowded around us, 

 whether we were on horseback or on foot. They 

 flocked into the house, and when I sat down to write 

 surrounded me so closely that I had to push them 

 gently away. The women and girls often stood holding 

 one another's hands, or with their arms over one an- 

 other's shoulders or around one another's waists, offering 

 an attractive picture. The men had holes pierced 

 through the septum of the nose and through the upper 

 lip, and wore a straw through each hole. The women 



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